Nassa Group

History

The first venture

In 1990, Mr Nazrul Islam Mazumder, along with his colleagues Saiful Islam, Mamun Abdullah, Nazrul Islam Swapan, Mr Altaf and the late Mr Kamrul, started their first factory, Starlight Knit-wear, under the NASSA Group’s banner. The factory is still located at 2/b Elephant road, Dhaka, and had an employee count of 300 people, to contrast that with the 30,000+ people being employed by NASSA at the moment.

Right around the time Starlight Knit-wear took off, NASSA Group ventured off to establish their second factory. They named it, Sun Seeds Apparel, as a tribute to Sunman Apparel where most of NASSA Group’s higher ups use to work before, and grew up as entrepreneurs.

From then on they started to grow little by little till in 1995, NASSA Group established its Hong Kong sourcing office to streamline its production capabilities and client relations. They did this, as then Hong Kong was their liaison office to big companies like Sears Holdings (then Kmart).

Then along the line in 1999, EXIM Bank was incorporated into the NASSA Group family, and since then has grown into one of the major banks in Bangladesh.

Apparel

The biggest export of Bangladesh is the garment apparel sector and since opening in 1990, NASSA Group has rapidly expanded to become one of the largest international apparel and textile manufacturing conglomerates serving fashion, private and brand labels in the US, Canada, Mexico and the EU. NASSA Group’s ready made garment and textile manufacturing division has achieved globally respected status as a supplier of yarns, textiles and ready-made garments for branded and private label clients worldwide. The manufacturing operation boasts 1.1 million sq. ft. of production space, across which more than 30,000 skilled workers operate in 34 vertically owned factories. NASSA Group generating a turnover of US$370 million in 2013 through its contracts with distinguished high street retailers across the UK and US.

RMG

The ready-made garment industry accounts for 75 percent of Bangladesh's exports and NASSA Group is the biggest manufacturer of the product in the country.

Textiles

NASSA operates via its own 28 acre textile manufacturing complex located in Kanchpur, Dhaka. With the capacity to produce 60 tonnes per day, their textile operation is one of the largest in Bangladesh.

The plant outputs a range of polar fleece, knitted, dyed and printed fabrics for the US and European markets.

Country's denim sector is flourishing due to competitive price range with better quality products turning global buyers from countries like China and Turkey to Bangladesh. Since 2013, the export orders for denim goods have surged by 25 per cent and as of 2014, Bangladesh has taken over China as the lead exporter in Denim products. NASSA-Taipei Denims Ltd specializes in the production of indigo denims for clients including Marks and Spencer. They have a production capacity of 1.8 million yards per month.

Spinning

NASSA Spinning Ltd deploys equipment with an installed production capacity of their spinning mills at 1.8 million metres or 1,200 tonnes every month. Their machines include the Jinsheng Saurer JFA – 225A Card Machine as well as the Trutzschler & Crostol for blow room lines.

Finishing and shipping

NASSA is fully equipped to produce a wide range of accessories and finishing services including buttons, threads, zippers, labels and snap fasteners as well as labeling and packaging.

Their in-house packaging operation, Native Packaging Ltd, is a wholesale packaging manufacturer with the capacity to produce 6,000 metric tons of corrugated cartons every year.

Division

Besides apparel, NASSA Group also delved into other industries to diversify the company's portfolio.

Stock broking

ANW Associates Ltd is a fully accredited member of the Dhaka Stock Exchange. The organisation exists to provide trading opportunities for clients and organisations looking to trade in stocks and shares in a sustainable and risk controlled environment.

Banking

EXIM Bank (Export Import Bank of Bangladesh Limited) is one of the leading private commercial banks in the country. This Bank came into operation as scheduled commercial bank on 3 August 1999 as per rules and regulations of Bangladesh Bank. Of its very beginning EXIM Bank Bangladesh limited was known as BEXIM Bank Limited. But some legal constraints the bank renamed as EXIM Bank, which means Export Import Bank of Bangladesh Limited. At present the bank is performing its work all over the country by 52 branches. The bank has migrated all of its conventional banking operation into Shariah based Islamic banking

Their investment portfolio comprises diversified areas of business and industry including textiles, edible oil, ready-made garments, chemicals, cement, telecom, steel, real estate and other service industries.

EXIM is the first privately owned bank to open an exchange house in the UK, enhancing their capacity to deliver seamless services to Bangladeshis living and working in the UK. They have also opened exchange houses in Canada, New York and Australia.

EXIM Bank Limited has been a crucial part of the corporate expansion and has fast grown to achieve status as a pioneering financial establishment, dedicated to the socio-economic development of Bangladesh and its people.

NASSA Properties Ltd

NASSA Properties Ltd is a market leader in the large scale property development of Bangladesh’s capital city’s infrastructure.

RANS Real Estate Ltd.

RANS Real Estate Ltd. is under the NASSA umbrella and unlike NASSA Properties Ltd, they focus on residential property development for home owners seeking modern housing solutions in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Planet Travel

Planet Travels Ltd, a division of NASSA Group, provides a full range of travel services for both business and consumer based clientele. It is still a comparatively new venture, only becoming part of NASSA Group in 2013.

Exim Bank Agricultural University Bangladesh (EBAUB)

The vulnerable features of Northern Bangladesh characterized by frequent river erosion, flood and drought, social inequalities in education & health, and migration affecting livelihoods of its poor inhabitants inspired the Bank for undertaking some initiatives for their assistance in advancement. Till then, there has been no existence of any private agricultural university in North Bengal, even though northern part of the country is densely populated and has enormous potential for agricultural development. A large portion of quality students having good results in SSC and HSC cannot get admission into public agricultural university every year. In essence, availability of admission would enable them to pursue higher education in agriculture. EXIM Bank Supports export import initiatives throughout the country. Thus, they have set-up EXIM Bank Agricultural University, Bangladesh(EBAUB), a private agricultural university at Chapainawabgang, Rajshahi, to be the first of its kind in Northern Bangladesh, to create greater opportunity of diversified and demand-driven education for the prospective medium income group candidates at their doorsteps, as well as to create an opportunity for conducting agricultural research to solve local problems.

Major customers

The major customers for NASSA Group are usually from US, Canada, Mexico and the EU.

USA based K-mart, WalMart, Gap Inc., Sears, AMC/Target Corporation, J. C. Penney, Woolrich

Europe based George, ASDA, Primark, Carrefour, Tesco, H&M, C&A, Sainsburry, Metro AG

Corporate social responsibilities

The purpose of any business is, obviously, to earn profit, but the promoters and the equity holders are aware of their commitment to the society to which they belong. A chunk of the profit is kept aside and/or spent for socio-economic development through trustee and in patronization of art, culture and sports of the country. In past recent years EXIM Bank (a division of NASSA Group) has supported the poor and meritorious students for smoothen their education. In 2007 about 80 students of different institutions have taken scholarship. The bank also sponsored the “Beautification Project” of Dhaka mega city conducted by Dhaka City Corporation. Nassa Group has also donated to the flood victims of the 2007 South Asian floods.

Factory closure

In awake of the Rana plaza collapse, which is considered to be the deadliest garment-factory accident in history, NASSA Group shut down three of its factories. It was insinuated in a couple of articles that this was a reactionary response to the Rana plaza collapse rather than a proactive step to ensure the safety of the workers, but it was established that the company made the decision before the April 24 collapse because of structural concerns about the rental space that housed the three facilities and says it is committed to the safety and security of its employees. Before the closures, which took effect on April 28, Nassa Group operated 34 factories in Bangladesh.

In an earlier version of an article in The Wall Street Journal, stated that due to the structural integrity being compromised, the government took action to close the factories down, which turned out to be wrong information. The chairman of NASSA Group, Mr Nazrul Islam Mazumder appointed Mishcon de Reya to challenge Wall Street Journal, as NASSA Group had already decided to close the factories on their own accord before the 24 April collapse, after which WSJ were compelled to change the article to reflect the facts.

Company Milestones