On the 8th of November BRAC University’s business clubs, Entrepreneurship Development Forum and Centre for Development Forum organized a daylong seminar titled “Entrepreneur Speaks” in which Alhaj Sufi Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, CEO of the PHP group was invited to speak about his experiences and success.
The company which he built from scratch was backed by a very small initial capital of about BDT 1400, which was money relatives had presented to him on the day his son Mohsin was born.Today his company has branched out into many sectors, enriching his business as well as enabling him to serve the society and exercise his beliefs and the company tagline – “Divine blessings, mixed with hard work, backed by good intentions, make miracles.” Alhaj Sufi Mohammad Mizanur Rahman is a pious and devout man, making him humble despite his wealth. He makes sure whatever path he takes is one acceptable in the eyes of God.He has never cheated anyone, nor has he avoided TAX, VAT, or Tariff. Thus his characteristics not only make him the ideal speaker for the BBA department, but he is an ideal role model for every man to follow.
During the course of the seminar, he told us about ‘five tablets’, as in five steps we must all ensure to follow in order to become good, honest, entrepreneur. These were:1. Do more than what is required- As mentioned before, Sufi Mizanur Rahman had started out his venture with very little capital, but he was able to climb the path to success by working harder than what is required. Success may not only mean profit, but it means to be able to go beyond what you have set for yourself.
2. Doing your job with excellence: You must be able to focus hard. “You can buy books but not brain. You can buy food but not appetite. You can buy medicine but not good health.
” So in order to achieve greatness you must work hard, and to do so, we must value the work that we do and love it, whether we are street sweepers or music composers.3. Good Character and Honesty: You need the ability to do something great, but you must have a good character at the same time, otherwise your money will have no value. To quote Sufi Mizanur Rahman, “A genius man is admired by all, a wealthy man is praised by all, a powerful man is feared by all, but a man of character is trusted by all.
”4. Divine Blessings paired with hard work: You need divine blessings to be successful. You must love people. Without divine blessings you cannot do anything, but people who only wait for divine blessings to arrive and do not work hard are only fools.5.
In order to be great, you must be around those who have achieved greatness: This will not only help you create a network, but it will provide the environment in which you can observe, learn, and most importantly, ask questions, which is what the aim of the seminar had been. The seminar was unlike anything I have attended. For as the speaker we had a man who had climbed his way to success through honesty and hard work, instead of having a wealthy backdrop to rely on. He has taught us that we must be able to dream, no matter how farfetched it might seem, for Allah will provide us divine blessings if we work hard and keep our intentions pure and honest. “If your heart is in your dream, no desire is extreme.”
