Barrister Shehrin Salam Oishee is an unimaginable role model for young entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. She is the youngest Barrister to be called to the Bar from City Law School (CLS) at the age of 21. Shehrin Salam Oishee is now serving as the Director of Envoy Group and Envoy Textiles, one of the foremost textile and RMG industry in the country. Barrister Shehrin Salam Oishee is the youngest elected Director of the incumbent BGMEA board. He recently spoke with the online magazine Pratisiddha about his various activities. The interview was taken by Mohammad Abdullah Mozumder, the chief reporter of Pratisiddha.
Pratisiddha: How long have you been involved in the export oriented garment sector?
Barrister Shehrin Salam Oishee: I was just 19 years when I was made the Director of Envoy Group, one of the leading conglomerates of the country. I hadn’t finished by LLB then, it was around the Last year. After that I had left the country to pursue my Bar-at-Law, and upon return after appx. a year, I got involved in the business. In the meanwhile, I pursued my pupilage in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and in corporate arbitration. It has been over a decade now that I had the rare opportunity of learning the ins and outs of this business from the great pioneer in the sector, Abdus Salam Murshedy, MP, my father, and co-founder of Envoy Group.
Pratisiddha: How should be environmentally friendly do you think factories?
Barrister Shehrin Salam Oishee : Bangladesh has some of the safest RMG factories in the world at the moment. It has by far the highest number of green garment factories in the world as well. US Green Building Council (USGBC) certified a total of 157 Bangladeshi factories as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), and among them 47 are LEED platinum-rated. 40 out of the world’s top 100 garment factories are in Bangladesh. Moreover, 500 more factories are in the pipeline for certification. I take pride in stating that our Envoy textiles was the 1st LEED Platinum Certified Denim factory in the world. Hence the entire sector had a revolutionary change in its set-up and functioning to ensure the highest standards of safety measures being taken. The urge to maintain the same shall be constant, in an attempt to compete with the other competitors around the world.
Pratisiddha: To which countries is your company currently exporting?
Barrister Shehrin Salam Oishee : Envoy group exports to the traditional destinations of USA, Canada, EU, China, and UK as well as in the new markets of Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile, South Korea, Japan, UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Qatar, Indonasia, Egypt and Lebanon.
Pratisiddha: Say something about the future prospects of the garment sector.
Barrister Shehrin Salam Oishee : The RMG sector is a major contributor to the economic development of the nation and it continues to contribute to GDP growth and the nation’s women empowerment to a great extent. Even during the COVID outbreak, our exports have increased and right after the 2nd wave had passed, our exports in the last half fiscal year has been appx. 23 billion dollars, which we expect to be over 40 billion dollars on completion of the existing fiscal year.
Pratisiddha: How do you think about the 100 economic zones under construction in the country?
Barrister Shehrin Salam Oishee : The allocation of 100 economic zones in the country has been a very timely decision of the government, under the dynamic leadership of our Prime Minister. At the moment, some of the economic zones need to be realized on a priority basis for a few selected industries, i.e. IT, apparel, pharmaceuticals, fisheries, etc. This shall help in the rapid development of the said sectors and further allow more entrepreneurial opportunities.
Pratisiddha: How are you currently involved in social work?
Barrister Shehrin Salam Oishee : I belong from a family where we have always been greatly involved in social activities. Over the past decades, me and my mother have been a part of PDF, Physically-Challenged Development Foundation, assisting in the rehabilitation of disabled people in our country, as advisors. As a Group, we have always been pro-active in ensuring participation in social causes, be it personal or for mass awareness. As you will know, my father, Abdus Salam Murshedy, is the parliamentarian of Khulna 4, which happens to be his own home town. Our great focus lies in enhancing the livelihood of people there as well. In furtherance of that intention, we have established the Salam Murshedy Sheba Shongho and Salam Murshedy Blood bank, run by my mother, Sharmin Salam, solely dedicating it for the support of the needy. You will be happy to know that very recently we have started our own Old Home in the same area, with at least 12 residents at the moment.
Pratisiddha: How are you doing in business as well as in the cultural arena?
Barrister Shehrin Salam Oishee : It was years ago that I had been involved with singing. But never carried that on.
Pratisiddha: What are the prospects in the future garment sector?
Barrister Shehrin Salam Oishee : I love reading, goes well with the profession that I was trained as a Barrister. I had always been very studious, even now I do the required and to some extent more research on any topic I need to know about. I am an ardent speaker, public speaking had been my forte since I was at school. I am the proud mother of a beautiful little girl, Asmara, who is nearly 3 years old now. The best feeling in life now is to see her grow and shine as days pass. In my pass time, I love to hear to music and read books, but with the workload and being a mother, of course, free times are very rare now a days.
Pratisiddha: You say something about yourself.
Barrister Shehrin Salam Oishee : Since March 2022, Envoy Group has had a change of ownership. Another co-founder of Envoy, Mr. Kutubuddin Ahmed and his family have taken a leave. The Group, consists of several RMG factories, Washing, Dying, Packaging, IT Solutions, also including Dredging, Brokerage houses, Banking Services, Hopsital and so on. Besides this, we are, like before, the partners in Envoy Textiles Limited, which is a public limited company.
