Japan's clothing retail chain to help set up textile unit in Bangladesh

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus (L) and Tadashi Yanai, president of Fast Retailing, attend a press conference in Tokyo yesterday. Japan's casual clothing brand Uniqlo and Yunus said they would create a textiles company in Bangladesh to help poor women gain financial independence. Fast Retailing, which owns Uniqlo, plans to invest some $100,000 to set up Grameen Uniqlo Ltd. Photo: AFP

Refayet Ullah Mirdha

Social business finds a new route now -- this time entering the garments sector.

Grameen Bank Group is partnering with Fast Retailing Company Ltd that owns Japan's casual-clothing chain Uniqlo. Under a joint venture, a textile unit will be set up in Bangladesh in September to help the underprivileged women.

The Japanese company and Grameen Bank Group have agreed in Tokyo to launch the venture through a Fast Retailing subsidiary.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is promoting the social business model, said the textiles company will help poor women and solve social problems, including those related to poverty, sanitation and education, through planning, production and sale of clothing.

Fast Retailing plans to invest some $100,000 to set up the business, temporarily dubbed as Grameen Uniqlo Ltd, for producing and retailing the products in the country, a statement said.

Grameen Bank will take a 1 percent stake in the venture, according to a Reuters report.

"On the retail front, we will use the Grameen Bank Group's borrower network of eight million people to help those living in poverty to develop job skills and provide them with opportunities to sell clothes door-to-door," said Fast Retailing.

"In the first year, we plan to generate work for 250 people and to increase this figure to 1,500 within three years."

"Grameen ladies will become their own business owners by selling the clothing products in visits to neighbours' houses," news agency AFP quoted Tadashi Yanai, chairman and president of Fast Retailing, as saying.

Yunus is backed by corporations such as food giant Danone, global water group Veolia, sportswear company Adidas and software company SAP.

Fast Retailing will be the first Asian corporation to start a social business with Grameen Bank Group, Yunus said.

"Uniqlo is a global company, a big company, and a company that is now creating a social business in Bangladesh," he said at a Tokyo press conference, adding that the world needs a new economic "architecture" to fight poverty.

Uniqlo opened its liaison office in Dhaka in September last year although it had previously outsourced RMG products through an agent.

It has a network of over 760 stores in Japan. The company opened stores outside Japan in September 2001 starting in London. It expanded international network across six countries -- the UK, China, Hong Kong, the US, South Korea, France.

Meanwhile, garment exports to the new destination of Japan maintained a high growth rate in the July-April period of fiscal 2009-10 riding on the back of high demand for Bangladeshi apparel items there.

According to data from state-owned Export Promotion Bureau, Bangladesh exported knitwear items worth $60.02 million in the first 10 months of the immediate past fiscal year, which was $18.15 million in the same period of fiscal 2008-09.

In the July-April period of fiscal 2009-10, knitwear exports to Japan grew by 230.65 percent. Bangladesh logged $89.87 million in earnings from woven garment exports, registering a robust 121.46 percent growth over the same period a year ago.

Data showed that RMG exports to Japan were worth $74.38 million in fiscal 2008-09, compared to $28.04 million in fiscal 2007-08.

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Mashiur Rahaman

Japanese fashion group 'Fast Retailing' is going to set up a joint venture in Bangladesh to create a textiles company, investing some US$0.1 million in October.

The operator of the Uniqlo casual-clothing chain decided to form the venture with Grameen Healthcare Trust of the Grameen Bank Group, aiming to help poor women to gain financial independence, official told the FE.

Fast Retailing, which already has manufacturing bases in the country, said the business will produce clothes using materials procured within Bangladesh and sell them at prices affordable for the poor. 

Officials said the microfinance specialist Grameen Bank will take a 1.0 per cent stake in the venture. The new company will source materials and make garments in Bangladesh - including women's underwear, school uniforms and blankets.

Fast Retailing said the objective of the joint venture was to "help solve social problems, including poverty, sanitation and education issues in Bangladesh through the planning, production and sale of clothing".

The joint venture will be called 'Grameen Uniqlo' and be located in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, he added.

'Grameen ladies will become their own business owners by selling the clothing products in visits to neighbours' houses,' said Tadashi Yanai, chairman and president of Fast Retailing in a news release.

A statement by the company said: "Bangladesh is expected to experience economic growth, with much of it driven by the textile industry, but it's people still face an abundance of social problems, including poverty, sanitation and education.

"Utilising our unique SPA (specialty store retailer of private label apparel) know-how, we will plan, produce and sell clothing at a price point that is affordable to people living below the poverty line while still maintaining product quality.

"This joint venture will also create jobs, thereby improving the lives of the Bangladeshi people," the statement said adding that the company plans to generate work for 250 people in the first year, increasing this figure to 1,500 within three years.

On the retail front, Fast Retailing also plans to use Grameen's borrower network of 8.0 million people to create jobs selling clothes door-to-door in the country.

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=106041&date=2010-07-14

Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus and Professor Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Glasgow signed a historic agreement of mutual cooperation on the 4th of July. The agreement whose legal terms were defined in a memorandum of understanding details a first of a kind historic collaboration between the University of Glasgow and the Yunus Centre, with a view to developing academic and educational cooperation and promoting the understanding of Social Business. Both parties will encourage cross cultivation of ideas and collaboration between academic and administrative staff on commonly defined projects, lectures and academic symposia and promote the exchange of skills and information through staff exchange and training programmes. The agreement also made provision for the possibility of creation of intellectual property such a business plans, brands and concrete exercise of such, sharing equally the financial benefits of such activity. Currently valid for 5 years, it is anticipated that this collaboration will be long term.

"Antes del Nobel no me oían. Ahora me basta con susurrar"

ARIADNA TRILLAS 03/07/2010

Es complicado colarse en la agenda de un premio Nobel de la Paz de paso por España, de modo que un almuerzo imposible -tiene una cita con la reina Sofía, el príncipe Felipe y un montón de empresarios y profesores del IESE- se convierte en un desayuno posible, entre estudiantes, en la cafetería de la escuela de negocios. Ahora bien, Muhammad Yunus, el economista de Bangladesh conocido ya como el banquero de los pobres, jamás toma café. ¿Acaso un té? Tampoco. "Ni coca-colas, ni pepsis. Nada de todo eso es necesario, ¿a que no es necesario?", pregunta, a sus 70 años, con una calma que no casa con el revuelo armado a su alrededor. "Desde que llegué, me ofrecen comida y bebida todo el tiempo", sonríe el impulsor de los microcréditos para personas con escasos recursos.

From left, Pamela Gillies, vice chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland; Prof Muhammad Yunus and former British premier Gordon Brown during the inauguration of Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health at the university on July 5. Photo: Lamiya Morshed

Bss, Dhaka

Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) in Scotland launched "Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health" in a ceremony attended by academics and the elite of Glasgow on July 5.

The centre has been established by GCU to carry out action research to find solutions to social problems, including the critical issue of access to microcredit and affordable healthcare, according to a message received here yesterday.

A leading health economist of the UK Prof Cam Donaldson has been appointed as "Yunus Professor" to lead the centre in implementing its objectives.

On the occasion of the opening of the centre, Prof Donaldson gave the inaugural lecture of the Yunus Chair titled "Markets and Health in the Home of Adam Smith and Yunus" referring to father of modern economics Adam Smith who studied and taught in Glasgow, and Prof Yunus who created the concept of social business.

The Yunus Chair was established at the GCU in early 2010.

Through the partnership with GCU, a series of social businesses will be created in Scotland to bring job opportunities to families who have been dependent on welfare for generations.

As a first step, GCU and the government of Scotland are preparing to set up "Grameen Scotland"--a microcredit bank in Glasgow along the lines of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.

Former British premier Gordon Brown made a special appearance at the event to have a meeting with Prof Yunus on the occasion of the latter's visit to Glasgow.

Vice Chancellor of GCU Pamela Gillies presented Prof Yunus with a rare first edition of Adam Smith's book "The Theory of Moral Sentiments".

To take advantage of Prof Yunus's visit, GCU organised a high level meeting attended by John Swinney, finance minister of Scotland, Pamela Gillies and six heads of foundations and companies to discuss the business plan of the bank.

The main target group of the microcredit bank would be individuals who belong to families who have been on welfare for four generations in Glasgow.

The finance minister pledged his full support to the bank, including facilitating appropriate legal framework for the initiative.

With the collaboration of GCU, Grameen has already launched the Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing in Bangladesh.

Prof Yunus, who was in Glasgow from 3-6 July, also signed a memorandum of understanding for collaboration with Prof Anton Muscatelli, vice chancellor of the 600-year-old University of Glasgow to develop close collaboration between the university and Grameen to build academic programmes on social business.

The university also organised a daylong conference on social business, with Prof Yunus as chief guest, attended by delegates from many countries.

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=146020