ANISULHAQUE
Thirty-one years of building companies in Bangladesh, and one that taught me more by failing.
Anisul Haque
Founder & Chairman · Gulshan, Dhaka
I started my first company in 1995 with a borrowed desk and a fax machine. Four of the five I have founded are still trading; the fifth closed in 2016 and I talk about that one the most.
These days I chair rather than run. My job is to ask the question the executive team has been avoiding, and then to get out of the way while they answer it.
Four ways I work
- 01
Board seats
Non-executive chair or director. Two seats at a time, no more, because a board seat you cannot prepare for is worse than an empty chair.
- 02
Founder coaching
For people running a company between twenty and two hundred people, which is where most of the hard parts live.
- 03
Early investment
Small cheques in Bangladeshi businesses that make something physical. I am a poor fit for anything I cannot visit.
- 04
Speaking
Mostly about the company that failed. Founders hear about the wins constantly and about the shutdowns almost never.
- 2016 — nowFounder & ChairmanHaque Industries, Dhaka
- 2008 — 2016Founder & Chief ExecutiveMeridian Logistics — closed 2016
- 1995 — 2008FounderAnis Trading, Chattogram
He asked one question in the second board meeting that changed what we were building. It was not a comfortable question.
Chief Executive, portfolio companyThe only chairman I have met who talks about the business he lost more than the ones he kept.
Partner, Dhaka investment firm