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Challenging the Boundaries
He is full of youthful vigor and creativity, and is always brimming with new ideas. Meet Khalid Quadir, the dynamic founding partner and CEO of bracNet who has played a crucial role in establishing it, as one of the most dynamic internet service provider of the country in a very short span of time. After a two-year spell, Khalid is all set and ready to take up a brand new venture, bringing investment into Bangladesh. By Nazia Manzoor
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Thanks to Khalid's initiative and vision, in a little over two years, bracNet, a project he conceived at Stanford University, has gone a long way. But then what propelled him to take up such a challenge? 'The concept of bringing foreign investment into Bangladesh is quite novel. My ten year career working in Wall Street and time spent at Stanford helped me see how venture capital translates entrepreneurs' vision into reality', says Khalid. His inspiration mainly came from neighbouring India. 'Take a cue from the city of Bangalore and note how they have managed to bring in not only investment, but also expertise in various fields' Khalid declares. Whether it is from people who have the technical know-how, or who have experience in working such multinational giants like Yahoo or Microsoft, Indians have made it a point to bring new knowledge systems into their country. But what makes him think Bangladesh can learn through their example? Khalid feels that there are many successful Bangladeshis living abroad who would either love to come back to their roots or are willing to make a contribution to the progress of the country.
Investment is one good option for them. 'This is where we would like to play a role by stretching out and by acting as co-funding partners.' says Khalid. 'We want to work like a catalyst to bring them', he adds.
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For Khalid there are some basic principles to be followed to make a business click. First and foremost is the need to have necessary expertise. Next is having sufficient experience and vision. In today's world one needs both management skills and marketing expertise. The expatriate community, which has experience in working with foreign companies, can bring in real expertise, and they can bring that not only in products but also in the case of ideas and vision'.
Khalid is especially enthusiastic about the IT sector in India. 'Technology is not the only sector we can work on. Investments could be in export-oriented, education-related and consumer product-based items', he says. 'As long as it is a legitimate business and there is a market for it, we would be interested' he adds with a smile. However, he is prompt to add that we are sandwiched between the two epicentres of growth, India and China. 'Some spillover effects are obvious. But our economic growth could be a few fold, if the right type risk capital could be infused into our economy' he adds.
Khalid feels that it is about time the concept of risk capital should be introduced in Bangladesh. 'There are local entrepreneurs in Bangladesh who would love to start new businesses but cannot because of a scarcity of capital' he notes. Khalid believes that Bangladeshi entrepreneurs have the potential to make it big as far as the economy is concerned. Here in Bangladesh the idea of business is still based on trading alone, and not much stress is put on longterm investment plans. 'The culture of capital has to evolve' he claims. It is unfair to expect everything from the government, he declares. Khalid claims that there is a lot of money lying idle in Bangladesh. It may seem to be small compared to the huge population but in absolute terms there's still a vast amount of it in the country. If his initiative can set the pace, more and more people will join him.
So what interests him the most about this venture? 'For me, it's a huge opportunity. My previous experience working for Venture Capital firms in the U.S. is particularly relevant here. There is a huge demand in the country for foreign based investment and I want to take part in it' says he. Khalid doesn't think they are the only group who are thinking about setting up a private investment group in Bangladesh.' But we sure would love to be one of the pioneers' he says. He believes more and more international companies will follow suit eventually.
Though a lot has been done to set up this project already, he hopes to kick start the venture by the beginning of next year. As of now Khalid is planning to go to the U. S to set up the ground while his wife, Maliha Quadir, goes back to Harvard Business School to finish her MBA. After four years of Investment Banking experience at Morgan Stanley, one of the most prestigious firms in the world, Maliha had accompanied Khalid to Bangladesh; she played a key role in establishing www.bracnet.net as a leading portal here. It's Khalid's turn to pay off the debt now. However, he plans to return soon and work for his new project with undivided attention.
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