Rahimafrooz
Rahimafrooz (Bangladesh) Ltd., founded in 1954 by Late A. C. Abdur Rahim as a trading company in Chittagong, is one of the largest business groups in Bangladesh. It consists of nine SBUs and several other affiliations. The Group's Chairman is Afroz Rahim and the Managing Director is Feroz Rahim
Rahimafrooz operates in three broad domains: automotive after market, power and energy, and retail chain. It sells tyres, batteries, lubricants, emergency power products, diesel as well as gas generators, lighting products, electrical accessories, solar systems, energy solutions using compressed natural gas, and power rectifiers. The Group also runs 'Agora' the first retail chain in Bangladesh.
The Group has strengthened its market leadership at home while reaching out to international markets. Ranging from automotive after market products, energy and power solutions, to a retail chain.
Rahimafrooz produces and markets a range of battery products – automotive, motorcycle, and appliance batteries, Industrial (stationary, deep cycle, traction, VRLA) batteries, IPS and UPS batteries, and rectifiers. Lucas and Spark are the leading names in the local battery market while Volta, Optus and Delta batteries are fast gaining equity as International brands. The Group’s portfolio includes international tyre brands Dunlop and Kenda, and its own brand RZ Tyre. Rahimafrooz is the exclusive franchisee of the full range of lubricant brand Castrol in Bangladesh.
Through Rahimafrooz IPS, UPS and Voltage Stabiliser, the Company enjoys clear leadership of the emergency power products market. The Company brings to Bangladesh leading gas and diesel generator brands – Pramac as well as Mitsubishi. It also markets home and industrial lighting products from General Electric USA (GE) and electrical accessories from Hager France.
Rahimafrooz, in 2001, made a breakthrough in the urban lifestyles by launching one of very few retail chains in the country – Agora.
Rahimafrooz’s Renewable Energy division has been providing Solar solutions. It has supplied over 52,000 solar home systems (SHS) to the rural, off-grid areas of Bangladesh where the national grid cannot reach. The Company has helped light the darkness by making available the SHS through micro-credit, whereby a family can pay as low as USD 7.00 per month for lighting up their homes, workplaces, business, etc. The Company, in recognition of its solar efforts, received the McGraw-Hill Platt Global Energy Award in 2004 and the Global Ashden Award in 2006. Rahimafrooz also offers equipments for CNG refuelling, conversion, conversion centres, and maintenance.
The Group operates a non-profit organization Rural Services Foundation (RSF) through which the solar home systems reach the customers in the rural areas of Bangladesh.
Rahimafrooz is also endeavouring into tyre retread, besides manufacturing and marketing emery cloths and abrasive papers. In a joint venture, the Group has enterprised into the first ever fibre optical commercial networking backbone in Bangladesh in the form of Metronet Bangladesh Ltd. (MBL).
One of the SBUs of Rahiamfrooz Group, Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy Ltd. distributes solar home systems to underdeveloped rural regions of Bangladesh. For that, the company received the Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy[1] in 2006.
References
- ↑ "The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy". Ashden Awards. Retrieved 2007-12-19.