2014年8月29日（周五）Harvard Business School 1

Essay 1: A typical workday
My typical workday begins at 8:30 in the morning with a visit to either Credit Agricole Indosuez, a French bank with whom my company has a classified credit facility, or to Janata, a nationalized bank which is considering our proposal for debt financing of an Acrylic yarn project. Although I face the same challenge of raising money at both banks, my approach differs between the different banks. When dealing with Indosuez, I must be very objective with in-depth knowledge of the issues while with Janata, my frequent visits are what matters most. Although I did not study business, my keenness towards finance and my achievements within the business department of my company have assigned me these responsibilities. Between 11:30 and 12:00, I visit our textile mill, which is about an hour’s drive from the city. I work there as the technical director, and my primary responsibilities include monitoring plant efficiency, product quality, maintenance, and my favorite -- working on customer response analysis, a recently devised and relatively unique strategy for quality assurance. The job is demanding and sometimes challenging. We are continuously on the lookout for new products and means to becoming cost efficient. By 2:30 or so I leave the mill for our city office. I work with our executives in preparing and following up on various proposals, preparing quotations etc. I also attend meetings with equipment sellers. One of my routine jobs is to sit with my colleagues in the procurement department for testing and selection of raw materials, mainly cotton and dyestuffs. By 4:30,I usually begin work on my personal business, which I maintain through a separate desk in our head office. At this desk I maintain my trade intermediary business for readymade garment export and footwear. I spend about an hour here before I retire for the day.
Essay 2:Most significant leadership experiences
During the last three years I have devoted a significant amount of time and energy to the betterment of young entrepreneurs, who in this country are mistreated, stripped of opportunities, and looked down upon. In my quest to start my own business, I faced many obstacles that I later found to plague all entrepreneurs in my country. Established family heads discourage their younger members from starting separate businesses; they would rather their younger members join them in the so called "safe business." Moreover, companies and government organizations will not award contracts to young people since older people earn respect for their age rather than their ideas in this traditional sub-continental culture. With an uncooperative family and no sources of funding, young entrepreneurs face little chance of success. In these difficult conditions, I realized there were many young people who were full of potential but lacked support. By meeting with these people, I motivated them to believe that together we could help improve collective situation. In October 1996, the seventeen of us founded the "Young Entrepreneurs Society" (YES). I served as the coordinator for the first two years. We figured that in order to get our message heard, we needed to prove ourselves a significant lot. We started with social activities like helping poor students with registration fees for matriculation exams and organizing blood donation activities, etc. We held our first seminar on the "Prospect of Software Development Business in Bangladesh and the Government’s Role, "and five months later we had our second seminar on the "Obstacles for Young Entrepreneurs in Bangladesh’ with the finance minister as the chief guest. Following our seminar, the central bank extended loan facilities of up to Tk. 5 lac (US$ 10,000 Apr.) to new businesses whose proprietor or director recently graduated. Our organization continues to push its agenda. In addition to taking initiative, I managed to lead a group of people to a collective objective that had previously not been identified. Through my leadership, I effected change in Bangladesh.