Sara Zaker is a distinguished cultural and social activist, communication specialist, and entrepreneur with over five decades of dedicated service in Bangladesh’s arts, media, and development sectors. Her work since 1973 has powerfully combined theatre and strategic communication to promote social justice, good governance, and community development. Currently, Zaker serves as the Chairperson of Asiatic 3sixty, one of Bangladesh’s leading communication groups, where she provides strategic oversight and ensures quality across various initiatives. She is also the Founding Chairperson of the Mongol Deep Foundation, which leverages the power of arts and culture to drive positive societal change. In an exclusive interview with Dhaka Tribune, she discusses the current state of Bangladesh’s corporate sector and the recent controversies regarding Asiatic 3sixty.
Dhaka Tribune: You have been working in the corporate sector for a long time. In the Bangladesh context, what should an entrepreneur consider to become successful?
Sara Zaker: Our mother company, Asiatic, once felt the need to set up a market research company, and it was formed in 1981 and named Market Research Consultants of Bangladesh, which is where I joined in 1985.
Apart from having a deep understanding of the country’s unique socio-economic context, an entrepreneur must be resilient and true to his/her cause. The most important thing to be successful in business is to be consistent and relevant to the industry. Setting the goal is important, and even more important is not to shift focus at the drop of a hat.
Forty years ago, we realized ads could not be based on gut feel; they needed research back-up. We thought separate business units were required to bolster our service provision standards. Then our various entities such as Mindshare (media services), Asiatic Exp (events and activation), and Forethought PR were formed.
Based on your experience, how would you assess the current state of Bangladesh’s corporate sector?
The corporate sector is seeing significant transformation, driven by economic reforms, digitalization, demographic dividend, and integration with global markets. I believe we have scope to become globally competitive with regulatory support.
As you are leading one of the most successful business groups, how do you manage institutional success, human resource development, and business challenges?
Institutional success in the service sector is attained by empowering leaders and potential leaders who show talent and grit. It’s an HR-dependent service. Those who strive to gain knowledge and keep their focus on what they are doing need to be recognized. Our priorities were to build Asiatic with values, people, purpose, and legacy.
This has always been the philosophy of our late Chairman Aly Zaker, and it paid off well for the business.
Recently, several accounts of Asiatic 3sixty have been frozen, and you have publicly addressed the matter. What is the current status of this issue?
In fact, some of our payments have been unfrozen. We can pay salaries, taxes, and have been given limited latitude in terms of making third-party payments.
However, let me list some impacts the freezing of accounts would leave on Asiatic, even if limited unfreezing is done. This may (a) cause operational paralysis, (b) result in customer commitment at risk, (c) create vendor payment constraints affecting the supply chain, (d) leave funds trapped, (e) create loan default risk, (f) put jobs and livelihoods at serious risk, (g) cause government revenue loss, (h) leave the banking system overburdened, and (i) result in business continuity being in jeopardy.
So, we earnestly request immediate and full unfreezing of all Asiatic Group business accounts by NBR-CIC to ensure continuity of operations, safeguard livelihoods, and protect government revenue.
As a communication agency, you serve both local and international companies, while the government retains the authority to impose regulatory measures. How do you reconcile the two?
Up until the regulatory measures were imposed (such as freezing of company accounts), all companies (local and international) were with us. It takes a long time to build the trust of companies. However, the sudden freezing of accounts has unnerved our clients. We fear this may affect our business. Let me reiterate that as a compliant group of companies, we uphold transparency and accountability in the communication ecosystem.
How many people are involved with Asiatic and in what ways do you support the mainstream media?
Under Asiatic Group, we have around 800 permanent employees and about 3,000 employees who work with us on a contractual basis. They are people like “brand promoters,” “sales representatives,” and the like.
As the biggest media buying entity in Bangladesh, we work closely with our media partners to ensure maximum synergy between their content and the brands that we represent. Asiatic believes that a strong media is essential for strong brand communication. To this end, we
provide the most extensive support to our media partners that our business permits. It is important to point out, however, that we have never sought to influence the editorial or programming policy of media outlets.
How would you describe the journey of Asiatic in reaching its current position?
Starting 56 years ago as a single entity, we’ve grown into a multidisciplinary communications group. There was a time when new services were required by the advertising agency. Aly Zaker made each specialized service into a separate company. Our production talents were channeled through an independent company.
There are often discussions around monopolistic practices. What is your group’s stance on promoting healthy corporate competition and improving service quality?
Such allegations are simply exaggerated. Barring our media service agencies, none of our service verticals have more than 10% business share in their respective markets. Even our media agencies’ share of market isn’t much greater than 50%. In terms of media services, I would argue that economies of scale are a genuine factor in this business. This is not uncommon for market leaders in, say, Pakistan and China. Scale allows us to access and afford better strategic tools and resources, as well as negotiate more effectively on behalf of our clients. Having said that, we did not always have such a large share of the market. Our growth model was contingent on heavy spending on human resources, and consequently, service quality, initially. That allowed us to remain competitive and grow over the years.
I think other players can follow the template of investing in human resources. For strategic planning excellence, access to data—robust media data—is essential. We have always advocated for that. We are hopeful that our policymakers will pay strong heed to this advocacy.
What should the ideal relationship between corporate entities and the government look like? How much does Asiatic contribute annually to the national exchequer?
Corporates such as Asiatic companies and others should have a level playing field, where no contract is given to a corporate based on favour. The taste of the pudding is in the eating. If you do a shoddy job, it comes through—and in the end, the favour cannot deliver.
Asiatic Group pays approximately Tk 170 crore in VAT and taxes annually.
Last year, we witnessed a mass revolution, driven by youth leadership, that has sparked fresh optimism in society. What new initiatives can corporate actors take to meet the expectations of this new generation, particularly Gen Z?
Gen Z are a totally different people with a mindset which is largely different from ours. We need to understand that and address problems from their perspective. As the famous saying goes—“If you want to bring about change, you need to change with the times.” In the future, Gen Z will lead the society and the country, so they should be at the center of our thinking. Only in that way can we address them—their needs, their problems, their mistakes.
