Starting With Football so Others Can Follow; Interview with Mr Shahadat, Key Contributor to Bangladesh’s First International Football Academy

Mr Shahadat is the founder and owner of the Fortis Group a multi-million-dollar corporation. Originally from Bangladesh, he has a strong interest in football and is working closely with the Bangladesh Football Federation to produce the countries first International football academy. He has taken his love of the game and as a significant and successful businessman in Bangladesh is helping lay the foundations for an exciting new chapter in the story of football in this vibrant, welcoming and truly unique country.   KEY TAKEAWAYS I wanted to do something of my own to help my family survive and was ambitious from an early age. I worked in the textile industry for ten years travelling the world and learning all about the industry. There was no production of activewear in Bangladesh and  I started my business as the first activewear manufacturer in the country. Now we employ 25,000 people, have a turnover of 150 million dollars and supply across the world with Germany being our biggest customer. To start the business was very challenging but we achieved success because we knew what we needed to produce. There is pressure globally on the textile industry so diversification is key for businesses who want to continue to be successful and grow. We have diversified into hospitals and real estate whenever there has been an opportunity. I was brought up close to a stadium and football was the number one game. When I became successful I began to ask myself where is football? It was no longer as popular. Initially, I brought in experts to develop the pitch and the improvements meant more people came. The next step was the creation of a football academy. We plan to create sports clubs with extensive facilities. Hard work, dedication and learning to manage any situation is the key to being successful.   BEST MOMENTS ‘There was no human on the streets everyone was either at the stadium or watching the television' ‘I dream that one of my sons will become a professional footballer' ‘As a nation, we fell in love with football and over our lives, it's a good girlfriend but due to family pressure we got married to cricket!'   VALUABLE RESOURCES Leader Manager Coach Podcast   ABOUT THE HOST Rob Ryles is a UEFA A licensed coach with a League Managers Association qualification and a science and medicine background. He has worked in the football industry in Europe, USA and Africa; at International, Premiership, League, Non-League and grassroots levels with both World Cup and European Championship experience. Rob Ryles prides himself on having a forward-thinking and progressive approach to the game built through his own experience as well as lessons learned from a number of highly successful managers and coaches. The Leader Manager Coach Podcast is where we take a deep dive examining knowledge, philosophies, wisdom and insight to help you lead, manage and coach in football, sport and life.    CONTACT METHOD LMC Rob Ryles Website LMC YouTube  Rob Ryles LinkedIn  LEARN MORE HERE Football, coach: https://www.patreon.com/robryles Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.