Ha-Meem Group is aBangladeshiconglomerate intextile andgarments sector.[1][2] It owns 26 garments factories,[3] sweater factory, poly bag industry, label factory, jute mill, chemical formulation plant, tea estates, transport company,Channel 24 andSamakal, a widely circulated national daily newspaper.[4][5] The newspaper are under Times Media Limited of Ha-Meem Group.[6] It employs 50,000 people.[7]
A. K. Azad is the chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and managing director of the group.[8][9] Colonel (retired) Md. Delwar Hossain is the deputy managing director of the group.[10]
Ha-Meem Group was established in 1984 by A. K. Azad and Md. Delwar Hossain with a single garment factory.[11]
Garment workers vandalized their factory in Ashulia after which the group filed a case against 1600 unidentified people in 2009.[10] The group denied the workers were from their own factory.[10][12] The protests started after 1000 garment workers in an unrelated factory were fired.[13] The group chairman, A. K. Azad, filed police case requesting security fromBashundhara Group after Samakal wrote news articles against the Bashundhara Group.[14]
On 14 December 2010, 26 workers died in a fire atThats it Sportswear, a Ha-Meem Group factory, inAshulia and 100 were injured.[15][16] The fire exit and gate of the factory were locked which increased the death toll.[16]
In June 2012, labour unrest broke out at the subsidiary of the group, Artistic Design Limited, in Ashulia.[17][18]
Labour unrests in the group's factories in Ashulia stopped production as workers went on strike demanding increase in salary in May 2013.[19][20] About 80 per cent of the group's export went to the United States.[21]
In December 2016, the group terminated 368 workers over labour unrest.[7]
Ha-Meem Group invested 60 million USD to expand Denim production in 2017.[22] Bangladesh Bank rejected a proposal by Ha-meem group to invest 10 million USD in Haiti to export to the United States.[23][24] That's It Fashions Limited announced plans to buy 11 million shares ofPubali Bank.[25] Ha-Meem Group invested in tea plantations.[26]
On 21 March 2018, the house of the group's chairman, A. K. Azad, was demolished inGulshan by theRajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, led by director Aliur Rahman, for not having an approved design.[27][28] Ha-Meem group claimed the demolition took place despite them showing legal documents and stopped after it was shown to the chairman of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha.[29]Anti Corruption Commission summoned Azad on the same day as the demolition.[30] Azad is the senior Vice-President ofFaridpur District unit ofAwami League and director ofShahjalal Islami Bank.[30]
In April 2020, workers ofSharmin Group and Ha-meem Group participated in violent labour protests.[31]
A worker of the group was seriously injured in police firing at a workers protest.[32] The workers of That's It Garments Limited and Creative Collections Limited were protesting when the police shot them on 10 May 2021.[33][34]
It sold $200 million worth of garment products in the Bangladeshi market.[34] Refat Garments Limited is the biggest exporting unit of the group with exports worth 172 million USD in 2017-2018 fiscal year.[34]
US$550 million