Gazi Mahfuzur Rahman

About

Chief Executive Officer of Unimart since 2024, having previously led the building materials division of the Anwar Group as CEO, covering its Ispat, cement and DuraRoof businesses. He spent six years at LafargeHolcim Bangladesh as Sales Director and then Sales & Marketing Director, and earlier ran sales and marketing operations at Akij Corporation and sales development for ACI's consumer business. His career began at Unilever Bangladesh, where he moved from Regional Sales Manager to Trade Marketing Manager over seven years. He holds an MBA in Marketing from the Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka.

Expertise

Experience

1. Chief Executive Officer

   Unimart Limited

   2024 — Present

   • Spearhead overall business strategy, operations, and financial performance to ensure sustained growth and profitability. • Drive category-wise assortment strategy and pricing to enhance customer value and competitiveness. • Lead product sourcing (local & imported), vendor negotiations, and margin improvement initiatives. • Optimize operational efficiency through workforce restructuring, cost control, and technology integration. • Ensure customer-centric innovation in retail experience, merchandising, and in-store service. • Manage marketing, loyalty, and footfall-driving campaigns tailored to store- specific dynamics. • Oversee forecasting, stock planning, and supply chain efficiency to improve working capital. • Maintain compliance and uphold Unimart’s premium positioning and brand promise in a dynamic retail landscape. • Lead a diverse team, building a culture of agility, ownership, and excellence across all functions.

2. Chief Executive Officer

   Anwar Group of Industries

   2023 — 2024Dhaka, Bangladesh

   As CEO of the Building Material Division at Anwar Group, responsible for Ispat, Cement, and DuraRoof, my core duties encompass: • Led strategy, operations, and financial performance across three business units. • Drove business growth through market expansion, product innovation, and strategic partnerships. • Ensured profitability via cost optimization, supply chain efficiency, and disciplined financial management. • Fostered a high-performance culture through strong leadership and cross- functional collaboration. • Maintained compliance and strengthened customer and stakeholder relationships.

3. Sales & Marketing Director

   LafargeHolcim Bangladesh Limited

   2019 — 2023

4. Sales Director

   LafargeHolcim Bangladesh Limited

   2017 — 2018Dhaka

5. Director Operations - Sales & Marketing

   Akij Corporation Limited

   2015 — 2017Corporate Office - Dhaka

   • Delivery Top Line & Bottom Line Growth • Develop & Implement the Marketing, Sales, and Distribution strategy for all the segments • Strengthen foot-hold in High & Premium segment through JTI & PMI brands • Establish a performance driven organization through Training & development across all the layers

6. Director, Sales Development, Consumer Business

   ACI Limited

   2015 — 2015Dhaka, Bangladesh

7. Trade Marketing Manager

   Unilever Bangladesh Ltd

   2011 — 2014Bangladesh

   • Lead and develop Category Management skills and practices both internally and externally, adapting best practice to local conditions and acting as a local reference point. • Assess and diagnose issues relating to Channel Strategy Development including determining channel developments, consumer purchasing behavior, and competitor actions & reactions. • Lead the understanding and development of customer service and customer satisfaction delivery and monitoring. • Lead the standardization, simplification and automation of Sales processes. • Rationalizing the TTS through implementing a TTS matrix which is basically to ensure right trade investment behind right category at right channel.

8. Regional Sales Manager

   Unilever Bangladesh Ltd

   2007 — 2011

   Bogra Region : I was responsible for both Primary & Secondary sales of of Bogra Sales Region. Bogra Region comprises of 6 territories with 21 distributors that contribute 16% of Unilever turnover. There were around 500 distributors’ sales force working across the region. Bogra region grew by 35% in 2009 which was the highest growth by any region in the history of Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. Dhaka Metro : Dhaka Metro Region became the growth leader in 2011 for the first time in last 10 years under my leadership. Since Dhaka Metro was struggling in previous two years (2008 & 2009) because of the poor performance of its largest 6 distributors out of 10 distributors, I took over the responsibility as RSM and changed all those 6 mega distributors within a span of 2 months time and reverted back strongly with growth momentum.

9. Channel Development Manager

   Unilever Bangladesh Ltd

   2003 — 2007Dhaka

   • Create effective distribution channel in order to ensure optimum distribution of all the brands of Unilever. • Formulate and implement promotional plan for each of the distribution channel in order to gain leadership share in shelf space and display of the brands inside the outlets.

10. Trade Marketing Manager

    ACI

    2003 — 2003

11. Assistant Manager, Marketing

    Square Toiletries Limited

    2001 — 2003Dhaka, Bangladesh

    I was working as head of Marketing Department of Square Toiletries Ltd. My Key responsibilities were - Media Planning, Copy Development, Consumer & retail survey, Trade Marketing, Fixing sales Target & Distribution objectives, new product identification, coordination with all the departments, etc.

12. Assistant Brand Manager

    Procter & Gamble

    1995 — 1998Bangladesh

    • Copy Development - Develop effective concepts and create copy strategy on meaningful consumer insights. Effectively evaluate new advertising and identify campaigns. • Marketing Plan Development - Make plans to generate trial and establish loyal consumer base. Develop promotion plan for long term franchise building, choose quality trial vehicles. • Media buying - Formulate media objectives; manage development and execution of media plan against objective and strategy. • Consumer Research - Develop plan for generating deep understanding of consumer purchase motivations, habits & practices, usage & attitudes.