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Biography
Mohammad Fazlul Azim (born 1945) is a Bangladeshi industrialist, business magnate and former politician. He is the chairman of Azim Group, a company with concerns in the garments sector. He was an independent member of parliament of the Jatiyo Sangshad. Azim was the only independent lawmaker in the parliament during that term in the Jatiyo Sangshad. He also served in the parliament from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
Education
Azim completed his high school education at Noakhali Zilla School. Azim is a graduate of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. He graduated in 1965 and earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in mechanical engineering.
Career
Business
Azim is a pioneer in Bangladesh's ready-made garments industries. He founded the Azim Group in 1975.
The first factory of Azim Group was Azim Mannan Garments Ltd., which was named after Azim himself and his former partner Major (Retd) Abdul Mannan. In 2014, Azim Group had an export turnover of over US$220 million. Azim Group now has 23 garments factories and 3 backward linkage factories. Azim has also expanded his business overseas by setting up a sourcing and marketing hub in Hong Kong and a liaison office in New York City.
Azim Group has a packaging and paper business as well. The company has a factory which produces cartons and paper for the packaging of its goods.
Mohammad Fazlul Azim also served as vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the largest trade association in the country representing the ready-made garment industry, particularly the woven garments, knitwear and sweater sub-sectors with equal importance.
In 2018, Azim was part of a high-level business delegation led by Commerce Minister of Bangladesh, Tofail Ahmed, for a three-day visit to Cambodia. The delegation attended a bilateral meeting with business leaders from Cambodia, headed by the Cambodian Commerce Minister.
Politics
Azim is a former member of parliament (MP) of Bangladesh. He was originally elected as an MP from the constituency Noakhali-6 in the 1996 Bangladeshi general election under the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). However, in the 2001 general election he came in third and was not reelected. For the 2008 Bangladeshi general election, Azim ran as an independent candidate as he did not receive the party ticket from BNP. Yet he still won, making him the only independent lawmaker in the parliament during the 2008-2014 term. Alongside his role as an MP, Azim was a member of the Standing Committee on Ministry of Water Resourcesand the Standing Committee on Ministry of Textile & Jute. In 2018, Azim announced his interest to participate in the 2018 general election and he received the nomination from the BNP to compete for Noakhali-6.
In his political career, he served as an MP for three terms.
Legacy
Azim has an all-female college under his name called Prokousholi Mohammad Fazlul Azim Mohila College. The college is located in Mohammad Fazlul Azim's hometown Hatiya which is in Noakhali District.