Who is Kihak Sang, the mogul of Asia's clothing empire?

Kihak Sang, chairman of the world-renowned Korean company Yangwon Corporation, has been involved with Bangladesh and its industry for the past 45 years. This Korean citizen has received an 'honorary citizenship certificate' for his special contribution to the development of the country's industrial sector.

Despite not being a citizen of Bangladesh, he has received the status of 'honorary citizen' for his outstanding contribution to the progress of Bangladesh as a foreign investor. He is better known as the 'mogul of the Asian garment empire'. He has been involved with Bangladesh for more than half of his 78-year life.

Let's find out who Kihak Sang is, and why did he receive this national honor?

Kihak Sang is called the mogul of Asia's garment empire. Under his leadership, new innovations have been made in the garment industry in Bangladesh. Kihak Sang was the pioneer of the market or demand for synthetic fabric jackets made in Bangladesh in developed markets of the world including the United States, Canada, and Europe. Kihak Sang is also one of the highest foreign investors in Bangladesh. He has been conducting business in Bangladesh since 1980. Kihak Sang started his journey with the industry of Bangladesh, which has now taken the form of an industrial society.

He has been involved with Bangladesh for more than half of his 78 years. He was a companion in the journey of the garment industry in this country in the eighties. And he was one of the few. Not only that, he was the first foreign investor among the garment industry entrepreneurs in Bangladesh in the eighties. He started his journey with the industry of Bangladesh, now it has taken the form of an industrial society.

Kihak Sang, chairman of the world-renowned Korean company Yangwon Corporation, who has been involved with Bangladesh and its industry for the past 45 years, has received a different kind of recognition. He has been given honorary citizenship for his contribution to the development of Bangladesh's industrial sector, employment of a large number of people, and foreign income.

Professor Muhammad Yunus, the chief advisor to the current interim government, presented him with this recognition on the official opening day of the four-day investment conference. Through this, he received the status of 'honorary citizen' for playing a special role in the progress of Bangladesh as a foreign investor, even though he is not a citizen of this country.

Those involved in the process of giving him this honor on behalf of the interim government say that in order to attract foreign investment, the investment environment must be improved and simplified. It is also important to make the path of foreign investors safe and smooth. At the same time, if they can be given proper recognition and honor, other foreign investors will also feel honored.

The main organizer of this year's investment conference is the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA). The organization wants to present the country's foreign investors as 'investment ambassadors' to the world. For this, they have taken the initiative to recognize the country's investment ambassador by granting honorary citizenship to Kihak Sang, chairman of Yangwon Corporation. BIDA believes that with Kihak Sang's help, many other investors, including Koreans, will come to the country or work to bring in large investments.

Evidence has already been found that Bida's idea is not completely unfounded. A delegation of interested Korean investors has come to this year's investment conference. Kihak Sang, chairman of Yangwon Corporation, has brought these investors from Korea to Bangladesh on his own initiative. The visiting group of Korean investors met with Chief Advisor Professor Muhammad Yunus at the State Guest House Jamuna on Tuesday morning. There, they also promised to invest heavily in Bangladesh.

The journey of Korean citizen Kihak Sang was very ordinary. His father had a cold storage business in Korea. Kihak decided at a young age that he would not join his father's business in his career. After completing his education, he underwent 18 months of training in the South Korean army, as per South Korean tradition. After completing his training, he started his career as a sales executive in a garment factory in the country at the age of 25. While working as a sales executive in the garment sector, he got involved in this sector. Through his work, he met many foreign buyers and learned many details. He later used that contact and experience as an entrepreneur.

Kihak Sang came to Bangladesh for the first time in the mid-80s. At that time, he was the first foreign investor among the garment industry entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. By establishing Garments in Chittagong, he invested in this country and started activities in the ready-made garment sector. Since then, he has been actively participating in the country's economy. He has made a great contribution to the development of the industrial sector of Bangladesh and the employment of a large number of people, as well as foreign income. In addition to the largest factory in the Chittagong EPZ, Youngwan Corporation, he has also established the Korean Export Processing Zone or KEPZ in Anwara. He has 48 factories of Youngwan there. Currently, more than 73,000 people work in various factories in Bangladesh of Youngwan Corporation, built by Kihak Sang.

According to the National Board of Revenue (NBR), Yangwan Corporation exported goods worth US$862.4 million from Bangladesh in the latest fiscal year 2023-24. Of this, apparel products worth US$806.4 million were exported. The remaining US$56 million was exported of shoes, bags and other products outside of apparel. Of Yangwan's exports of around US$860 million from Bangladesh, only US$380 million came from KEPZ.

Chittagong's KEPZ is run under the supervision of Yangwan Corporation. Therefore, the majority of the factories in this EPZ also belong to Yangwan. They have 48 factories. Apart from this, there are two factories rented by two foreign buyer companies.

Yangwan Group has not limited its activities to just building factories. A 100-bed hospital has been built for workers in the KEPZ area. A new 600-bed hospital and textile institute are being built. In addition, Yangwan officials said that more foreign investment will be brought to this EPZ in the future. Until now, that has not been possible due to the land-related complications of KEPZ. After the current interim government took office, the land-related problems of KEPZ were resolved in February. As a result, the door to attracting foreign investment in this industrial city has also been opened, said Yangwan officials.

According to sources related to Yangwan, Yangwan Corporation has factories in seven countries around the world, including Bangladesh. The remaining six countries are India, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Uzbekistan, El Salvador, and Korea. Together, all the factories in these seven countries employ 95,000 people in Yangwan. 70 percent of Yangwan Corporation's business worldwide is in Bangladesh. Due to this, the majority of employment has also been created in the factories in this country.

Youngwon Corporation is a company listed on the Seoul Stock Exchange in South Korea. It issued shares in the Korean market through an initial public offering (IPO) in 1988.

According to the company's financial report given to the Seoul Stock Exchange, Youngwon Corporation did business of 3.6 trillion won (Korean currency) worldwide in 2023. One won is equivalent to 81 paisa in Bangladesh. Accordingly, Youngwon's business volume in 2023 was about 2.91 trillion taka in Bangladeshi currency.