Almost every major multinational has similar growth trajectory
Shafiqul Alam/AFP Bureau Chief Bagladesh
There is this wonderful idea of co-option in the United States and much of the Western World. You have a new idea, which works fine financially and which has potential to be hugely profitable. But as you grow you need fresh talents to inject new life into the business. And once new talents become part of your business success, you offer them ownership and pretty often step back, allowing them to run the business and take it forward. Almost every major multinational has similar growth trajectory — more so in recent years, especially in the Silicon Valley.
You will find plenty of these stories in Fortune or Forbes magazines or if you read some of the biographies of top business leaders. IBM, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Twitter and Facebook are some of the recent examples. Apple’s Tim Cook now has more ownership stake than the family of its founder Steve Jobs.Kazi Anwar Husain came up with this wonderful idea of Bengali language and very affordable Masud Rana thriller franchise back in the 1960s.
He wrote the first few books and then hired a posse of writers to work for him and brush up the brand that he developed. He spotted talents like Shaikh Abdul Hakim and Rakib Hassan and they became the founding pillars of Masud Rana’s and Sheba’s success.
But unlike the American models, where record selling authors like James Patterson collaborate and give credit to other authors he never co-opted the new and more talented authors as his co-owners. Yet, the chiselled and gripping Masud Rana prose style that we got used to since the 1980s have actually been perfected by writers like Hakim. Kazida chose to stay as an editor and tried to get much of the credit by just editing the finished stuff written by Hakim and Co.
It is a pity that Kazida and Sheba prospered and people like Hakim ended life in penury. Thanks to the contribution of the brilliance of Hakim and others, Kazida’s legend continued to grow well into his 80s and his halo expanded into the horizon and yet writers like Hakim ground into poverty, which made Sheba a toxic place to work.
Hakim got his justice after his death, with poverty contributing the early demise of one of the country’s best ever prose writers. Kazida followed just a year later. But not before his reputation was torn asunder following a high court order and Hakim finally finding peace at his grave!!