Tycoon Akij dies at 77

Dhaka, Oct 11 (bdnews24.com) - The country has lost a business tycoon: Sheikh Akij Uddin.

A role model for industrialists and founder of leading industrial conglomerate Akij Group, Akij died from old-age complications in hospital in Singapore at age 77 Tuesday.

Akij ventured into business with only Tk 16 in the late 1940s and ended up establishing 30 companies.

Among local companies, Akij Group has paid the highest tax to the national coffers for 10 years. The group paid Tk 1,060 crore in tax in the fiscal 2005-06, an official with Akij Group told bdnews24.com.

Dhaka Tobacco, owned by Akij Group, paid about Tk 800 crore in value-added tax in the last fiscal year, according to the National Board of Revenue.

"He (Akij) led a very simple life and tried his best to give the nation something," Sheikh Nasiruddin, son of the late businessman, told bdnews24.com Wednesday.

Akij is survived by his wife and their 15 children.

"Although Bangladesh didn't give him anything significant, Japan recognised him as an innovative industrialist. The history of my father has been recorded in the Tokyo Commerce and Industry," Nasir said.

Akij Group started off with handmade bidi (traditional cigar) and grew into a high-profile conglomerate of multiple products from jute goods to information technology.

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