Goodman Pharma: From a sick company to a successful one

Goodman Pharmaceuticals Limited is a glaring example of how a sick company can be turned into a successful one within a short period of time.

When the previous owners failed to run the company, they sold it to Akkas Uddin Mollah, an entrepreneur in the apparel sector, in 2018. In less than three years, the new management has been able to export drugs to Afghanistan.

Now Goodman Pharma is thinking big as it is in talks to export medicines to some African and Asian countries.

“Goodman Pharmaceuticals has a 10-year agreement with a leading importer in Kabul, Afghanistan. We will continue to export medicines there,” Akkas Uddin Mollah, managing director of the company, told the Business Insider Bangladesh in an interview at his office on Thursday.

The company exported the first batch of drugs to Afghanistan on July 1. They exported 26 types of drugs worth $53,260. The second consignment is in the process of being exported, Mollah added.

“The process of exporting drugs to Somalia is almost done. Preparations are underway to export drugs to several other countries in the African region,” he said.

Mollah said talks are on with Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Myanmar, Kenya, Nigeria, Chad, Yemen, Uganda and Tanzania.

New management of Goodman Pharmaceuticals has achieved this success in less than one year of formal production.

When he took over Goodman Pharma, it had only four types of drugs. Now 62 types of medicines are being produced by the company.

“And, 100 percent of our employees are local people. We are producing international quality medicines with local manpower using foreign technology,” said Mollah, also a director of Shahjalal Islami Bank.

All types of capsules produced by Goodman Pharmaceuticals use vegetable shells instead of animal bone shells, he added.

He said the pharmaceutical business is very new for him as he has been in garment sector since 1984.

Later, he founded Osman Group that has 15 companies, mostly textile and its backward linkage industries.

The group exports readymade garments to 33 countries around the world.

“I always love to take challenges. When I started garment business in 1984, it was a challenging sector. The drug manufacturing industry has huge potential and I have stepped in this business to give something to the country,” said Mollah.

Dipankar Biswas, chief financial officer (CFO) of Goodman Pharmaceuticals, told the Business Insider Bangladesh, “Our company started production in July 2020. However, the supply in the market started on September 1, 2020.”

He also said that six drugs of Goodman Pharma are already playing a role in establishing their brand names.