Sayeed Siddiqui’s Cat’s Eye: Manufacturing and retail.
Sayeed Siddiqui and his wife set up and own Cat’s Eye a leading Bangladeshi brand of men’s wear. They are both return migrants from Canada where they worked in retail.

It was 1973 and I was just over 20 years old, the war of liberation had taken place only a couple of years previously and there was tremendous change in the psyche and thought pattern of the Bangladeshi people. Everything seemed to be moving at a rapid pace. It was during this state of transformation and mobility that I asked myself why I did not check out the rest of the world. My wife and I applied for immigration to Canada and were successful.

In 1974, when we moved over, I was studying English literature and also working in a factory. The work load was quite heavy, to say the least. At the beginning of 1975 we moved from Montreal to Toronto and in Toronto I looked for a full time job. I had no prior experience in anything, and finding a job was essentially an adventure. Finally I got job in Belinda and Brothers, a brand shopping centre. After the first day I thought I had finally found what I was looking for, for the rest of my life. This was the beginning of 1975 and since that day I haven’t deviated from this conviction for even a single day.

My life changed the day I met Mr. Aldow, a French Canadian, who owned more than a thousand stores worldwide. I spent a whole day with him and subsequently, of course, we spent many days together. It was he who instilled in me a tremendous sense of optimism. He taught me to throw away negativity and to believe that nothing was impossible and that everything was doable. I worked for him till 1980 and I am eternally grateful for what I learnt in Canada. I was learning ever new things in retailing and my career path registered an upward mobility. In 1975 my wife also got a job in a departmental store where the biggest designers displayed their merchandise. I was learning how to run a store and she was learning how to replenish the stock.

Then we realised that we wanted to do something on our own either in Canada or in Bangladesh. When we came to Bangladesh for a holiday, I noticed there was so much to be done here. Finally, we returned to Bangladesh in 1980 with about $3000. We opened our first store in the Green Super Market and in 1983 we moved our shop to Elephant Road. It was very difficult in the first ten years, but now we have 27 outlets in Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittagong. A total number of 589 people work at Cat’s Eye in manufacturing, retail and administration. Our experiences from abroad helped us a lot. Within 10-12 years we became recognised as a leading Bangladeshi brand of menswear.

The introduction of the Cat's Eye brand in the early 1980s changed notions of consumerism in Bangladesh. This new approach to retail encouraged customers to browse with the added advice of a dedicated salesperson. Quality menswear that had traditionally been earmarked for the export market finally became available in Dhaka.