“What’s a business that does not challenge the norm?” said Shamim Kabir, Managing Director and Founder of Step Footwear. Growing up in a typical business setting, Mr. Shamim Kabir hails from a family of business experts who has been involved in the shoe and luggage business for generations.
His father, Mr. Abdus Sattar is the joint founder of the Baly Group of Industries. Quite evidently, Mr. Shamim Kabir found himself involved in a business environment while he was still young pursuing his undergraduate degree. After his graduation in 2002, Shamim moved to China to expand his father’s business. He spent 4 years helping his father in setting up factories as well as established business networks with different international brands, who eventually exported the business products everywhere in the world. After few years the group set up a luggage factory in Bangladesh, which catered to global brands.
However, his keen interest in root-level manufacturing tickled the bone of innovation in his business spinal cord. Giving in to his intuition, Shamim began looking for an opportunity for innovation in business. It was then he noticed a gap in the fashion industry – the shoes to be precise. “I noticed a grey line in the shoe industry, a gap if you may. I realized almost every shoe out there lacked comfort, and every comfortable shoe lacked style. That was my opportunity!” said Mr. Kabir recalling his eureka moment.
After extensive traveling and research with his better half alongside, Mr. Shamim Kabir founded Step Footwear as a solution to all his questions. He said, “The motive behind creating Step is to provide people with shoes that make them happy by giving them a tremendous dose of comfort throughout the day.”
Step Footwear is one of the wings of Step Group – which works with different aspects in the Footwear Industry of Bangladesh. It is the first Plastic Shoe Last manufacturer in Bangladesh, which uses cutting-edge technology and provides shoe lasts, one of the most crucial parts of shoe manufacturing, to most of the factories in the country. Step Group includes Step Shoe Last, Baly Trade Link, and Grebond International which are some of our other wings.
Mr. Shamim Kabir’s vision became a revolutionary change in the shoe industry of Bangladesh. His brand not only created comfortably stylish shoes but also made them affordable and accessible for all. He adds, “Step Footwear has challenged the norm and innovated the nature of Footwear business in the country by employing a completely new distribution system of counters all across the country and by introducing its signature line of ‘squish-tech’ EVA material based products that provide ultimate comfort to its users.”
Over his journey from promotional counters to more than eighty retail outlets, Mr. Kabir added yet another vision to his business goal – changing the dynamic of economic contributors in Bangladesh. He started hiring core personnel of young entrepreneurs to his team and trained them to be active agents of economic contributors of Bangladesh. “There are lots of hungry youngsters in the workforce who I believe deserve a chance to contribute to our economy through creating an impact in our company. Thus, I like to give ample opportunity for these youngsters to learn and work and create meaningful contributions in our country,” commented Mr. Kabir.
Through leaps and bounds, Mr. Shamim Kabir has become one of the most successful young entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, but what’s more marvelous is his dedication to not only creating revolutionary changes in the business industry but also preparing the youth for the future of Bangladesh.
