M&J Group is one of the top tier denim garment manufacturing and exporting groups comprising of three cut and stitching plants and two washing plants. The proposed Project involves capacity expansion of three entities of M&J Group through increasing denim manufacturing capacity at Columbia Garments Limited (“CGL”) and Columbia Apparels Limited (“CAL”) and washing capacity at Columbia Washing Plant Limited (“CWPL”) (collectively the “Borrowers” or the “Companies”). The Borrowers’ capacity will increase from 11.65 million pieces per year to 15.45 million pieces per year for both readymade garments (RMG) and washing, with this expansion. The proposed expansion will be carried out at the existing locations of the three Companies in Gazipur, Bangladesh.  

 IFC’s Advisory Services have been engaged with the M&J Group since 2016 on various programs, and through these engagements IFC’s relationship with the group has strengthened. All three entities (the Companies) are part of the BetterWork program while CWPL has been part of the PACT program since 2020. CAL and Genesis Fashion Ltd. are part of GEAR program.

• Collaboration through PaCT program: M&J Group is a very conscious and progressive state of the art company in terms of reducing their climate footprint. They self-nominated their washing unit Columbia Washing to join the PaCT Program with an intention to gradually decarbonize their production process and become more sustainable. The factory underwent an In-depth Cleaner Production Assessment and Chemical Management Assessment in 2020. They are now in process of implementing of resource efficiency and chemical management measures.

• Collaboration through GEAR: Two factories from M&J group (CAL and Genesis Fashion Ltd.) were a part of the GEAR pilot (previously known as “Work-Progression and Productivity Toolkit” – WPT) which was designed and implemented by IFC in collaboration with ILO between 2016-2018. At CAL, five female operators were trained with technical skills and soft skills for supervisory roles. The trainees also received on-the-job trialling and their managers were trained on HR tools used to identify, evaluate, and retain female talent and promote career-progression opportunities for women in the factory floors. Impact assessment by University of Oxford showed that lines led by these GEAR-trained supervisors had higher productivity and other business benefits such as reduced absenteeism, decreased defect rates, etc. Initially, the five female operators from CAL were promoted to supervisors which enabled them to be in higher positions with a better pay. Till date, two (out of the five) supervisors have continued and currently working at CAL as supervisors.

• Collaboration through Better Work program: All the three companies from M&J group as proposed borrowers - CAL, CGL, and CWPL are active members of the Better Work Bangladesh (BWB) program since 2016, 2017, and 2017, respectively and currently in their fifth cycle of the BWB program.