 A First-Generation Migrant Dr. Nur Rahman Struggles & perseverance to make it happen The background
I met my wife to be Dr. Lovely Rahman while at the university and we both ended up working at the livestock directorate. We both dreamt of overseas training and study and hence applied for skilled migration visas to Australia. Meanwhile our first child Prosha Azmaine Rahman was born. A new biggening I moved to Australia on the 10th of September 1994 by myself leaving the family behind in order to be able to arrange proper accommodation and etc before they arrived. The family arrived a month later as we moved to a flat in Surry Hills, nestled amongst some other Bangladeshis living in the area. With their arrival, my homesickness did lessen a bit, but the life longing memories of home lingers on till today. Finding an old classmate and friend, Ashequl Arefin Chowdhury who lived in Kensington, NSW indeed helped a lot. Krishibid Abdur Rouf bhai was very helpful in our initial settling down, which indeed makes a big difference for a family trying to find a new foothold in a new country. Some of our neighbours in Surry Hills were Krishibid Parveen apa (pursuing MSc program under scholarship), Krishibid Dr Nurul Islam (ex-teacher of Bangladesh Agricultural University), Engineer Hamid bhai, Habibur Rahman and Shah Alam. At a later date we moved to Kensington to be closer to the University of New South Wales where I later pursued further studies and training. Though I initially started the foundation course towards the Master of Avian Medicine at the University of Sydney, fortunately for me, a chance meeting with Professor Graham Fleet and Associate Professor Dr Julian Cox coaxed me into pursuing food microbiology, noting the synergy between veterinary science and food microbiology within the Australian meat industry, especially since meat produced are supervised by veterinarians. This would, in fact, align with some of my previous experience where I had occasionally inspected imported meats as part of my role in the Central Veterinary Hospital, Dhaka. Hence, I shifted course and began my path down to Master of Applied Science (MAppSc) in Food Microbiology at the UNSW. Towards the end of my MAppSc course I also pursued a Certificate course through the Technical and Further Education, NSW to align my knowledge in Meat Inspection in Australia.  At work in Tamworth  With neighbours in Tamworth Job Hunting Not wanting to rely on social benefits to support my family, I looked for work whilst studying. I worked for Grandier coating, the RSPCA, and some other agencies. It certainly wasn’t easy having to write a thesis as well while working, but Lovely was able to ease the burden, raising our son and also working. It was difficult, but we were determined to make it happen in a new country and association with friends and associates made it lot easier. We became strongly associated with Krishibids, Bangladesh Association of Australia and Bangabandhu Parishad Australia. We jointly celebrated our first year in Australia and Prosha’s 2nd birthday with a big party in Kensington. I applied for a managerial position at the Tamworth City Council, but I wasn’t expecting a response as a migrant with little experience in Australia. However, to our surprise, I received a call for an interview. The drive to Tamworth would be almost equivalent to crossing Bangladesh from one end to the other. But we thought we would brave it, more so to test out our newly bought Toyota Camry. We made the cross-country drive to attend the interview. To make the long story short, the interview went very cordially with lovely sitting next to me. A few days later I received an offer from the abattoir, where they noted the commendations and references obtained from Professor Fleet and Dr Cox. Whilst I had the offer in hand, I did not actually have any practical experience working in an abattoir, let alone a managerial position. I knew that I needed some more skills before I moved to Tamworth, so through my educational contacts, I attended Wollondilly abattoir for a few weeks, south-west of Sydney. The hours were early, starting at 05:00, but the experience and insight was paramount to my work.  Citizenship ceremony in Tamworth; with the then Mayor Life in the country town To our surprise, our first taste of country life was very pleasant. We moved into our new rental house on a late afternoon. The next morning, whilst I was in the office, our neighbour Letty, in her late 70s, came over to introduce herself. Lovely was struggling to hang the curtains as they weren’t the correct size. Letty took them away, cut them into proper sizes, hemmed those, and brought those back. This is just a small insight into the friendliness and resourcefulness of Tamworthians. Our other neighbours, Noel and Aurial, would look after Prosha during the day, where Prosha would shadow Noel in the garden. In fact, Noel helped us navigate the ultra-friendly etiquette of country towns, a far cry from Sydney. I was met with great warmth at my new job, but it was also overwhelming for me since I had nine meat inspectors and technical staff directly reporting to me. Eventually, I became more comfortable and competent at my job and I owe a great deal to the general manager Wally Goddard for his guidance during my time in Tamworth. My time in Australia would continue with great ownership/management changes as the abattoir would be sold to Cargill Food, the then largest meat processing company in the world, within a year of my tenure. Fortunately, I (among only 3 other managers) was asked to continue and was awarded 3-week paid leave. We made good use of this time to embark on an epic road trip along the southern and eastern seaboards of Australia, traversing through South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, and eventually Queensland. The trip would be capped with the amazing gift of our citizenship certificates with the mayor of Tamworth. Lovely makes the move Whilst I continued at my position as Quality Assurance Manager at Cargill, both Lovely and I were offered to pursue the last two years of Bachelor of Veterinarian Science at the University of Queensland. We decided for Lovely to go ahead with it so that she could practice in Australia as a Vet. I declined as I already had a good career path focusing on Meat/Food industry. As she went to Brisbane, my mother-in-law flew in from Bangladesh to look after Prosha. There was a total of 5 migrant families in Tamworth from the subcontinent background in Tamworth but none other than us from Bangladesh. We missed our social and cultural settings and hence, I applied for jobs back in Sydney and accepted a management role at the new plant. Soon after the company grew immensely from 80 to 250 employees and commenced exporting to Japan fulfilling their projections. Meanwhile Lovely completed her BVSc under very pressing conditions as she was heavily pregnant during that time with our second child. I shifted from the meat industry to dairy in a reputable company in NSW as the head of operations; all the while continuing my passion for education by studying for MBA at the Australian Graduate School of Management at the UNSW. The new company at which I worked continued to grow and eventually moved back to it’s owner’s home city, Adelaide. Under an agreed arrangement I continued to work for them for a year during the weekdays, making generous use of their 5-star hotel accommodation, and flew back to Sydney over the weekend to be with the family.  Photos at the USyd, UQ and UNSW Back to Sydney After five years in the dairy industry, it was time for change, this time to coffee! I worked at Gloria Jean’s Coffees for the next eight years as the global technical and commercial manager. I then moved to Woolworths as the Head of a Technical division. During this time Lovely began working at a vet clinic in Western Sydney, which we would eventually purchase as our own. During this more stable period, Lovely and I, along with our children, were able to travel more frequently as a couple and family for holidays in several countries. We had also become heavily invested in the cultural sphere of Bangladeshi Australians. My wife and I served in executive positions of the Bangabandhu Parishad, a Bangladeshi social and cultural organisation, where we oversaw very popular fairs, concerts, and Bangladeshi national days. We have done our best to be actively involved with the passions and interest of our children. Our son, Prosha played club cricket and won several awards. Daughter Esha loved singing in dancing. Both of them actively participated in various cultural events organised by Bangla schools and other cultural organisations.  At Lovely’s Veterinary clinic with dignitaries from Bangladesh and with clients and staff  Our son Prosha’s sports and cultural activities  Our daughter Easha’s dance performance in her childhood  Easha’s graduation from UNSW To overseas After several years working close to home, I received an offer for the position of Group CEO of a Brunei-government owned company in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei Darussalam. It is a multinational company in the food business, with arms in Brunei and the UK. The choice to move would have immense opportunity, but also be met with the dilemma of being away from the family. However, the family backed me up on this, yet another career move. Any move of such significance has its own issues. However, I made the best of the opportunity and soon were able to expand the scope of business into the UAE as well. The board members of the company were senior government ministers, and together we ambitiously pursed expansion projects. Within three years we were able to establish a national food strategy, and within the following two year were able to create multiple subsidiaries as well as a large multipurpose food processing facility. This was key to Brunei, which is traditionally a food importing country. Our achievements were featured on national print and television media on a regular basis. One of the University in Brunei UNISSA appointed me as the council (senate) member for 3 years. I was also humbled to have been given the authority to sign several Memoranda of Understanding on behalf the Brunei government, including one with Bangladesh which was witnessed by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and several ministers in the Brunei government. It remains as a special career highlight for me. Despite the multitude of successes and the gravity of my role, I knew that my home, away from home, has always been Sydney, Australia. I returned to Australia, 29 years after my first international move here, much to the delight of my wife and the two children. Prosha completed his PhD in Mathematics and statistics and now working at the UNSW. Esha works for the Australian federal government department in Canberra, having graduated in Laws and Criminology from the UNSW.  Signing MOU with Bangladesh; with HM the Sultan of Brunei and signing MOU with Ministry of Home  Photos as the University council(Senate) member and while attending Royal events at the Palace Good bye to Brunei My wife flew over to Brunei for my last week in Brunei as we partied with all the friends we had made there over the past few years, including government ministers, senior officials, diplomats, professionals from many countries and several Bangladeshis. Lovely and I had the opportunity to attend many functions at the Royal Palace including wedding of the prince and princesses. It was a bittersweet period as I would have to redefine my life once again, as well as give up my local Bruneian country club membership including golf course membership. A new opportunity in the horizon A few weeks after settling down in Sydney, I received a call from the Australian High Commissioner in Brunei, informing me that I may be considered for a role within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In fact, he told me that background checks were already happening behind the scenes. A few weeks later I received a call from Mr Nicholas Moore, the head of the envoy for a new strategy in ASEAN: Invested- Australia’s Strategy for Southeast Asia to 2040 focusing on increasing Australian trade and investment, announcing that I have been selected as one of the Business Champions by the foreign Minister Penny Wong and later announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the 2024 ASEAN—Australia special summit in Melbourne, broadcast live on ABC TV news on 5th March 2024. Indeed, it is a great privilege and honour, especially for a first-generation migrant, for which I remain ever grateful to my family, friends, associates and the Government of Australia.  With the Prime Minister, other Ministers and other Business Champions during ASEAN -Australia special summit in Melbourne when my position announcement was made. My career and life have had many transitions, running the gamut of highs and lows, friction and freedom. I have always been passionate and dedicated in pursuing and gaining education, learning new skills and in achieving my objectives. I am grateful to Allah, the Almighty and am forever indebted to my children, Easha and Prosha, and my wife, Lovely, for their support along the way. It would have been impossible to arrive where I am today without their unwavering love and support. Dr. Nur Rahman, Sydney, Australia |
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Home Page Published on: 22-Apr-2024