Dhaka: Ten years ago, everyone said he was digging his own grave. Leaving secure, high-flying careers at giants like Grameenphone and bKash was risky enough. But walking away from the country’s leading FMCG brand, managing over 400 SKUs, and a tobacco giant commanding 1.8 million retail outlets, seemed like madness.
Today, that “crazy” decision has been vindicated on the international stage. Mirza Ferdous Ohid, the Founder and CEO of HawkEyes, has accepted the “CEO of the Year 2025” award in Jakarta.
Conferred by CMO Asia, this accolade honors more than just business success. It recognizes a story of stubborn determination and the courage to swim against the tide.
Where It All Began
Ferdous’s journey started early. At just 18 years and two months old, he became the youngest Corporate Affairs employee at Grameenphone. By 2009, his future looked set. But he was searching for something more.
In 2011, he joined bKash. Back then, bKash was not the giant it is today; Ferdous was employee #18 of the entire organization. He watched from the front row as a startup with limited resources transformed into a unicorn. That experience taught him a vital business lesson. He realized that massive investment is not the key to success. Instead, efficient management and smart utilization of seed funds are the real drivers.
Later, while working at BAT, he got a close-up view of the Bangladeshi retail market. He realized that distribution, or simply getting products to stores, was not the only challenge. He identified massive waste and mismanagement in how retail was handled, a phenomenon he termed “Retail Blindness.”
The Solution: Curing Retail Blindness
Ferdous realized that FMCG companies were losing millions simply because they could not “see” what was happening in the 4 million retail outlets across Bangladesh.
He built HawkEyes to solve this. It is an AI-powered Digital Monitoring platform that acts as the eyes and ears for brands. Instead of relying on manual reports or guesswork, the system uses image recognition and real-time data to track Trade Merchandising (TM).
The impact on the industry has been transformative. For the first time, companies can instantly verify if their products are actually on the shelf (On-Shelf Availability) and if their promotional materials are displayed correctly. The technology moved the industry from “post-mortem” analysis, where they looked at old data, to real-time action. It eliminated the massive waste associated with blind retail management and gave decision-makers total visibility over their market execution.
The Risk and the Reward
Building this was not easy. Ferdous did not chase the glamour of Silicon Valley or go door-to-door begging for venture capital. Instead, he bet on himself.
He initially launched HawkEyes as a sole proprietorship, fueled by his own savings and intellect. As the vision grew in 2018, he onboarded two trusted friends and former colleagues from BAT who invested in the company. While they remain shareholders to this day, they do not sit on the board, trusting the strategic direction entirely to Ferdous. Beyond this close circle of supporters, the company has never raised funds or sought institutional investment.
He set out with a singular goal: to build an AI solution specifically for Bangladesh that would cure “Retail Blindness.” Many dismissed the idea, calling it foolish to try and solve a problem that the industry was ignoring. But Ferdous knew exactly what he was building.
A Decade of Transformation
Ten years later, the results of that “mistake” are staggering. By retaining control and growing organically, HawkEyes has sustained profitable growth for a decade. Today, they stand as the largest retail monitoring company in Bangladesh, working with over 15 multinational clients, including Fortune 500 companies. Their technology currently monitors over 1.5 million retail outlets.
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Perhaps the most surprising statistic lies in their company culture. In a tech industry notorious for job-hopping, HawkEyes boasts a 0% employee turnover rate. Ferdous’s philosophy of hiring “good hearts” over perfect resumes and protecting his team like family has set a unique precedent.
The Recognition
When CMO Asia announced him as the CEO of the Year 2025 in Jakarta, it was not just a personal victory. It was a win for the belief that taking the hard path pays off.
Reacting to the award, Mirza Ferdous Ohid said, “We prioritized people’s hearts over their CVs. We didn’t look to Silicon Valley; we solved problems close to the soil of Bangladesh. This honor is a recognition of that courage.”
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