Faisal Zaman recommends Safwan Saif for a position. Safwan excelled in his role at British American Tobacco Bangladesh, developing innovative plans to improve distribution and overcome challenges in his territory. As a leader, Safwan motivated his team through personal connections and ensured smooth product launches and campaigns. Notably, Safwan worked with local farmers to distribute products in remote areas, achieving better than expected results with this new initiative. Overall, Faisal believes Safwan is a strong professional and athlete who would be an asset for any institution due to his friendly nature.

1. Recommendation for Safwan Saif -
Faisal Zaman
Route to Market Project Executive, Marketing
British American Tobacco Bangladesh
Dear Concern,
Safwan Saif started his career in British American Tobacco Bangladesh under my supervision
where he worked for a year. During this time, I got to know both his professional and personal
traits.
Safwan’s exponential learning curve quickly impressed everyone around him. Just three months
into the job he presented a robust plan to improve service and distribution in his 962 square
miles’ market in front of the regional team. His envisioned plan demonstrated detailed
understanding of business operations, sound analysis and innovative thinking. Safwan was in
charge of a location which posed many challenges. Being the most popular tourist destination
in the country, business cycles had seasonal impact, smuggling of illicit tobacco was a major
concern due to sharing a border with Myanmar, geographically Safwan’s market contained hilly
terrains, islands, poor transport facilities. Through hard work and strategic planning, Safwan
took on each challenge head on. He minimized the impacts of the challenging circumstances
and in some occasions even succeeded to resolve them.
As a Territory Officer, he monitored and lead all the functions under his territory which
comprised of 5 departments and around 100 members. His leadership skill is commendable.
Just by being himself, Safwan united and motivated his team. Apart from arranging picnics and
sporting events he got to know his deputies individually through informal meetings and one on
one chats. During product launches and campaigns his leadership skill was reinforced through
smooth campaign execution and excellent results. I was particularly impressed during a new
product launch to combat our toughest opponent. The competition came up with counter
offers and discounts against our product but Safwan had strong market understanding and a
calm mindset which enabled him to tackle each obstacle, which resulted in a successful product
launch. It is worth mentioning that Safwan and his team looked after over 12,000 dispersed
retail outlets. Maintaining consistency in terms of service, awareness, placement throughout is
a daunting goal which Safwan managed to achieve quite successfully.
Innovative and creative thinking is Safwan’s strongest forte in my opinion. As mentioned before
Safwan worked in a difficult location geographically. Distribution of our products to remote hilly
terrains were comparatively weaker than the urban markets. Safwan engaged with the local
farmers who worked and resided in those locations and came up with an ingenious plan to
distribute our products through the farmers. The results were much better than initial
expectation. Such an initiative was completely new in the organization and Safwan was justly
awarded by the company for his efforts.
I believe Safwan is an all rounded individual with the ability to flourish at anything he does.
Apart from being a sound business-minded professional, he is also an excellent athlete. The

2. Recommendation for Safwan Saif -
Faisal Zaman
Route to Market Project Executive, Marketing
British American Tobacco Bangladesh
company was proud when he represented us in the BAT cricket and football teams, helping to
bring trophies and awards from both International and national competitions. His friendly
nature, fun loving spirit and positive attitude radiates his surroundings, making him an asset for
any institution.
For further queries, please revert back to me at Faisal_zaman@bat.com.
Regards,
Faisal Zaman
Route to Market Project Executive
Marketing
British American Tobacco Bangladesh