A.K.Ahmed honored with BCCI Business Excellence Award
From a timber loader to setting up one of the biggest plywood companies of India
Mangaluru : A K Ahmed, Founder Chairman of prestigious AK Group, was honored with the Business Excellence Award by the Bearys Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Friday at the Beary Mela that is being held at Townhall, Mangaluru.
Home Minister M B Patil, Urban development Minister U T Khader and many other dignitaries were present during the event.
M Ahmed - an inspiring story of timber loader going on to set up one of the biggest plywood companies of India
M Ahmed, better known as A K Ahmed is the founder chairman of AK group of companies and also the founder chairman of Highland Educational cultural Centre .
AK Group was established under the able guidance of M. Ahmed more than 3 decades ago in the year 1984.Before establishing the company , M . Ahmed was with his father late Abdul Khader Moopa by loading sawn timber in his initial career .
By then came the news of availability of Timber in Perambavoor, Kerala which was suitable for Plywoods and blockboards but was been used as fire wood there. Having understood the potential very quickly ,one of the first frame manufacturing and Peeling machine was established there with PG group .
Later he established his own company in Mangalore in the year 1984 and quickly made its mark in the national and international level .
Ahmed has reached great heights in business because of the virtues and values developed and nurtured in his early life. If one takes a closer look at his journey, three distinct virtues pop up besides perseverance and hard work. These are pioneering spirit, willingness and the most important of all is value for time, for all those people who have closely associated with Mr Ahmed will know the importance of being punctual.
From a humble frame manufacturing unit in 1984 the company has grown across many manufacturing firms which includes plywoods, formaldehyde, particle boards, compress ply, fire rated ply and fire rated doors and even established a manufacturing unit in Myanmar and Vietnam solely for wood based products.
Today AK plywood is considered as one of the best plywood manufacturers in whole of India and the largest from South India. The company is holding one of the widest product range and is in the process of expanding the range even more. Under his able guidance, the company has itself established as a leading supplier to all the leading hotel chains like ITC, taj, raddison, Hilton and many more.
AK group was karanataka’s first plywood company which was ISO certified and holds many certificates for its products. AK group was awarded as rising stars power brands in London in the year 2017 and best manufacturer by MSME in Karnataka in the year 2018.
Apart from plywood and wood based industry , AK Group is expanding its business towards marine food industry, pharmacy, hyper markets in India and UAE , food industry in Indonesia and construction materials also in UAE.
AK Group was started in 1984 with just 18 employees. Today it employs approximately 3000 people in India and around 400 out of India.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
