Major updates 2015

No words today. Just take a look at these links which are self explanatory. HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

A YEAR OF MILESTONES 
This featured the Padma bridge, crossing lower-middle income landmark, forex reserves, Saudi opening doors to Bangladeshi manpower, trade route agreements, attaining the MDGs, etc.

Events that shaped global economy in 2015
Features here highlighted 11-year oil price low, Chinese currency in IMF basket, Asian infrastructure investment bank setup, the Greek crisis, Fed raising interest ratea, Myanmar's new stock exchange, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Act to liberalize commerce, Chinese growth slowdown, etc.

Toursim outlooks

Dhaka outshines its peers in hospitality market

Many a worry has been posed on the tourism of Bangladesh. Comparisons have been made with other countries with thriving Tourism and Hospitality industry. With last year's politically thwarted holiday season, all these woes were nothing but almost confirming evidence of the industry's struggling reality.

This season however, holiday businesses are looking confident again. A new report has already found Dhaka's average hotel occupancy to be the fastest growing hospitality market in the South Asian region. The region's occupancy average is 69% with an annual rate of return of US $153. A US based research group focusing on hospitality, Bangladesh has found to have outstanding potential for development in this sector.

Social media stats

70pc users spend more than an hour on social media: study

The vast world of social media is an infinite prospect for research. A fertile ground for social media in Bangladesh, businesses and investors are keen to learn the clockwork of this online space. In a recent survey, a Chinese mobile internet company took on local people's habits on online socializing. UCWeb, found that 70% of the 7,395 respondents spend more than 1 hour daily on social media. Of those, 23% spend more than 5 hours a day!

BPO Summit 2015

An opportunity worth billions
A novel conference was held in Dhaka on December 9-10, 2015. It was called the "Business Process Outsourcing Summit 2015". An industry which is still in its early stages in Bangladesh, has been acknowledged and has been emphasized through this conference. The participating speakers who are experts in their field, discussed scaling up the BPO industry to US $1bn by 2021. They called for a road-map with collaborations of the industry and related policy support to achieve this.

Government Incubator for Startups

CONNECTING STARTUPS

"Connecting Startups" is a competition to host the best startup in Bangladesh has been officially launched by the government to  initiate a startup incubator for the country. An absolutely critical initiative, Bangladesh government took up the huge worldwide startup trend to a serious business, by which it made a statement for Digital Bangladesh. Although startups can be broadly categorized as business and entrepreneurship ventures, "Connecting Startups" is under the official support of the ICT division, BASIS and BCC with infrastructural support from the High Tech parks. This translates into most upcoming businesses to adopt an increasingly digital space for their campaigns, which is why the involvement of such governmental departments.

Headlines Dec 13 - Dec 24

Welcome to our Headline post. A few articles from last two weeks have been featured. It seems that many interesting advances are happening right now in Bangladesh and some of them are also rightly acknowledged. Take a look for yourself.

Dec 13  :  Financial Inclusion reward! - Awards for engaging in school banking
Dec 14  :  Country of steel - Contrary to global market, domestic steel competitive
Dec 15  :  WB Economist speaks for Bangladesh - Acclaim of the "new Asian Tiger"
Dec 21  :  First Mobile Banking App - EBL
Dec 24  :  Social Media ban toll on mobile internet

Social Media ban toll on mobile internet

Facebook ban took toll on mobile internet

Status updates on mobile internet continue to make news as official accounts are taken after the resume of Facebook and other social media access. Preliminary estimates already fearing the worst, official estimates now state the 22-day social media ban has caused active mobile internet connections to dive to 5.14 crore in November. In the preceding month it was 8.63 lakh users and also on a rising healthy trend. Mobile internet users make up the numbers by purchasing daily or weekly internet packs, but the closure forced them to halt this habit. The top 3 operators saw their data usage statistics fall by as much as 30%.

BTRC: Internet users drop by over 7 lakh in November

The total number of internet users took a toll in November, dropping by 7.17 lakh. In October, it was 5.46 crore, but in November it stood at 5.39 crore, according to BTRC reports. Of total mobile internet users, the drop was 8.63 lakh, from standing at 5.23 crore in October to 5.14 crore in November. Some changes in statistics are as follows:

• October: Mobile internet users - 5.23 crore; WiMax users - 1.59 lakh; ISP and PTSN internet users - 21 lakh.
• November:  Mobile internet users - 5.14 crore; WiMax users - 1.54 lakh; ISP and PTSN internet users - 23 lakh.

First Mobile Banking App - EBL

EBL launches SKYBANKING

And finally, there is a mobile banking app! It seemed like it took its time though. As the country is experiencing a wave of technological reforms in many sectors, the financial industry is fast adopting many of its perks. Not that others won't follow soon, but Eastern Bank Ltd. is the first commercial bank to launch the country's first mobile banking app, named "EBL SKYBANKING".

This app features fund transfer, bills payment, to receive information about account, loan, card, ATM and branch locations. These services are available on the app which is available for Android at the moment. To access mobile phone top-up fund transfer, bill payment, account/loan/card information, mobile phone top-up, EBL ZIP and Benefit Partner Information, Positive Pay Instruction, Meet & Greet and other service requests, the users must register to an EBL outlet.

WB Economist speaks for Bangladesh

Bangladesh poised to be the next Asian Tiger

Bangladesh is a country on the "threshold of doing very well", said Kaushik Basu, the chief economist of World Bank who is currently on visit to this country. He also added of the possibility of Bangladesh becoming the "new Asian Tiger". He lauded the progress of several economic indicators namely per capita income, foreign direct investment and foreign exchange reserves; social  indicators are the significant poverty and mortality rate improvements. Mr. Basu furthermore highlighted pathways for improvement: infrastructure, ease of doing business, business ethos and providing training to workers.

Country of steel

Bangladesh's steel sector beating global market

Stark contrast to the world steel market, Bangladesh is doing really well with a 15% increase in the steel capacity last year. With large infrastructure projects, including bridges and other major projects the steel makers are supplying happily and expecting further growth at least in the next 10 years. 2015 promises the industry to grow from a current level of just below 1 million tonnes, to over 3 million tonnes. Over four decades, the production has multiplied many folds and is expected to double in 2022.

Financial Inclusion reward!

Bangladesh gets another award for financial inclusion

Bangladesh Bank (BB) has recently included almost 1 million school students under the formal financial system, through massive school banking initiatives. From 2010 onwards, Bangladesh Bank's programs for greater financial reach in the country enabled students to open Bank accounts with deposits as low as Tk 100 with no charges/surcharges for operation. While promoting Financial Inclusion as per the Prime Minister's vision for growth of the country, multi-stakeholder school banking was a massive success. This has been rewarded not only as sustainable development of the economy, but also formally by receiving Child and Youth Financial Inclusion Award (CYFI) 2015.

Headlines Dec 3 - Dec 9

Last week, we were given back our access of Facebook, renewed by the Government, after a lengthy block due to security reasons. Also, there were some important coverage of news around enterprise and society. Here are the posts.

Dec 3  :  Telecoms & e-businesses losing money due to Facebook block
Dec 3  :  RMG workers database
Dec 8  :  Sale Sale Sale! and E-commerce future
Dec 9  :  Trade and facilitation

Trade and facilitation

Exports accelerate to three-month high

Targeting to earn US$ 33.5 bn in the FY 2015-16, while already have earned US$ 31.2 bn in the last fiscal, Bangladesh’s export growth is on a 3-month high. In November, exports were US$2.75 bn. This was a 13.63% year-on-year growth, 16.7% higher than in October and unsurprisingly predominated by apparel.  The apparel sector has been shared the biggest portion of that amount, amounting to US$2.22 bn, which itself is up 23% from the preceding month and over 14% from last year. Despite this growth, businesses are cautious, not to take this growth for granted as recent buyer negotiations went through hiccups (cancelled Buyer’s Forum). Positive aspects are not afar, since depreciation will help the cause and hard work towards achieving better factory safety measures are continuously attempted.

Sale Sale Sale! and E-commerce future

Sales via Kaymu skyrocket

We all know about the famous Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, that mostly frenzy customers in the US, but the trend is maintained and is spreading world wide. Bangladesh, a charming economy eventually, but aggressively, catches on to any international trend. The electronic gadget industry, IT and now progressive business popularity of E-commerce is creating new era of business and trends. Thus, a few renowned E-commerce websites extended their services to adopt the Black Friday sale trend, and it absolutely caught on.

One such E-commerce platform, Kaymu.com, witnessed 800% hike in daily orders, with order count reaching six every minute for the particular 24 hours. The unimaginable and overwhelming response, Kaymu officials said, increased by 150% for visitor rate and 330% for conversion rate. Welcomingly, access to the website was near-to-half on handheld devices and through the app.

Telecoms & e-businesses losing money due to Facebook block

Facebook block hits telecoms and e-businesses hard

Previously we covered how F-commerce, or Facebook based business is being hurt due to government blockades of technology. Here are some newer highlights on the sector while the blockade continues, and continues to render facebook and e-businesses into loss-making sectors.

Bangladesh's mobile operators are losing Tk 1.5 crore daily as revenues from data services are down by 70% following the government's blocking of Facebook. Broadband service providers are losing Tk 40 lakh per day. Facebook-based businesses are losing Tk 2 crore each day. Check out the full story in today's Dhaka Tribune

RMG workers database

RMG factories asked to complete workers’ biometric database by December

The workers of RMG factories are to be taken through an IT exercise, when their personal records will now be stored electronically. Biometrics of the employees are to be recorded by December 31 and collected
for processing their benefits, compensations and employer-employee relationship. Their curriculum vitae would also be stored.

Headlines Nov 22 - Dec 2

Hello readers,

From the last Headline post, we have covered the well discussed social media blockdown and how it is hurting businesses, encouraging youth entrepreneurship and the banking fair amongst others. Look through to find your favorite piece!

Nov 22 :   Facebook closure and F-commerce
Nov 24 :   Youth Entrepreneurs Summit 2015
Nov26  :   The Banking industry and Banking Fair 2015
Dec 1   :   Dispute statistics in RMG
Dec 2   :   Car importers worry

Car importers worry

STRANDED CARS AT MONGLA PORT Barvida demands Tk2 lakh duty slab to release each of vehicles

The spotlight today turns to Mongla port where businesses are impeded due to bureaucratic government processes. Some 2,079 reconditioned cars remain stranded due to complexities in customs valuation and unauthorized import of more than five year old cars. Of them, imported between 2009 and 2013, a 1000 cars have been asked to be fixed a duty of Tk 2 lakh each, for their expedited release into the market. In addition to this, release also depends on meeting vehicle demand. The alternative was a counter-proposal to depreciate the cars at 95%, suggested by the Bangladesh Reconditioned Vehicle Importers & Dealers Association.

Dispute statistics in RMG

Apparel disputes arise mainly from wages: study

At a seminar on "State of labor tripartism in Bangladesh's garment sector and the scope of harmonious industrial and labor relations" at the Daily Star center, presented a study on the state of garments workers which reflected dispute reasons in the industry. It produced reports of almost 53% disputes arising from wage discrepancies. The dispute was with unpaid wages and overtime which highlighted the lion's share. around 19% of the disputes was also with a related category, namely salary and wage hike issues.

The Banking industry and Banking Fair 2015

Banking Fair Bangladesh 2015 kicks off 

The first National Banking Fair was inaugurated in Bangla academy on the November 24. This 5-day long fair is not the most innovative, but an unusual promotion of the banking sector of Bangladesh, in an attempt to make the citizens aware and more confident about banking services.

‘Mobile ATM Booth’ service introduced in Bangladesh

The highlight of the banking sector comes with another unusual innovation, the ‘Mobile ATM Booth’.  An ATM literally on wheels, its goal is to make the banks “reach” their clients. This was launched by Al-Arafah Islami Bank Ltd. to expand ATM services for rural, as well as the urban regions.

Recent highlights of the Banking Fair Bangladesh 2015 include different banks extending their reach through banking strategies. 

Youth Entrepreneurs Summit 2015

Young entrepreneurs urged to come with innovative ideas

“Global Youth Entrepreneurs Summit -2015” held last Friday hosted business leaders, experts and the Information Minister himself, to organize an event on encouraging young gnenration entrepreneurs to invest efforts in more novel and innovative businesses. Organized by the Dhrubotara Youth Development Foundation (DYDF) in collaboration with the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), the Information minister spoke directly to new young businessmen in an attempt to energize their entrepreneurial activities.

Facebook closure and F-commerce

FB-based business badly hurt

The recent decision by the government, which is not a new one, to close social media empire of Facebook has greatly affected E-commerce, as this mode is still the largest utilization for operations of the industry. An estimated loss of Tk 2 crore daily has been reported and a 25% setback of the overall E-commerce sector is expected by market insiders. Thirty percent of E-commerce is dominated by Facebook-commerce. Orders, sale, logistics are all disrupted by this security intervention, an expected date still not known for resuming normal service.

Headlines Nov 16 - Nov 17

Hello there readers. Not a great many choices to chose from last week but we covered the country's global entrepreneurship ranking and a section of business tips for digital marketing. Read on to find out.

Nov 16  :  Global Entrepreneurship ranking  Bangladesh's recent position
Nov 17  :  Digital Marketing  Digital Marketing strategies

Digital Marketing

Talks about electronic and social media does not seem to end! While we are busy posting anything and everything left and right, targetted businesses are clawing their best to reach customers through their online presence. So who is doing better? Us or them? A random individual post to a friend or a digital media marketing promo to the community? Read on. Today we talk about the Return On Investment of Digital Marketing.

What’s the ROI of Digital Marketing?

The link seems to initiate reader engagement by claiming that, Social posts mean Nothing! But it starts further reasoning by throwing out a common diplomatic phrase: "it depends".

Global Entrepreneurship ranking

To start a new week, we look at how Bangladesh has been doing in the context of international entrepreneurship standards.

Bangladesh ranks 125th out of 132 countries in GEI 2016
Granted Bangladesh is slowly emerging as a middle income economy, where export diversification is less than dynamic, the Middle and Affluent Class is rising and RMG and leather are the main noteworthy export items driving our economy. Entrepreneurship is booming on the e-commerce front, which is a young sector by all means. Social business is attempting a breakthrough with important groundwork being held in its early stages/ Other than this, business processes are slowly being transformed with the help of online payment and mobile banking options, while registration and utility connections are still lagging far behind. Rental difficulties are related to finance, while financial flexibility is one of the struggling issues businesses face in any economy, including Bangladesh. Taking all this into consideration, let us focus on an international entrepreneurship index and witness how Bangladesh performed recently.

Headlines Nov 8 - Nov 12

Last weeks CES blog mentioned a couple of topics, which had really had no particular theme, but covered some business tips, business rankings and entrepreneurship experience. The list ended in something very interesting, with a student experience of early entrepreneurship initiatives. Here are the posts listed below.

Nov 8  :    Home business marketing tips on home business management
Nov 9  :    Bangldesh Doing Business 2016 Bangladesh 2016 rankings
Nov 10  :  CES Talk Series : The Road to Middle-Income : Bangladesh's Growth Story
Nov 12  :  Student entrepreneurs Life of a student entrepreneur

Student entrepreneurs

Student entrepreneurship is something that some have lived through, while others have seen it in one of their friends who were great company at the start of university, but later on rarely got to meet due to their friend's startup business. Student entrepreneurship is something Bangladesh has gained much popularity on, naturally since the mother-of-all-degrees in the country, the "BBA", supposedly trains young individuals for the business world. Starting a new business as opposed to being handed one from inheritance, is enormously different; and it is considerably gutsy to overcome the real life business risks and emotional shackles of being an entrepreneur, that too as a student. When already in the life of one, the battles a student faces are quite intriguing and thus acutely appropriate for our blog.

CES Talk Series : The Road to Middle-Income : Bangladesh's Growth Story

On November 10, 2015, Center for Enterprise and Society (CES) has arranged for a renowned speaker, Mr. K Mahmood Sattar to present a talk titled “The Road to Middle-Income:  Bangladesh’s Growth Story” under the banner of ULAB. The talk attended by  the Vice Chancellor of ULAB Mr. Imran Rahman; ULAB Registrar Lt Col Foyzul Islam (Retd); Pro Vice Chancellor Dr. Jahirul Haque; CES advisor Mr. Sajid Amit; Deans, Faculty members and Researchers at ULAB.

Mr. Sattar was invited to speak about his vast experience in the Banking sector which spans over 33 years, currently holding prestigious independent Directorship of reputed organizations, like Association of Bankers Bangladesh, BRAC bank and bKash. He connected his corporate career with the development of Bangladesh and its current status, and the prospect of a Middle Income country by 2021.

Bangldesh Doing Business 2016

DCCI for quick business regulatory reforms
Today we look at Bangladesh's performance in the international business ranking.

Graduating to a lower-middle income economy, Bangladesh has made progress. This was witnessed in last session's "Doing Business 2015" report by the World Bank, where Bangladesh improved its rankings. This fiscal years publication, reported however, that Bangladesh is facing a bumpy road to its progress, as it slid down two places in "Doing Business 2016" ranking of 189 countries. We ranked 174th.

Home business marketing

As you may have noticed, we have developed a style of information presentation where strategies for success at entrepreneurship and ease of business will receive precedence over current business news, which however, will also be highlighted within the week.

Top 3 Things You Need to Know to Prosper in a Home Business 

Home Business, albeit for the most part through e-commerce, is on the rise in Bangladesh. This is one of the defining factors for the shift in the country’s reality towards a lower-middle income economy. Home business specifically in urban areas can add that extra income source, or even an entire income source, for many entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. Like many other businesses, this faces all the hurdles and challenges which has to be overcome. All home business owners want to succeed. Another general fact. But the realistic struggles might be the downfall of many of those enthusiastic owners. Thus here we present a few key pointers which would channel all that effort and the outstanding business initiative home businesses may have towards efficient success stories.

Headlines Nov 1 - Nov 4

Last week, the CES blog has been refocused, revamped towards delivering entrepreneurship strategies, in addition to making the community aware about everyday news highlights which spring into the economy. This format will be continued for a while, but both styles will be varied and presented to our readers.

Here are the highlights of last week, which covered some enlightening aspects for the growing internet community in Bangladesh. E-commerce, blogging, social media enthusiasm and promotion of mobile applications have risen in the country extensively; so we highlighted a long list of promotional strategies for marketing those entrepreneurs who are developing mobile apps. Below you will find the links of the large list divided by themes into four days of posts.

Nov 1  :  Blog Refresh! Mobile Apps    Most basic steps or strategies to prioritize initially
Nov 2  :  Blog Refresh! Mobile Apps pt2    Basic social media activism and feedback
Nov 3  :  Blog Refresh! Mobile Apps pt 3   Online presence and community interaction
Nov 4  :  Blog Refresh! Mobile Apps pt 4   Technical nitty-grittys of app promotion

Blog Refresh! Mobile Apps pt 4

... Continued from yesterday

So in the final checklist of how to promote your mobile apps, which is a very popular market right now in Bangladesh, we highlight the technical side of app promotion. This list is ordered similar to the last few days. There are many aspects of marketing through channels that are coming into the country, but some of them are still not established yet. Only those which are relevant, and there are quite a few, have been presented today.

Blog Refresh! Mobile Apps pt 3

...Continued from yesterday

Moving on with the comprehensive list of business tips for promoting Mobile apps, in this post we post all about being social with your promotions. How to start, what to do, who to reach and how to maintain social promotion is all we cover in relevant order. A reminder once again that although the tips here are in order of importance, the reference list numbers from the original link is given.

Those who cannot access the original link, you can also find it here:

65 Simple But Effective Ways to Promote Your Mobile App

Blog Refresh! Mobile Apps pt 2

..Continued from yesterday

As we mentioned last time, we would be helping you with business tips to excel at your efforts. For mobile apps and some similar online promotion of your products, the list presented yesterday is rather long and was promised to be presented in bits each day.

Headlines Oct 25 - Oct 28

Here are the headlines from last week. A few business sectors and an interesting development on the rise of incomes of the middle class population has been covered. Feel free to read through the article which strikes your fancy.

Oct 25  :  Trudging State Banks  State banks register low growth
Oct 26  :  Middle and Affluent Class (MAC)   Bangladeshi MAC grow 2 million a year
Oct 27  :  Denim  Denim shines as a sector, 3rd expo on the way
Oct 28  :  Revised river transit fees  Revised rates for sharing waterways with India

Blog Refresh! Mobile Apps

Enough about business news! Let's talk about nurturing your business and helping it match your vision! 

We would try to focus on short snippets of strong business ideas and pragmatic business tips, at least for this week to make information really useful your life and business.

Chasing many other societies, Bangladesh has witnessed a tremendous inspiration in ICT and many of its applications. Entrepreneurs are hyped about E-commerce, individuals are zealous about making themselves heard about their interests online and businesses are marketing their products increasingly on social media. Marketplace has shifted in a virtual world and it seems like the tunnel is not so long when the virtual will match the business volume of the physical marketplace. The stone already rolling, ancillary efforts to promote business, business ideas or even life interests are increasingly done through blogs; and mobile apps.

Just for Small Business- All Business Blog     65 Simple But Effective Ways to Promote Your Mobile App

A very interesting read, this link does what it suggests, listing ways to promote mobile apps. In Bangladesh, apps are still mostly relevant towards business, put more simply, with an interest to generate revenue. This is a section of business process for some and the entire business pivot for others. In such an environment, this list can be all the help you need.

Revised river transit fees

River transit fees to be fixed next month

In the next inter-ministerial meeting, Bangladesh will submit the proposal to India for the river transit fees to a maximum of Tk 382 or US $2.9 per tonne. This had a minimum of Tk 282 per tonne, the structure was drafted in another such meeting last month, while the entire fee structure will be finalized in an upcoming secretarial meeting. 

The structure of the fee will be segregated to three components:

Denim

Bangladesh: a rising star in denim sector

Event organizers are facing good amount of stress-load to find accommodation to house the participants of the denim expo in Dhaka next month. Too many international retailers have been showing interest to showcase their offerings in the 3rd edition of the Denim Expo, due to be held in Bashundhara International Convention City in November. 41 Retailers, designers and fabric makers will all come together to to produce a good show of their products. 27 are from abroad, from countries such as China, India, Pakistan, the US, Turkey, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Japan and Germany, most of whom was not aware of Bangladesh's Denim potential some time ago.

Middle and Affluent Class (MAC)

Affluent consumers on the rise: study

Bangladesh has been reported to be ahead of some of its neighbors in generating more middle-income and affluent consumers recently. This is welcomingly sensitive to the prospective consumer product companies. The Boston Consulting Group reported that Bangladesh is adding 2 million people to the Middle and Affluent Class (MAC) every year which can triple from the present number of 12 million to 34 million people in 2025. Consumer product companies thus may home in on the 10.5% annual growth of Bangladeshi MAC, ahead of the growth of Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand. Currently, Bangladesh only has 7% of 160 million people in the MAC, far behind Vietnam and Indonesia, despite having higher growth numbers.

Trudging State Banks

State banks pass hard times as loan growth stalls

After the recent concern over the performance of State owned banks, it seems that this type is still facing similar waves of hurdles. The Advance-to-deposit ratio (ADR), indicating how much loaned out to the amount deposited, is down to below 52% for Agrani, BASIC, Janata, Rupali, BDBL, and Sonali banks. These State owned banks, thus cannot hope to earn as they expected. All of the other banking types have higher ADR. 39 Commercial banks had over 76% ADR, 9 foreign banks had close to 60% and Islami banks had over 80% as of August 87.

Headlines Oct 18 - Oct 21

Last week, the blog tried to present to you the current news about niche sectors of the economy, covered in the media. The status and business environment of particular sectors were the highlight and can be found below.

Oct 18  :  Tourism in Durga Puja Tourism hopeful about revival in Durga Puja
Oct 19  :  Cement makers regroup  Big upcoming projects inspire cement industry
Oct 20  :  Leather and Jute Strength of the leather sector; India, reconsider Jute
Oct 21  :  Cold Storage and Cake retail Cold storage chain investment; Cake industry
 

Cold Storage and Cake retail

Processed food makers investing more in cold chain networks

Golden Harvest Agro Industries, is setting up cold chain networks worth US $50 million in the country, with the help of USAID. With this huge investment plan, local companies like Pran, Brac, Aftab, Kazi Farms, Bengal meat and others are following suit. 

Few industries before have invested in cold chain network. Refrigerators, refrigerated vehicles, chilling centers and storage facilities are needed for the investment-intensive cold chain development, all of which Bangladesh imports. Absence of storage facilities waste as much as 30% of total produce in Bangladesh.

Leather and Jute

Leather sector's exports cross $1b for second year

Leather sector seems to be the only consistent sector in the economy among all the political and economic issues. Becoming the second largest sector in the economy, it amounted to US $1.13bn in 2014-15 similar to US $1.12bn in 2013-14. Consistency however, was still not enough to align perfectly with economic targets $1.4bn this fiscal year. Next fiscal of 2015-16, targets have been set at $1.21bn.

Bangladeshi leather exports have been doing well with India, Nepal, Australia and particularly Japan, for its duty-free policies. Exporters have considered our economy to maintain closer relations with Japan, so that this advantage remains despite many Asian countries signing free trade deals with them. Bangladesh exports 30% of leather produced to Japan. Of the total global leather exports, Bangladesh contributes 0.5%, worth of $215bn.

Cement makers regroup

Cement makers eye a turnaround

Cement manufacturing sector grew at a a meager 11% in 2012-13 and to only single digits in 2013-14, down from its peak of 31% in 2009-10. Sluggish demand from political unrest in 2013 and 2015 affected this sector, but cement makers are anticipating a turnaround next year.

Big infrastructure projects, the Padma bridge, an elevated expressway, metro rail, a few flyovers, a tunnel in Chittagong and seaports are part of the economies plan. These projects are expected to make a turnaround for the cement manufacturers, with a possible growth of 20-25% in the coming 5 years.

Tourism in Durga Puja

Hoteliers expect influx of tourists during Durga Puja

A new week and a new day for everyone, and already many have been looking forward to the upcoming Durga Puja festival; along with its associated holiday. This time, the holiday has been turned longer coupled with the weekend, as it fell on a Thursday. Considering such a vacationing opportunity people have already started their bookings in tourist regions. The biggest religious festival for Benglai Hindus and the second biggest festival nationally after the Eids, tourist places like Coxs Bazar, Rangamati, Bandarban, Sundarban, etc have already received hotel bookings from the holiday-makers to enjoy with their friends and family. 

Many West Bengal tourists are also applying for visa to celebrate with family in Bangladesh. As much as a thousand visa applications per day have been lodged in the Deputy High Commission of Bangladesh in Kolkata. 

Headlines Oct 11 - Oct 16

Last weeks headlines are about the larger prospects of the business environment in the country. Rather than covering niche sectors, they highlight some prospects and developments of the overall business in the economy.

Oct 11 :  Global consumer brand prospects    Multinational take interest in Bangladesh
Oct 12 :  Bangladesh progress on anti-money laundering   Anti Money laundering steps
Oct 13 :  Female participation in the country  Women integrated in national workforce
Oct 14 :  Power: its current status  Investing in Power promises stable returns and growth
Oct 15 :  Emerging IT  The prospective IT sector

Emerging IT

IT: the next bright spot

Since the laydown of the foundation for "Digital Bangladesh 2021" in 2008, Bangladesh has attracted electronic giants and business consulting brands to Bangladesh, ranked satisfactorily amongst outsourcing countries and managed competitive freelance work above some top fully IT-enabled economies. The figures for IT in Bangladesh stand at US$ 600 million total value, including 1500 firms and 40 offshore development centers. Samsung has setup research and development center in Dhaka; Bangladesh has been ranked 26th out of 50 outsourcing destinations; and it is ahead of China, Canada and UK in terms of freelance work.

Power: its current status

Power: the safest bet

The power sector of Bangladesh is at a crossroads between tough challenges and great opportunities. The government's aim to generate triple-plus current installed power capacity is part of its many ambitions. Requiring US $55bn to reach 38,700 MW of energy will provide opportune investors to enjoy steady returns for the coming 15-20 years.

The targeted energy production will mostly be attempted from coal sources as the natural gas option is swiftly being exhausted. The 2010 Master Plan was dependent on coal amounting to 19,6500 MW, but are investing recently on imported coal for power plant setup. Projects upto 500 MW can be managed locally, but larger ones of around 1300 MW needs foreign sponsorship.

Female participation in the country

Women workforce growing fast

World Bank president recently claimed that Bangladesh is doing well to integrate women in the workforce. He also used this situation as a stand alone example to focus the importance of growth of women workers for economic development. Continuing unhindered, Bangladesh can add the total female workforce to 82% through the next decade, which will accumulate to an extra 1.8% of GDP.

Bangladesh progress on anti-money laundering

APG satisfied over move to stem terrorist financing

An eight member team of the Asia Pacific Group (APG) has expressed satisfaction on the recent preventative steps taken by the government to combat financing military and terrorism. In a meeting with the national coordination committee the team leader expressed its appreciation at the anti-money laundering and overturning terrorism financing. With a good rating from APG, Bangladesh may enjoy increase in foreign loan and grant, decline in expenditure on trade and better image of the country towards the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Money Laundering. This will be in a mutual evaluation with the APG.

Headlines, Oct 4 - Oct 8

The first week of October covered a range of business sectors of the country. The headings and short descriptions are listed below.

Oct 4 :  Of tax and taxpayers Expected NBR survey and Tax Fair Stats
Oct 5 :  Metro Rail developments MRT-6 Metrorail expansion prospects
Oct 6 :  Tourism in terror Tourism sectors woes
Oct 7 :  SDGs and national integration SDGs in national priority
Oct 8 :  Helping Micro-SMEs of former enclaves Micro aid to enclave SMEs
 

Global consumer brand prospects

Global consumer goods brands increase their presence in Bangladesh

Global consumers are becoming more interested in Bangladesh, streamlining with the emerging confidence of urban consumers. Holding established positions are global brands like Nestle, Modelez International, Del Monte Philips,VLCC, etc. Toshiba and Panasonic are planning to independently operate, without partnership with local marketers. SC Johnson and Son last year already acquired top brand product line ACI Aresol, insect sprays, air fresheners and toilet cleaners.Philips Electronics are the recent company to expand their product lines

Helping Micro-SMEs of former enclaves

Banks asked to lend MSMEs of former enclaves

The Bangladesh Bank has asserted that banks should be lending to the former enclaves, which are now a part of Bangladesh. Lending to those Micro-SMEs can be done in group based format, which currently exist as a mode in banking and non-banking financial institutions. Cottage, micro and medium entrepreneurs who are new Bangladeshi citizens of the enclaves are to be included in group based Micro-SME lending.

SDGs and national integration

Integration of SDGs into national planning stressed 

Center for Policy and Dialogue recently stressed the integration of the Social Development Goals (SDGs) in the national planning process and institutional mechanism. This would be one of the five challenges, the others being inclusion in the financial and non-financial resources, institutional mechanism for implementation, monitoring data and lastly participation and accountability.

Tourism in terror

Tourism takes a blow from killings of foreigners 

It was expected that the end of political unrest in Bangladesh will be able to revive the hard-hit tourism sector, which saw dwindling business from December 2013, two years ago. After political situation returned to cool after early 2015, tourist operators were expecting good business in the coming peak season from October to March. A different set of unrest however, emerged in the form of two international nationals’ murders which have been rumored to be the work of the Islamic State (IS). Linked or otherwise, in the

Metro Rail developments

Expansion of metro rail line planned

A 20 km Metro-Rail line which has already been planned connecting Motijheel to Uttara, will be extended to EPZ at Savar from Uttara and to Kamlapur Railway Station from MotiJheel. The expansion was suggested as their is city expansion occurring in the north-western region owing to industrial development. The initial Mass Rapid Transit line-6 (MRT-6) was planned to be completed by the end of 2019, whereas the expansion is set upon completion for 2035. The expanded network is going to stretch along 41 km, stated the Executive Director of Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA). The Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development (DMRTD) Project is a joint one with Japan (JICA), which will share with Bangladesh the technical and financial assistance.

Of tax and taxpayers

NBR plans door-to-door drive to hunt potential taxpayers 

The NBR has designed a drive to bring in 320,000 tax payers under the net by the conclusion of this fiscal year. A special survey will be launched this month which constitutes the heart of the drive. The "NBR Survey-2015", will attempt to discover 20,000 more taxpayers from each of the 29 tax zonal offices. This survey will be conducted by the field offices in teams, three times a week. Respective zones will receive a list of new taxpayers each month from those teams. NBR team has also put on their agenda to

Headlines, Sept 20 - Sept 22

Welcome to our blog once again. Center for Enterprise and Society regularly provides up-to-date business, society and enterprise development news around the economy, to cater to your informational needs. Hopefully your presence was with us and will continue to be felt in the days to come. 

To a new week and a new start for everyone after the Eid holidays, here are few of the headlines from just before we all went for the break.

Sept 22 :   Mobile Financial Services in need MFS struggling against cash payments
Sept 21 :   A more sustainable country  MDGs developments, Poverty reduction by 2030
Sept 20 :   Headlines, Sept 13 - Sept 17

Mobile Financial Services in need

Sound investment stressed to make MFS competitive

Mobile Financial Services (MFS) have already started a while back in Bangladesh and largest operators bKash, with 85% market share and Dutch Bangla Bank Ltd, with 10% have invested huge sums for platform, network and training. Still it is seen that these businesses are not making good enough revenue, operating on loss or marginal profit. With over 2.86 crore mobile banking clients in June 2015, the transactions are 85% of the time being done Over The Counter (OTC). This makes accountability and records very untrustworthy and unmanageable.

A more sustainable country

Dhaka ready to face new challenges

Bangladesh has met many Millennium Development Goals already and are on course to meet more, which are to be set by the current general assembly. The primary target for the country is Eradicating extreme poverty by 2030. Extreme poverty and hunger (currently 24.8%), achieving universal primary education (98.7%), reducing child mortality (46 per thousand), and improving maternal health (170 deaths per 1 lakh births) are set on being improved by the end of this year.

Headlines, Sept 13 - Sept 17

Blog posts from last week are listed here. You can take a quick peek at your desired update from last week.

Sept 13 :  No VAT says Students, VAT legal says government VAT is 7.5% 
Sept 14 :  Female entrepreneurship in Bangladesh Prospects of Bangladeshi Women
Setp 15 :  Staple food highlights Rice production record; market price variations
Sept 16 :  Mascot for Business Japanese mascot for promoting Bangladesh
Sept 17 :  Income Tax Fair National fair, e-TIN and tax deposits

Income Tax Fair

Off to a good start: tax fair pulls in crowds

We finish the week with a short post about Income tax, fitting since it started off with taxes as well, although on the wrong side of the public agenda.

The annual national income tax fair is being held in Officer’s club in Bailey road, Dhaka and also at Agrabad in Chittagong, aiming for rasiing awareness and motivating people for paying tax and widening the tax net. Of 16 crore people, only 17 lakh Tax identification Number (TIN) is present, from which even only 12 lakh filed tax returns last year. This was admittedly short of the goals of bringing 50% of public revenues through income tax by 2022.

Mascot for Business

Bantora Kun launched in capital to bolster Japan-Bangla trade, cultural ties

A different kind of positive step has been taken by Japan to brighten the image of Bangladesh in Japanese people’s perceptions. A bright yellow Royal Bengal Tiger mascot has been launched by the Japanese business community, to promote Bangladesh and trade relationship with Japan. Naming the mascot with their own style of language, but with some Bangladeshi touch, it is called “Bantora”: ‘Ban’ referring to us and ‘tora’ meaning tiger.

Staple food highlights

Rice output hits record, farmers not so happy

Cropping 1.91 crore tones of borro rice in last season’s production, farmers helped Bangladesh attain highest yield and self-sufficiency in staple food. Total rice output was 3.47 crore tones in fiscal 2014-15. Farmers however, were not satisfied, since market glut from India increased supply and decreased prices, below production costs. Rice import rose almost 4 times last year, which led the government to put a 10 pc duty on rice. However, Indians decreased their own prices. Rice prices although fell, but are affected now due to recent flooding.

Female entrepreneurship in Bangladesh

Female labour force could drive economy further: WB

If Bangladesh could boost its female participation from the current to 34% to 82%, then it is possible to achieve 1.8% point annual GDP growth, the World Bank believes for Bangladesh. In it’s two yearly report on Women, Business and Law, it disseminates acknowledgement of women’s economic environment, in 173 countries, recently expanding from 5, to 8 countries in South Asia.

With seven indicators: accessing institutions, using property, getting a job, providing incentives to work, building credit, going to court and protecting women from violence, previously it found 90% of the economies consisted of at least one law unfavorable to women. It said that Bangladesh and a few neighbors have handicapped inheritance for

No VAT says Students, VAT legal says government

The VAT confusion

Protests sprang across the entire Dhaka city from on Thursday in an absolutely organized student movement, to get vocal about the announcement of 7.5% VAT on education by the government. Only since the huge Shahabgh movement, was such a scale of protest seen in the capital.

Finance minister AMA Muhith urged that this decision will not be overturned reasoning that the system had already been in place, which the university authorities have already agreed to. He rashly commented denouncing the movement of the “most educated sections..due to their lack of knowledge” for which he later apologized. He also stated that the students will not have to bear the burden, the issue being reconsidered in the coming days.

The NBR stated that this tax is on the private universities, not on the students, but government authorities could not clarify whether this had been extracted in this form in the past. Students, as well as teachers were not convinced, arguing strongly that since

Headlines, Sept 6 - Sept 10

Last weeks post from the CES blog are listed here. You can take a quick look at your desired update from last week.

Sept 6 :    Gas production deals - Russian gas exploration deal with Bangladesh

Sept 7 :    RMG comebacks and challenges - RMG challenges, remediation prospects
Sept 8 :    New civil pay scales - Revised pay scales for civil employees, almost double
Sept 9 :    Export health of Bangladesh - Potential export growth to Japan and SAARC
Sept 10 :  Telecom talks all around - Merger talks between Robi and Airtel

Telecom talks all around

Airtel and Robi begin merger talks

It is unavoidable that the greatest highlight today would be the proposed merger of Robi with Airtel. The fourth largest telecom operator, Bharti Airtel, if merged with the third largest, Malaysia based Robi Axiata Ltd , would become the second largest in the country. Airtel, announcing earlier they will retract all operations from Bangladesh, may eventually see a different future.

Export health of Bangladesh

Exports to Japan will hit $2b by 2018: Tofail

Today we look at export situation of Bangladesh with a few partner countries

Doubling exports to Japan in the last five years, it could be crossing US$2 bn in 3 years ahead. Japan, opting for independence from Chinese trade, have been looking to countries such as Bangladesh to supply their domestic retailers for whom they allow duty-free access. Export consists of products of apparel, shrimp, leather and jute. Naturally, RMG has highest share (71.3%) and rising. In FY 2014-15, exports to Japan rose 6% to US$915.2 m, while imports stood at US$1.51 bn. Relations can be more in

New civil pay scales

Bangladesh gives final nod to new pay scale 

New pay scales of civil servants have been announced earlier and the basic salary increment has been put into place from July this year. It covers civil servants as well as armed forces members. Although effective from July, the new scaled salaries would be available to the public passing a circular, only as early as November.

RMG comebacks and challenges

RMG export shines in volume, pales in value

Low price offers from foreign buyers, devaluation of the Euro and rise in production costs make our RMG exports bleak, compared to the 58.17% rise from the last fiscal year of 2014-15. The volume posted was at 1.57 bn units exported earning a total of US $25.49 bn, a 4% rise. Knitwear and woven products scaled up 3.13% and 5% respectively. Improvement in productivity and technology is required to meet the devaluation in the EU and possible monopsony of buyers worldwide.

Headlines, Aug 30 - Sept 30

These are the posts of our CES blog from last week:

Sept 3 :    Port prospects - of land and sea ports of Bangladesh
Sept 2 :    Internet users milestone - record internet subscribers in the country
Sept 1  :   Energy for revenue - revenue generation, price hikes of gas and electricity
Aug 31 :   Crops under water. - crops and areas affected by flooding
Aug 30 :   Onion tensions - onion prices fluctuate wildly

Gas production deals

Gazprom gets lucrative trio of deals without tender

Last week, we saw unprecedented rise of the electricity and particularly, natural gas.

This week’s news comes as with some development on that front: Russian state-run gas exploration company Gazprom, have signed a deal with three state-owned gas production companies, to plan the drilling of five wells, without a production sharing contract (PSC). This was a targeted bid to raise national output by 150 million cubic feet per day. Previously, deals with the same company failed to extract a planned 300 million cubic ft per day, instead getting only 140 million cubic ft.

Port prospects

Shahjahan: Payra and Mongla Ports to be launched soon

Two other sea ports apart from the Chittagong port are being planned to be in operation soon. Mongla port in Khulna and Payra port in Patuakhali, are tobeing worked on for launch, which would shift business dependency on the current operating port at Chittagong. For the Payra port, it is reported that 20 countries are expressing their interest for investment.

For the Chittagong port, shipping minister Shahajahan Khan said a sluice gate will be constructed on “Mohesh Khal” with a pump house to combat the waterlogging in the capital city.

In terms of land ports, two custom stations in Bibir Bazar and Akahaura in the Comilla

Internet users milestone

Internet subscribers cross 5cr landmark

Amongst our country’s major flaws, trials and tribulations, the telecom industry passed a major milestone in July this year. From the BTRC website, it was informed that the country crossed over to 5.07 crore internet subscribers in July. In that month, fixed-line internet subscribers showed 12.93 lakh, mobile phone subscribers at 12.87 crore and Wimax users on a slow decline registering 1.74 lakh.

Grameenophone is the market leader in terms of internet communications, following Robi, Airtel and Teletalk, whereas oldest operator Citycell makes the bottom of the list.

Energy for revenue

Gas, power gets pricier

Gas tariff hike to generate Tk 34.05b annually

To ensure energy security, the recent power and gas price hike by the government has received criticism from stakeholders, the opposition as well as some of the ruling party itself.

Gas price has been increased by 26.29%, which brings a double burner stove use to Tk 650 a month. The decision was to generate revenue from natural gas, amounting to Tk 34.05 bn a year, with aims at full utilization and “not to increase profitability” by the energy regulator. The purpose of the rise would be ensure the allocate more to the Gas-development fund (GDF), which would be used to import pricy re-gasified LNG by 2017 to meet upping demand. The fund provides infrastructural backing for oil and gas exploration. 

Crops under water

Losses of standing crops feared in Rangpur, Gaibandha

With very little improvement in the flood situation, farmers are living on growing anxiety of huge losses as 1.29 lakh hectares of land have gone under water in 5 districts in the Rangpur region. Crops which remain in flood waters are Transplanted Aman (T-Aman) on 1.25 lakh hectares, Aman seedbed on 205 hectares, vegetables on 3,159 hectares, banana on 83 hectares and ginger on 5 hectares of land.

T-Aman is affected in the areas of Rnagpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat and Nilphamari in Rangpur, affecting 21.69 % of total T-aman land. Kurigram claims most of

Onion tensions

Soaring onion prices bring tears to commoners

To a new week and to the end of August, we see that commodity prices, particularly onion, with far better times, as it was doing quite well for consumers at Tk 50-55 per kg, in the third week of the month. Flood waters in the country has significantly affected staple food prices as they continue to soar, but onion had impacts from decisions outside the country, an Indian export price hike. Due to mostly panic hike here in Bangladesh, imported onion prices were Tk 65-70 per kg on Friday, which was even higher midweek.

Big expansion plans of Business and Industry through more Economic Zones

BEZA plans to generate one crore jobs in 15 years

Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority BEZA, shares its longer period vision to set up 100 economic zones within Bangladesh in the coming 15 years. Planned on 37 different locations, these are expected to create 1 crore jobs, bringing in $40 bn from increased exports, by 2030.

Bangladesh’s big apparel exporting rival, Vietnam has developed 200 of such in the past 15 years. Considering such achievement, BEZA believes we can do our bits and has already granted entrepreneurship licenses, while planning quick development of infrastructure.

Is it ok to start my business in Bangladesh, or should I look elsewhere?

Ease of Doing Business in Bangladesh

One of the most important features of a country is the fluidity of doing business, as it is business which promotes economic performance. Bangladesh as we perceive, has many extra-legal barriers to business operations, which is typically solved outside of the law. The World Bank Group maintains a Doing Business study for economies, which is an essential indicator of business performance.  For an economically aware individual, with intentions in business development, this is a great highlight of the current standings of Bangladesh in an international context.

In 2015, Bangladesh stands at 173, a 3 point drop from last year, while the Distance to Frontier (DTF), which is a comparison measure across economies at a best previous time, is at 46.8%. With 10 points of measure of doing business, “Starting a business” in

Businesses get online procedure portal National Single Window (NSW)

Online business process to be launched

Business has been a daunting profession from its initiation to day-to-day management and eventually maintaining revenues or a satisfactory profit margin. With every stages of different barriers whether valid or illegitimate, Bangladesh is quite some arena for doing business.

Today we look at a new facility that has been sanctioned by the government for ease of doing business. National Single Window (NSW) is a new system that allows businesses to participate in trade and transportation to apply for standardized documents and information with a single entry point for processing, online. This will cut out all the

The new business age of Viral Videos

What We Can Learn From Viral Video Marketing Successes

The economy and business…yes. A prime broadcaster of the important highlights and growth of the economy. Individuals who are aware of economy and business have a competitive edge to their professional life and to some extent social life as well. However, who cares about these things when there is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube and all the other social media channels to keep ahead of, no?

Global Business fronts have recognized that and are acting on it. Gradually and currently to a substantial extent, so is Bangladesh. The recent uptake of social media in business is Viral video Marketing. From the start of the “ALS Ice Bucket challenge” and

Internet bytes: change for good, threats for not

GP offers EasyNet to build internet awareness

The new CMO of Grameen Phone, is endeavouring to reduce the barriers of national connectivity to increase internet penetration, by introducing “EasyNet” service. This provides knowledge and hands-on learning about Internet to anyone, targgetted naturally to the rural population. It provides video tutorials, free internet sites and small data packs, without a data subscription. This is a refreshing step by one of the leading telecom operator of the country, GP to reach those 7.5 lakh internet unaware people and progress towards towards the slogan “Internet for all”.

Mobile inter-operator tariff debate

Mobile operators divided over inter-connection charges

Airtel and Citycell is to your right, where they are seeking complete withdrawal of inter-connection fees, while to your left, Robi, Grameenphone and Banglalink is in disagreement with the proposal. They counter-pointed that operating lower than the current one of the world’s lowest tariff rates and Robi opting for an increase in minimum voice call price.

Startup Incubator spilling out more new business

Six more social businesses get green light

With the inception of the Social Business Design Lab of Grameen Bank in January 2013, a massive 1260 projects have been approved for investments, by the entrepreneurship wing of Dr Yunus run microfinance institution. Most of them are claimed to be already under operation.

To update the statistics, six new local entrepreneurs made their marks at the conclusion of the 92^nd Social Business Design Lab with over 150 participants in front of local as

Garments, looking feeblest in months

Garment exports suffer biggest fall in nine months

With our recent update last week on RMG sector’s positive steps, this week we notice less than satisfactory improvements in highlights. It seems political mood swings were to blame, where firms failed to secure enough order placements during the usual time between December and March, coinciding with last season’s political roller coaster.

Garment exports fell by 12.78% for the monthly target of July, with a year-on-year decline of 11.96%. RMG also scored subpar on the yearly target, earning $25.5 bn when the crosshair was on $26.9 bn. This was a mere 4% fiscal year growth.