Joel Ahmed

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/trade/bangladesh-needs-to-focus-on-export-preferences-in-eu-market-after-ldc-graduation-1627365845 Bangladesh needs to focus on export preferences in EU market after LDC graduation FE REPORT | Published: July 27, 2021 12:04:05 | Updated: July 27, 2021 12:48:21 Bangladesh should focus on export preferences in the European Union market following its graduation from the least-developed country (LDC) status, discussants at a webinar said. As the country would not be able to increase its competitiveness immediately, they said, it should concentrate on negotiations to continue with the existing preferences for some more time after its graduation. As an LDC, Bangladesh currently enjoys duty-free access to the EU under the 'Everything but Arms (EBA)' initiative, with around 61 per cent of its yearly exports destined for the region. The speakers also emphasised establishing more fashion-design institutes, raising competitiveness by increasing productivity and reducing cost of production, improving business climate and trade facilitation system, upgrading hard and soft business infrastructure, encouraging linkage industries and establishment of special economic zones and active pharmaceutical ingredient park for smooth transition of Bangladesh from LDC status by 2026. They said permanent graduation from the LDC status would amount to recognition of the real development of the country and the living standards of people, although Bangladesh would face multiple challenges. The observations and recommendations were made during the webinar styled 'LDC Graduation: Challenges and Opportunities' hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB). Speaking as the chief guest, planning minister MA Mannan said the country's graduation from the LDC status remains to be a beautiful journey. "Bangladesh should have been here long before, we are late," he mentioned. Speaking as a panelist, Apex Footwear Limited managing director Syed Nasim Manzur said what is critically important is that the EU is the single largest destination of Bangladesh exports. "Hence, maintaining preferences in the EU market should be the number-one priority," he suggests. Sharifa Khan, member (secretary), industry and energy division under Planning Commission, says the government is serious about free trade agreements (FTAs) with countries as part of post-graduation measures. "But we have to be very cautious about FTA. We conducted studies and found FTA is not an answer to all questions." ICAB president Mahmudul Hasan Khusru said both public and private sectors should brace for the post-LDC graduation challenges. The government is developing 100 special economic zones and more than two dozen hi-tech parks to meet the demand of investors. "The Bangladesh Investment Development Authority comes forward to providing one-stop service to investors," Mr Khusru said, adding the country should opt for bilateral free trade deals to gain export momentum. ICAB past president Md Humayun Kabir presided over the webinar as the session chairman. ICAB CEO Shubhashish Bose, also a former senior secretary of the government, presented a keynote paper. Mostafa Abid Khan, member, Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission, BSRM chairman Ali Hussain Akber Ali and FBCCI adviser Monzur Ahmed were panel speakers of the virtual programme. In his keynote, Mr Bose suggested getting GSP+ facility from the EU to face the post-LDC challenges and to minimise negative impacts on trade. He also recommended enhancing market access of the country's products and services through FTA/RTAs with potential trading partners, and diversifying products and markets. Mr Bose suggested exploring untapped potential where structural constraints, either at production level or in the area of management of compliance, are required.

https://www.tbsnews.net/economy/corporates/50-startups-get-tk100-crore-under-shotoborshe-shotoasha-campaign-279535#.YP-XPUjP-4k.facebook 50 startups to get Tk100 crore under “Shotoborshe Shotoasha” campaign Startup Bangladesh Limited, Bangladesh's flagship venture capital fund under the ICT Ministry recently launched its inaugural campaign "ShotoBorshe Shoto Asha-Century of Million Dreams" with a commitment to invest Tk100 Crore in 50 startups this year. The VC firm announced its first series of investments on 31st March to seven startups - Chaldal, Pathao, Sheba XYZ, Dhaka Cast, Moner Bondhu, Eduhive and Intelligent Machines, said a press release. In continuation of this groundbreaking initiative, Startup Bangladesh Limited is undertaking various programs throughout the year, one of which is the webinar series featuring six sessions over the next six months in partnership with the High Commission of India, Dhaka. This series is also being supported by Startup India, Bangladesh Startup Consortium, BD-AIR, & Economic Reporter's Forum. Speaking as the chief guest, State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak MP said he would like to invite young startups from India to Visit Bangladesh to arrange a B2B matchmaking session face to face, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram K Doraiswami stated that in the next 6 months, the RiseUp platform will bring together mentors, innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, etc from India and Bangladesh. He hoped that the platform will facilitate an effective cross-learning opportunity that will benefit talented entrepreneurs from both countries, The High Commissioner also recalled that during the recent state visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bangladesh in March 2021, He stressed that the RiseUp series could facilitate such linkages to jumpstart tangible cooperation. Startup Bangladesh Limited Managing Director and CEO Tina Jabeen said, "Among all frontier markets, Bangladesh holds the most promising opportunity for venture capital and private equity investments. Startup Bangladesh Ltd. looks forward to collaborate with Indian High Commission and Startup India in building a stellar regional startup ecosystem." The inauguration was followed by a panel discussion on "Startup landscape in Bangladesh & India : how tech startups are transforming the future with innovation in this region" Notable speakers and panel members included Rahat Ahmed, Founding Partner & CEO, Anchorless Bangladesh, Waseem Alim, Co-founder & CEO, Chaldal, Sharad Sharma, Co-founder, iSPIRT Foundation, Yamini Bhushan Pandey, CEO, AIC – Indian School of Business, Mohali. The session was moderated by Bijon Islam, Co-founder & CEO, LightCastle Partners. Other sessions will have discussions on the regulatory environment for Startups, overcoming hurdles to create a successful startup, Fundraising strategies, strategies for startups to go international and a deep dive into startup Opportunities in Bangladesh and India.

Purbachal Expressway Update https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBQ5qBGV_cw

It is not about car only. Oil filters are also used in the heavy electrical appliances. Example: Transformer. EV cars are still expensive for the middle-income in the first-world countries and we can see that change after 2 decades.

https://www.tbsnews.net/economy/bogra-motors-wants-export-world-class-engine-filters-again-278980#.YP40bRuYzYg.facebook Bogra Motors wants to export world-class engine filters again The company has a production capacity of two lakh pieces of filters per month and currently produces 50,000-60,000 pieces Bogra Motors Private Limited, a company producing engine filters for more than three decades, is planning to export its products again. In 2007, the company started exporting filters to Canada after getting the ISO certificate in 2004. It later stopped exports to focus only on the domestic market as the demand for its products grew significantly inside the country. However, it is again eyeing the international market as it has enhanced its production capacity. At present, Bogra Motors is running production in its factory with around 200 workers amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The company produces about 400 types of filters which are used for different types of engines, including motorcycles and compressor engines. The purpose of the engine filter is to prevent dust, dirt and other environmental contaminants from getting into the engine. Filter prices range from Tk60 to Tk20,000 based on the size and quality of the engines. The filters for motorcycles, buses, trucks, cars and microbuses have the highest demand in the market. These are sold for Tk300 to Tk2,000. In 1965, Bogra Motors acquired about two bighas of land in the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) industrial area of Bogrua. It started with repairing old motor vehicles, especially the crankshaft. It imported crankshaft equipment from Germany to give customers the best service. However, later, the market was filled with equipment imported from China. As a result, the demand for the services of Bogra Motors started to decline. In 1989, the company changed its business and set up a factory to produce engine filters. Bogra Motors captured the market exactly four years after starting production. Most of their products are sold in Dhaka and Chattogram. Bogura is another big market for them. A senior BSCIC officer said no company sells more engine filters in the country than Bogra Motors. The company has a production capacity of two lakh pieces of filters per month. Currently, it produces 50,000 to 60,000 pieces. World-class raw materials The main raw materials of an engine filter are filter paper and glue. At present, most of the filter papers are imported from Korea, but they used to be imported from Germany. Bogra Motors imports filter papers directly through the Chattogram Port. The company imports glue from North Korea. According to company officials, Thai glue is also very good. They imported glue from India twice. But they did not do so anymore due to poor quality. Casing is a very important element to make a filter better. The company imports casings from North Korea. It does not import plain sheets and buys them from other companies in the country. Rubber and plastic granules are also procured from local companies. Two friends started the journey Aminul Islam and Ahmed Rezaur Rahman became friends while studying at Bogura District School. After finishing their studies, they became first-class contractors. Then they first set up a car repairing company and after that, a motor parts shop. In 1977, they started an engineering workshop. The journey of making engine filters started in 1989. At first, they found it difficult to sell their products in the market. But later, they started making filters of international quality. Now there are five directors of Bogra Motors - Aminul Islam's wife Jebunnesa Islam, and two sons Tahmidul Islam and Sirajul Islam. The two other directors are Ahmed Rezaur Rahman and his only son Sibbir Ahmed. Bogra Motors Production Manager (special filter section) Mahbub Morshed Siddique has been working here for almost a decade. He said, "These filters are usually used in engines. We produce different types of car filters, generator filters, agricultural machinery filters, etc. We produce world-class filters." Md Nurul Islam, manager of Bogra Motors, said a Bangladeshi individual living in Canada was the first to export this filter there. "Later, he gave us more orders. But then the demand in the country started to grow. It was no longer possible for us to export filters to the international market." He further said, "We also got orders from the UAE. We rejected those for the same reason. But now we are thinking of exporting filters again. Hopefully, our products will be exported to the world market soon." Dr Tahmidul Islam Chandan, one of the directors of Bogra Motors, said every filter produced here has "Made in Bangladesh" written on it. "But the problem is car owners go to shops and want foreign products. Many fake companies in the country put 'Made in Japan' stickers on their products. Customers get easily deceived by them. These issues should be investigated by the government," he said. He said Bogra Motors makes filters for all Japanese cars and that is why they had decided to export their filters to Nepal, Bhutan, Canada or London. But there are some problems on the Indian border, he noted. "For example, the cost is high. If we can solve the problem with India, we will be able to capture a huge market in Nepal and Bhutan," he said. He further said production costs had increased. "For example, we have to pay huge taxes to the government to import raw materials. The government should consider this issue. If the tax is reduced, we will be able to provide more revenue to the government by exporting our products." Tahmidul added, "Our partner Sibbir is in London now. We are looking for importers there." AKM Mahfuzur Rahman, deputy general manager of BSCIC, said there is a huge demand for this product in the world. "The filters produced here are world-class. There is no doubt about it. It is an ISO certified company. There is a market for the products of this company across the country. Even the Bangladesh Army has used these filters," he said. "Such a company needs to be further developed. A new industrial city will be built in Bogura where it will be given more space with special consideration," he added.

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/stock/bangladesh/worlds-eyes-are-now-on-bangladesh-says-bsec-chief-1627271202 World's eyes are now on Bangladesh, says BSEC chief Published: July 26, 2021 09:46:42 | Updated: July 26, 2021 11:06:55 Bangladesh is now recognised as an attractive destination for investment in the world, says Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam, chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC). He said this before joining four investment conferences to be organised by the BSEC in the US from July 26 to Aug 2, and designed to woo investors to the possibilities that the Bangladesh market offers. Prof Shibli Rubayat, a former Dhaka University teacher and researcher, said many research organisations have published positive reports on the economic development of Bangladesh and many investors from different corners of the world now want to invest in Bangladesh, reports bdnews24.com. “The entire world's eyes are on Bangladesh now. What we need to do is to present the ways of investment in Bangladesh to them.” The BSEC chairman said they have two target groups in the US – non-resident Bangladeshis, and American businesses. The expatriate Bangladeshis cannot make a good profit by investing in the US, but they have the option to take back profits and investments from Bangladesh through non-resident investors taka account, he said. And a US business association has targeted five countries for investment, with Bangladesh on the top of the list. They want to make 17 per cent of the total investment in Bangladesh, according to Prof Shibli Rubayat. “We want to bring investment from such foreigners.” The foreigners are eyeing bond, mutual fund, and commodity market, besides the share market, according to him. “We will present mutual funds, bonds and other products to them so that they do not keep their eye only on the secondary market.” “The Bangladesh bond market will be very strong in future. Bonds will take our capital market forward. The foreign investment in bonds will take our economy further ahead,” the BSEC chief remarked. Bangladesh is also working on derivatives and commodity market, he added. “Gold can be brought to Bangladesh as a commodity now. The Chattogram Stock Exchange is working on gold now. We'll also dive into this. For this, we will need big investors in future." “We don’t think that the secondary market is the market. Our country has different big fields for investment now," Prof Shibli Rubayat added. The BSEC will organise the first conference in New York. It will meet the foreign investors at InterContinental New York Barclay hotel in the morning on that day, and the Bangladeshi expatriates in the afternoon. The next conferences will be held in Washington, DC on Jul 28, Los Angeles on Jul 30 before the final one takes place at the Silicon Valley of Santa Clara on Aug 2. The commission is organising a series of roadshow on Bangladesh’s economy and capital markets in different parts of the world as part of a wide and elaborate plan to showcase Bangladesh's capital market and trade and investment opportunities globally, the BSEC said in a statement. The first of the series, 'The Rise of Bengal Tiger: Potentials of Trade and Investment in Bangladesh', was held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates from Feb 9 to 12. “We got overwhelming responses from both the NRB and foreign institutional and individual investors in the Dubai Road Show,” the BSEC said.

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/economy/bangladesh/japan-plans-to-set-up-two-more-sezs-in-bangladesh-1627267920 Japan plans to set up two more SEZs in Bangladesh FE REPORT | Published: July 26, 2021 08:52:01 Japan is expected to set up two more special economic zones (SEZs) in Bangladesh to bring more investors from the industrially developed country. "Japanese investors eye Bangladesh as a potential destination," Japanese Ambassador in Dhaka Naoki Ito told a virtual meeting on Sunday, revealing the plan to establish the SEZs at Matarbari and Mirsarai. He, however, said that the new SEZs would depend on the success of the one already being developed at Araihajar. To attract the investors, he added, Bangladesh also needed to remove the existing bottlenecks like complicated customs clearance procedures and other trade restrictions. The Cosmos Foundation broadcast live the virtual dialogue on "Bangladesh-Japan Relations: Prognosis for the Future". Chairman of the Foundation Enayetullah Khan delivered the opening remarks, with former Foreign Affairs Advisor to the caretaker government Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury in the chair. Mr Ito also made it clear that the challenges being faced by the Japanese companies in Bangladesh must be addressed to ensure the influx of this potential big investments. Talking about the Public Private Economic Dialogue (PPED), he said the two countries have resolved many issues related to business climate through this mechanism. "Most of the Japanese companies are not happy about the customs clearance, which takes time and requires them to go through cumbersome procedures," he said, elaborating the key challenges. "Next comes trade financing, in particular slow processing of letter of credit and restrictions on telegraphic transfer (TT)." "In only two countries in Asia, the TT is not used as the primary method of settling import transactions," he added. Appreciating the Bangladesh government's drive to create a better investment climate, he said that there have been a lot of improvements here despite the Covid-19 pandemic. "I fully appreciate efforts made by the government of Bangladesh." About the Araihajar SEZ, the Japanese Ambassador said that this should provide the best possible economic zone in Asia, beating its rivals in countries like Vietnam, Myanmar and the Philippines. "We will also look into opportunities at Mirsarai under the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar being developed on a contiguous land of 30,000 acres and a possible economic zone at Maheshkhali-Matarbari area If Araihajar becomes successful," he added. He mentioned that the SEZ at Araihajar will be ready for its operation by the end of next year. Due to the Covid-19 situation, he could not tell exactly about how many companies are coming to invest, but said it is really crucial to see successful and continuous business partnership between Bangladesh and Japan. "I am sure down the line it'll attract more investment from Japan," he said, adding that they might be able to see 100 companies making investments. The Japanese envoy said the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is now conducting a feasibility study on Mirsarai economic zone and then will explore the third possible economic zone at Matarbari area, which is being developed as an energy hub and industrial zone. "I am sure that we will have the opportunity to develop Japanese economic zone in Matarbari-Maheshkhali area as well," he added. Mr Ito identified five challenges ahead that Bangladesh and Japan needed to address together to elevate the solid partnership to even higher level with multifaceted greater cooperation as the two countries are set to celebrate the 50 years of diplomatic relations in a big way next year. The five challenges are: developing Bangladesh-Japan strategic partnership, making Bangladesh more attractive for business, expanding people-to-people exchange, enhancing cooperation with Bangladesh as a partner to realise Free and Open Indo-Pacific, and strengthening efforts to increase Bangladesh's stature in the region and beyond. He said that the year 2022 will provide an excellent opportunity to elevate the partnership even to a higher level and wished that the two countries could call the partnership a "truly strategic partners". Ambassador Ito, who already spent 20 months in Bangladesh, said the development of quality infrastructures and strengthening connectivity under the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth (BIG-B) initiative will be beneficial not only for the development of Bangladesh, but also for the regional peace and stability. "Our leaders are really conscious that this BIG-B is important - not only for the development of Bangladesh but also for the stability of the entire Bay of Bengal region, beyond Bangladesh itself," he said. Md Abul Kalam Azad, Special Envoy, Climate Vulnerable Forum; Hayakawa Yuho, Chief Representative, JICA Bangladesh Office; Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, former Governor, Bangladesh Bank; Prof Masaaki Ohashi, Professor, University of the Sacred Heart, Tokyo; Manzurul Huq, Columnist, writer and academic; Prof Takahara Akio, Dean, Graduate School of Public Policy, the University of Tokyo and Ambassador (Retd) Tariq A Karim, Honorary Advisor Emeritus, Cosmos Foundation comprised the panel of discussants. Mr Hayakawa Yuho said the huge projects under the BIG-B such as three MRT lines in Dhaka, the integrated development of the Matabari-Moheshkhali area and the deep-sea port there, Dhaka airport terminal 3, the Bangabandhu Jamuna railway bridge, EZ in Araihazar were under construction. Mr Abul Kalam Azad said that work at Arihajar economic zone started very vigorously and the basic works have already been done. He hoped that the respective companies would be able to start their construction there very soon. Dr Salehuddin said Arihajar is a very good place and Mirsarai might be too crowded. He suggested concentrating on Araihajar and it can become very successful. "Matarbari may be there but I'm little bit sceptic about Mirsharai."

Chattagram to Cox's Bazar Rail line Update https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRzPJD8YD8I

https://ekattor.tv/blog/article?article_id=6291 বিনিয়োগ আনতে আমেরিকার চার শহরে রোড শো জুলিয়া আলম প্রকাশ: ২৪ জুলাই ২০২১ ১৫:১৯:২০ আপডেট: ২৪ জুলাই ২০২১ ১৬:০৯:৩০ সোমবার (২৬ জুলাই) থেকে যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের চার বড় শহরে রোড-শো করতে যাচ্ছে বাংলাদেশ সিকিউরিটিজ এন্ড এক্সচেঞ্জ কমিশন (বিএসইসি)। মার্কিন বিনিয়োগকারীদের কাছে বাংলাদেশের সক্ষমতা ও সম্ভাবনা নতুন করে তুলে ধরতেই এই আয়োজন। বিএসইসি চেয়ারম্যান বলছেন, অর্থনীতিব সব খাতে বিনিয়োগ টানতে সহায়ক হবে এই রোড শো। পাশাপাশি বাংলাদেশের সঠিক তথ্য জানতে পারবেন বিদেশিরা। বিশ্বজুড়ে বাংলাদেশের পরিচয় এখন এমার্জিং টাইগার অব এশিয়া। দেশের অর্থনীতির উচ্চ প্রবৃদ্ধি ধরে রাখতে চাই আরো বিনিযোগ। তাই এবার বিদেশি বিনিয়োগকারীদের কাছে বাংলাদেশের সম্ভাবনা তুলে ধরতে যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের চারটি বড় শহরে রোড শো করতে যাচ্ছে বাংলাদেশ সিকিউরিটিজ এক্সচেঞ্জ কমিশন। এই আয়োজনের সহযোগী নগদের ব্যবস্থাপনা পরিচালক তানভীর এ মিশুক বললেন, বিশ্বের সবচেয়ে বড় অর্থনীতি দেশ যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের বিনিয়োগকারীদের কাছে বাংলাদেশের সম্ভাবনাগুলো জানানোর এখনই সময়। পুঁজিবাজারের অংশীদার, বিএমবিএ-এর সভাপতি সাইদুর রহমানের মতে, গড় মুনাফার হিসেবে এখন বিশ্ব তালিকার সামনের সারিতে আছে বাংলাদেশের শেয়ারবাজার। এই বাজারের নানা সম্ভাবনা বিদেশি বিনিয়োগকারীদের জানাতে এ ধরনের উদ্যোগ জরুরি। বাংলাদেশের শেয়ারাবাজারে বিদেশি বিনিয়োগ তুলনামূলক কম। করোনাকালে তা আরো কমছিলো। ব্র্যাক ইপিএল প্রধান নির্বাহী কর্মকর্তা আহসানুর রহমান মনে করেন, রোড শোগুলোর মাধ্যমে পুঁজিবাজারের সম্প্রতিক সংস্কার ও অগ্রগতি বিদেশি বিনিয়োগকারীদের জানালে সুফল মিলবে। পুঁজিবাজার নিয়ন্ত্রক সংস্থার প্রধান শিবলী রুবাইয়াত-উল-ইসলাম একাত্তরকে বললেন, বাংলাদেশ নিয়ে বিশ্বে এখনো তথ্য বিভ্রান্তি আছে। এদেশের উন্নয়ন ও সক্ষমতার সঠিক তথ্য উন্নত বিশ্বের বিনিয়োগকারীদের দোড়গোড়ায় নিয়ে যেতে হবে। তিনি আরো বলেন, শুধু পুঁজিবাজার নয়, অর্থনীতির সব খাতে বিনিয়োগ আকর্ষণের জন্যই এই রোড শো। সরকারি ও বেসরকারি সংস্থাগুলোও এমন আরো আয়োজন করবে বলে আশাবাদী তিনি। https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqS7scp--BA

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/sci-tech/bangladesh-to-launch-jogajog-as-alternative-to-facebook-says-palak-1627130728 Bangladesh to launch ‘Jogajog’ as alternative to Facebook, says Palak Published: July 24, 2021 18:45:29 | Updated: July 24, 2021 18:48:43 Bangladesh is going to create its own social media platform called ‘Jogajog’ as an alternative to Facebook and ‘Alapon” for WhatsApp, State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak said on Saturday. He said this while speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural function of "Entrepreneurship Masterclass Series 2" organised by Women e-Commerce. “Through this(Jogajog app) the entrepreneurs of the country will be able to create their own online marketplace and group for information, data and communication .” Palak explained how his ministry successfully created ‘Boithok’ app as an alternative to Zoom online and ‘Surokkha App’ for vaccine registration. He said the digital e-commerce policy of 2018 aims to create 20 lakh jobs in the ICT sector by 2021. He further said that e-commerce, hardware, software and BPO sectors will be able to meet the target of more than 20 lakh jobs by 2021. In addition, it will be possible to earn 5 billion US dollars in export revenue by 2025, the minister hoped, reports UNB.

https://www.dhakapost.com/economy/bank/48743 রেমিট্যান্সে ৩ শতাংশ প্রণোদনা দেওয়ার প্রস্তাব জ্যেষ্ঠ প্রতিবেদক ২৪ জুলাই ২০২১, ০৫:৪৩ পিএম রেমিট্যান্সে এক শতাংশ প্রণোদনা বাড়ানোর প্রস্তাব দিয়েছে বাংলাদেশ ব্যাংক। বর্তমানে প্রবাসী আয়ে দুই শতাংশ প্রণোদনা দিচ্ছে সরকার। সম্প্রতি বাংলাদেশ ব্যাংক এ-সংক্রান্ত একটি চিঠি অর্থ মন্ত্রণালয়ের আর্থিক প্রতিষ্ঠান বিভাগে পাঠিয়েছে। চিঠিতে বলা হয়, প্রবাসীদের হুন্ডির পথ থেকে নিরুৎসাহিত করতে বৈধ পথে রেমিট্যান্স ফি মওকুফ করা প্রয়োজন। বিশ্বের বিভিন্ন দেশের ৩০০র বেশি এক্সচেঞ্জ হাউজ থেকে বাংলাদেশের বিভিন্ন ব্যাংকের রেমিট্যান্স আসে। একেক দেশের এক্সচেঞ্জ হাউজগুলো ভিন্ন ভিন্ন ফি চার্জ নিয়ে থাকে। কিন্তু একটি সমন্বয় করা কঠিন। তাই প্রতি মাসে সর্বোচ্চ ৫০০ মার্কিন ডলার কিংবা এর চেয়ে কম রেমিট্যান্স পাঠানো প্রবাসীদের প্রচলিত দুই শতাংশ প্রণোদনার পাশাপাশি অতিরিক্ত আরও এক শতাংশ প্রণোদনা দেওয়ার প্রস্তাব করেছে কেন্দ্রীয় ব্যাংক। বাংলাদেশ ব্যাংকের প্রস্তাবে বলা হয়েছে, প্রধানমন্ত্রীর নির্দেশে প্রবাসী কল্যাণ ও বৈদেশিক কর্মসংস্থানবিষয়ক জাতীয় স্টিয়ারিং কমিটির বৈঠকে সিদ্ধান্ত হয়, ‘স্বল্প রেমিট্যান্স পাঠানো অভিবাসী কর্মীদের হুন্ডির পথ থেকে নিরুত্সাহিত করতে বৈধ পথে রেমিট্যান্স পাঠানোর ফি মওকুফ করতে হবে। এজন্য প্রয়োজনে উচ্চ আয়ের প্রবাসীদের প্রদত্ত সুযোগের সঙ্গে তা সমন্বয় করতে হবে।’ এ বিষয়ে বাংলাদেশ ব্যাংক শীর্ষ রেমিট্যান্স আহরণকারী ১০টি ব্যাংক এবং বিভিন্ন দেশে অবস্থিত সাবসিডিয়ারি প্রতিষ্ঠানগুলোর মালিকানাধীন ব্যাংকের সঙ্গে সভা করেছে। এ বিষয়ে বাংলাদেশ ব্যাংকের নির্বাহী পরিচালক ও মুখপাত্র সিরাজুল ইসলাম বলেন, বর্তমানে দুই শতাংশ প্রণোদনা দেওয়া হচ্ছে। বৈধ পদে রেমিট্যান্স বাড়াতে আরও এক শতাংশ প্রণোদনা বাড়ানোর প্রস্তাব অর্থ মন্ত্রণালয়ে পাঠানো হয়েছে।

Blue Economy of Bangladesh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptXlncl9MUY

https://www.thedailystar.net/business/economy/industries/investments/news/china-company-invest-42m-ishwardi-epz-2134391 China company to invest $42m in Ishwardi EPZ Star Business Report Tue Jul 20, 2021 12:00 AM Chinese company Vanessa Enterprise has signed a $41.77 million deal with Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (Bepza) to produce accessories for ladies' intimate garments in the Ishwardi export processing zone (EPZ) in Pabna. As per the agreement, the company will annually produce 299.52 million pieces of bra cup and polyurethane foam, said a Bepza press release yesterday. Bepza said the factory would employ at least 4,028 Bangladeshi nationals. Bepza Member (Finance) Nafisa Banu and Vanessa Enterprise Managing Director Choi Chun Ho signed the agreement recently at Bepza Complex in Dhaka.

Update of Elenga-Hatikumrul 6 lane Highway https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR9GibhJDhg

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/bn/জঙ্গিদের-তৎপরতা-বেড়েছে,-শক্তিশালী-বোমা-তৈরি-করছে:-ডিএমপি-কমিশনার-1626777252 জঙ্গিদের তৎপরতা বেড়েছে, শক্তিশালী বোমা তৈরি করছে: ডিএমপি কমিশনার বিডিনিউজ টোয়েন্টিফোর ডটকম | Published: July 20, 2021 16:34:12 বাংলাদেশে সম্প্রতি জঙ্গিদের তৎপরতার সঙ্গে বিস্ফোরক তৈরির সক্ষমতাও বেড়েছে বলে জানিয়েছেন ঢাকা মহানগর পুলিশ (ডিএমপি) কমিশনার মোহাঃ শফিকুল ইসলাম। সোমবার ঈদুল আজহা ঘিরে নিরাপত্তা নিয়ে ডিএমপি মিডিয়া সেন্টারে সংবাদ সম্মেলনে তিনি একথা বলেন। ডিএমপি কমিশনার বলেন, ‘রিসেন্টলি’ জঙ্গিদের সক্ষমতা যেমন বেড়েছে, তেমনি বোমা বানানোর ‘ক্যাপাবিলিটি’ও বেশ উন্নত হয়েছে। “এর আগে ৫টি পুলিশ চেকপোস্টে বোমা বিস্ফোরণের ঘটনা ঘটেছিল। যেসব বোমা কম শক্তিশালী ছিল। রিসেন্টলি যেসব বোমা উদ্ধার হয়েছে, তা অত্যন্ত শক্তিশালী। এগুলো বিস্ফোরণ হলে ‘ম্যাসাকার’ হয়ে যেত।” শফিকুল বলেন, তাদের সক্ষমতা বেড়েছে এবং নতুন লোককে প্রশিক্ষিত করে তারা বোমা বানানোর কাজে নিয়োজিত করেছে। এটা থেকে বুঝা যায়, তাদের প্রস্তুতি আছে।” তবে জঙ্গিদের তৎপরতা প্রতিরোধে দেশের পুলিশও সক্রিয় রয়েছে দাবি করে তিনি বলেন, “কিন্তু আমরাও বসে নেই। কোনো ঘটনা ঘটার আগেই আমাদের প্রশিক্ষত যারা আছেন তারা দক্ষতার সাথে কাজ করছেন। “যেখানে যতটুকু তথ্য পাওয়া যাচ্ছে, আমরা সাথে সাথে ব্যবস্থা নিচ্ছি।” ডিএমপির পাশাপাশি এটিইউ, র‌্যাবসহ অন্য সংস্থাগুলোও কাজ করছে বলে জানান পুলিশ কমিশনার। তিনি বলেন, করোনাভাইরাস মহামারী পরিস্থিতিতে বাইরে যাওয়ার সুযোগ কম থাকায় এখন ইন্টারনেটের মাধ্যমে জঙ্গিবাদ নিয়ে প্রচারণা বেড়েছে। ঈদের সময় ঢাকা মহানগরীর নিরাপত্তা নিয়ে তিনি বলেন, “যারা ঢাকার বাইরে গ্রামের বাড়ি যাবেন, তারা ঘরের নিরাপত্তার জন্য দরজা জানালা ঠিকমত লাগিয়ে যাবেন এবং মূল্যবান সামগ্রী স্বজনের বাসায় রেখে যাবেন। “সবাইকে এক সাথে কাজ করতে হবে; সচেতন হতে হবে। লাখ লাখ বাসায় নিরাপত্তা দেওয়া অসম্ভব ব্যাপার।”

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/economy/bangladesh/bangladeshs-startup-ecosystem-needs-systematic-branding-1626667261 Bangladesh's startup ecosystem ‘needs systematic branding’ FE REPORT | Published: July 19, 2021 10:01:01 Bangladesh's startup ecosystem is an untapped digital goldmine of Asia which needs a systematic country branding in an effort to attract more foreign investments and expand accordingly. There is also need for government policy support, arrangement of corporate venture capital and enhanced industry-academia collaboration to propel the growth of startups which can make great contributions to the national economy. The observations came at a webinar titled 'Unleashing the potential of the Bangladeshi Startup Ecosystem' organized by Innovision Consulting Private Limited in association with The Financial Express and Department of Economics, North South University (NSU) on Saturday evening. Pathao and Anchorless Bangladesh were the thematic partners of the fourth episode of an integrated dialogue campaign styled as the 'Bangladesh Miracle-Celebrating 50 years of Development Progress of Bangladesh'. Founding Partner & CEO of Anchorless Bangladesh and Senior Advisor to the NSU Startups Next Rahat Ahmed presented the keynote paper while Managing Director & Lead Consultant, Innovision Consulting Rubaiyath Sarwar moderated the virtual discussion. Dean of the School of Business & Economics, North-South University Prof Dr. Abdul Hannan Chowdhury, President of Pathao Fahim Ahmed, SaaS Transformation leader at Collibra Inc. Shamma Raghib, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Light Castle Partners Bijon Islam, Chairman & CEO of Innovision Consulting Sadruddin Imran, Investment Associate of Luge Capital Laviva Mazhar spoke on the occasion. Presenting the keynote paper, Rahat Ahmed said Bangladeshi startups drew $40 million in the last calendar year which was very scanty comparing to other regions. "For its population size and density coupled with continuous economic growth, Bangladeshi startups have been funded with $0.92 per person that is an incredible contrast to India and Indonesia, both above $30," he said. Highlighting the role of academic institutions for creating an enabling environment for the startups, Dr. Hannan Chowdhury said there are plenty of startups and successful businesses established in the country but the question looms with getting global class CEOs or founders. "We are yet to go a long way," he said, adding: "Our academic system needs to incorporate many advanced topics which are very pertinent at this moment, in terms of technology, the analytics part and all sorts of digital marketing and some aspects of frontier technologies." "We are behind in terms of leadership training, we are behind in terms of even pushing our students to go for entrepreneurship rather than focusing heavily on working under somebody else," he said. He, however, said some tertiary educational institutions are looking to fill the gaps. President of Pathao Fahim Ahmed said the startup operators face challenges related to scaling, competitiveness and capital. "Many companies falter in the problem identification, some are not ambitious enough in identifying a problem and scale up with the solution," he added. Sharing his experience with Pathao, a local startup providing a wide range of service, Mr Ahmed said it is imperative to approach with a startup mindset within the business operations. Responding to a query, he said there is a need for greater collaboration among the government agencies especially related to regulations in a bid to establish an inclusive ecosystem though the government has initiated a number of platforms for funding and incubating the startups. Laviva Mazhar said there are huge opportunities in Bangladesh's startup ecosystem considering the huge market against the size of the population. Sharing her experience with investment management in Canadian startups, she said: "I think it is possible to build a huge business because of the population in Bangladesh even without need to expand in cross-border region." Since startups are getting more attention across the globe, new funding opportunities are also being created, she said, adding that a national ecosystem has to have some qualifications to attract international venture capital. Sadruddin Imran said there is a strong need for promoting the success of the Bangladeshi startup entities and the potentials of the country's startup ecosystem. "As a country, Bangladesh is very poor in communicating. A lot of things are happening that are interesting but remain unknown to outside world," said Mr Imran. Shamma Raghib said there are still huge untapped opportunities in Bangladesh but numerous problems need to be solved in areas like traffic and agricultural supply chain. She stressed the need for identifying and tackling the local problems having global relevance especially in neighbouring countries to move ahead with the startup operations. Bijon Islam suggested creating global brand perception and reforming the market entry process in Bangladesh to strengthen the startup ecosystem. "We need systematically and consistently promote Brand Bangladesh by emulating successful competitors," he said. He also suggested creating advocates from globally acclaimed Bangladeshis or influential non-resident Bangladeshis to reach out to prospective investors and create positive association. Rubaiyath Sarwar said Bangladeshi startup ecosystem is very vibrant and youthful one but it needs a lot more support to reap the desired benefit. "Comparing to the neighbouring startup ecosystems, Bangladesh is lacking amenities despite the potential," he said. Bangladesh Miracle, an integrated dialogue campaign, is being organised by Innovision Limited in association with The Financial Express and Department of Economics, North South University. Other partners of the event are mPower, NextGenEdu, Simprints Technology, GAIN, WaterAid, BIID, Pathao, Anchorless Bangladesh, Sarabangla, Colours 101.6 Fm. Windmill Advertising, Young Economists' Forum (YEF) of NSU and Printagraphy.

https://futurestartup.com/2017/01/29/planeter-plans-lead-robotics-bangladesh-interview-rini-eshan-khushboo-b-m-rezaul-islam-rakib/ How Planeter Plans To Push Robotics Forward In Bangladesh: An Interview With Rini Eshan Khushboo and A.B.M. Rezaul Islam Rakib By Future Startup | Jan 29, 2017 Robotics, IoT are among the most talked about topics in the world of technology these days. The case that robots will destroy our jobs has taken over the imagination of an entire generation. In Bangladesh, however, we seldom find ourselves at par with these passionate discussions. It is hard to as well because our understanding of robotics starts and ends with these long distance discussions and also to our limited exposure to dummy robots made by amateur hobbyist university students. That said, there are people doing important works in the field of robotics and IoT in Bangladesh, Planeter Limited is one of those companies that has been consistently working hard to push the boundary forward. Started in 2012 as a passion project by Rini Eshan Khushboo and A.B.M. Rezaul Islam Rakib, two founders of the company, Planeter Limited has been working in designing and manufacturing robotics and IoT stuff, albeit in a limited scale, for commercial purposes and for researchers, robot hobbyists, and professionals and businesses. Started as a proprietorship company teaching students robotics in Chittagong, the startup turned it into a private limited company in 2015 and scaled further into serious work of Robotics showing a dogged determination on the part of the founders. For the past years, it has designed robotic stuff, it has made robots that are used by companies and industries, worked with companies in robotics and IoT projects, which the company does these days as well, and taught over 3000 students on robotics and IoT. In 2017, the company plans to launch some of its products into the market and get seriously into marketing as well. We recently sat down with Khushboo and Rakib to talk about the evolution of the company, current status, challenges and opportunities, and the future plans. Future Startup How did Planeter come to exist? How much has the company evolved over the years? Rini Eshan Khushboo: Planeter started its journey in mid-2012. It was initially a Chittagong-based organization. We, Rakib and I, were penultimate in university when we founded the company. I studied Mechanical Engineering at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology, and Rakib did his bachelor's from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. To be honest, we weren't that serious when we started Planeter. We were passionate about robotics and all that but never thought of building a company. I personally wanted to get into NASA. So, I was preparing for that. In my last year at university, I went to NASA to participate in a robotics competition from CUET. We were the only outside Dhaka team to take part there. Seeing our success on winning competitions and developing various robots, many people, mostly students, came to us with requests to teach them robotics. The number of such enthusiasts was quite large. So, after much thought, we finally decided to do something about it. We created a curriculum to teach people about robotics and microcontroller and gathered them together. Our first batch enrolled into the program in 2012. Initially, we started as a sole proprietorship business but later changed to a Limited Company. The response we got from people was overwhelming. There were times when Rakib had to teach 16 batches of students simultaneously. We had two teaching centers in Chittagong: one is our headquarter at Agrabad, and the other was at GEC Moore, which we left later on. In January 2013, we opened a new branch in Dhaka. The response was equally dumbfounding. Over 900 students from BUET have joined in our training program in Dhaka so far. Frankly speaking, we were teaching people and earned money doing it but we didn't have any idea about startups at that time. Our aim was to build a research institute for robotics in Bangladesh. In fact, Planeter, as it's now, is a research company. We help other companies to develop new products and provide solutions for different types of problems. We haven't started our marketing activities yet, but we have plans to open the marketing department this year. Our journey in Dhaka began in 2013. We soon opened our second branch here at Panthapath. At that time, we were largely involved in teaching. We didn't yet bring any change to our operation because, although I had already graduated, Rakib was still busy with his undergraduate studies. But, we were earning enough money through teaching only. Then, on the side, we started working on several projects for different companies. In the early days, we used to get only small projects. Given that we were still a company in its infancy, no one dared to give us big projects. Our first big project was with Renata Pharmaceuticals Ltd. in 2015. We were assigned to create an entirely new quality inspection division for them. The project was successful and we haven't had any complaints yet. That was actually the point when we started getting big projects from other firms. Lately, we have sold robotic arms to CUET. We have also developed a humanoid robot called IRA which we rent to corporates. You must have seen at different occasions when humanoid robots are used to greet guests. So, IRA is our own humanoid robot. The ICT ministry of the government has been agreed to provide us funds to develop it further. Robots at present are mostly imported from abroad, but it is an expensive business. We want to manufacture robots locally, which is very much possible so that we can offer robotics stuff at an affordable cost. A.B.M. Rezaul Islam Rakib: I knew Rini from childhood. I became really interested in robotics after getting into BUET. I began with understanding how a robotic brain works. I tried to learn to design one thing at a time and not everything at once. It was a bit challenging early on to find required materials. I was a sophomore when I started doing this and at the end of the year, I was able to design a robot. Afterward, I took part in a robotics competition called Roborace. I came third in the competition which made me more enthusiastic about robotics. This is when we started to teach others about robotics and eventually founded Planeter. In the meantime, we wrote two books jointly called Robotics and Microcontroller (2015) and Image Processing and Robotic Vision (2016)--both published by Systech Publications. As Rini mentioned earlier, we weren't that serious in the beginning. But things have changed since then. In future, we want to work more on self-reconfigurable robotics. Future Startup Can you give us a short overview of Planeter? Rini: Planeter is a hardware company. That said, the market in Bangladesh is relatively small than many other countries like the USA. At present, we are mainly working with robotics and internet of things (IoT). We have also introduced a course on IoT. We started by developing various kinds of microcontroller based boards and hobby robot kits especially to assist university students in completing their robotic projects. As I said before, our fund for research and development came from teaching students on microcontroller and robotics. We have trained over 3000 students on microcontroller and robotics since our inception. We have got a capable R&D team and are working hard to establish robotics in Bangladesh. Future Startup How many projects are you working on now? Rini: We are currently working on around 23 different projects. There are some other projects we are working that we can't mention for the sake of confidentiality. We are mostly working on the internet of things. The government is really enthusiastic about a new project called Smart City which aims to incorporate the concept of IoT in our day to day lives to increase efficiency and convenience. We are also working on attendance count in schools and workplaces, and security. Automation in households, security, and entertainment are some of our other project matters. Rakib: We help companies develop devices and technologies that they can use in order achieve greater convenience and effectiveness in their daily operation. These devices are particularly engineered to collect data from physical sources. Mobile applications will be used to control these devices which we are designing as well. One project is almost done. We will disclose the details as soon as we are ready to start the pilot project. Future Startup So, you are doing a lot of things on the product end. But, to get a clearer understanding, how does Planeter work? How many people are working in your team? Rakib: Currently, we have 4 members in the team who work full-time. There are several other members who work part-time and work as consultants. We plan to recruit a couple more members this year. We are also collaborating with a lot of partners, some software makers and others in hardware. Future Startup How does the revenue look like? How is your growth? Rini: We have grown almost 8 times since the company’s inception. Our revenue now stands at several million a year. Up until now, we have been largely focused on training and consulting project works. From this year, we plan to design and launch our own products. We have already completed designing a 3D printer model which we expect to launch in February. The price will be below TK 20,000 so that students can afford it. Future Startup What are the key challenges now? Rini: I think one of the biggest challenges is the size of the local market which is relatively small. As a result, we are now thinking of export-oriented strategies. Rakib: Moreover, access to information is often difficult. There are not enough resources available in the country which makes it difficult for us to experiment and develop new models. Communication also doesn't happen in an organized fashion. Customers education is often a major challenge, particularly for products like ours. Pricing is another important issue for us. Consumers are price sensitive in Bangladesh and often do not hesitate to compromise quality just to get something at a cheap price. This is a huge challenge for us because sometimes we have to make products that are more durable but cost a little more. But due to the price-sensitivity, we frequently need to adjust. Unless we do, we could very well lose in the competition. Future Startup How do you reach out to your customers? What channels do you use? Rakib: We haven't put much effort on marketing yet. Promotion till now has been done on a rather small-scale. For example, we participated at a 3-day tech-expo organized by ICT Ministry last year. We attend fairs and expos on a regular basis. These programs have allowed us to build our network and reach to a larger audience. The two books we have published have also helped us to reach out to many people. We have received many responses from our reader who have found our books interesting and wanted to convey their feedback. Future Startup What are your future plans? Rakib: Our main target is to enter the international market in the near future. As we mentioned earlier, much of the work we do now is concentrated on IoT and robotics. We want to penetrate the global market with our products in the coming years. Future Startup That's wonderful. What are the major lessons you learned from your journey? Rini: Throughout these years, I've realized that research-based companies in Bangladesh, or research as a whole, do not get due recognition from the society which is detrimental. We want to build a company where people would love to work at and be proud of. Rakib: To venture into robotics in our social and business set up, there is no alternative to hard work. I have learned this the hard way. One also needs to continuously develop his/her skills. If you want to be an entrepreneur, especially in the technology, having multidisciplinary skills is an advantage. Although an engineering student, I had to learn different terminology and mechanism related to business. It's a necessity in this fast-changing world. You have to be a master in something, but also be a jack of all trades. Future Startup What do you think about competition? What is your take on the industry? How do you think it will unfold in future? Rakib: Planeter Ltd is the first Robotics Company in Bangladesh. Many people are researching, but we still do not have any commercial competitor as such. That said, we have international competitions. As for the industry, I think it will go through a number of changes in the near future. Bangladesh is adopting technology very fast. That said, the market for robotics is relatively small, as I've mentioned before. So, we can't focus on just one single niche. The wise thing would be to do multi-disciplinary works. Future Startup How does Planeter work as an organization? Rakib: Everyone at Planeter has a specific job. We carry out our responsibilities individually, then we bring our works together. As the Chief Technical Officer, I oversee the work distribution and progress in the company. The culture quite collaborative. Rini: Rakib is our troubleshooter. He spends most of his time studying new materials, identifying new problems, and solving them. Kaiser Raihan knows power circuits and embedded programming very well. Future Startup What advice would you give to people who are just starting out? Rakib: Perseverance is a critical quality especially if you want to start a hardware company. Because designing a device needs patience and a specific set of skills. You also need to know how to develop software in order to make your hardware function properly. It's also quite tough to collect raw materials for hardware in Bangladesh. I mean, there's rarely any one-stop destination for everything you need. So, organizing your sources first is a good way before starting a new business. Add to that, one also needs to be good at managing inventory. Lastly, I'd discourage anyone who doesn't have a true passion for building hardware to come into this business. Passion is the key here, not profit.

https://futurestartup.com/2020/08/17/lifes-work-nizam-uddin-wedevs/ On weDevs, Growing a Global Software Company, and Good Work With Nizam Uddin, Co-Founder and CEO, weDevs By Future Startup | Aug 17, 2020 weDevs CEO and co-founder Md Nizam Uddin walks us through his early life, how his childhood and upbringing continue to shape his life and work, his path to entrepreneurship, gives us a peek behind the scenes of his company, and discusses his philosophy on doing good work, the state of weDevs today and its ambition going forward, how weDevs operates, the art of growing a software company, talks about the challenges of being a founder, building a positive culture, dealing with challenges and stress, and reflects on relying on Allah and the concept of perpetual good deeds in Islam, making a positive difference, and learning to stay productive while living a good life and so much more. Future Startup: Could you please tell us about your background i.e. your childhood, education, career, and your path to entrepreneurship? Nizam Uddin: I was born in Jagannathpur village of Chatmohar thana in Pabna district. Now there is a touch of modernity but in my childhood, this place was undeveloped and unprivileged where electricity came in 2003. My family was well-off though, Alhamdulillah. My Grandpa was a reputed person and remains on till these days in that entire village. He was a teacher, a scholar, and hugely popular. My father was born after my eight aunts - he was so pampered by all of them that he could not study much. Although he couldn’t study much, he had a strong desire to give me the best education. The best teachers in the area would come and teach me at home. Also, all the teachers in our primary school who came from outside stayed in our house. As a child, I saw that at least one or two teachers always stayed in our house and they used to teach me academic lessons. So, although I am from an undeveloped village, I had access to good education, Alhamdulillah. Some of my teachers in those early days have changed my life in more than one way. One teacher, named Abdur Rahim, who taught me from class one to five, encouraged me not to memorize math rather understand the underlying concepts, which I think has positively affected my life to a great extent. I didn't have any dreams of my own till class five. My parents never said you have to be a doctor or an engineer. My father just told me to be a good person and achieve good academic results. After getting a scholarship in class five, largely owing to the strong desire of my father, I got into Pabna Zilla School and got a seat in the school hostel. The turning point of my life commenced here, Alhamdulillah. At that time the communication system from our village to Pabna was broken. It was tough to travel. For example, first, we had to walk 20/25 minutes, then get on a boat to come to a place in 40/45 minutes, and from there we had to come to Pabna in another 40/50 minutes by tempo. Now, Alhamdulillah, you can go there by car. As I was saying, after getting admitted into Pabna Zilla School, my life took a turn. I started to see my dreams unfold and was gradually developing a conviction that I could make them come true. Since I had developed the habit of reading from my childhood, I didn’t miss the golden opportunity to start reading at the Annada Govinda Public Library when I came to Pabna. At school, I was in the morning shift. After class, I would go to the library after prayers and lunch. I read books on many subjects. There I came to read the first science magazine and came to know about NASA for the first time. As I read these magazines, I began to dream that one day I would become a scientist. I used to do small science experiments on my own. I first learned about the internet reading a magazine. In 2001, I learned how to use the internet in a cyber cafe. I was in class seven at the time and I spent 300 taka on that first visit to the cyber cafe. From then on, I used to use the internet for 20 taka an hour from the money my father used to spend on me and I used to go to cybercafes and sit on NASA's website. Needless to say, many people usually come from the countryside to the city and couldn’t keep up. Alhamdulillah, this was not a problem for me. Until class ten, my position in the class was within one digit. The habit of reading hard and understanding other subjects including math helped me a lot. After finishing SSC, I moved to Dhaka and got into Government Science College. Immediately after admission, I came across a creative brochure of Udvash. I was immediately attracted and eventually took admission to Udvash. The class of Sohag Bhaia, the founder of Udvash, moved me greatly. I could not have imagined that science could be explained in such a beautiful way. My process of thinking was seriously influenced by Sohag Bhai. Not only his excellent pedagogy but also motivational short speeches in class brought a huge change in my life. I also learned from him how to love my motherland unconditionally as all owe it to a great deal. From then till now I am a super fan of Sohag Bhai and he has been my mentor throughout all these years. I still go to his place for intellectual discussion and inspiration. The desire to become an engineer instead of a scientist became stronger during this period as I was attending classes in Udvash. Gradually, I developed a strong desire to study computer science at BUET. But after coming to Dhaka, I could not cope with the new weather. At first, it was jaundice, then chickenpox, and all in all I was sick for a long time. Despite these physical challenges, my preparation was not bad but during the final exam, I got seriously ill and could not attend any practical exam. Thus the result came out very bad. BUET, far from it, I was not even eligible to sit for the admission exam in other engineering universities. With this result, I went after thinking about admission to a regular public university. Finally, by the grace of Allah Ta'ala, I got into the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of Rajshahi University. Upon admission, I set an ambitious target to compete as a world finalist in ICPC. Atiq, Asik, and I teamed up together and started solving the UVA problems. We participated in several contests and started doing fairly well. There was a clash between the students of different political groups in the university and our academic sessions got tangled up. When we were in our second year, Tareq asked me to participate in the soft expo in Dhaka. I agreed without a second thought and we participated in BASIS Soft Expo 2010 with the project of Kausar Bhai, a senior in our department. The project was a Braille board with which the blind could read from the computer. We got the Best IT Innovation Award. Taking awards from the minister, getting featured in good newspapers inspired my young mind tremendously. I was at the expo for 5 days which turned the corner of my life. I attended many seminars, talked to a lot of people, and came to know a lot of initiatives, and got to know a lot of details about entrepreneurship. From one of the seminars, I learned that entrepreneurship is all about solving the problems of the society which will have a huge positive impact on the family, society, and the country. I kept thinking a lot about these things and a feeling came across my mind that this is what I want to do. This also coincided with a lesson I received from my family, which is to devote as much to Sadaqa Jariya (Islamic way of helping people) as possible in life, with which I find a broad resemblance that being an entrepreneur would do the most. From then on, I started looking for problems which are possible for me to solve with the technology and which will be useful to people. Many thanks to Tareq for taking me to the soft expo. If it was not for Tareq’s encouragement to attend the expo, my life’s trajectory could have been very different. The first problem I found was the broken education system. I thought to myself that my friends who are studying computer science are making computers into cassette players - there is truly a lot more good work to be done besides songs, dramas, and movies. I don't even think about it. To solve this problem, I tried to collect 500 gigabytes of video tutorials with my friend Tareq and spread them all over Bangladesh, along with building a physical training center, online training center, a forum, and a marketplace like Upwork. It was inaugurated in July 2011 by the then state minister Yafes Usman and Munir Hasan Sir. Earlier, however, I set up a news portal with my friend BM Sharif to help university students get news related to them, which I later shut down. Later in 2012, we started weDevs. So that’s how I came to be an entrepreneur. Future Startup: How has your childhood and upbringing shaped your work and worldview? Nizam Uddin: As I mentioned earlier, when I was young I did not have any particular dream of my own. That changed when I enrolled in Pabna Zilla School. The Pabna Zilla School changed my outlook towards life and my first dream was to be a scientist. At college, I wanted to be an engineer. Finally, after attending the soft expo I decided to be an entrepreneur. Growing up, my family has been an important influence in shaping my worldview. My parents were not highly educated but Alhamdulillah, they did not lack religious knowledge and wisdom. They paid huge attention to shaping my morals. They emphasized and taught me at a young age that I must surrender my wish to Allah and do things that Allah approves of. They taught me to help others or at least do no harm to others. And follow and practice the Sunnah of our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Religious teachings are still given the highest priority in my family. While my parents tried to instill certain values and teaching in me, my father has also given me a lot of freedom. He never forced anything upon me. When needed, he taught me instead of forcing me. Nudged me towards doing the right things. But he never pushed me. It has helped me to grow up independent and learn to think for myself. Similarly, my experience of working with different people in different environments as I was away from family since class six, my father's efforts to have me study in the best schools, and my freedom to make my own decisions have played an important role in becoming who I’m today. Future Startup: When and how did you get started with weDevs? What motivated you to start weDevs? Nizam Uddin: weDevs is not my first startup. I first became interested in entrepreneurship in 2010. Afterward, I tried to identify problems that could be solved using technology. First, I started working on a news portal with my friend BM Sharif aimed at campus news and students. Later in 2011, I started working with my friend, Tareq, on education. We provided physical training to 60/70 people, provided free video tutorials to a lot of people, along with online training and a freelancing marketplace. But we had to shut it down and the experience was not particularly good. In 2012, I and Tareq started weDevs in a rented house in Rajshahi. Tareq has already been working with WordPress and created a few popular plugins. His WP User Frontend plugin was very popular and we released a premium version in early 2013. It is worth mentioning here that Tareq originally started weDevs as an Engineer's forum with a few seniors of our CSE department from the first year in 2008 but stopped after a few months. I did not have an idea about entrepreneurship at the time. Later after finishing Honors, Tareq and I moved to Dhaka in late 2013 and hired a few employees and started weDevs full time, officially and dedicatedly. weDevs founders Nizam and Tareq at BASIS Outsourcing Award (from left to right) Future Startup: What went into building the initial operation of weDevs? How did you put together initial investment and other things to get started? Please walk us through what the first few months to one year of weDevs and your journey were like. Nizam Uddin: weDevs came into being as a company, with a plugin developed by Tareq. We had a good number of free users of the plugin, and when we released pro-version we got a good number of paid customers and our revenue went up to 8 to 10 thousand dollars per month, Alhamdulillah. In the first year, Tareq and I did everything ourselves. Later we faced challenges with other businesses such as Enzaime Limited. Future Startup: What were some major challenges you faced in the early years and how did you deal with them? Nizam Uddin: Alhamdulillah, we were lucky that we had a good income from the beginning. As a result, we did not have to worry about finance. Since all our customers were international, the biggest challenge was the payment gateway. First Mahi Bhai and later Asif Bhai helped us with the payment gateway. Since we had no previous job experience and neither of us comes from a business background, we had no idea about how a company works or how people run it. As a result, we would face regular obstacles. This continues to be the reality even these days. We try to solve them using our understanding, making mistakes and learning. When we could solve a problem, we seek advice from more experienced people around us. One particular challenge that continues to exacerbate us is a lack of good resources who are driven. Most importantly, my limitations and lack of skills were a challenge as well in the early days. I initially lacked many skills required to run the business. I lacked leadership qualities and had problems with handling different issues that I learned and am still learning. I believe an entrepreneur should not blame others rather he should come up with his strategies to address problems. Our products have combinedly been downloaded more than 5 million times. Future Startup: How did you grow weDevs in the early days? How did you find your first 10 customers and grow from there? What are some strategies and tactics you used in the early years? Nizam Uddin: As I mentioned earlier, we had a good number of free users of our product. When we launched our pro version, it did not take us long to get a good number of paid customers. We didn't go into any paid marketing in the early days. Our main strategy was to offer high-quality products with a stable version and great customer support. These two strategies have helped us to achieve good conversions. We also used and received promotions from many influencers in the community. Afterward, we got listed on many blogs. All the traffic was organic. Team weDevs Future Startup: Could you please give us an overview of weDevs today in terms of products and services you offer, the number of users you have, the size of your business, etc? Nizam Uddin: At the moment, weDevs has 9 large and revenue-generating products and 2 services. Some of these products have more than 15 to 20 add-ons. For example, our ERP where HR, CRM, Accounting are the main modules as well as 22 other addons like payroll, recruitment, attendance, inventory, etc are also available. Our most popular product is DOKAN, which is the world's No. 1 Marketplace Solution. About 50,000 Marketplaces actively use DOKAN around the world. Even the Bootstrap marketplace is run with DOKAN. More than 10,000 companies run their day-to-day operations with our ERP solution. More than 9,000 teams around the world manage their projects with our project management solutions. Apart from these popular products, more than 2 lakh websites use our plugins. Our products have been downloaded more than 5 million times. Last year, all our websites combinedly had about 3.5 million traffic in total, got more than 300 customer reviews, more than 90 thousand customer replies and we created about 500 contents, Alhamdulillah. Apart from this, Wedevs has 3 different companies such as Enzaime in the health sector, Tedfo in Export Marketing, and Sokrio in field-force management. Future Startup: How much has weDevs evolved over the past years i.e. if you compare weDevs today with weDevs from early days? Nizam Uddin: In the last five years, we have made huge changes and improvements in every area of our operations. We can start with recruitment. We used to hire people by only one interview in the past. As a result, we made a lot of hiring mistakes. We have now changed that. We, Tareq and I, still interview people like before but it is more like the final or second final interview. A candidate has to pass 6 or 7 other exams to reach this interview. We now have a very capable HR team that handles all people related work that we used to handle ourselves before. We used to do a lot of micromanaging before. It has changed over the past few years. We now have a strong mid-management team that is capable of handling any issues. If only seven people of this mid-management team are managed, 80+ teams can be managed well. Now there is a beautiful evaluation system with which we can judge everyone. We have a team of good product managers who are constantly thinking about products and innovations that were not there before. In terms of facilities for people, we have added a long list of benefits for our people such as provident fund, gratuity, medical fund, marriage bonus, etc. We have started annual profit-sharing with everyone in the team, Alhamdulillah. We have improved our customer support. The scope of support has increased a lot. We now provide 24/7 customer support. We did not have a proper marketing team before, now we have a content and marketing team of around 30 people. We have built systems and our management structure is much stronger than before. I have evolved as well and I now make fewer mistakes myself. Everyone has their sprint which means there are goals and there is accountability. Alhamdulillah, there has been a huge improvement in all aspects of user acquisition, revenue, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, etc. Future Startup: weDevs has several successful products and you have continuously been investing in developing new products. How do all your products and businesses connect? How does your operation work? What is your business model? How do you generate revenue? Nizam Uddin: weDevs has a range of products for several sectors, from developers to marketers, from enterprise solutions to website management, and more. It has been a good strategic move on our part as we have several revenue sources. On the other hand, a big problem is maintaining the focus. To solve the problem, we run each product as a separate startup. For example, every product has a product manager, dedicated developers, someone in charge of marketing who is called the product champion, someone from the content team who is called the site champion, a support ninja from the support team, business development, design, and other teams are shared though. The lead of each department is assigned to make sure all the tasks are completed effectively and efficiently. Our business model is freemium. We have a free version of each product and a pro version with more premium features. We have 2 products with monthly subscriptions and the rest are with annual subscriptions. We generate revenue from the pro versions of the products. weFamily Day Future Startup: How big is your team? Could you tell us about your culture at weDevs? Nizam Uddin: The weDevs family currently has more than 80 members. We also have three different startups that are operating as independent companies with a team of about 50 people there. weDevs is a family in terms of its culture. There is no boss here. Everyone is brothers and sisters. When it comes to culture, first of all, we have to talk about our recruitment process. The most important things when hiring someone are whether they have entrepreneurial qualities, whether they have passion, whether they are interested in learning, and whether they fit with our culture. We do not put a lot of emphasis on his/her educational background. Instead, we look at the burning desire or passion for what they do. In weDevs, you will find many great programmers with no background in computer science rather in statistics, physics, literature, business administration, electrical engineering, and even in law. You will find the majority of our support, content, marketing team having a background in computer science or IT, and even in our HR team, you will find computer science graduates. We strongly believe in teamwork. If you look at our name, weDevs, you will understand that we believe in ‘we’, not in ‘I’. There goes a saying that if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, then go together. We want to go far. If I am asked about the biggest achievement of weDevs in the last 6/7 years, then I would like to say that apart from about 50,000 active marketplaces, more than 10 thousand active ERP installations, 9 thousand active project management installations, we have a highly dedicated and motivated team. We have a big handbook on our culture. In short, the culture of weDevs is based on mutual respect and trust, decision after discussion with everyone, ordering good deeds & forbidding evil deeds, sincerity, good behavior, justice, Cooperation, physical and human well-being, cleanliness, not backbiting and slander, 360-degree feedback, etc. Besides, I would like to emphasize a few things: Customers are at the heart of all we do. Flexibility is more important to us than efficiency. We do not measure anyone’s impact on the company by their designation but by their dedication. Managers act as leaders not like bosses so they do not try to control other teammates. We all believe each one is the owner of the company and work with honor. Women’s comfort in the company is more important than that of men and the environment has been created to suit their work. Strong disciplinary measures are taken when anyone hurts other's religious freedom. Now let's talk about how we evaluate ourselves. Our assessment is divided into three parts: performance curve, personality curve, and learning curve. Trying to be a good human being is the most important aspect of our evaluation process and, on top of that, everyone is highly encouraged to increase his/her domain knowledge. We believe that if anyone is an honest and good person and is willing to learn, then his performance will be outstanding, inshaAllah. We value efforts over results. We try to build some qualities in ourselves through various activities, which our education system was supposed to do for us. For example 1. Creating the ability to think 2. Creating a tendency to never give up 3. Creating self-confidence 4. Creating values We invite family members of all the employees to weDevs' Family Day. Everyone gets a chance to get acquainted with each others’ family. We try to spread our dreams and beliefs in everyone's family as well. We think that not only those of us who work at the office matter but also their families matter: if we, from within the family, can continue with the same faith, then we will be able to reach our desired goal very easily, Inshallah. To create a comfortable, healthy, and happy environment in the company and to make everyone feel relatively secure, whether it is financial standpoint or job security, Tareq and I always work on it and always remain careful not to harm anyone's rights. And that's how we dream of a culture that will make us the happiest company in the world, inshAllah. You can find a video on how we work in the office here. We believe that if anyone is an honest and good person and is willing to learn, then his performance will be outstanding, inshaAllah. We value efforts over results. Future Startup: How have you attracted users and grown weDevs? Could you tell us about the strategies and activities that you carried out to achieve the growth? Nizam Uddin: We use a Freemium Model with regards to our software products. We have a free version of each product. All our products are open source except our SaaS products. Everyone can see our code. This free open-source product is a great blessing for us, Alhamdulillah. First of all, we have never compromised on quality. Our excellence has been seen and celebrated by our customers. Since our inception, our customers have been happy with our products and praise the excellency of our products. We always develop products according to the needs of our customers. We worked on a few niches where we were the first, but later we also entered some crowded markets. Then we focus on customer support. We have a support team that is incredibly fast and responsible, Alhamdulillah. You will find more than a thousand reviews and ratings on various sites online which will help you understand the quality of support we provide. Let me share an incident from our early days. One day I came to see a lot of traffic from a site. Later I went to that site and saw a forum where one of our customers published a post about his satisfaction with our customer support. That customer was given a code snippet that saved him a few hundred dollars and saved a lot of time. We managed to build a good base of loyal customers through excellent customer service who referred us to others in the beginning, Alhamdulillah. Good ratings and reviews on various great sites such as WordPress.org, TrustPilot, G2Crowd, Capterra have helped a lot in our branding and boosting customer confidence. From the very beginning, we have maintained clean and necessary documentation which received the applause of our customers and helped many people get a clear idea about all the features before purchase. We regularly update our products with new exclusive features that give customers confidence that we are active in the market. Early on we started writing all the contents related to our product in our blog and started doing regular SEO which helped us to get a fair number of organic traffic. Many people would write blog posts about us on a variety of sites for the quality of the product and support which gave us a good number of traffic and sales. We do PRs on different good sites frequently. We would send out the necessary tips and tricks as a newsletter to our customers regularly that help us grow. I will finish the answer by sharing another very interesting finding inshallah. We notice that we are getting good traffic from the NULLED site. Since the product was very good and the price was a bit high for many and many customers do not want to spend money in the first place on products that will not work because the Internet is full of frauds so they would find these NULLED sites and install from there. Some of them used to buy a license of their own while others were forced to buy it when they were in trouble and could not get support. Following all these strategies, our sales are increasing, Alhamdulillah. We are still doing all these things and getting benefits and the scope for us has also increased. In the first 2/3 years, we did not spend a single penny on paid marketing and there was no such digital marketing team. Below I discussed how our current marketing team works. Typical Day at weDevs Future Startup: What are the lessons you’ve learned in terms of growing a business, a software company in particular? What other entrepreneurs can learn from your growth journey? Nizam Uddin: Team. My experience is that your team can make or break your company. A super motivated team can change a company. Nothing great can be achieved alone. A motivated team of the right people in the right position can accelerate the growth of any company, which has happened in our case, Alhamdulillah. Future Startup: What are some mistakes you’ve made if any, that you want other entrepreneurs to avoid? Nizam Uddin: I have made many mistakes in my small entrepreneurial life. When we started the office in Dhaka, we invested in 4 more startups which caused a lot of distractions. We eventually closed them all later but losing your focus is always a terrible mistake. The deadliest mistakes would be our health startup. Although we did not have any expertise there, we had about 70 employees with no outside investment in that venture before we knew it. I gave priority to emotions over reality. We invested in that venture from our pocket for more than two and a half years, which drained my fund. We used up all the funds only to develop the product. We had some success like a Manthan award, got selected for SLUSH, and received excellent feedback from our users. We could eventually secure a good investment. But such a beautiful startup with so much hope and potential was ruined in just one afternoon due to some partnership problems. In the startup, I had another partner besides Tareq who was a good man in the heart. We had an excellent relationship. But we later realized that few things between us were vague and not written down, which later created misunderstandings and took a deadly turn leading to the demise of the company. For every entrepreneur, prioritize reality over emotion. Don’t rely solely on personal relationships, when it comes to partnerships, write everything down - what to do if the business has to shut down and what the divorce will look like if there is a partnership, etc. No matter how good the person or relationship is, everything has to be written down without any ambiguity. Future Startup: How do your sales and marketing work? Nizam Uddin: As I mentioned before, we didn't have a proper marketing team for the first 2/3 years and we didn't spend a single penny on paid media. Now Alhamdulillah, we have a content marketing team of about 30 people and the scope of work has increased considerably. Needless to say, our sales team is not with the marketing team rather with the support team. Our entire support team works as a sales team. We now have 24/7 live chat and support in 3 shifts, Alhamdulillah. The main sales target of the sales and support team is to convert customers from live chats and pre-sales questions. Content, Digital Marketing, Community and Business Development are some of the parts of our marketing team. There are one product champion and one site champion for each product from the content marketing team. The product champion is responsible for all kinds of digital marketing of that product and the site champion is responsible for all content published in the specific site. We have been following the AARRR model of Growth Hack Marketing for almost 3 years. We have customized the model to our needs. The AARRR model has five phases: Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, and Referral. In the Acquisition phase, we do various activities to bring the users to our site or the product page. In this phase, we do these tasks: We connect with different bloggers, different influencers like youtube, and/or influencers from different parts of the world and try to get users or traffic from them. We publish PRs in different presses. We try to partner with different associations in different countries, related products or services, agencies, course instructors, various popular tools, payment gateways, etc. We do video marketing and Reddit, Quora, Medium, Instagram marketing, etc. We do a lot of branding related work in this phase. We do keyword analysis and SEO related tasks in this phase. We sponsor and attend many international events. We also do a lot of other growth hack activities in user acquisition. In the Activation phase, we try to persuade our users in performing any activity on our sites. The special tasks of this phase are: We make viral content, quizzes, contests, and giveaways. We create articles, ebooks, press releases, white papers, infographics, guides/tutorials, and masterclasses to educate users. We make informative articles for Influencer, Community-related articles, Activity in forums, Events, Shared Value Marketing, Interactive content, Webinars, Case studies /Customer stories to inspire and convince users. Based on user activity, we try to find out AHA moments and WOW Factors in this phase. We work with WordPress.org reviews, Facebook reviews, Google My Business reviews, TrustPilot reviews, TrustRadius reviews, G2Crowd reviews, Capterra reviews, FinanceOnlines reviews, GetApp reviews and Collect testimonial for our site to inspire users and increase their buying confidence. Besides all these, we also do a lot more activities in this phase The purpose of the Retention phase is basically to bring our users or customers to the site or product and make them our recurring customers. Customer retention is a very difficult task. Tasks below are what we do in this phase. We try to find out the NPS score and do different activities accordingly. We provide feature suggestions from the marketing team by analyzing the data that we keep when the customer leaves, analyzing the market, and competitors. We don't think the work should be done just by software. We have seen that about 60% of the users do not renew their subscriptions the next year because they close the business for various reasons. If we talk about Dokan, the Marketplace is huge, so to run it fully, you need funds as well as the capacity to make strategies and execute. We are now creating resources for the customer to do everything from business plans to executions so that a business gets good guidance and can run the business smoothly and renew every year. We do all this work in this phase. In addition to our clean and detailed documentation and tutorials, we regularly send them tips and tricks via newsletter. We also have a community group on Facebook where we connect everyone who helps with retention. We also do the work of translating in different languages in this phase. Apart from all these activities, there are also many other activities we do. In the Revenue phase, we do various activities for the users to buy our products. E.g. We collect emails from free users and send them a series of emails to convert to paid versions. We do a variety of email marketing including Fail Order, Abandon Cart Email, etc. We offer special offers on various occasions including Black Friday, Cyber Monday which helps us generate a good amount of revenue. Now we do Google Search Ad, Display Ad, Video Ad Campaigns, Bing Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads. We retarget custom audiences aggressively. We also do a lot more, including how to reduce customer acquisition costs and increase customer lifetime value. In the Referral phase, our main target is to turn our existing customer into advocates so that they invite others to buy our products. We also try to reach out to various agencies, influencers, marketers to promote our products. We have a full phase affiliate program with about 800 affiliates. In this phase, we nurture our affiliates, provide them marketing materials, help to learn more about our products, and much more. We have also launched our brand ambassador program this year, where we are hiring our representatives in different countries. Future Startup: Have you found anything particularly helpful or advantageous in the process of building weDevs? Nizam Uddin: I would mention two things. We have been lucky to generate good revenue from the beginning, which has helped us to achieve financial stability. We have excellent working chemistry and understanding between me and Tareq, which has been of tremendous help and finally, not having a third person on the board. I wake up between 4 and 5 in the morning. If I go to bed late, I usually take a nap after Fajr prayer. I exercise a little in the morning, study, and prepare the instructions that I have to give to my teammates throughout the day. Future Startup: How do you deal with challenges and stress that come with being a founder? Nizam Uddin: Running a company is stressful. I have accepted that. When there is a problem in the company, first, I consider it as my leadership problem, then rely on Allah Ta'ala and begin to solve it. I try to solve every problem in the light of the Holy Quran and Hadith. One of us, Tareq and I, usually think through the problems positively and the other negatively and then decide through discussion. Sometimes I go to my mentor Sohag Bhai and sometimes to an Islamic scholar for suggestions. However, I am lucky about one thing, regardless of stress or tension, I can fall asleep in a few minutes, Alhamdulillah. Future Startup: How do you stay productive and positive as a founder and CEO? What does a typical day of you look like? Nizam Uddin: I try to forgive everyone before I go to sleep every night and try to start the next day anew. There are very few people in the world who get the opportunity to work on what they love and start their day doing what they love. I feel lucky that I can start and finish my day doing what I love to do, Alhamdulillah. I work to please Allah, which helps me to stay motivated and productive. I wake up between 4 and 5 in the morning. If I go to bed late, I usually take a nap after Fajr prayer. I exercise a little in the morning, study, and prepare the instructions that I have to give to my teammates throughout the day. I start the office with a standup meeting with our mid-management team at 10:30 am (Bangladesh time 8:30 am). Then we do a Product Manager standup. Throughout the day, I attend various meetings, interviews, job reviews, and problem-solving. When I have time, I invest in planning and research. Each day my target is to finish work by 8 pm. But it usually doesn't happen. I try to go to bed by 11 pm, but I don’t succeed there regularly either. Future Startup: What advice would you give to founders who are just starting? Nizam Uddin: For those who are just starting out: First, fix the dream. Make sure it is scalable. But always start small. Begin with the end in mind. Before starting the business, decide what to do if you have to shut it down someday and what the divorce would look like if the partnership falls apart. No matter how good your partners are and how strong your relationship is with them, make sure everything is written down with absolutely no ambiguity at all. The company needs to create a comfortable, healthy, and happy environment for its people. Everyone in the company should feel relatively secure in terms of both financial benefits and job security. Everyone in the company has to believe in the vision and work with the same firm conviction.

https://www.ittefaq.com.bd/scienceandtechnology/260123/তথ্যপ্রযুক্তি-খাতে-বাংলাদেশে-বিনিয়োগে-আগ্রহী-তুরস্ক তথ্যপ্রযুক্তি খাতে বাংলাদেশে বিনিয়োগে আগ্রহী তুরস্ক ইত্তেফাক অনলাইন ডেস্ক২৩:০৮, ১৪ জুলাই, ২০২১ তথ্যপ্রযুক্তি ও এই সংক্রান্ত সেবাখাতে বাংলাদেশে তুরস্কের বিনিয়োগ বৃদ্ধি এবং বাণিজ্য সম্প্রাসারিত হবে বলে মনে করেন বাংলাদেশে নিযুক্ত তুরস্কের রাষ্ট্রদূত মুস্তফা ওসমান তুরান। বাংলাদেশ অ্যাসোসিয়েশন অব সফটওয়্যার অ্যান্ড ইনফরমেশন সার্ভিসেস (বেসিস) ও বাংলাদেশে অবস্থিত তুরস্কের দূতাবাসের মধ্যে আইসিটি খাতে বাংলাদেশ ও তুরস্কের মধ্যে ব্যবসা সম্প্রসারণের সম্ভাবনা নিয়ে ভার্চুয়াল প্ল্যাটফর্মে অনুষ্ঠিত দ্বিপাক্ষিক আলোচনা সভায় তিনি এ আশাবাদ ব্যক্ত করেন। ওসমান তুরান বলেন, আইসিটি খাতে তুরস্ক ও বাংলাদেশ একসাথে কাজ করতে পারে। দু দেশের ব্যবসায়ীদের মধ্যে যাতে সফল ব্যবসায়ী সম্পর্ক গড়ে উঠে এজন্য আমরা কাজ করছি। তুরস্কের বাজারে বাংলাদেশের আইটি খাতের প্রতিষ্ঠানগুলো যাতে সহজে ব্যবসা করতে পারে সেজন্য বেসিসকে আমরা সবধরনের সহযোগিতা করবো। অনলাইনে অনুষ্ঠিত এ সভায় বর্তমানে বাংলাদেশে আইসিটি খাতে ২০২৪ সাল পর্যন্ত ট্যাক্স হলিডের কথা উল্লেখ করে বেসিস সভাপতি সৈয়দ আলমাস কবীর বলেন, তুরস্কের আইটি কোম্পানি বাংলাদেশে বিনিয়োগ করে লাভবান হতে পারে। এক্ষেত্রে তারা তাদের লভ্যাংশের শতভাগ দেশে ফিরিয়ে নিতে পারবে। বাংলাদেশ এখন আইসিটি খাতে ১০ লক্ষের উপরে দক্ষ জনবল আছে। তিনি আরো বলেন, এই খাতে তুরস্কের বিনিয়োগের ফলে উভয় দেশের জন্যই লাভজনক হবে। বেসিস আইসিটি খাতের আন্তর্জাতিক বাজার সম্প্রসারণে কাজ করছে। আমরা আশাবাদী তুরস্কের সাথে আমাদের ভবিষ্যৎ ব্যবসা বাড়বে। আলোচনার মধ্যে বাংলাদেশ ও তুরস্কের মধ্যকার অতীতের সুসম্পর্কের কথাও তুলে ধরেন বেসিস সভাপতি। অনুষ্ঠানে বেসিসের জ্যেষ্ঠ সহ-সভাপতি ফারহানা এ রহমান বলেন, আইসিটি খাতের পণ্য ও সেবা রপ্তানির ক্ষেত্রে ইউরোপ আমাদের প্রাথমিক বাজার। তুরস্ক ইউরোপের বাজারে আমাদের ব্যবসা বাড়াতে ভূমিকা রাখতে পারে। বাংলাদেশ ও তুরস্কের মধ্যে আইসিটি খাতে ব্যবসা বাড়ানোর অবাধ সুযোগ আছে। এই খাতের ব্যবসায়ীরা পরস্পর একসাথে কাজ করলে উভয়েই লাভবান হবে। বাংলাদেশে বর্তমান ব্যবসার পরিবেশ অতীতের যেকোন সময়ের চেয়ে ভালো। বিশেষ করে আইসিটি খাতে সরকারের দেওয়া বিশেষ সুবিধা এই খাতে ব্যবসা বাড়াতে ভূমিকা রাখবে বলে বেসিস ও বাংলাদেশে নিযুক্ত তুরস্কের রাষ্ট্রদূত উভয়ে সহমত প্রকাশ করেন। বাংলাদেশে নিযুক্ত তুরস্কের রাষ্ট্রদূতের সাথে অনুষ্ঠিত সভায় বেসিস থেকে আরও যুক্ত ছিলেন যুগ্ম-সচিব ইনামুল হাফিজ লতিফী, আন্তর্জাতিক সম্পর্ক বিভাগের সহকারী ব্যবস্থাপক নাদিয়া তাবাসসুম।

Keraniganj flyover will be connected to the eight-lane outer ring road around the capital https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os9IO0QBRSQ

https://futurestartup.com/2021/03/25/ishtiaque-sarwar-founder-aamarpay/ By Future Startup | Mar 25, 2021 AamarPay’s Ambition and The Art of Entrepreneurship: Ishtiaque Sarwar, Founder, AamarPay Ishtiaque Sarwar is a serial entrepreneur and Founder and Managing Director of Dhaka-based fin-tech company aamarPay. In this wide-ranging interview, Mr. Sarwar talks about how aamarPay came into being, the evolution of AamarPay, how he has grown aamarPay from a small operation to one of the leading players in the payment gateway space and expanded its service, shares his thought on the company culture, growth, decision making, sales and marketing, jobs of a founder, the state of aamarPay today and its ambition going forward, and much, much more. Future Startup: How did you come up with the idea of AamarPay? How did you put together the resources initially and launched AamarPay? An Ishtiaque Sarwar: I first thought about aamarPay in 2012. I launched an ecommerce platform called E-biponon at the time. Quite early days of ecommerce. To solve the payment problem of ecommerce, I tried to launch aamarPay together with E-biponon. I didn’t have enough knowledge about the domain and was not connected with the right people. It did not happen. But I became quite fascinated with the idea. I could see that there was (and is) a huge opportunity to serve people in the payment space. I spent the next two years, from 2012 to 2014, gathering resources and developing an understanding of the payment market. Around 2014, I hired a web developer to work on the first version of aamarPay. We managed to build an initial version but it was not workable. I did not give up. In 2015, I raised a small seed investment of tk. 2.5 lakh and started working on the platform once again. We eventually managed to launch the platform in 2015. This time we had a workable platform, but it was not good enough. It was not working as well as it should have. We did not have any traction in 2015. In 2016, I hired a developer with experience in the payment domain since my team did not have any experience in building payment products. Around this time, I met M. Asif Rahman bhai. We raised another round of seed money towards the end of 2016 from him. We used that money to build the second version of the aamarPay platform and launch it. Between the end of 2016 and mid-2017, we ran several trials and errors to test our system. From the middle of 2017, we started to push a bit in the market and get some traction. We managed some tk. one crore transaction in 2017. Since then we have grown quite consistently. We did not raise any further investment. We are now exploring funding opportunities as we see there are opportunities to build serious business in the space. We had some 50 merchants on our platform in the first year. By the end of the second year, it grew to 200 merchants. In 2018, we saw excellent growth. In 2019, our transaction grew three folds. While we started 2020 strong, we went through a difficult few months at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. However, we managed to recover and get back to growth within a short time. Throughout 2020, we have worked hard to improve our overall system. We are currently a team of 22 people, of which 8 people are in tech, about 8 people in sales and partnership, and the remaining of the teamwork in finance and management, and logistics. We started out of a tiny office. We are in an office of 1500 sq ft and soon will be moving to an even bigger office. We now have 892 merchants on our platform. We plan to grow the number to 1000+ merchants by March 2021. We currently manage between tk. 60 lakh to one crore transactions monthly. Around BDT 7-8 crores transaction annually. The number is growing every month. Mr. Ishtiaque Sarwar with Alibaba's Fellowship participants, 4th from left in front row Last year, I went to China on a fellowship from Alibaba. We were the only fintech company from Bangladesh. It was an excellent opportunity to see the Chinese fin-tech ecosystem firsthand. It has deepened my understanding of the vertical. I had the opportunity to pitch in several events there. I received some great suggestions. One common advice was getting into the B2C market besides our B2B. Returning from China, we decided to launch a bill payment platform and a consumer-facing platform. Initially, we wanted to call it AamarApp. But we later decided to change it to the aamarPay app. We started working on the aamarPay app towards the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019. We eventually did a soft launch of the app in August 2020. You can now use the aamarPay app for mobile top-ups, pay bills for different services, booking bus tickets, making donations to select organizations, book hotels, shopping, etc. The app has engagement features such as games that you can use for free. aamarPay app is the first super-app from a payment gateway. We are taking advantage of our payment gateway technology and using that as a backend to power the app. The app is not a wallet. We don’t hold money or save your information. It does two things. It aggregates essential services, we want to increase this number of services, and it makes it easy for our users to purchase and make payments for all these services. Amid the pandemic, we launched a QR payment system called AamarPay QR with an ambition to get into retail offline payment. You can use the aamarPay app and QR to make the payment offline. Simply download the aamarPay app, you can make offline payments by scanning QR codes through our app. It is simple: you scan the AamarPay QR code with the aamarPay app, it takes you to a link and you get an OTP in your mobile number, you enter the OTP, and payment is done. We launched our super app on 19 August 2020. We are the first payment gateway to launch a super app despite our various limitations. Our app users can pay bills for various services such as cable TV operators, Dhaka WASA, Titash Gas, etc. And we are working to add more services. The app is the front end while the aamarPay payment gateway works as the backend. We are not a wallet. We don’t store money in the app. When you transact through the aamarPay app, AamarPay Payment Gateway facilitates these transactions. aamarPay is working on three segments: B2B payment gateway, which empowers ecommerce merchants and retailers, AamarPay QR, where we work with offline merchants, and aamarPay super-app. We have added grocery shopping in the app. aamarPay app users can shop groceries in nine districts of Bangladesh, a result of our partnership with Khaidai Today, a grocery delivery platform that is available on the aamarPay app. Facebook merchants can get their payments through the aamarPay app. Payments can be made through both mobile banking services and ATM cards. We’ve added games to our app to improve user engagement. We have added on-demand repairing services to the app such as AC installation and servicing, you can book these services from our app. You can currently donate to the Save the People Foundation, Ahar, and Bidyanado Foundation through the aamarPay app. AamarPay QR is for offline retail payments. You scan and pay. We introduced a scan Menu feature for restaurants amid the coronavirus pandemic where you could scan the menu using the aamarPay app and place orders without touching anything. The app has all the common features such as you can see the payment history, order history, statement, privacy policy, and usage data in the app. In the future, our users will be able to pay water bills, gas bills, book movie tickets and air tickets from the aamarPay app. We plan to add schools and educational institutions in the coming days. B2C and retail businesses require large investments. Since we are a bootstrapped company, it is difficult for us to achieve scale in these markets. But we are marching ahead. The AamarPay app is our highest priority. We are in the process of raising investments. We are in conversation with several investors. We are also registering AamarPay in Singapore since it makes raising investment easier. We are currently 100% focused on fintech. We continue to provide IT solutions from Soft Tech Innovation Limited. Since we have a tech team for our payment gateway, we continue to provide web development services. It sits well with our current operation and allows us to generate additional revenue. A recent valuation of aamarPay valued us at US$7.8 million. We are the first payment gateway to launch an app. That doesn’t mean that we have shifted our focus from B2B to B2C. B2B remains our priority. Our consumer business is not separate from our payment gateway business. We want to explore the market and find opportunities to serve our customers better. We are working on several new features that we plan to add in the coming months such as Buy Now, Pay Later. We are working to launch Microloan Facilities in collaboration with Financial Institutions. We will add loyalty programs, reward points, etc in the coming days so that our users can take advantage of these features. We are in the process of getting a PSO license, which we hope we will get in the next few months if the Bangladesh Bank authority finds everything okay with our operation. We are also in the process of PCI DSS certification. Once we get the PCI-DSS certification, we will be able to store card data securely. In B2B, we are focusing on the education sector, where we are looking to collaborate with schools and educational institutions, where they could use our system to collect fees from students and manage payment. We are investing in our people to equip them to tackle the challenges of this market. We train our people regularly to upskill them. We are now hiring people with experience of working in the payment sector. We plan to improve our QR code system. We plan to invest in growing our business in retail. We see there is a huge opportunity if we could enable our users to pay offline through our app while buying groceries from the local bazaar. We’ve built an IOT based prototype with a GSM antenna called Rapid Bus for bus companies. Using the Rapid Bus device, bus companies can automate fare collection. Customers will pay using the aamarPay app. Customers will be able to buy credit on a weekly or monthly basis and use the credit to pay for the city bus tickets. We are looking to collaborate with the government on this. We have largely bootstrapped aamarPay. We have invested some BDT 2-2.5 crore in the company over the past few years. We invested our revenue from aamarPay and our web and tech services business into growing AamarPay. But fin-tech remains a difficult market and you can only go so far bootstrapping. Future Startup: These are some fascinating works. When you started your business in 2017, there were other payment gateways in the market. How did you get users in the early days? Sarwar: We did not have any marketing budget, to begin with. The initial few clients came through my network. Then we predominantly grew through word of mouth. Although we started small and did not have many resources, as a team we have always ensured that we serve our customers well. When you serve your customers well and make them happy, they usually help you get more customers through word of mouth. We made some tweaks as well at the time such as connecting Muthofun and AamarPay and allowing people to send free confirmation SMS if they used aamarPay. As a result, whenever a transaction takes place from a user's ID we send an SMS to the user and the merchant. Our merchants liked these small changes. Customer obsession along with these small tweaks allowed us to achieve excellent growth. Between 2019 and 2020, we experienced 96% year-on-year growth. Future Startup: What were the major challenges in those early days? Sarwar: In the beginning, one of the major challenges was pricing. We were a small player with quite insignificant transactions. Banks used to charge us more than the other established payment gateways. As a result, the price we were offering to my users was higher than other established players in the market. It was a challenge in the early days. As our transaction volume increased, banks lowered their charge gradually allowing us to bring our rate for users down as well. Today, we offer competitive rates similar to every other established player in the market. We are now among the top three players in the payment gateway space. Future Startup: That’s an excellent story of persistence. Sarwar: Despite limitations, we’ve been offering a reasonable price. We made it easy for users to take our service. From day one, we have made it a priority to offer excellent support to our customers. We ensured that basics are covered well. We lacked some additional features such as we did not have an EMI feature before, now we have. But we compensated for those limitations with excellent service. We are now looking to find new growth opportunities. For example, we are working to partner with the garment factories where they could use aamarPay to pay salaries and handle transactions paying a small commission of 0.5%. We have resorted to innovation to gain a strategic advantage in the market. Using innovative thinking, introducing useful features, and paying greater attention to customer support has helped us to grow. Future Startup: How does the payment gateway work? Sarwar: Suppose Future Startup is our client. You are buying something from Future Startup, you go to their website, see the price, descriptions, terms, and conditions. You choose the product/service you want to buy, you’ll see the terms and conditions before checking out. When you click on check out you’ll be directed to the payment page, that’s where we come in, you are now on our payment gateway page where you see several payment methods such as card payment, MFS, etc. You choose the method you want to use and complete the necessary steps to make the payment. Once you complete the transaction, we send an SMS to both the merchant and the customer that the payment has been completed. That’s the entire process. We then process the payment to the merchants a couple of times every week. The payment directly goes to the merchant’s bank account. We charge a small fee per transaction and the bank takes a small fee per transaction. We have an aamarPay merchant app for our merchants where they could see all the information related to their account such as transfer, settlement, etc in the app. We are a PSO (Payment System Operator-applied). It is a separate license from the Bangladesh Bank for payment gateway companies. We have a NOC from the Bangladesh Bank to operate as a payment gateway. We have applied for a PSO license and we are hopeful that we’ll get the license in the next 3-5 months. Our consumer app, aamarPay app, is not a wallet. It uses our payment gateway as its backend. We are capable of launching an e-wallet anytime by fulfilling regulatory requirements. We’ll need a PSP license for that. We have the ambition to get there eventually, but for now, we want to focus on our existing business. Future Startup: Suppose I’m a merchant who is interested in taking your service. How do I take your service? Could I register online and set things up virtually? Sarwar: Yes, you can register online. Simply go to the aamarPay website’s registration option, give your details, and fulfill the requirements, we will get back to you and get you onboarded. We do offline onboarding as well, where people reach out to us, fill up our forms and our people set things up. Sometimes people send us an email asking about the registration process, we help them to register. If you want to integrate a payment gateway into your website, you need to have a trade license or have to be a legal entity that can accept payment in Bangladesh. We require these documents and then we go on to integrate payment gateway into your system. The product you are selling has to be legal. You can’t sell anything illegal. Once a potential merchant sends us their NID, and legal documents, we verify them and make sure that everything is in place. Once you are verified, you choose one package from our packages and then we on-board you. Then the merchant runs the integration test and if the outcome is affirmative, then he can start transactions. Future Startup: How much do you charge for your service? Sarwar: We have several packages for different target groups such as educational institutions, enterprises, B2B, etc. Our one-time fee ranges from tk. 4000-15000. The transaction fee is higher for packages where one-time pay is less. If you pay, suppose tk. 4000, your transaction fee will be higher than if you pay a 15,000 one-time fee. Merchants can complete the whole process of registration from our website including the payment. Then we onboard them after verifying their identification and other legal necessities. Future Startup: What is your transaction fee? Sarwar: We take a transaction fee of 2.3% to 3.25 per transaction, which is when the transaction is done using cards. For mobile financial services, it is between 1.6% to 2.1%. Future Startup: Could you give us a synopsis of the current payment gateway market i.e. how big is the market, major players and how do you see the market evolving in the coming years? Sarwar: The market is about tk. 20,000 crore annually, of which tk. 15,000 is ecommerce and the rest is other services. Then there is the utility payment, which is around tk. 6500 crore per year. The ecommerce market is likely to grow in the coming days as more people come online and get used to shopping online. Though we have quite a bit of competition, it is good for both the companies and the market. Competition accelerates growth and innovation. There are 4-5 top players in the market right now and new players are entering the market. Competitive pressure is likely to grow in the coming months and you have to offer something unique to survive. Future Startup: Is there any security concern that the merchants and the customers should know while using the payment gateway system? Sarwar: Our system is fully secured. We carry out fraud detection to prevent any fraudulent activity in our system. Since we don’t store any data, there are very limited security issues. It is all related to the banks. Future Startup: Generally speaking, as a PSO you aggregate available payment options and enable merchants to accept payment from customers using any available payment methods. Now many MFS companies such as bKash are directly working with merchants, where merchants can directly accept bKash payment, and consumers, since bKash has an excellent market penetration, are also happy to pay using bKash. Do you see this as a competitive challenge for payment gateways? If a particular payment method becomes exceedingly powerful, will it reduce your relevance in the market? Sarwar: This is a major challenge for us. As payment companies go directly to merchants, we will lose market share. I think there needs to be regulatory clarity in terms of the role of payment gateways as well as the role of individual payment services such as bKash, etc. Now everyone is working directly with the merchants as well as with us. Future Startup: In the US and now in many other markets, you can pay directly using Stripe or other payment solutions. Sarwar: That’s an interesting way to look into it. But having a payment gateway makes sense because you have all the options to make payment. Moreover, we are a completely different market compared to the States. Being aggregators, I believe we have certain upsides in the market. We make it easier for both the merchants and the consumers. What we need in my opinion is innovation. We have to innovate and improve our service to be competitive. If we could do that we are a much superior solution than other available options. Future Startup: Where do you see the payment gateway market is going in the coming years? Sarwar: The market will grow super competitive. Innovation will be critical. Unless you innovate as a company, you will not survive. . Instead of confining yourself within the traditional payment gateway services, it would be useful to introduce new services and features such as vendor payment, mass payment, etc. Indian market could offer an interesting case study for us in terms of innovating in the payment gateway space. Future Startup: Since you are a payment aggregator, you have some competitive advantage over many other payment service providers, which makes sense. How many users do you have in the aamarPay app and aamarPay QR code? Sarwar: We just did the soft launch for the app. We currently have around 200-300 users in the app. We have given our QR code payment system to 50-60 merchants. Our target is to grow the number to 200-300 merchants within the first quarter of this year. Growing our QR code payment and strengthening our retail presence is a priority. We are working on the aamarPay app and we plan to launch a second version of the app in the second quarter of 2021. Future Startup: Suppose I use aamarPay app and want to pay my electricity bill. The payment gateway is for merchants, not for consumers, how does this work? Sarwar: You go to bill payment options, select the company you want to pay to, click on checkout, it shows you a couple of options, you choose the one you want to pay via, and it is done. You can pay via bKash, card, or other available payment options. Although payment is done by a consumer, it is handled by our payment gateway on the backend. To that partners that are available on our app can accept payment using our payment gateway. Since we have all the payment options for customers, say you can pay using bKash, or card, whatever a customer has and prefer to use to make a payment. Future Startup: You are not an e-wallet. Sarwar: Suppose you are an aamarpay app user and you want to do mobile recharge using the app. The process of doing that is quite simple. First, you select the mobile operator, select postpaid or prepaid, you choose the amount you want to top up, then you click on the “Pay Now” option which then takes you to the payment gateway where you’ll see multiple payment methods. You choose the option you want to pay using, and you are done. The entire transaction is recorded in the app. You also receive an order statement once the transaction is completed. Our service brings together all the payment options you have in the market in a single place. Payment gateways are aggregators of payment services - you have all the payment options in one place. In aamarPay app, you have all the payment options in one place. One limitation of the aamarPay app is that since we are not a wallet, we can’t store money or payment information. Every time a user has to enter their payment credentials anew, which can be a hassle. But that’s how our process works. Every time you are directed to the payment gateway and you make payment entering your credentials. If we have the wallet permission, it will be a lot easier to offer superior service to our customers. Future Startup: Do you take commissions from your merchants who are on your app as well? Sarwar: When you book a bus ticket from the aamarPay app, the service is provided by busbd.com on the backend. We have a collaboration with busbd.com and under that, they provide the service. Usually, what happens is that we charge busbd.com a small commission on the sales we generate. This is the same with every merchant in our app, for whom we generate orders. Future Startup: Suppose an ecommerce site uses aamarPay as a payment gateway on their website. Now that you have aamarPay app, Ajkerdeal also sells through the aamarPay app, which is again service from aamarPay and uses the same payment gateway. In that case, how will you charge Ajkerdeal, will you charge both commission and payment gateway fee? Sarwar: You mean whether we will charge them both our payment gateway fee, which is 2% per transaction as well as a commission for selling through the Aamarpay app. Suppose the ecommerce site has integrated with me to use the payment gateway on the website. If they use our app then there will be two modalities: one for the website and another for the app. For the sales they make through the aamarPay app, we will not charge them the payment gateway transaction fee. It’ll be on me. Instead, I will take a commission for generating sales. When I use my platform, I’ll give the best rate to maximize my revenue. If the ecommerce site only uses the payment gateway but doesn't use the app, then they will have to pay us only the payment gateway transaction fees. Future Startup: In a way, this could compete with other payment options such as bKash quite effectively even without a wallet. Do you have regulatory challenges there? What are the apparent challenges here in competing with players such as bKash? Sarwar: We have discussed with the regulatory authority and they said there is no problem unless we are offering wallet service, which we are not. Future Startup: Do you see any regulatory challenges in the long-run because MFS and other players will eventually complain? Sarwar: They already have. I think there needs to be a balance in the payment market where there are currently not many options available to consumers. We think there need to be products that can offer quality alternatives to customers. Future Startup: What are the priorities for 2021? Sarwar: Our priority for 2021 is our B2B platform. We plan to grow it significantly this year. Then we want to grow our offline QR code business. aamarPay app is the second priority for us, at least for now. We see we have a huge opportunity there and we have plans to build a separate team for the app, but it is not a top priority at this point. Future Startup: How are you doing in terms of sustainability as a business? Sarwar: We are breaking-even. We are a healthy business, that much I can say. Future Startup: You mentioned you are in the middle of a fundraising drive? Sarwar: We are in discussion with several investors. Future Startup: That was the last question regarding aamarPay. You have built an excellent product and operation without making much noise. Do you want to add anything else? Sarwar: Our goal is to become a leading player in the payment space. Once we get the PSO license our valuation will go up 10 times. Future Startup: I now want to explore a bit about how you operate as a founder and leader. What is your management philosophy? Sarwar: Our people enjoy a lot of freedom and we offer quite a bit of flexibility to allow our people to design their work and life. My approach is rather working together, mentoring, and guiding people instead of pushing people to do things. I try to motivate people and help them navigate the challenges of work and be productive. I think when people are motivated, they will do anything. If they are not motivated, nothing will work. I also think incentives are critical for human motivation. We give rewards to the best performers, we hang out and celebrate events. Structurally, we have ahead for each department, who are responsible for their team. Our overall organizational approach is inspiring and motivating people. Our employee retention rate is quite stable. We provide free food, medical leave, and maternity leave. We have everything a decent corporate system can have. Future Startup: How does your marketing and sales work? Sarwar: Our commercial division is divided into two parts. One is sales and acquisition, whose job is to reach out to merchants, generating leads and close deals, etc. Second is the growth and partnership strategy team, whose job is building partnerships and developing and executing growth strategies. Future Startup: What are some mistakes you made in your journey that you think other founders should try to avoid? Sarwar: It is critical to have the right people in the right place. Then you have to provide incentives for people so that they are motivated to work hard. I’ve made several mistakes, I have been quite defensive when it comes to growth and pushing our ventures. As a result, I didn’t give much effort. Bad investment is one of the mistakes I made as well. I came up with several other business ideas that didn’t work. MuthoFun and aamarPay became successful. Focus and persistence are critical if you want to do well in this trade. Future Startup: What are some of the lessons you’ve learned from your journey so far? Sarwar: I’ve become more of a people person. I spend time with people. Instead of making them work, I try to inspire and motivate them to work. It has changed our culture and improved our retention rate. When your people own their job, you don’t have to manage them anymore.

https://www.tbsnews.net/economy/india-invest-926m-chattogram-epz-276379#.YPP7g_W-Qts.facebook TBS Report 18 July, 2021, 03:55 pm India to invest $9.26M in Chattogram EPZ Indian company M/s Sewtech Fashion Limited will establish a Readymade Garments manufacturing industry in Chattogram EPZ with an investment of $9.26 million. The company, a sister concern of India's largest apparel manufacturer Shahi Exports Pvt Ltd, has signed an agreement with Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) in this regard today. Member (Engineering) of BEPZA Mohammad Faruque Alam and Director of Sewtech Fashion Limited Balagi Pavadai signed the agreement at BEPZA Complex in Dhaka on behalf of their respective organisations. Issuing a press release, BEPZA said it is receiving many investment proposals from both local and foreign investors even amid the pandemic. This fully foreign owned company will produce 3.36 million pieces of ladies, kids and men's woven tops annually. They will create employment opportunities for 3,393 Bangladeshi nationals. Among others, member (Finance) Nafisa Banu, Secretary Md Zakir Hossain Chowdhury and General Manager (Investment Promotion) Md Tanvir Hossain of BEPZA were present at the signing ceremony.

https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/infrastructure/rail-wants-dhaka-coxs-bazar-broad-gauge-link-276136 Rail wants Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar broad gauge link The government is already implementing a huge mega-plan to transform Cox's Bazar to an economic hub like Singapore and Hong Kong. For this, a deep-sea port is being constructed in Matarbari. The Dhaka-Chattogram railway line will also be vital for the bay terminal and economic zones in Chattogram. Bangladesh Railway is planning to link Cox's Bazar directly with capital Dhaka via Chattogram to help the economy reap full benefit from the mega projects centering the beach town and port city. It is examining a project of around Tk77,000 crore to convert the whole Tongi (Dhaka)-Dohazari (Chattogram) link into double broad gauge track to join the Dohazari–Cox's Bazar segment, work on which is now in progress. When completed, Dhaka to Cox's Bazar will be 470 km by train. An earlier project of the Dhaka–Cumilla chord line bypassing Tongi, which could shave off 94km and two-hour travel time from the journey, was abandoned in the 90s. However, the new project will have a component of Faujdarhat–Sholashahar chord line (a straight rail route across outer parts of an urban centre) to bypass the Chattogram Railway Station, which will save at least one hour. Feasibility study completed Md Abidur Rahman, director of the Technical Assistance for Survey Project to facilitate the preparation of Dhaka‐Chattogram‐Cox's Bazar Rail Project, told The Business Standard, "We have completed the survey work. Now the investment project is being prepared. Negotiations are ongoing with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for funds. Once the financing is confirmed, the implementation of the original project will start." The project tenure will depend on availability of funds, authorities said. According to railway sources, rail communication with Rajshahi and Khulna will be established if the broad-gauge line of the railway is constructed in the eastern region. The western region of the country has a broad gauge rail communication system while the eastern region has metre gauge rail network. On the other hand, the installation of broad-gauge lines in the east will also make it easier for Bangladesh to be connected with China, Pakistan, India and Myanmar through the Trans-Asian Railway connectivity. The initiative to connect Cox's Bazar with Dhaka comes almost a century after the construction of the Sholashohor-Dohazari railway line in Chattogram in 1931 by the British-Indian government. The British could not proceed further toward Cox's Bazar at that time. Cox's Bazar economic hub will be linked to Dhaka The government is already implementing a huge mega-plan to transform Cox's Bazar to an economic hub like Singapore and Hong Kong. For this, a deep-sea port is being constructed in Matarbari. The Dhaka-Chattogram railway line will also be vital for the bay terminal and economic zones in Chattogram. The railway project will support the government's mega plan by easing the rail communication with Dhaka and Chattogram. Bangladesh Railway has already completed the feasibility study for the Tongi-Dohazari project, which will be done in eight segments. Twelve railway bridges will also be constructed along the line. Besides, it will incorporate conversion of a new Inland Container Depot (ICD) including ancillary works and new rail link with the ICD from Pubail and Dhirassram railway stations. Moheshkhali and Matarbari proposed power plants will be served by the rail track. Besides it will have carriage and wagon and loco workshop, fuelling facilities and depot for BG rolling stock, as well as, construction of a number of offices for railway services. Railway bridges will be constructed over Tongi Khal, Balu, Shitalaksha, Arial Kha, Old Brahmaputra, Meghna, Chhoto Feni, Muhuri, Feni, Karnafuli, Matamuhuri and old Matamuhuri rivers. Dhaka-Cumilla chord line neglected The initiative to develop the railway line from Dhaka to Cox's Bazar via Chattogram has been taken on the current rail route at a huge cost. However, experts say if a chord line was constructed from Dhaka via Narayanganj-Cumilla, the distance of the railway line would be 94 km shorter. They say it would take two hours less time to transport passengers and goods from Dhaka to Cox's Bazar and also save a huge amount of money including fuel cost. The British colonial government in India built the Dhaka-Chattogram railway line via Akhaura-Brahmanbaria to transport tea produced in Assam and Sylhet through the Chattogram Port. At that time Dhaka was not a very important city. For this reason, the British emphasized establishing railway lines to connect Kolkata with Assam. After the partition of India in 1947, the importance of this route for tea exports began to decline. But no initiative has been taken to shorten the 321 km distance of this route from Dhaka to Chattogram in the 50 years after independence. However, in 1980, the government completed a feasibility study for the establishment of the Dhaka-Cumilla chord line. But this plan was dropped in the 90's. If the project was implemented at that time, it would have been possible to save thousands of crores of taka in the last three decades. After the railway division became a separate ministry in the government, former railway minister Mujibul Haque announced the establishment of a Dhaka-Cumilla direct railway line via Daudkandi instead of Dhaka-Laksam-Cumilla chord line in 2015. But no initiative has been taken to implement the plan in the last five years. The government has taken the initiative to launch a direct train from Dhaka to Cox's Bazar on the existing railway line covering a distance of 470 km. Shamsul Haque, professor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said, "The big question is—why Bangladesh Railway is not giving priority to the Dhaka-Cumilla chord line. In the 80s and the 90s, several initiatives were taken to build the Dhaka-Cumilla chord line. But for unknown reasons it was not implemented. The only reason you can find behind this is the immaturity of the railway." He added that many railway projects are being implemented at a cost of thousands of crores of taka. But this project is not being implemented. "The Dhaka-Cumilla chord line needs to be constructed on an urgent basis to strengthen the rail link with Cox's Bazar, the economic hub of the future, and Chattogram, the current main economic center of the country," he said. Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan said, "There must be a public demand for the Dhaka-Cumilla chord line. Why would we do this if there is no demand from the people? If it is logical and has a public demand, we would do it. It will be easier to take action if there was a continuous discussion over the issue." According to Bangladesh Railway, another feasibility study is underway to set up a high-speed rail line from Dhaka to Cumilla/Laksam-Chattogram. Besides, a feasibility study has also been initiated for the construction of Dhaka-Cumilla chord line. However, it is not on the list of the priority projects of the railways, a railway source said. S M Salimullah Bahar, chief planning officer of Bangladesh Railway, said, "The existing railway line from Dhaka to Dohazari in Chattogram will be converted to broad gauge. We have already completed survey work. However, we have also taken a project to estimate the possibility of constructing a Dhaka-Cumilla chord line. We may take initiative to build the chord line in the future based on this estimation. However, the decision will be taken considering the future situation."