Bangladesh's Corporate World

ওয়ারেন বাফেট সম্পর্কে অসাধারন কিছু তথ্য: ১ | ওয়ারেন বাফেট তার প্রথম শেয়ার টি কিনেন ১১ বছর বয়সে এবং এখন তিনি মনে করে যে তিনি খুবদেরিতে শুরু করেছেন। ২ | তিনি তার পেপার বিক্রি করা টাকা দিয়ে ১৪ বছর বয়সে একটি ছোট্ট ফার্ম কিনেন । ৩ | তিন এখনো তার ৩ টি বেডরুম যুক্ত বাড়িতে বসবাস করেন যেটি তিনি ৫০ বছর আগে বিবাহের পূর্বে কিনেছিলেন । তিনি বলেন , তার সে বাসায় সকল প্রয়োজনীয় জিনিস পত্র আছে । তার বাসা কোনো ওয়াল বা বেড়া দিয়ে ঘেরা নাই । ৪ | তিনি নিজেই তার গাড়ি চালান ।তার কোনো ড্রাইভার বা সিকিউরিটি গার্ড নেই । ৫ | তিনি কখনো তার বক্তিগত বিমানে যাত্রা করেন না , যদিও তিনি বিশ্বের সবচেয়ে বড় ব্যাক্তিগত বিমান তৈরির কারখানার মালিক । ৬ | তিনি কখনো উচ্চ ভিলাশী ব্যাক্তি বা কলিগ এর সাথে সময় কাটান না । তিনি বাসায় ফিরে পপ কর্ন বানিয়ে টেলিভিশন দেখে সময় পার করেন । ৭ | তিনি কখনো সাথে মোবাইল নিয়ে ঘোরেন না । তার টেবিলে কোনো কম্পিউটার বা ল্যাপটপ ও নেই । ৮ | তিনি এতিম খানাতে তার মোট সম্পত্তির ৮৫ % অর্থাৎ $৩১ বিলিয়ন ডলার দান করে দিয়েছেন ।

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most developed industrial sectors of Bangladesh. There are approximately 250 companies active in the market at the moment. This rapidly growing industry contributes almost 1% of the GDP and is currently the third largest tax paying sector in the country. USA-based research firm IMS had stated in 2009 that the retail pharmaceutical market value in Bangladesh is around BDT 55 billion. The annual average growth rate of pharmaceuticals has hit double digit since 2009. The pharmaceutical sector of Bangladesh has achieved a great reputation worldwide for its quality products. This can be seen by the increasing number of export orders the companies are getting from foreign buyers. Back in the 1980s, only a couple of companies exported pharmaceutical products to only Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Now this sector is exporting products in 52 different countries. These products include high tech medicines such as inhalers, suppositories, infusions and ...

South of the Cox’s Bazaar-Teknaf peninsula lies a small island, known as Saint Martin’s Island since the British occupation. The first settlements were however of Arabian sailors 250 years ago, who gave it the name - Zajira . To locals, it is known as Narikel Gingira (Coconut Island). St. Martin’s Island is the only coral island in Bangladesh. It exhibits unspoilt natural beauty and lucrative beaches dotted with coral reefs. The island has approximately 7000 residents, living mostly from fishing and other staple crops like coconut and rice. Their main export is algae which is dried and sent to Myanmar. Chicken and other products are imported from mainland Bangladesh. They live in a certain scope of risk, as during the rainy season, they are trapped on the island due to the dangerous Bay of Bengal. There are no resident doctors in the remote areas. However, the rest of the year, the island is a serene and sunny place. The only transport to the island is by boat from the mainlan...

Are the mobile operators of Bangladesh spending too much on their marketing campaigns? Frequent campaigns by the mobile operators are in many cases not inter-related and in some cases lack creativity. Some TV commercials in fact have nothing to do with a service of a company; it seems ads are created and shown just to be in the mind of existing users. Are the mobile operators and their advertising agencies spending it right? Or they are just spending it for the sake of carrying out marketing campaigns? A business school instructor of North South University, who worked for a leading advertising agency in the past, Galib Mohiuddin, had this on his Facebook wall last week: The telco campaigns in Bangladesh only tell me that they now have too much marketing budget to allow such creative to pass. I guess an FMCG would be much more cautious in spending every penny even with rocketing revenues. Telcos in Bangladesh used to do the same a couple of years back when they had less market...

The shortage of medical supply in Khagrachhari district is escalating for the past couple of weeks due to extortion forces. Pharmaceutical companies are saying that UPDF activists have demanded one lakh taka from every pharmaceutical companies which is causing the shortage of supply in the region. UPDF is threatening to shut down the pharmaceutical companies unless they pay up the demanded money. It has been reported that UPDF gang members intercepted Square, Beximco and Reneta medicine carrying vans and hijacked the medicines during the first and third week of July. They have also beaten up the van drivers and the delivery people in Atharomile, Mohalchhari. Riko Chakma, organizer of UPDF in Khagrachhari has totally denied these allegations and claimed that all of their operations are funded by the people and they have never used any kind of forceful way to extract money from people. He added that some other group might be using UPDF name to extract the money. The lack of medical supp...

Two women chatting: Woman 1: I had a wonderful evening. How was yours? Woman 2: Oh! It was a disaster. My husband came home, ate his dinner in three minutes & fell asleep in two minutes. How was yours by the way? Woman 1: Oh mine was amazing! My husband came home and took me out for a romantic dinner. After dinner we walked for an hour. When we came home he lit the candles around the house. It was like a fairy tale! At the same time, their husbands are talking at work: Husband 1: How was your evening ? Husband 2 : Great. I came home, dinner was on the table, I ate & fell asleep. What about you? Husband 1: It was horrible. I came home, there's no dinner, they cut the electricity because I forgot to pay the bill. So I took her out for dinner which was so expensive that didn't have money left for a cab. We walked home which took an hour & when we got home, I remembered there was no electricity so I had to light candles all over the house! Moral: Perception varies per...

Local Bangladeshi companies want upward adjustment of taka against US dollar. The value of local currency has been remained more or less fixed at 78 since June 2013. They want this adjustment because Indian rupee has fallen in recent times. According to the local exporters, some particular products, like low-end apparels, ceramics, vegetables, jute yarn etc. are affected for decreasing of the rupee’s value. The president of Exporters Association of Bangladesh said that the government can increase incentives to make counterbalance in the foreign exchange earning sectors as they urged in a letter sent to the Ministry of Finance to “devalue” the local currency. There are many products like ceramics, vegetables, handicrafts that have to compete with Indian products. Indian traders get more advantage over local counterparts for their wider capital base and local raw materials. Managing director of Evince Textile said that the government can introduce dual exchange rates soon and exporters ...

Fonterra, the world’s largest dairy exporter, came under fire from the New Zealand government, farmers and financial regulators for its handling of a food contamination scare that has triggered product recalls and spooked parents from China to Saudi Arabia. The government sent officials to Fonterra premises to ensure a clearer message and to regain international confidence after New Zealand’s biggest company was criticized for dragging its feet in saying it sold whey protein products that contained bacteria that could cause botulism – a potentially fatal food poisoning. Last week, Fonterra CEO Theo Spierings said the company did not face a ban on its products in China, only restrictions on whey protein concentrate. He said he expected the curbs would be lifted this week as soon as Fonterra provides Chinese regulators with a detailed explanation of what went wrong. China, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and other countries, however, have issued fresh instant formula milk product recalls, and the ...

Along with readymade garments sector; IT, ceramics, pharmaceuticals, footwear, banking and healthcare sectors of Bangladesh are increasingly grabbing attention of the international market. There are some key factors behind this such as top class training of human resources, export diversification, large foreign and local investments, adapting modern technology and the dynamic change in the local corporate culture. Mizanur Rahman, Marketing Director of Square Pharmaceuticals stated in a discussion that a big number of their products are in a very high demand in the international market as it has the quality to compete with any recognized international brand. Bangladesh is currently ranking at number 2 in the leading readymade garment exporting countries of the world. According to Mr Abdus Salam Murshedy, former president of Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association, there are more than two hundred local apparel companies regularly exporting high quality...

There is a common misconception that one person can be successful in one particular side of life:  personal, professional or recreational. But the truth is, if you have enough dedication and passion for what you do, you will always end up at the peak of success. If we look at the life stories of successful people, we will see that they all had a never-say-die attitude and a tremendous hunger for success. This article will guide you through brief life histories of people who never gave up and ended up having everything they wanted. Henry Ford The founder of Ford Motor Company had to go through a rough road to make his mark in the world. His first initiation to build a car had to stop within two years as the shareholders issued a no-confidence against him. He tried again but once again the same thing happened within a year. But he did not give up. He found another investor and started Ford Motor Company and today everyone knows his name. Walt Disney Many people do not know t...

Paradise Cables Limited is one of the top and reputed cable companies in Bangladesh. This company has made its mark in the worldwide cables industry through sheer hard work, honesty and quality. In the last two decades of PCL’s glorious history it has always received nothing but compliments from its consumers and other buyers. Paradise Cables Limited was founded by Md Mobarak Hossain, Md. Mosharraf Hossain, Md Majibar Rahman and Md. Moniar Rahman in 1989. Ever since its birth Paradise Cables Limited never had to look back. From the starting point of manufacturing quality copper and aluminum rods it moved on to first manufacturing cables for the domestic market and later on the global market. In a growing country like Bangladesh the cable demand is very high. But no one has ever heard of scarcity of cables or rods in this country mainly because of the high production capacity of PCL. For PCL it not just about meeting the amount of products demanded by the consumers; it is also prov...

Bangladesh, as a nation, is heavily reliant on its garments industry. Over the past two decades, the garments industry has become a major foreign currency earning source. It is presently a $20 billion industry and a source of employment for approximately 3.2 million workers. Undeniably, the garments industry proved its worth and credibility . Buyers from across the world, mainly from the developed countries, chose Bangladesh for several reasons; the main being availability of cheap labor. Among others includes the fact that Bangladesh is a place where there are no strict rules to follow or that the rules are not enforced properly. However, the recent incidents including the building collapse in Saver damaged the industry’s image like a hurricane and are anticipated to have a long term impact. There are reports suggesting that many major garments buyers including GAP, Wal-Mart and Primark are considering reevaluating their contracts with the Bangladeshi garments manufacturers,...

It is in fact quite amazing that despite the global shocks, natural crisis, and local political instability, Bangladesh was able to maintain around 6 percent growth rate over the past few years. The GDP growth of Bangladesh was 3percent in the 1970s, and increased by 1 percent on average every decade. The credit goes to government's efforts to control population growth, which has significantly declined over the years. The per capita GDP growth rate was 1.7 percentage points on average every decade. Over the last three years, approximately 15 million people came out of absolute poverty due to the acceleration in the growth rate. Openness in the economy, financial deepening, macroeconomic stability and population control are some of the major reason Bangladesh experienced a steady growth over the years. Bangladesh now targets to enter the middle-income country strata by 2021. A recent report by World Bank said that in order to attain the middle-income status, remittances and GDP gro...

Bangladesh would face a slower economic growth during the current fiscal predicts the World Bank. However, it said that Bangladesh would enter the middle-income country group by 2021 if its employment rate increases by 2 percent per year. Over the past five years, the average growth rate of Bangladesh was 6.1 percent. This growth has particularly been as a result of the population growth, increase in productivity and enlargement of labour force participation in foreign lands and growth of local businesses. Though employment increased over the past couple of years, the employment rate remained stagnant for the country. The government's initial economic growth target was 7.2 percent for 2013-14 fiscal year, which has became unachievable due to the recent unrest that disrupted most of the services. The World Bank predicts, coupled with the unrest, the weak manufacturing exports, lack of growth in the agricultural sector and the increasing domestic consumption and investment dem...

In today’s competitive corporate world, people are engaging themselves in a lot of work. At times, they find too little time to complete all of these tasks. Eventually work gets piled u p and becomes a huge burden. After a long and hard working day, when people realize that they have to wake up the next day to face more work, it affects their minds. It affects their concentration and causes problems in personal and professional life. That is why time management is a vital. No matter how talented you are, you cannot achieve success in the corporate world unless you learn how to manage your time. It depends on your daily schedule on how you are going to manage your time. At present, it might seem a difficult task and you might think, “I do not get a single second of rest in my entire day. How am I going to manage my time?” Trust me, it is not as difficult as it seems. In this article, you will find some guidelines on how to manage your schedule. If you ever find yourself in a situatio...

Doing business in Bangladesh Featured question of the month is - what does it need to launch an import-export business in Bangladesh? A bonus question to add with it is - how much time does it take to solve insolvency problems? Here is the hint, if not the whole answer: According to this website on 'Business Scenario of Bangladesh', six official documents are needed to start  an import-export business. How much required? $965. But the website did not mention how much bribe it requires. Answer to the other question is interesting. It takes over two years on solving insolvency problems. This time frame is not that long compared to Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and other developing countries. This website also gave details on leading and top businessmen of Bangladesh . The names included are Jahurul Islam of Islam Group, Samson H Chowdhury of Square Group, Abul Matlub Ahamed of Nitol-Niloy Group, Salman F Rahman of Beximco Group and Latifur Rahman of Transcom Group.

The government of Bangladesh has banned exporting of fundamental food - rice, soya bean oil, sugar and palm oil for three years. It also took decision to enhance pharmaceutical export. The amount to be used for this purpose is approximately sixty thousand dollar, which is twice of the previous limit that expired in June 2012. Due to this new policy, the sampling amount of the letter of credit has increased from 5% to 10% per year. An official from the ministry of commerce confirmed that this decision has been made after expert consultation of the corporate houses of the country and apex trade body - the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry and all the other necessary chambers and associations. The new policy includes some prerequisite conditions that need to be fulfilled by industries in order for them to gain access to utility services. Products such as petroleum, that fall under the energy and mineral resource category, however, are exempted from this, since...

The poultry trade of Bangladesh faced threat of survival quite a bit in the past few years, due to the continuous outburst of diseases like bird flu; it still is facing such crisis’s which is holding back the growth of the sector. According to Poultry Breeders Association of Bangladesh, the sector is facing bumpy competition that is causing an elevation in the level of difficulties for domestic poultry farms to prolong their business on an unrelenting basis. One of such which is the high level of interest rates for the credits taken from the local banks, which can rise as high as 18 percent. Some foreign investors have taken advantage of this situation and entered the domestic market through supplying of credits at rates as low as 5%. As per PBAB information, such firms have been able to already raise their shares up to 40%. The PBAB has discovered the reason to be lack of specific guidelines for the improvement of the sector.  The opportunity where it is equal for Bangladeshi or ...

Bangladesh business news The Canadian government has been requested by Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) to ensure that the General Preferential Tariff review does not put any impact of the duty free apparel exports to Canada. The proposed GPT review will have a detrimental effect on the readymade garments industry of Bangladesh. Hundreds of factories will have to be closed down and millions of people will be jobless. The apex apparel body of Bangladesh expressed their concern of the proposed review of the General Preferential Tariff and explained how terrible the impact will be for Bangladesh. It was almost the end of last year that Canadian government decided to review their GPT and proposed some changes in it. According to the review, 72 developing countries will not have GPT facilities which include China and India. Bangladesh has been sent out from the Least Developing Countries category. BGMEA has requested the Canadian government to tak...