Bangladesh's Corporate World

It has been 44 years since Bangladesh achieved its independence and there is no doubt that the country has moved forward. Historians might be capable of delineate the contours efficiently in the future, but those of us who lived through the battle that brought the beginning of this nation can examine how we fared and in which issues we faulted. A dispassionate look at of the fault lines may help us uncover the faults in the future. But in present we can see in front of us that Bangladesh is developing. Let’s talk about the improvements Bangladesh has made so far: Major foreign exchange-earners, distant places employees and ready made garments exports- these are the three sectors, Bangladesh has relied on. The amount of remittances of Bangladeshis operating in foreign labor markets is $ 1.7 billion/year. And it represents the largest net foreign exchange inflow. In the course of the duration 1991-2000, the yearly common drifts of short-time period migrants has changed into 226,000...

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...

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...

Five new commercial banks have achieved the ‘go’ sign from the Bangladesh Bank by complying with the preconditions. This decision was taken at the Central Bank during the meeting of board of directors with the governor Mr.  Atiur Rahman. The issuance of the license is going to take place soon as per the statement of deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank. BB checked business plans of the applicant banks, after which they achieved the No-Objection certificates (NOC). The Banks that gained the NOCs are NRB Commercial Bank, Union Bank LTD, South Bangle Agriculture and Commerce Bank, Meghna Bank LTD and NRB Bank LTD.  Midland Bank LTD also presented their business plan, the board however asked the applicant bank to review and clarify their plans further before representing their business strategies in their next meeting. The five banks will be receiving their NOCs by the Bank Regulation and Policy dept. (BRPD) of the Central Bank, in order for them to be able to register with the R...

Governments of Bangladesh and Singapore have agreed to increase their air flights between themselves hoping that it will increase their bilateral trade. This will also increase people-to-people exchange. This agreement reached its conclusion early this month. Earlier this month, Mr. Masagos, the Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs had a meeting with the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh and discussed international and regional development and cooperation in trade , investment and exchange of knowledge.

Blogging is like a digital journal where people can express their thoughts and emotions. Many companies make the mistake of underestimating the power of a company blog. The case is indifferent for corporate houses in Bangladesh. Here are 5 reasons why every company should have their own blog: Motivating Your Employees An employee is much more valuable to a company than the company gives him credit for. If the employees are happy and motivated, the company is bound to run smoothly. As a manager, you can always make a special mention of the hardest working employees in your company blog. Not just other employees, but also the families of those mentioned employees will be able to see this achievement on the blog. This will be a huge motivation for the employees. The one whose name is there will be really happy and others will try extra hard to get their own names there. Marketing Tool Blogging can be used as a cheap but powerful marketing tool. There are a lot of int...

According to analysts, good ideas may bring sufficient sponsors for entrepreneurs, so no worries for initiating a business as long as you have a good idea to build up on. These funds can be brought from the company’s corporate social responsibility funds. Even small amount of fund from companies may help flourish the social business. Social business events like the one held in Savar at Gonoshasthya Kendra, can bring a lot of attention both in the local public’s eyes as well as intellectuals; like the one mentioned which brought in together 700 local people and 125 foreign participants, the issue of which was to clarify the concept of social business and it being a way to resolve complicated matters. The discussion held there pulled out some outstanding facts about how CSR fund can benefit both the entrepreneurs as well as the company providing the CSR fund. They encouraged innovative ideas from the new generation, to work for the society and also to encourage others around...

A bunch of people without a leader is just a mob! It takes a leader to direct a group toward a common purpose to form an effective team or business. This may seem like common sense, but it is often ignored by those in charge of businesses. It is certainly worth taking a look at the qualities that are most common to effective business leaders.   Communication  These days, discussions of the importance of communication seem to pop up everywhere from marriage counselors to reality television programs. However, there is no place in which the importance of communication is more obvious than in businesses generally and in business leaders specifically.  Business leaders, specially the ones doing business in Bangladesh, must actively engage in communication in every facet of the business. Since it is not possible to be everywhere at every minute to see everything, keeping the lines of communication open is the only way in which a leader can be aware of all the fa...

About 67% people of Bangladesh are directly or indirectly associated with farming in Bangladesh. Land being exceedingly fertile, the agricultural possibilities of Bangladesh are huge. Bangladesh is the 4th largest rice producing and the 2nd largest jute producing country in the world. Bangladesh also holds a respectable position in growing various seasonal and tropical fruits. This sector of Bangladesh can become successful if the farmers are properly trained and modern technologies are applied. Bangladesh has an ample stock of natural resources as well. The country also has quite a large amount of natural gas. Besides, Bangladesh possesses some coal, hard rock, lime stone and silicone stockpile. At present, the Electric sector of the country is being operated by natural gas and coal. But due to the heavy demand, Bangladesh will very soon have to look for renewable sources of energy. The main industries of Bangladesh are textile, readymade garments, tea processing, newsprint pape...

World Bank has highlighted four major hindrances in the economic growth of any nation. They have said that the chaotic situation in Middle-East, shortage of Euro, ever increasing price of oil in the international market and local energy crisis are the main issues behind the sloth speed economic development of a nation. The government of Bangladesh has to put their focus on these issues to attract more foreign direct investment in the country. The energy crisis of Bangladesh is now worse than ever. The already established factories in the country are suffering from production loss due to heavy load shedding. This situation is repelling new investors from establishing industries in Bangladesh. The new power plants set up by the current government are all oil run. This is also a major problem for foreign investors as the price of oil is continuously increasing in the international market. The price hike of oil is causing the production cost to go up. The prospect of a low profit ...

Bangladesh is slowly emerging to become one of the next big economic powers in the world. And the reason behind the growth of Bangladesh’s economy is the successful corporate groups. Some big names in the business sector of Bangladesh is not just making their names known in Bangladesh, they are making their presence known throughout the world. Here are brief descriptions of five top business groups in Bangladesh: SQUARE Group - SQUARE Group is one of the oldest and most successful companies in Bangladesh. It was formed by the legendary entrepreneur Samson H Chowdhury and three of his friends. SQUARE became the largest pharmaceuticals company of the country from a tiny pharma company. The other businesses are SQUARE Toiletries, Spinning, SQUARE Knit Fabrics, Informatix and Consumer Products. SQUARE Hospital, run by the group is one of the most state-of-the-art hospitals of Bangladesh. Bashundhara Group- Bashundhara Group has achieved remarkable success in the real estate se...

Bangladesh has always offered attractive incentives to the potential investors. Profitable export items also play an important role behind the success of the country’s economy. Initially, the export items of Bangladesh were limited to few items, but recently have expanded to larger number. Tea and jute were the key export items of the country. In recent years, Bangladesh has expanded herself to a wide variety of items, such as ready-made garments, leather products and others. She has also improved herself in the agriculture sector and other non-traditional items. The population of Bangladesh is around 112 billion and the annual per capita income is approximately US $386.00. Therefore, the textile industry has become a basic need of the country. Bangladesh is well-known in the field of ready-made garments. Initially, the income from the ready-made garment sector was US $7,00 million during the year 1981-82; afterwards, it jumped to US $1,949 million during the year 1995-96. The produ...