Siemens says Achtung Bangla!

A good read from FE

Siemens, the German corporate giant, has completed 50 years of its presence in Bangladesh contributing a lot to the country's economic development."We are going to celebrate this grand occasion July 7 and we look forward to continue building a strong Bangladesh economy in the next 50 years," managing director and chief executive officer of Siemens Bangladesh Ltd, Rudolf P Klink told the FE Monday.Since 1956, Siemens Bangladesh Limited has established itself in the country to contribute strongly to the national economy, he said.The annual turnover of the company was Tk 13.5 billion in the year ended September 2006."This represents tremendous contribution to the national, social and economic progress and proves Siemens to be an essential part of the national economy," Klink said.Siemens Bangladesh Limited has been operating as a subsidiary of German-based Siemens AG with a variety of high-tech products and solutions in Bangladesh.In 1968, the company became the first direct foreign investor in the erstwhile East Pakistan to start a joint venture with the then government to manufacture telephone switches and sets."Our presence in the local market can well be commended ever since 1968 with the milestone investments in Telephone Shilpa Sangstha (TSS) and the Bangladesh Cable Shilpa Limited and from both investments," Klink, who joined the Bangladesh office in 2004 recalled.Prior to joining Bangladesh, he was the executive vice president of the global company in Thailand.The company operates in 190 countries.

Other Siemens projects are Ashuganj power plant, power sub-station at Bangladesh Parliament, supply of medical equipment at some of leading hospitals, flood light supply for the four major national stadiums and relay- based interlocking signaling system for the Bangladesh Railway. Siemens Transportation systems has offered a comprehensive solution for Railway transportation system right from locomotives, signaling & Interlocking system to rail communication and turnkey system.Siemens is one of the leaders of transportation system solution. It is the partner of Bangladesh Railway development for more than 40 years.Siemens provided almost 95 per cent railway signaling & interlocking system to Bangladesh Railway.Siemens has offered building solution products in many of the globally accredited hotels, hospitals and commercial buildings. In telecommunications, Siemens has successfully commissioned works at most of the operators in Bangladesh. "We made our mark in the Bangladesh market with the X-ray machines back in 1956 when the Tuberculosis (TB) disease was on the rise and all the district TB clinics were equipped with our renowned machines," the company CEO said.As a socially responsive company, Siemens engages itself in humanitarian activities through its Caring Hands projects under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes.The company has already decided that one per cent of its net profit will be dedicated towards the CSR budget."We are currently working with three different institutes that are catering its services to children," said Salahuddin Taimur, head of corporate communications and marketing of the company.The other CSR activities of the company include sponsorship at the Islamia Eye Hospital, sponsoring various sports tournaments, donation of power equipments to charity, providing charity donations at the UCEP-School, grand sponsoring for educational seminar at the BUET, assisting in the internship of university students as well as the donations to rehabilitation programmes, donation to book translation and Disaster Relief Donation.

No wonder Siemens stands tall as one of the corporates who had seen the ups and downs of the country, as the country evolved, so did their business. Keeping in view Siemens' impressive contribution in Government projects like railways, telephone and power, may be Siemens is in a better position to comprehend 'how to do business in Bangladesh'. May be they can arrange a few training sessons/informal soirées for decision-makers of other corporates who are pondering working with Government, where there is supposed to be lot of bureaucracies, red tapes etc. What is Siemens' trade secret for doing successful trade in Bangladesh since such a long time? Please let us know, so that we can be as big as you are, can wither the thick and thins of Bangladesh politics and still keep on posting profits with a smiling face.