নৌযানে বিজ্ঞাপণ

নদী মাতৃক এ দেশে এক সময় নৌকা ছিল যাতায়াতের একটি অন্যতম মাধ্যম। বিজ্ঞানের ছোঁয়ায় নদীপথে যাতায়াতের জন্য এলো ষ্টীমার,লঞ্চ, জাহাজ ইত্যাদি। যাতে করে অধিক সংখ্যক লোক, খুবই অল্প সময়ে তার গন্তব্যে পৌঁছাতে পারছে।

দেশের দক্ষিন-পশ্চিমাঞ্চলে যাতায়াতের একটি অন্যতম গুরুত্বপূর্ণ বাহন হচ্ছে লঞ্চ। এই লঞ্চ দিয়ে প্রতিদিন হাজার হাজার মানুষ যাতায়াত করছে। যে কারনে এই লঞ্চ গুলো বিজ্ঞাপনের একটি বিশাল মাধ্যম হতে পারে corporate company গুলোর জন্য। শহর এলাকার বিভিন্ন বাসে কিন্তু আমরা বিভিন্ন corporate company-র দৃষ্টি নন্দিত বিজ্ঞাপন পরিলক্ষিত করি। যা ভোক্তাদের হৃদয়ে খুবই কোমল ছোঁয়া দিয়ে যায়। বর্তমানে দক্ষিন-পশ্চিমাঞ্চলে লঞ্চগুলো এত বিশাল সাইজে রুপ নিয়েছে, এক একটাকে সমুদ্রগামী জাহাজের মতোই মনে হয়। আর তাই এসব বিশাল আকার লঞ্চে বিজ্ঞাপন দিলে ভোক্তাদের চোখে খুব সহজেই দৃষ্টিগোচর হবে। জানিনা কেন এত দিনেও মাধ্যমটি কোন কোম্পানীর চোখে পড়েনি। বা এক্ষেত্রে বিজ্ঞাপনে সরকারি কোন বিধি-নিষেধ আছে কিনা তাও আমার জানা নেই। থাকলে ভিন্ন কথা। আর যদি না থাকে তবে corporate company-গুলো তাদের পন্যের বিজ্ঞপনের জন্য এ মাধ্যমটি ব্যবহার করলে আমার মনে হয় তারা একটি খুবই positive result পাবে।

Turning your neighbourhood to nethood

Back in 2003, trendwatching.com coined the term nethoods to describe an emerging trend: "neighbourhoods, streets and even apartment buildings are starting to get their own internet and intranet sites: not just to promote the many qualities they have to offer their (prospective) inhabitants, but also to provide communal interaction and localised services." A recent example of this trend is LifeAt. Launched in March 2007, LifeAt offers property managers a turnkey solution for launching a nethood for their building. So far, over 335 buildings have joined. The property websites are private and password protected, for use by residents only. Besides offering a platform where residents can meet and communicate, sites also allow users to post classified ads and rate and review local businesses. In addition, property managers post news about vacancies and maintenance work. By connecting people who tend to share not only a building but also similar socioeconomic backgrounds, and offering them a source of hyperlocal information, LifeAt is creating valuable links between cyberspace and 'meatspace'. The concept is likely to find a wider audience now that people of all ages are getting used to sharing information online. Free for residents, LifeAt charges buildings a one-off fee of around USD 6,000 to create and launch a site. One to set up in other countries? And how about a version focusing specifically on office buildings?

With mindless traffic jams and disappearing open space in Dhaka are people getting shy to venture out even in their own neighborhood? Will any entrepreneur come up with the initiative for residents of say Dhanmondi, Gulshan or DOHS etc. to meet, share and keep in touch regarding the community events atleast online, as offline physical meetings are sometimes cumbersome. Food for thought again.

সাহিত্যিকদের পৃষ্ঠপোষকতায় Corporate Company

অনেকদিন ধরেই বিষয়টি মাথায় ঘুরপাক খাচ্ছিল। বিষয়টি সেদিন আমার প্রান প্রিষ নন্ধুটিকে বললাম। ও পরামর্শ দিলো,বিষয়টি তুমি Bangladesh Corporate Blogs-এ লিখলে ভাল হবে। ওর সেই ভাবনা থেকেই বিষয়টি Bangladesh Corporate Blogs-এ তুলে ধরলাম।
আমাদের দেশে পৃষ্ঠপোষকতার বড় অভাব। আর সেই অভাবের মাত্রাটা সাহিত্য অঙ্গনে একটু প্রকট ভাবেই পরিলক্ষিত হয়। সাহিত্যিকরা যে পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা পাচ্ছে না তা নয়। পাচ্ছে, তবে তা কিঞ্চিত পরিমানে। আর যাওবা পাচ্ছে তা শুধু প্রতিষ্ঠিত সাহিত্যিকরাই। আর এক্ষেত্রে শুধুমাত্র এগিয়ে আসছে প্রকাশকরাই। সাহিত্যিকদের পৃষ্ঠপোষকতা করার দায়-দায়িত্ব কি শুধুমাত্র প্রকাশকদেরই, আর কারো নয়?
এই সাহিত্যিকরাই তো জাতিকে উজ্জিবিত করে, জাতির বিবেককে জাগিয়ে তোলে, দেশকে মুক্তির পথ দেখায়, আলোর পথ দেখায়। আমরা কী ভুলে গেছি আমাদের অতীতের কথা? আশা করি ভুলিনি। দেশের বিগত বিভিন্ন গণআন্দোলনে যেখানে সাহিত্যিকরাই ছিলো অগ্রগণ্য। অথচ আজ সেই সাহিত্য সমাজই অবহেলিত।
আর এই অবহেলিত সাহিত্য সমাজকে পৃষ্ঠপোষকতার দায়-দায়িত্ব প্রকাশকদের পাশাপাশি দেশের Corporate company গুলো কি নিতে পারে না? Corpoarte company গুলোতো আজকাল অনেক চলচ্চিত্র, টিভি নাটক, মিউজিক এ্যালবাম ইত্যাদি বের করছে। তাহলে কেন একটি বই বের করতে পৃস্ঠপোষকতা করতে পারবে না corporate company-গুলো? একটি বই প্রকাশ করতে যদি কোন corporate company পৃস্ঠপোষতা করে, তবে এর দ্বারা তো তাদের Brand image -ও বেড়ে যাচ্ছে। কারণ,তাদের কোম্পানীর নাম বইয়ে যাবে। তারপর company গুলো যদি তাদের লগ্নীকৃত অর্থের দিকটা চিন্তা করেন, তবে সেক্ষেত্রে কোম্পানীগুলো তাদের প্রকাশিত বইটি কোন প্রকাশকের কাছে বিক্রি করে দিতে পারে বা বইটি বিক্রির জন্য মিডিয়ায় প্রচারনা চালাতে পারে ইত্যাদি। তাই আমার মনে হয়না এই পৃস্ঠপোষতার কারনে খুব একটা ক্ষতির সম্মখীন হবে corporate company গুলো। মাঝখানে সাহিত্যিকরা কিছুটা উপকৃত হবে। তাছাড়া এটা কোম্পানীগুলোর Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) এর মাঝেই পরে। আর এই পৃষ্ঠাপোষতার ছোঁয়ায় আমাদের রুগ্ন সাহিত্য সমাজ আবার ফুলে-ফেঁপে উঠতে পারবে বলে আমার বিশ্বাস। তখন সাহিত্যকে পেশা হিসেবে বেছে নিতে এগিয়ে আসবে নতুনরা বা অপেশাদারীরা। আর এক্ষেত্রে পৃস্ঠপোষতার জন্য প্রথম প্রথম এগিয়ে আসতে হবে কিছু Recognized corporate company কে।
আমার এই লেখাটি পড়ে যদি কোন corporate company সাহিত্যিকদের পৃস্ঠপোষতায় এগিয়ে আসে, তবেই আমার এ লেখাটি স্বার্থক হয়েছে বলে মনে করব।
The author can be reached at: jahirmasum@gmail.com

Bulls, Bears & Fools

It seems everybody is obsessed with the stock market these days.

Recent media reports have been trying to raise caution, with reason, about the current bullish trend in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).

Much of financial news media focuses on the behavior of stock market prices, so perhaps it’s understandable that people believe that stock market prices are a reflection of real economic performance. However, one thing must be made abundantly clear: the stock market is not, repeat not, the economy (sometimes referred to as the “real” economy) and vice versa. The DSE is not necessarily a barometer of the state of our economy, nor does either one necessarily dictate or inform the other. There is no direct cause and effect relationship between the two. In fact, most of the time, the relationship between the two is at best unpredictable and cannot be reasonably ascertained.

This has important implications for policy makers, market managers, and individual investors. For policy makers, there needs to be a clear appreciation between policies that stimulate the economy and policies that stimulate the market. Even developed nations have made muddled policy decisions by conflating the two.

It is worrying to see journalists, analysts, policy makers, and university professors sometimes muddying the issue rather than clarifying it, getting us all caught in a further web of confusion.

In a developed economy with established and accessible capital markets, one could tentatively hold the proposition that stock market movements may be a leading indicator of what the economy might do in the future since stock prices are determined by supply and demand forces that are dictated by large numbers of informed people who are essentially making a bet on the future performance of a company in the context of the real economy. Therefore, the general stock index of the DSE, the DGEN, is an indicator of the expectations of financial capital, but it moves up and down for a variety of reasons, the majority of which often have nothing to do with the profitability or productivity of the underlying enterprises represented by the stocks (e.g., international trade forces like garment export quotas, etc.) or economic forces like the price of oil.

But we don’t have a developed economy. And our stock market is comparatively small, with a handful of companies that probably account for the majority of the stock turnover each day. Therefore the price movements of a few companies lead to large swings in the aggregate index of the DSE. I’m guessing that the top 10 or 20 companies, or certain volatile sectors like banking or construction, might account for as much as 50% of the turnover on an average day. Furthermore, most of the trading volume is probably due to institutional investors (e.g., banks) looking to get rid of excess capital liquidity. I have no data on this, just a gut feeling.

Also, while I again don’t have the hard data to prove it, I would venture a safe guess that the publicly traded corporate sector (i.e., those that have floated shares on the market) contribute significantly less to national income than the non-corporate sector. By which I mean: agriculture (which contributes upwards of 25% of our GDP and involves 70% of our population), retailers, wholesalers, the service and hospitality industry, the so-called “informal” economy, etc. In fact, I’m guessing that if our entire publicly traded corporate sector were to vanish overnight, strictly speaking, our economy would lose very little income.

Except, of course, the knock-on effects on certain people’s individual wealth (and therefore consumption) and psychology (e.g., confidence) would be disastrous. But that has nothing to do with stock market prices per se, but has to do with the loss of employment and income of many people. In the end, we should ask what percentage of Bangladeshi households have any investment or exposure in the stock market? How many people actually own shares? How many people actually have their savings linked to stock market performance? Again, I don’t have the hard data, but I would venture it’s a very low number.

Sometimes it is argued that stock market activity reflects investor confidence which in turn impacts actual, real investment in the economy. But again, I would venture that the hard data would show very little correlation between the movement in stock market prices and the actual investment in our economy over the last decade or so. The current rally in the stock market, after all, is a very recent trend.

In a developed and well-functioning economy that has a developed and responsive capital market, you could also argue that the stock market helps channel private savings into the economy, i.e., when companies use the stock market to raise capital to fund investment in machinery, employment, growth, etc. But again, how many people channel their savings into the stock market, how many companies are listed on the bourse, and how much does the publicly traded corporate sector contribute to our national income? I may be entirely wrong, but my gut feeling is that it’s not much when compared to our total savings. I would guess most of our savings are in government bonds, bank savings accounts, insurance and provident funds, and cash stuffed in mattresses and our grandmother’s almirahs. I could again be wrong.

Clearly, smart investors should tread carefully when stock prices start exceeding the underlying fundamental value of a stock (i.e., financial statement data other than the trading patterns of the stock, e.g., cash flow, return on assets, capital management, etc. that determine the intrinsic value of the stock).

But you can’t characterize stock market activity as “abnormal” or “unhealthy”. The market simply is what it is. In fact, booms and busts are rather “normal” and to be expected, and such vigor in market capitalization and trading activity might even be an indicator of good healthy markets.

If one were to grossly oversimplify finance, it could be said that finance comes down to two basic and primary concepts:

1. The time value of money
2. The greater fool theory

The first, simply put, is that a taka today is worth more than a taka tomorrow (since you could invest that taka today and earn a return on it by tomorrow). The second concept, again simply put, is that investors can ride a wave of market optimism and invest in questionable securities in the hopes of finding a “greater fool” who they can sell it to in the future.

I’m not sure about the sophistication of our average investor (the few that there are), but I suspect our current speculative bubble (and it most probably is a speculative bubble) is due to (a) a surge in new and unsophisticated investors chasing perceived high returns without understanding how the market or valuation works, (b) large institutional investors trying to divert excess liquidity from what they perceive as our other sagging economic sectors, and (c) the greater fool theory.

Of course, the bullish rally will continue as long as everyone keeps believing in greater fools (and maybe become fools themselves). And of course, the bubble will certainly burst one day, it’s inevitable. One can only hope that when the music stops, everyone finds a chair.

Regardless, appeals to rationality and fundamental analysis are probably going to fall on deaf ears. The least of the reasons being that people aren’t always rational and most don’t bother analyzing what little fundamental data is available to us in Bangladesh. Markets have always been prone to “irrationality” and speculation. There is plenty of bad news about our economy without having to resort to the kind of alarmist and obscurantist coverage of the stock market as given by our mainstream media. The media should not only cover the potential reasons for why we’re in a bubble, but maybe try and prepare the general public for what happens when such bubbles burst. For in the end, while a handful of people make gains during a rally, almost everyone suffers repercussions from a crash.

I’ve made many claims here in this longish post, and unfortunately without much hard data to my credit. However, I will make one last proposition. You should only be mildly concerned about the state of our real economy just because a few investors are acting in an “irrationally exuberant” manner in the stock market. The “real” economy depends on a lot more than just the returns on financial capital in the stock market.

The time to start worrying is when real signs of economic activity start to slow down, like construction of new apartments, when your corner shop starts closing, or if all of a sudden our myriad and near-identical shopping malls stop selling so much of whatever it is they sell all day. To be fair, that is increasingly evident, let’s not forget that our declining exports, declining local investment, deteriorating law and order, sagging investment climate, etc. are causes for real concern. Most Bangladeshis and the current government should worry less about the stock market and worry more about managing and reforming the real economy with sound policy that provides incentives for productive investment in our economy.

Failing that, maybe in the end we will all be made the greater fools.

-Bf

Mosques, airports and manpower

Do we really confess when we go to pray in mosques? The churches have that system of special confession boxes where you can go and confess your sin and the priest can hear your plea from the other side and probably bless you with divine redemption. I have never thought of trying the same with the Imam Shaheb in my local mosque, who knows how he would react. Since I am not exactly talking about any serious sin in particular, I think its safe to confess through this post only for the time being.


Lets have a riddle today. Name two places where you meet a special breed of human beings very often when you yourself visit those places. Hints...this special breed is made in Bangladesh only....the places where you meet them are open to all...whatever privileges you receive, they receive the same, there is not much distinguishing. Any guesses? Well...hell with the annoying scroll down answers to quizzes, let me tell you that that special breed of human beings are the manpower we export from Bangladesh and those special places are mosques and airports.


Now the confession time. I realize whenever I go to pray in a mosque (once in a blue moon) that I really don't bother who the other person sitting around me really is, what he does, his background etc. I just mind my own business with God almighty, keep on thinking about earthly things, quickly finish prayer and disappear. But who knows I still pray shoulder to shoulder standing in a row with many of the thousands and lakhs laborers, who happen to be my own countrymen. My superb career, my dad's wealth, my astonishing apartment and car is equated in the same line with those labor-selling Bangladeshis who are in no way as privileged as I am.


Similarly when I enter ZIA, my 'irritometer' rises when I see a 'herd' of brown colored middle-aged/young men standing in queue, all wearing same colored t-shirts, caps etc. trying to check in the flight for perhaps their maiden voyage to dreamlands. I have noticed this in ZIA and also in NSCBIA in Kolkata, how these 'khet laborers' are treated, they are yelled at to form a queue, not to make noise, not to loiter around, not to get lost etc. I have seen it in so many times in 'desher bari' that the cows or goats of the same herd are marked on their backs, so that the cowboy can distinguish his own from that of others. I don't see much difference how the human herd is handled at ZIA either. To add to my decaying prestige, I realize that I will have to travel for 3-4 hours with these people! Disgusting innit? They snore, can't speak in English with air hostesses, sometimes wear lungis in flight, talk and laugh loudly, such a nuisance. I wish I could somehow rub of my Bangladeshi identity, these people are such a disgrace to my eliteness.


In my office desk, AC room, when I read the pink papered Financial Express that Bangladesh's remittance is crossing the USD 4 billion mark, I feel proud that my country is becoming the economic powerhouse of the region. I read and write thick articles in newspapers, give interviews and formulate strategies on how to bake a bigger remittance cake. However, I keep my conscience shut when I know that these hard-earned remittance is sent by those very 'khet gadha gorur dol' with whom I traveled in that flight to Dubai, or with whom I must have said my prayers wearing the Aarong panjabi at Gausul Azam Mosque. Anyways, who cares as long as nobody knows about it.


I am no strategists, no policymaker. Out of sheer emotion I feel that there is a need to streamline our greatest source of competitive advantage--manpower. Since we have it in abundance, we value it cheaply, we treat them cheaply, lest 'taara mathay chore boshe'. But when you see clean shining roads of Kuala Lumpur and dazzling malls of Dubai, do you realize how many Bangladeshi hands are behind this? We go and see with awe the wonders of foreign land partially composed by our very own countrymen, who sold their labor to build 'their' countries, so that we can boast of a growing economy. But it goes without saying how mishandled these laborer are by their agencies. Quacks and crooks allure innocent dreams with high cost. I believe there is a need to train these people even before they venture into foreign territories. Train them with the destination country's language, etiquette, basic English. Can we somehow instill the sense of respect in them? I know you would say that its a long process and will take time. But when shall we start?


Strategic migration could be an issue to think about. We can identify the developed countries where there is a shortage of semi-skilled, skilled manpower. Countries other than the favorite destinations such as US, UK, Australia, Middle East, Malaysia. Say Russia, Finland, Norway etc. can be alternate destinations where we can strategically 'push in' our manpower. We can train them, send them there so that they fit the best there and relieve our small land from the burden of over population. I think this would be a win-win for all, the laborers will settle there and keep on being the cash cow of Bangladesh and we, the posh and elite could travel in peace and style and keep on committing small sins.

No Chinta Do Foorti Today

Not much foorti on radio today is what Mr. Chintito wants to say in the Star Magazine. Read the whole story in the linked page to know why. I would just say what I have to say here.


Only if we could put a hold on our insatiable wants and needs and desire and expectation and complaints. Even yesterday, we didn't have any popular radio in place, now we have a few, and we have already started complaining. Neither do I work for these radio channels nor I am married to any of them, I think its a superb initiative to be the least. I also assume there is plenty of room for growth for these radio channels in terms of their content, quality and standard. But for all these, we need to nurture their efforts and encourage them.

I also sometimes make fun of the Benglish accent of few of the RJs and the way they speak in their intoxicated voice. But it is not fair to generalize the lot. After all, they have just started, they need to adjust to what the market demands and likes. Mr. Chintito also talks about the invasion of Hindi songs in the radio channels. Cultural invasion is inevitable in today's world of globalization, its better to compete head on rather than eliminating competitors. Now if you ask why does not Indian radio channels play Bangla songs, we say its because of the inefficiency of your generation. The 'old is gold' generation could not even penetrate into the music/media industry of West Bengal and now they are lamenting the invasion of Hindi songs into Bangladeshi radio channels. We should also keep in view the immense exposure these channels are giving to 'previously unknown' or 'little known' music talents from Bangladesh who sing in Bangla ofcourse. I am sure these critics would fall short from criticizing even the Band music of Bangladesh, terming it as 'noise'. So if you are in a position not to be satisfied with any dish, why cook for you in the first place.


I assume we have enough bandwidth/frequency in the spectrum to accommodate more private radio channels. We have the lowest number of radio channels in the region. I hope somebody would soon take the initiative to launch 'radio oteet', 'radio gotokal', 'radio yesterday' etc. and play songs from 50s and 60s only so that those who are bothered with 'radio foorti' and 'radio todays' efforts can keep their 'chintas' at bay.

David Copperfield in a mission to get our consumer rights back to us!

I used to believe that illusionists know the trick to be invisible. They can either make themselves disappear or they can perform some tricks to make any object disappear. Salute to the one and only David Copperfield as he knows even a better trick to disappear the Statue of Liberty. But the good news to all Americans is he can bring the Statue of Liberty back to them.

I would rather say that we have got better illusionists here in Bangladesh than any other country has. Our great illusionists can perform such groundbreaking tricks that our consumer rights be disappear forever. May be it is good for our illusionists. But our poor consumers, where would they seek their consumer rights? Don’t they deserve to get their rights back? Of course they do. Who will ring the bell? Should we hire David Copperfield to save ourselves? I am sure it would be the hardest challenge for him to get our consumer rights back to us. Now it is high time to see who wins the battle of the illusion?

If you call me, I will ad you as GP will pay me

“Caller tune Advertisement” is all about publishing advertisements as caller tunes on user’s mobile phones, so that the callers will listen to the advertisement until the user picks up the phone. In a nutshell, this idea is all about the mobile users trading their ringtone airtime for monetary benefits, which can be used to publish advertisement. This concept is all about publishing advertisement as a replacement for caller tunes or in-conjunction with caller tunes in user’s mobile phones. In return, users will get monetary benefits like free recharge coupons, discounts in bills, partial reimbursement of bills, free talk minutes, free value adds like free SMS, etc. These kinds of freebies will attract users to allow users to give up their ring tone airtime to place advertisement. Gaining publisher base will be a challenge. A good publisher base means a huge market potential. The success of this advertisement medium will be determined by the publisher base. This new business idea is patent-pending and its owner, TarryOnline is looking for interested investors.

Time to say adieu to welcome tunes of our mobile phone operators? How about applying your loyal customers to be launchpads of your product and service publicity? Next time when I get a call from people, I will make sure I pick up the phone late enough so that the caller listens to GrameenPhone's (in my case) 'exciting attractive offers' advert and then I will say a happy 'Hello' knowing that GP will give me free airtime worth the duration of the caller tune ad played with my phone number. I would love not to pay 30 Tk. per month as my welcome tunes fees, and I would love to get paid instead to allow GP to use MY caller tune/time. Sounds good?

Online marketplace for content

Media organizations increasingly rely on syndicated content, but access to such material typically requires expensive subscriptions or syndication deals. New York-based Mochila has devised a way to offer articles, photos, audio and videos a la carte while dispensing with subscription fees and protecting authors' rights. Launched earlier this year, Mochila's website is essentially an online marketplace for content. Sellers offer up their wares along with price and any restrictions; buyers search for what they need and choose the best match. Content can be instantly downloaded into any publishing system, and purchases can be made in two ways: either by paying the price set by the original content owner, or by agreeing to post advertising along with the item, in which case the content is free. In the ad-supported arrangement, advertising revenue is shared among the buyer, the seller and Mochila. For sellers, the benefits include new revenue opportunities and increased exposure; for buyers, decreased operational costs, more ad pages and revenue opportunities, and the rub-off effect of big-name content are among them. More than 1,000 media organizations have joined Mochila so far, including Reuters, the Associated Press and Hearst Magazines—you can't get much bigger than that. World media spent just under USD 2 billion on syndicated news content last year, and that figure is expected to grow to USD 3 billion by 2008, Mochila says. The time is ripe for a new content model, and it looks like this one is taking hold. How about putting a niche or curator’s spin on the concept?

Upcoming trendy magazines in Bangladesh like Purple. ICE Today even Executive Times sometimes crave for mature, relevant and publishable contents to feed the reader's brains. No doubt they have their own sources to source content, but some sort of streamlined effort to connect the casual, professional writers of different topics would be a win-win for all. Monsoonletters.com have started doing something in that line, there are a few groups of Bangladeshi writers in Facebook, but its all done for the love of it, not keeping any business angle in mind. An online mechanism to upload sudden spillover of literary fireworks surely helps pacify the mind of the writer. An online mechanism to purchase that content from the writer and use it in a publishing business would make life easier for content-hungry print media corporates in Bangladesh. Mere being able to write and publish is happiness for the writer, being paid and acknowledged for that writing is no doubt a greater incentive to write even more with more sense. Food for thought for you.

Delivering News with a twist

Whoever thought delivering news can never be hip should visit Canada.

At least for a long time, we thought delivering news can never be a ”glam” thing. But in comes ETV and a lot of our old notions were thrown out the window. ETV showed how by showing great presentation style, professionalism and most importantly “by doing something new”, you can capture the heart of the audience. But sadly, it has gone one dimensional since then. Right now we are in the middle of a major media boom in our country, but just about all news we see today is an “extended carbon copy” of the ETV style.

So whats the new thingy? Where is the new innovation coming in? Or more importantly do we require to differentiate news?

To take the last question first - hell yeah! When just about 10 channels are fighting for the news viewership, differentiation is the only way they will esnure that audience will switch to their channel for that “extra”. And here’s a cracking example (and also the reason why i talked about going to Canada in the beginning) of how good differentiation can sky rocket the popularity of a news channel.

There is a news channel in Canada which Time magazine said “offers the best international coverage on this side of BBC”. This channel broadcast news to 172 nations with a potential weekly audience of 34 million in US, UK, Australia and other countries. The name of the channel is Naked News.

Their newscasters are like any typical news casters in broadcast TV, but they do offer a “different viewing reason”. With a tag-line “There is nothing to hide” - the newscasters of this channel discuss politics, entertainment, sports - all of them - naked.

Now why would someone watch and rely on news delievered from naked people? Well you have to see it to really understand. But the ratings are sky high and research shows that people believe their news as much (if not more) as any other news channel.

Now i am not saying that the newscasters of our country have to do something that radical to gain TRP, but surely they can innovate. For example, one thing that is always irritating about news is that they dont show much passion. One minute they are showing the death of a young girl and the next minute they switch off to something entertaining - in the blink of an eye and always in the same tone.

So if one of the channels train their news casters to show personal enthusiasm, and treat different types of news differently and with lots of emotion and adopt a tag-line like “We feel what you feel” - wouldnt that differentiate that TV channel from the others? What do you think Channel I, N, R, E, and 1?

Shahriar Amin is the creator of the first brand related blog in Bangladesh (http://shammograffity.wordpress.com).

Is the call-center boom in India starting to bust?

An interesting article in the new edition of Time magazine, "India's Call-Center Jobs Go Begging", examines the Indian call-center boom perhaps going bust. It seems nowadays that booms and busts occur within decreasing amounts of time between each other.

From the article:

"Young people say it is no longer worthwhile going through sleepless nights serving customers halfway around the world. They have better job opportunities in other fields. The work is tiring and stressful and offers few career advancement opportunities [...] The complaints come at a time when the Indian information technology sector, which includes companies that run call centers and do other outsourced work like medical transcription and claims processing, is facing a dearth of skilled labor. [...] India faces a potential shortage of 500,000 professional employees in the information technology sector by 2010, according to the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), a trade group. [...] The industry is also facing "intense competition" for workers from the retail and airline and hospitality sectors, where wages are now closer to what call centers pay, said Kiran Karnik, president of NASSCOM."

[Emphasis mine]

Apparently some Indian colleges have even banned call centers from recruiting at their campuses. This seems a startling turnaround in recent trends (at least based on the various media reports from the last couple of years).

Perhaps this article is premature, or again perhaps the Indian BPO industry will learn it's first tough lesson about innovating and constant strategic vigilance in the business services sector. Maybe it's not enough to just compete on cost and service quality. And maybe we always knew that anyway. Maybe BPO service providers need to start taking better care of their employees (their internal clients, if you will), develop better human resource policies, and create value for their clients in other ways. It remains to be seen how things pan out and if Indian business leaders can lead instead of follow global trends.

Like the article concludes, maybe the call center phenomena will move on to other countries. The interesting question is, should other countries rush to pick up on the opportunity. Should Bangladesh, IF it were capable of meeting the challenge, try and carve out a piece of any future BPO pie like some have suggested in the local media and even on this blog?

Full article is available here on the Time magazine website.

It happens to be the most popular (most viewed) article on the Time site right now.


-Bf

Business in Ivory Coast

Mahboob, Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, writes in Daily Star

Bangladeshi garments sector is in dire straits. The 74% export market depending on RMG is an ominous sign and we must look for diversification of our exportable products base in order to keep our competitiveness in the international market. To add fuel to it are the conspiracy theories and vested interest groups who are constantly trying to take away our market to the other countries vying for the share of the export pie. It's indeed a shame that we are not adding value to our products and not looking into product diversification and we are paying the price by being tied to a single product. A t-shirt can get a manufacturer may be a paltry 3 dollars whereas the same t-shirt is sold at 10-20 dollars even in the discount stores in the US or in the EU countries. The next alarming news is losing the manpower market in Malaysia. Because of our over greedy recruiting agencies, young aspiring people are falling prey to these unscrupulous agencies and are being trapped into inhuman situation in foreign countries. Why can't we see the bigger picture? Why do we have to run after the quick money by pushing innocent job seekers at bay? I am working in a West African country named Ivory Coast or Cote d'Ivoire as it is called from the times when it was a French colony. The country is huge and only 2 million people are living in this fertile country. The weather is a pleasant 20-25 degrees all year round. It's much like a permanent 'Shorotkaal' here in Abidjan, the commercial capital of Cote d'ivoire. Windy, pleasant and you don't sweat. You don't need a sweater ever and one t-shirt can go on you for a week before it might need a wash! The people are friendly and the public systems are good. The infrastructure is West European standard and the electricity is surplus. The people are welcoming and there's plenty of land to work on. But the daily commodities are costly. I mean costlier than Dhaka. But the things which are costly in Dhaka are less expensive here! Like land, leasehold, house rent, a transport etc. So a Bangladeshi entrepreneur can find a nice niche for him to open his business here in Abidjan. . All I want is good things to happen to my dear country Bangladesh. So if some business entrepreneurs come here and open their import business in Abidjan, I think it's going to be very profitable for both the parties. Local people will enjoy world standard products and the Bangladeshi entrepreneurs will make a good living. I heard about a Japanese trade fair here in Abidjan and I am hopeful that there can be a trade fair of Bangladeshi products here in Abidjan. I am willing to help anyone interested to know more about these and you can mail me at runinan@gmail.com or you can visit the blog at http://banhqspcoy.blogspot.com/.

Good to see call from NRBs overseas for setting up Bangladeshi businesses abroad. If NRBs provide useful information on initiating business keeping in view host country norms and regulations, I think it would be easier for Bangladeshi entrepreneurs to venture into unknown territories.

Show me how you cook it for me

Only the most fastidious are likely to look up the health inspection records of restaurants before deciding on a place to dine. And even if they are curious enough to look, actually finding those records could be a chore, since they’re often buried deep within a government agency website. CleanScores provides a hassle-free alternative for hygiene conscious diners in San Francisco. Look up the name of a restaurant on CleanScores’s website and the first thing you’ll see is the score awarded to the eatery during its most recent health inspection. In addition to listing health code violations (ranging from major to minor), there’s even a graph comparing scores during its three most recent inspections, along with a form for visitor comments.

Two weeks back, I had the misfortune of discovering and tasting a boiled plastic piece inside my Tandoori Chicken at the Ananda Restaurant at Old Airport. Surely, I didn't pay for it and walked out yelling on the face of the apparently 'repentant' staff at the restaurant. I remember Bukhara introducing a 'see-through kitchen' policy at their premises at Banani. Inspite of surprise raids of Rokonman and his sidekicks, our 'creative' cooking gurus still are cooking up innovative dishes for us to consume and die eventually, while they keep on becoming richer. May be a third-party endorsement similar to CleanScores can put some sort of credibility in our minds, when we decide where to eat and where not to....in the restaurants in Bangladesh.

Citibank In Bangladesh Launches Mobile Based Remittance Service From Malaysia

Siddique Islam - AHN South Asia Correspondent

Citibank and DIGI Telecommunications Sdn Bhd have teamed up to provide a new service - DiGiREMIT - to facilitate the transfer of money from Malaysia to Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines.The new service is designed to simplify the transfer of money by using mobile phones. DIGI acts as a remittance agent of Citibank to its prepaid and postpaid cell phone customers, who can register at any of the 47 DiGi centers throughout Malaysia. The service offers issuance of drafts in Bangladesh payable at over 800 locations, which are delivered between 24 to 72 hours. The registration creates a virtual wallet for the customer to load up to Malaysian Ringgit (RM) 5,000 at any one time. The customer can then remit via SMS anytime or over the counter at designated DiGi outlets, subject to a limit of RM 5000 per transaction. The fee for the service starts from RM 8. Customers will also automatically receive free personal accident coverage along with that. Commenting on this product, Rashed Maqsood, Director and Head of Global Transaction Services of Citi Bangladesh, said: "We are the first bank in Bangladesh to pioneer mobile based cross-border remittance to Bangladesh market. Earlier, Citibank launched web-based remittances from US to Bangladesh through remit2home.com. Our culture in the transaction banking business is that of innovation, leadership & partnership."

What I didn't get here is how Citibank is paying out the money sent from Malaysia to the mentioned 800 locations in Bangladesh. To whom these outlets belong to? Also, when someone from Malaysia is sending the SMS, to which number, to whom they are sending the SMS? Is it a Citibank 'hot number', Grameen Phone number, Banglalink number? They also talk about 'issuance of drafts', who generates it, how it is collected and where are those 800 locations? May be its my limited understanding that I cannot grasp the whole picture, anybody reading this post is welcome to enlighten us. Nevertheless, what I understand, its a huge leap forward in the right direction. Human resource is our largest natural source of comparative advantage and remittance injects life into our forex reserve. I wonder what Grameen Phone is thinking in this regard. With their flexiload retail outlets scattered over almost every corner of the country, could they tie up with say BRAC/BRAC Bank to offer some sort of remittance services to rural recipients? BRAC Bank has already strengthened its competitive position through it SME banking division which has an outlet 'almost in every last mile' of Bangladeshi villages, thanks to BRAC's already established MFI network. Now I can only envisage a tie up between GP and BRAC Bank, to facilitate smooth and fraud-free remittance to throw up a challenge in this lucrative market against Citibank, who are doing very well also in other banking markets.

Crimebusting, NY style

The transparency and corruption index just came out. But what if we do a safety index? After the tragic killing of a teacher of NSU, we need to ask ourselves – how much worse can it get? Is pepper spray the future of our handbag content? Even more important….is there a way out?
If you are an ex-mayor and an ex-head of police department of New York city, you would say an emphatic yes. Crime can be stopped by being innovative.


In the early 90s crime in New York city was on the up like the popularity of an attractive cheerleader. It was everywhere. Everyday there was mugging, killing, gang warfare, rapes. It was a crazy time in the vicinity of Time Square. Then all of a sudden the crime rate dropped. The question in every thankful lip was what happened.


Well what happened can be explained by a theory called “Broken Windows” theory, which is the brainchild of criminologist James Q. Wilson and George Kelling. They argued that crime is the inevitable result of disorder. If a window in a house is broken for a long time, when people simply walk by it they will think that none cares. Soon more and more windows will be broken and that sense of anarchy will spread from the house to the streets. In terms of crime, it means

1. Simple petty crimes like drawing graffity in walls and groping can lead to violent crimes like killing during mugging.

2.Crime is contagious just like fashion.


Rudolph Giuliani (Mayor), David Gunn (Subway director, New York Transit Authority) and William J. Bratton (Head of Police) applied this “Broken Window” theory in New York city. What they did at times seemed more puzzling and trivial than logical.


The police chief traveled in subway trains for hours looking for clues for minor crimes
He focused on minor crimes like people who traveled without fare, people who just pop-up during signal to wash the window of the cars and demand money, people who peed in the streets etc.


He focused on efficiency like getting mobile police vans. Rather than taking the criminals to the police headquarters, he took the quarters to the criminal – and thus saved a lot of time, which the police officers used to crack down more criminals


And it worked like magic. The means may be confusing, but the results are fantastic. None thought crime rates would drop in NY, but it did. So what do we learn from this example that we can apply?


Minor crimes leads to violent crimes. So if we can put an end to minor crimes like peeing in streets, groping girls during shopping we can put a brake on more violent crimes
It is not needed to crack down every criminal. You just need to send a signal that the Police is alert and patrolling. That alone will put off the criminals

Even with limited resources you can be very effective. By being innovative and efficient, even with limited budget and resources we can make headway against crime.


Shahriar Amin is the creator of the first brand related blog in Bangladesh (http://shammograffity.wordpress.com), where he disburses and discusses brand related knowledge for the benefits of Bangladeshi business and students.

Privatising the VoIP service

With the advancement of telecommunications technology, the volume, speed and ease of information transfer over long distances have increased manifold. What is more reassuring is that all these improvements have also been accompanied by appreciable reduction in costs. Of all types of information exchange through telephone, the verbal contact between people is the most widely used and popular mode of communication. But until the advent of digital information technology, the cost of verbal communication was rather high and sometimes prohibitive when it was conducted over long distances. As a result, until recently telephone remained a necessary mode of communication, though with an elitist bias when considered from the point of view of its accessibility among the mass people.However, the barrier that stood between mass people and telephone has been all but removed with the commencement of information superhighway called the Internet and the prospect of voice transfer through this yet new wonder of communication technology. The benefit of voice transfer over the Internet, however, could not reach Bangladesh so easily and instantly. The hurdle that came in the way, as it had most often been the case, was the sluggishness and apathy towards making prompt decision both at the political and bureaucratic level of the administration concerned.As a result, Bangladesh had to wait longer than many of the least developed countries (LDCs) as well as its neighbours to reach the benefit of telephonic communication through the Internet to the people. But to all appearances, this state of forced isolation from the rest of the world so far as the use of internet telephony is concerned, is coming to an end. The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has finally decided to shed some of its control over telephonic use of the Internet. The first step in this direction came last August when the government approved the International Long Distance Telecommunication Service (ILDTCS) Policy-2007 in order to open up the Voice over the Internet Protocol (VoIP) facility to the private sector.The government's new policy of opening up long distance telephone service to the private sector will not simply pave the way for faster and cheaper communication between expatriate Bangladeshis and their relatives at home. In fact, the government, or the economy for that matter, will also be greatly benefited from this long awaited policy decision. With the service becoming cheaper over very long distances, people will be encouraged to use it on a more massive and frequent scale, thereby bringing more revenue for the government. On the other hand, the step would go a long way to stop the illegal use of the VoIP facility by private operators, which was causing the government to sustain a huge loss in terms of revenue earning.After adoption of the appropriate policy on ILDTs, the government, rather than sitting on it, as was the practice in the past, has now taken the next move to implement it at the earliest opportunity. To involve the private sector in operating VoIP service, the BRTC last Sunday took the necessary step by inviting tender to provide four categories of licenses to the private operators, which include International Gateway (IGW), Intercommunication Exchange (ICX), Internet Exchange (IX) and Internet Protocol (IP) operators. However, the most uplifting aspect of the ILDTS policy to contract out the VoIP service to the private operators is that the business will not be allowed to be done by any foreign owned company. Even companies owned by non-resident Bangladeshis will have no luck in this respect. This is certainly a commendable aspect of privatising the VoIP service so much so that the revenue due to the state from this sector of the telecommunication service may be well protected.

Source: The Financial Express

National Payment Gateway for e-commerce and inter-bank transactions

Dutch Bangla Bank has already strengthened its competitive position with the largest fleet of ATMs across the country. Their thinktanks are also actively advocating for something even more useful and effective.

"E-Commerce is a much talked issue for last ten years in Bangladesh. However, it is still in the infant stage. Many enthusiastic merchants started e-commerce activities in Bangladesh but due to lack of support from the banking industries to collect the "Payment" which is a vital component of the e-commerce life cycle, they virtually failed to keep the interest vibraqt.Inter-bank fund transfer in Bangladesh is allowed only through clearing house which requires at least two working days to be settled the transaction. Due to absence of the inter-bank ATM/POS transactions, all such transactions are now happening through Visa / MasterCard networks for which the per transaction cost is very high (1.00 - 1.25 USD per transaction) and also a substantial amount of foreign currency need to be paid to the network authorities as 'network use' charge.National Payment Gateway will also facilitate the customers to pay their utility bills through ATM, Internet banking or sms banking systems from anywhere anytime even from his office / residence at mid-night or holidays.However, before implementing the National Payment Gateway, new policies, rules and regulations need to be enacted by the Bangladesh Bank (central bank). The task has nowbecome easier as the "Information and Communication Technology" act was already gazetted on October 08, 2006." Read more. ( by Abul Kashem Md. Shirin, SEVP and Head of IT, Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited)

Multinational banks like StanChart don't even allow inter-account fund transfers between two different account holders of the bank, let alone inter-bank fund transfer. What DBBL is proposing, would surely make way to easier and cost-effective banking experience for us.

Blog Jargon: Learning the Terms

According to www.afb.org:

What is a Blog?

Web logs, or simply blogs, are online journals that are frequently updated. Posts appear in reverse chronological order on a common web page. New content can also be read through RSS readers provided through sites such as Blogspot, Blogger, Bloglines, Feedster, NewsGator, or My Yahoo! Blogs.

What is the Blogosphere?

This popular term refers to the total universe of blogs and blog-related web sites.

What is RSS?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication technology. RSS feeds allow Internet users to receive updated content from blogs or news sites in real time.

What is a Feed Aggregator or RSS Feed Reader?

RSS feed readers, or aggregators, are programs that check for, download, and organize new content from blogs and news sites, which is delivered through RSS. Users do not have to consume their blog content via an RSS reader, because they exist on regular web pages, written in HTML. However, many users find getting feeds of blog updates via an aggregator to be more efficient than checking blogs without knowing whether or not they have been updated. It has been described as TiVo for the web.

What is Podcasting?

Podcasting, which derives its name from Apple's iPod and "broadcasting," allows users to subscribe to audio programming that is automatically delivered to their computers. Some podcasts are professionally produced, like talk shows and music broadcasts, while others are less formal daily diaries and running commentary between friends.

Corporate Blogging Policy

A timely article on what corporate blogging policies are, what to blog, what not to, when and how to blog on behalf of a company.

In general, the company views personal websites and weblogs positively, and it respects the right of employees to use them as a medium of self-expression. If you choose to identify yourself as a Feedster employee or to discuss matters related to our technology or business on your website or weblog, please bear in mind that, although you and we view your website or weblog as a personal project and a medium of personal expression, some readers may nonetheless view you as a de facto spokesperson for the company. In light of this possibility, we ask that you observe the following guidelines:

1. Please make it clear to your readers that the views you express are yours alone and that they do not necessarily reflect the views of Feedster. To help reduce the potential for confusion, we would appreciate it if you put the following notice – or something similar – in a reasonably prominent place on your site ( e.g., at the bottom of your "about me" page):
The views expressed on this website/weblog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
Many bloggers put a disclaimer on their front page saying who they work for, but that they're not speaking officially. This is good practice, but may not have much legal effect. It's not necessary to post this notice on every page, but please use reasonable efforts to draw attention to it – if at all possible, from the home page of your site.
2. Be careful to avoid disclosing any information that is confidential or proprietary to the company or to any third party that has disclosed information to us. For good measure, consult the company's confidentiality policy for guidance about what constitutes confidential information.
3. Please remember that your employment documents give the company certain rights with respect to concepts and developments you produce that are related to our business. To avoid conflicts or discrepancies, please consult your manager if you have questions about the appropriateness of publishing such concepts or developments related to the company's business on your site.
4. Since your site or blog is a public space, we hope you will be as respectful to the company, our employees, our customers, our partners and affiliates, and others (including our competitors) as the company itself endeavors to be.
5. You may provide a link from your site to the corporate website. However you will require permission to use company trademarks or reproduce company material on your site.
6. Finally, please be aware that the company may request that you temporarily confine your website or weblog commentary to topics unrelated to the company (or, in rare cases, that you temporarily suspend your website or weblog activity altogether) if it believes this is necessary or advisable to ensure compliance with securities regulations or other laws.

Our policy is an adaptation of Groove Network's published policy. Here's a quick summary from Charlene Li of Forrester Research:

1. Make it clear that the views expressed in the blog are yours alone and do not necessarily represent the views of your employer.
2. Respect the company's confidentiality and proprietary information.
3. Ask your manager if you have any questions about what is appropriate to include in your blog.
4. Be respectful to the company, employees, customers, partners, and competitors.
5. Understand when the company asks that topics not be discussed for confidentiality or legal compliance reasons.
6. Ensure that your blogging activity does not interfere with your work

Source: http://feedster.blogs.com/corporate/2005/03/corporate_blogg.html
Thanks to Adnan for sharing this.

To eat or not to eat the apple?

An apple a day, keeps the doctor away. Although God forbade once upon a time to eat apples made in heaven, humans were too allured by the serpent, so they went ahead, ate the apple and got a posting from heaven to earth. Courtesy Baba Adam and Babes Hawa, we are here, reading and writing this post.

VoIP was kept like an attractive juicy apple hanging from a tree. We all knew about the nutrient value of the apple, we tried...but we could not control our temptation, so I ate it, you ate it, everybody ate it. Now when the BTRC Gods came to the Eden Gardens to take a stroll, they found that the forbidden apple had started to decay, thanks to Bangladeshi mobile companies, ISPs, large conglomerates (like KDS Group) and to other 'entrepreneurs'. So the Gods decided to unleash their wrath. GrameenPhone is counting 168.4 crore taka as fine to BTRC, admitting 'its involvement in illegal call termination activities'. Industry siblings like Aktel, BanglaLink are also expected to confess their 'sins' and embrace divine punishment. Too bad for the new GP lead, starting the office with a public apology to the government for the 'mess created previously'. Nevertheless, what else could have you said other than a polite and honest 'sorry'.

So the question arises, who is right? the doctor or the God? If the doc says that the apple is good for health, why God doesn't let me eat it?

Promoting Art through IT

When Pohela Baishakh comes we see Dhaka get painted with different shades. We know who do this great job to make this colorful spectacle. They are the students of Art College. Every year a good number of students are passing from the CharuKala Institute. We know they have quality but do they really have a chance to prove it? Currently, they don’t have an effective enough platform to do what they do best and earn money in doing so. But a simple idea can change all that.

How many people of our country buy painting or creative works? Its minuscule compared to how many people buy it globally. Who says Bangladeshi aspiring artists need to sell to Bangladeshi buyers only? If we get rid of this notion and apply the wonderful world of World Wide Web in the selling process, it can really do wonders for the aspiring artists of the Art College.

Introducing marriage of IT and Arts to create a promotional website for CharuKala Institute. When a student at CharuKala Institute enrolled then s/he will get a user ID and password from the Institute to access the website and upload his/her portfolio on there. This way each and every student would get a chance to upload the images of his/her works. Then there would be option for adding price, postal change (FedEx, DHL, UPS local EMS and so on). When someone would purchase something then the amount could be divided in two parts. XX% of the total income could go to the owner of the art work and the rest YY% could go to the account of CharuKala Institute as a service charge or so.

Globally web 2.0 sites like Flickr are doing wonders for the art and photography world. We can replicate the same model here.

Our grandmas can tell story with socks

Swiss Netgranny is a collective of 15 grannies who knit socks on demand and sell them online. Customers can choose their favourite granny from a gallery of 'Grosis', which includes information on why the women knit ('not for money, just to pass the time') or about their professional credentials ('at age 6, I taught my 4 year-old sister to knit'). Customers pick the colour of their socks, or opt for a surprise design. After placing an order, their personal sock-knitting granny will take approximately two weeks to knit the pair of socks, which are sold for CHF 39 (USD 33 / EUR 26) a pair, including delivery. Netgranny was founded by Swiss fashion label Tarzan, who have created a product loaded with storytelling opportunities. While socks are generally a bland clothing commodity, this line of foot apparel lets customers pull up the leg of their trousers and share a great story with their friends or family.

Amazing concept isn't it? With hundreds and thousands of 'nanimas' and 'dadimas' at our homes and back at 'desher bari', will any Bangladeshi corporate come forward to patronize and brand these old women, whom we otherwise would have thought, useless or not worthy of generating income. If Farzana Shakil, Aneela Haque and Maheen Khan are the upstream fashion designers, who knows we can promote some 'buri nanis' from rural Bengal to start carve a niche in the designers wear market, albeit from the downstream. Bibi Russell can think about it.

EMS - A profitable business

Reasonably Bangladesh Post Office has to face the challenge of speed of scientific technology of the 21st century. According to the demand of the era the world is built up with a tremendous development in technological and socioeconomic sphere where development has exclusively been grown up with a trend of faster motive in comparison with other in speed. So it can unanimously be said that the 21 st century is the age of speed. Here people desires not only speed but also security in every aspect of their daily events. So the value of speed and security is very important to every individual, since the technology has enhanced speed of human life, as such people has reasonably been drifted to scientific technology with a motive to be faster than other. The most important invention of the twenty-first century is Information Technology that makes the globe very small to an individual. The modem science has made it so developed as that can transmit the latest news' from one end to other end of the globe within a moment Information technology felicitates the people with so many facilities that make people dynamic; they desire speed in every aspect of their daily events. We can see everywhere the people of every stage whether or not rich has an electronic device for personal communication like mobile phones and some of them always use electronic Internet media. This is obviously super normal behaviour for the 21st Century. But it is no scope to deny that the technology is making people machines, man is losing human nature. Nowadays it is grievously observed that man is severely drifted to artificial trend where sense of love, sense of feelings, sense of manner is completely absent Today almost we have forgoten the name of post card and envelope. The present generation is totally unknown about those communicative media, they have read it in their text only. The technology is whatever developed; it is no exaggeration to say that the post office is the symbol of civilization.The children of the present generation do not know what is leter. They do not know that once up on a time people around the globe enjoyed to write and to receive leters and also they do not know that the leters were that time only the communicative media and people had immaculately to depend upon leters. They only know the leter as a bookish object and this is something episodic to them. They do not know what is love leter, what is sad leter, what is leter of respects and compliments. Whether or not they think of it, they always enjoy their life through electronic communicative media. They have no time to spoil the time in writing leters as they can easily contact their friends in a moment The electronic information media with the spirit of the day drives the postal information communicative media out of market The reason lies with speed, people wants speed in their every event and always tries to avoid sloth communication. The management of postal department has understood the trend and taken accurate measures to reshuffle the postal all arrangement in order to enhance the speed in every sector and introduced so many new products to render standard service. Among those products the crucial one is EMS. The management thinks that EMS is satisfying the customers with its prompt and speedy service. Meanwhile EMS is almost able to fulfill the demand of the customers.Notwithstanding technological development it could not make any alternative route other than post office to sent at least two items in original form like documents and merchandises or goods. To convey these two items EMS is keeping important role all over the world. Almost in every case EMS can carry and reach the goods to the destination in the target time if the route of transmission uninterruptedly smooth. The service in some aspects has got commendable appreciation.Now the globe is revolving on machines and machine like manpower where time is money and security is wealth and service commitment must go with an assurance of speed and security. People nowadays does not look for cheaper facilities, they seek speed and then security, as they want to reach their articles in tact to correct destination within the shortest time. With the view to meet the public motive for ensuring speed and security in mail sector UPU introduces Express Mail Service in 1983 and all the member countries simultaneously start functioning of the product As a result a speediest global postal network is created and almost success to meet demand of the customer.Bangladesh Post Office has gone under agreement with 45 countries for operation of E.M.S. This postal new product is immaculately able to earn public popularity within short time. But the post could no longer hold that popularity due to some unavoidable reasons. The reasons can be easily chalked out but cannot be easily removed, as there lies financial involvement for making appropriate route with modern equipment To make appropriate route there needs IT equipment, Transport, and communicative network. The full-fledged network adorned with modern equipment only can keep the speed of mails in harmony with partner countries and can make the project of EMS successful. Otherwise speed of mails will be somewhere sloth and somewhere fast, i.e. there cannot maintain the speed of mails harmoniously fast as per expected time and mails will not reach the destination in a target time. We know, the underdeveloped countries among the network can never Jnaintain the target speed with the developed countries. Besides hilly, offshore island areas sometimes intervene the speed of mails. In these areas if helicopter is used the problem is easily solved. The UPU, the guardian of the global post, therefore, it can take necessary measures to eradicate the defects disturbing in the network. To keep EMS ever popular to the people both the countries sender and recipient must be sincere with time, speed and security of the article. The agreement between sender and recipient countries to charge dues on imbalance of articles at the rate fixed on mutual negotiation in 1999 and since then the rate is running on.Bangladesh Post Office was running this sector on profit since its introduction in 1983 to 2002. If we go over the collection register we can see country and year wise collection of imbalance charge in SDR is in favor of Bangladesh. Even though this profit was not remarkable but recoupable for actual cost incurred on transmission and delivery of incoming foreign articles. On the other hand the collection of postage charges on outgoing EMS articles are losing concerned, as the charges are not adjustable with the cost incurred i.e. we collect charges less than the cost incurred on transmission of the article. However, the post office could not hold that profiting trend due to mismanagement and then due to shortage of modem technological arrangement Efficient and honest manpower can administer such a management with appropriate arrangement It is very often found that delivery of EMS article is disrupted due to pilferage and tempering along with unnecessary delay that which dissatisfy and disappoint the customers and also undermine the traditional reputation of post office as well. Dishonest peoples only create this embarrassing situation and that causes failure to ensure speed and security of EMS articles. As a result post office has lost the confidence of customers particularly in the field of EMS for which the traffic of EMS mail is declined nonetheless offering the cheapest charge. Taking chance of weakness of public post office the private enterprises have appeared to do business and are successful to atract the customers with their service. Notwithstanding high charges the customers are gathered to their counter to get service, on the other hand despite cheapest charges they do not go to public post office. Hence it is clear that customers want service Le. speed and security of their articles, they do not bother for charges whether cheap or expensive. Bangladesh Post Office has nowadays not avail either service or profit Le. a losing concern and is running as a burden of government as the government has to foster it with subsidy. Consequently the government has to account a big amount of money about 1.5. crore taka as subsidy every year for which the government has economically tired to bear the burden of loss. So reasonably we have choose appropriate way to recoup the loss so that it has no more borne the burden.The postal management is successful to that extend to what it is able to satisfy the customers with standard service. The efficient management knows that it is reasonable to enhance the rate of charges to render a standard service.The private postal sectors are already doing the same. The mail traffic in their business despite the high rate of charges is not declining in the scale of trade but always doing maximum business. So the reasonable high rate ofcharges is no factor but the crucial factor is to ensure the highest speed and security of mail. The private and public postal sectors are doing their respective businesses in the same environment where the former is contesting to face the challenge of free-market trade and the later is lagging behind the tradition in a turtle speed likely through out the globe. If this trend is to continue further, thence it is no exorbitant to say that those days are not far when none will come to the public post even for service in free of costBangladesh post office collects revenues in the shape of postage by which it cannot even recoup the actual cost, incurred to process mail. Hance it is clear that the rate fixed for collection of postal charges is not reasonable to carry on the service. The postage rate on domestic mail may be fixed up to an endurable level analyzing the cost incurred on transport, stationery, manpower, conveyance etc.The postage rate of international mail can be fixed up at the cost comprising air surcharge, land charge of the recipient country, terminal dues and actual cost incurred in processing the mail. The post must bear the burden of loss if policy of collection of charges and monitor of mail circulation are not appropriate. The scenario of EMS mail exchange that we can see bellow in the chart is not hopeful. But it is caution to be alert to rectify and to reconstruct the defects so that the product is run on with profit.

Shah M. Amjad Ali

Is growers’ market workable?

A growers' market is a market where growers themselves are the sellers without involvement of middlemen or professional traders. It is not altogether a new idea. In such a market both the sellers and buyers are supposed to be benefited. It introduces new products, establishes direct relation between producers and consumers and may help bringing down prices to some extent It is a welcome initiative at times of soaring prices of essentials. But its role is limited in bringing down prices.At a time when prices of essential commodities soared up beyond the reach of the low-income groups of people, the government and concerned quarters thought over different options to bring down prices. The growers' market and the BDR shops are some of them. Recently the Joint Forces, the Jessore District Administration, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Pourasabha jointly opened a growers' market at a corner of the town where more than 250 sheds were erected for the use of the sellers without paying rent for them.The idea behind opening this market was that growers would come with their products and they themselves would sell their goods directly to the buyers. In a growers' market the producers themselves are the sellers of their commodities. It is for this reason that prices of essentials remain moderate in such markets provided the supply line of commodities is not disrupted. The producers get beter prices of their produces while the buyers can also buy them at economy rates. This is how the sellers and buyers are benefited in such a market system.Market price of commodities is determined according to the law of demand and supply. Along with the laws, strata of middlemen in between the producers and the end consumers are responsible to a great part for the rise of prices of commodities. In the existing market mechanism manipulated by the middlemen, the margin the peasants gain over the cost of production is quite narrow; whereas the middlemen as a whole can keep a big margin in their transactions. Due to the existence of the middlemen, prices of commodities go up and the buyers have to pay excessively.In addition to the immediate benefits of the sellers and buyers, the most important economic feature of the growers' market is that it helps bringing down prices of agricultural products to some extent and can influence the market proportionately. So the idea of organising such markets is appreciable particularly in a situation where prices of essential commodities go up sharply beyond the reach of the common buyers and when it needs to be brought down.In addition to influencing commodity prices, growers' market, at the same time, plays some other roles as well. It introduces newer products to the markets and thus creates a new demand for the same. It establishes a direct economic relation between the producers and the end consumers. Such a relation is almost impossible in the modern market system manipulated by middlemen.It is for these additional roles that even developed countries organise such markets. The Hay markets in Chicago and Boston in the USA and the Sunday market in London are such markets of the growers. At weekends, certain avenues are closed for traffic and growers' markets organised. One important factor for successful operation of such markets is communication network that facilitates easy access of the sellers and buyers with minimum transport expenditure.But on investigation, it was found that the socalled growers' market at Palbari Moore in Jessore could not actually be the same. Out of near about 300 shops, a very few were found used by the growers. Almost all of the sellers are professional traders who used to conduct businesses in a nearby kitchen market To take advantage of the rent-free use of the sheds, they reportedly shifted their shops to the newly organised market running all day long. But instead of reducing prices that free use of sheds might make possible, they sell almost all of their goods at prices as in other markets of the town.Only beef and muton were found to sell Tk 20 to 30 below the usual prices. The growers are absent from the market and the buyers get no price benefit from it Neither was any impact on price situation of the markets in the town observed. The only benefit the buyers of the locality claimed to be enjoying was that a dawn to dusk kitchen market was set at their doorstep. The market did not prove to be viable and gainful from the point of view of the buyers as well. As such this market did not have any impact on the price situation. If even growers could have come with their commodities, in spite of the immediate benefit of the sellers and buyers, the influence of such markets on the overall price situation would have been limited owing to their insignificant proportion of growers' market The growers market is an interim arrangement at times of price hike. This is not a very effective means to bring down prices. Economists and experts suggest that the most effective way to bring down prices is to strengthen the supply line of commodities through increased production and import to make up the shortfall.The field reality of the growers' market at Jessore is at variance with what was envisaged. The aim of the market could have been achieved if the presence of the growers with their products could be ensured. It seems the concerned authorities did not give much thought to this aspect of the eventuality.

Sarker Nazrul Islam

Be the best transporter!

Frank Martin (Jason Statham) is the best transporter. People can hire him out as a mercenary “transporter” who moves goods. Frank is the best in the business and he has never broken the rules. One of his rules is to transport things in due time and safely, without asking questions. That’s why he is known as the best in the business. Well it’s all about movie stuffs. But you can also be the transporter in real life – be the best in moving among the maze we call Dhaka. All we need is a little thing called “membership system”.

In our country, to move from one city to another city bus service is one of the major transports. What we do is just purchase the tickets and ride on the bus. But when occasions/holidays come, we see the real rush. People even don’t get a single ticket sometimes, not to mention the problem of standing in long cues and not getting tickets. What if we change this process to make the thing easier?

Introducing membership system in transport business. Each member will get an ID number. So that people can book their tickets over the net or through SMS. People even don't have to come to the office and stay in line to book tickets. This idea will help the company to implement the power of technology to satisfy the customers. Another thing that can be done for is to add a “mileage” option. If it can be done 50000 miles up in the air, it can be done in the road and highways as well. Regular travelers can be offered an extra ride without paying for the trip. This offer will motivate the travelers to get this advantage. Thus the company will get more loyal customers.

So why won’t you take this chance and be the very first one to evaluate such services to be the best transporter?

Wild rally at bourses and building-bubble

Shamsul Huq Zahid writes at FE

Speculation has always been a part of trade and investment. To some extent, it forms the basis of business and investment plans made by small traders as well as giant corporate bodies.

But what if speculation turns into a wild-guess devoid of even the slightest logic? The end result could be disastrous for those who are subscribing to such speculation.

Can anyone explain any justifiable reason for the investors' craze over the shares of the debutantee in the market for the last couple of days in the bourses?

The market, actually, was agog with speculative prices of the issue in the banking sector well ahead of its debut trading day. Some said its opening price would be between Tk 500 and Tk. 600. But they were proved wrong. Because of huge buying pressure, it started with a price of about Tk. 700 and soared to Tk. 850 at the close of the debut trading day.

On the second day of its trading on Tuesday, the Trust Bank share prices recorded yet another jump to reach Tk. 914 apiece. It might even go higher in the next few days.

The same thing happened with the stocks of some other banks, power companies and mutual funds in the recent months.

The investors seemingly are no more interested in fundamentals and dividend yields of the companies listed on the bourses. The investors, who go to bourses almost daily, are more interested in right or bonus shares. They have their own calculations on this issue. If a bank or a non-banking financial institution or an insurance company has a low level of paid-up capital, it would have to issue right shares or bonus shares to raise the same in line with the requirements set by the central bank or the regulatory body for insurance companies. So, the investors are banking on the issues having the prospect of offering right or bonus shares.

The entry of substantial amount of funds, both black and white, has made the market a fertile ground for speculative trading. The stock market in Bangladesh traverses in its own orbit. The rise or fall of the greenback or the growth prospect of the global economy or even the positive and negative development in domestic economy does not have any impact on it. It has, in most cases, remained immune from outside developments. This could be because of the virtual absence of foreign portfolio investment in the local market.

For instance, the economy is now in a difficult phase because of soaring inflation, dwindling business confidence and a slowdown in investment situation. The banks that generally run after clients to receive deposits are now in deep trouble with excess liquidity of over Tk 140 billion. The IMF has recognised the troubles facing the economy. Adviser for the Asia Pacific Department of the IMF Thomas Rumbaugh during his recent visit to Bangladesh predicted "slower than normal" economic growth during this fiscal.

But the negative developments in the economy do not have any bearing on the share market. Indices have been rising continuously except for brief pauses. The market capitalisation has already reached the all time high level of Tk 626 billion. Old and new investors have been crowding the offices of brokers at the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges. And the crowd is bulging with every passing day. The cautionary notices circulated by the management of the bourses on their websites are going unheeded by investors.

A bubble, it seems, is in the process of building up. The market regulator, the management of the bourses, stock brokers and investors-all of them-- are enjoying the rally and might feel like dismissing outright such an observation. But it is high time for them to give a dispassionate look at the issue.

At the moment too many investors are chasing too few shares, leading to abnormal hike in prices of the latter. One way of neutralising the situation, to some extent, remains to be the immediate initiative to offer new stocks to the investors.

It will be worthwhile here to mention the government plan to offload shares held by it in a couple of oil marketing companies and offer shares of a number of public sector entities, including the Biman Bangladesh Airlines and the Telegraph and Telephone Board, through their corporatisation to the general investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission and other agencies concerned should also try to woo more private sector companies, including the foreign ones operating in the country, to go public. However, without right kind of incentives, the profit-earning foreign companies might not be willing to expose them to general investors' scrutiny.

Pizza Whut and Kintukisher Fried Chicken

Covent Garden. London. H&M Showroom, 1st floor. Gents T-Shirt section. A Bangladeshi customer (me) browsing through the posh, well-finished garments. Fancied a few vibrant colored T-Shirts, 25£ each, Made in Bangladesh. Made me feel happy and sad and confused at the same time. A Bangladeshi hesitating to buy Bangladesh-made clothes in Britain for a whopping 25£ and wondering, why have we never seen such fine quality garment when we were in Bangladesh? We know why, but we are still allowed to wonder. We export the best quality produce for our foreign customers and flood Doja Market and Bongo Bazar with the lesser quality (defected) clothes, after all, if the buyers are happy with what they are getting at such a cheap price, what's the problem in selling 'cheap' stuff? That's the way things are here and that's the way we eat pizza at Pizza Hut and eat FC at KFC.

Bangladesh is land of FCs, (A-Z)FCs are almost everywhere...California Fried Chicken, Miami Fried Chicken, American Fried Chicken..name any place..we have it here in Bangladesh. Nothing much to do about the branding anomaly, KFC was brought as KFC itself, following the 'good response' from next door Pizza Hut. However the privileged ones amongst us will be able to either confirm or contradict the fact that there is a huge difference in taste in what we eat at Pizza Hut/KFC in Dhaka and what we ate/eat at say Bangkok, London, Delhi or elsewhere. Those possessing subtle tastebuds would comprehend how much we eat true pizza and fried chicken at KFC/Pizza Hut and how much of brand name and 'experience' we eat there. I remember sipping 90 taka glass of coke at erstwhile Wimpy, the glass filled half with ice-cubes and rest cola. Nevertheless, the 'experience' that I was sitting at Wimpy and having a good time during my dog years was too good to let go. So I didn't want to let go and keep coming, as I was starved to eat in a 'brand' food outlet, as they show in movies and 'as they do in the West'. So Wimpy and the likes came to feed me cheap junky food which I pay for to eat. Thank you Wimpy, thank you PH and thank you KFC.

If I were Transcom Foods & Beverages, I would have been a happy lot. I know that with so much little variety in the KFC menu, I am driving wanna-be happening citizens just to come and be allured by the smile of the spectacled smiling white man. Good that Rokonuddoula need not pry on our kitchens, because we are 'Transcom'...and hold it..'we are KFC and Pizza Hut', people in Bangladesh yearn to eat here, so keep off and keep your quality check with yourself. If the hungry Dhaka crowd are willing to pay for eating what I make, what is your problem? If we are able to give the 'brand savvy', status-concerned Dhakabashis a glimpse of 'bideshi' fast food, what is wrong in that? Well, we really don't know and don't care what is right and what is wrong. Who knows Ronald McDonald might be next in the pipeline and we should save money to eat the 2nd hand burgers and fries there.