And thou shall not lie under the influence of alcohol

Not a blog post about the merits of alcohol. I don't drink much, partly because its not readily available in Dhaka, secondly even if it is, I cannot or don't feel like affording it. The thought of getting on a high with such an exorbitant cost never lets me get on a high in the first place. However, all free things in this city come with much excitement and curiousity from ordinary people like me, alcohol is also no exception. Atleast it proved again that its lets you let loose, it brings down your inhibition, either you are at your 'devilest' best, or at your 'pervertest' best, or at your funniest best. Whatever state of mind you experience fuelled by alcohol, the journalist friend of mine spoke his heart out and expressed his true self that evening when we met for the alumni dinner at the posh Gulshan hotel.

For quite some time, I had been chasing this acquaintance of mine, who happens to be a well-connected journalist, to give us some coverage. Us means, this blog...I had been trying to convince him during our previous encounters about the uniqueness of this blog, how it established an alternative platform for consumer-led business journalism, how it gives us a voice to speak about Bangladeshi companies, why and how the google ranking of the blog is high, what are its objectives and future plans blah blah blahs. He always seemed very scatter-brained whenever I used to engross myself passionately about how he or his team could come up with a tiny feature on this blog. I also tried to convince him by assuming that the media is always on the look out for new content to publish, something that might draw the readers attention and interest, so why not give this blog a try? However, all my advocacy and promotion for a little bit of mention finally landed on deaf ears as he ended up with airy assurances and 'bepar ta dektesi' type gestures. I didn't lose heart, somebody gave me a tip once that one should chase journos as they chase you otherwise. However my chase kind of met a premature stop during that alcohol-powered gala dinner evening, when I was hopping from this circle to that circle, with a 'forbidden drink' wrapped with Bashundhara tissue in hand. I could spot my journo friend who seemed to have given in to temptation too early too soon. one peg, two pegs, three pegs and bingo....he was nearly flying...from this crowd to that, from this conversation to that, from this mix to that. I thought a happy moment for him such as this, could be the right occasion to play my persistent record..the 'ek dofa dabi'...I approached him and after a casual introductory chit chat, I again repeated my plea. He slowed down, looked at me with his sparkling eyes and in a lower tone asked me, "Ok ok, I will look into it, how much will you pay?". I experienced some momentarily lapse of quick reflex, as I never took any bribe myself in life, and never tried to bribe anyone, did think of doing it a few times though, it never realized. I recomposed myself and responded like a pro, "Arey that is what I have been waiting to hear from you Bhai!, so YOU tell me what suits you well!". He gave a professional sip at the Smirnoff and told me, "10,000", he will make sure its in the press. This time round, I gave him a 'bepar ta dektesi' gesture and proposed him yet another drink. He extended his ear to ear grin and nodded.

I was wondering what stopped him all this while to just say it in the first place that 'its all about money honey', 'paise fek, tamasha dekh'. Perhaps I was bekub enough not to have received his crafted hints during non-alcoholic times, perhaps I was too naive to realize that this is the way things are done in media here, or everywhere in the world. But good that I realized and learnt, thanks to the 'pagla pani', my journo friend could not hold back his true intentions any further, it came out laughing and rolling through his drowsy eyes and clumsy gestures. He laughed like the happiest person on earth and told me like a sage with utmost composure shortly afterwards that you pay me, you are in tomorrow's dailies, arrange a few foreign trips, you will be regularly in dailies and on air, arrange some free 'refreshments', I will make sure your entrepreneurial efforts, or whatever kind of thing you are into is brought into limelight. I smiled back and nodded, and pretended to be drawn to other acquaintances...slowly getting out of his sight, hoping and believing sincerely that he must have been an exception, taken over by alcohol...and failing the lie test. Hope there are not those who can outplay the intoxicant and keep playing the games they play with the most pwoerful tool of our times--the media.

"Citi Never Sleeps"

"Citi never sleeps" Famous last words?

I had to write this because it is of great concern to the banking world. The bank I work for in New York was under discussions to be acquired by Citibank at some point. How Citigroup evolves or attacks the mess they are in is going to have great consequences. How the Feds respond to Citibank is of greater importance.

Citibank as you may know is on the brink of collapse after 4 years of having the philosophy that they are "too big to fail". Robert Rubin, a man of significant importance to the strategy Citigroup had taken for its demise, is also an advisor on the Obama team. Right now the Feds are negotiating terms of stabilizing the stock price after outcries from investors that CEO Pandit is not doing enough. Pandit contends that all the 'numbers' are right and there is nothing to fear, but those numbers had been right for the last 4 years as well. In short, no one believes him or shareholder Prince Talal who has publicly stated that Citigroup is 'drastically' undervalued. So undervalued that the Prince Talal increased his stake to 5% but not beyond.

Citigroup just decided to lay off 52,000 employees worldwide. Most of the cuts were from New York and London. And I am sure that my job would be at great risk if my employer was timely acquired. But amongst the Asian layoffs 300 are from Singapore and 1000 are from India. If such drastic cuts are being made regionally and the organization has planned to cut 20% of its costs, I have doubts about the existence of Citigroup Bangladesh.

Citibank Bangladesh might be cut out at a time when HSBC and Standard Chartered are aggressively expanding into this market termed by Goldman Sachs JP Morgan as one of the 'Frontier Five' (countries with high long term projected growth). It is a country which Citibank Bangladesh CEO, Mamun Rashid, termed as the "last frontier of banking". Ironically he may not be a part of this frontier for very long. Mamun Rashid's comments has made HSBC and Standard Chartered more aggressive. But while Citi burns have local banks rallied strongly in the stock market. Being in a frontier has helped everyone but Citi.

It has come to my attention that Citibank Bangladesh has hosted a "micro-credit" award ceremony amongst a media frenzy. Yunus wasn't there because Citibank didn't want to deal with a 'higher than thou' attitude. From sources at that event, Citibank NA staff were visibly depressed at a hyped media event. But what does a bank that is associated with all the Fortune 500 companies have in common with micro-credit? Nothing. This summarizes Citigroup for the last four years of existence. Nothing made cohesive sense. Bigger risks doesn't always mean bigger profits. How else does a $300 billion juggernaut become a $20 billion bargain bin company?

Lets not bite the dust

Of the many things we have been trying to promote through this blog's platform, business journalism and contemporary business literature on Bangladeshi companies are one of them. We have blogged about the nascent business journalism industry in Bangladesh, hoping to see more vibrant activities and popularity of those initiatives. Bangladesh Brand Forum is perhaps one of them about which we have been very positive and hopeful. The magazine seemed to have taken off with much fanfare, media coverage and gaudy display of think-tanks and movers and shakers during various summits and conferences. The content of the magazine, the approach, the objectives, all seem to have been heading for the right direction until this September perhaps, when my repeated visits to the neighborhood newsstand started turning out to be unworthy, as the magazine has disappeared from those newsstands and according to my hawker, from the market too. He claimed that the magazine did not hit the stands since September. Now this is not good news and I sincerely hope this is temporary. I wonder what is holding back the magazine which seemed so full of potential, it had great names and perhaps great minds in its board, great contacts, great adverts and above all, great content. We are convinced that entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs are bound to be hit by dust and rust, that is a natural phenomenon, but biting the dust in an entrepreneurial venture never tastes sweet. We hope Bangladesh Brand Forum does not have to bite the bitter dust and continues emboldening the brand Bangladesh.

Grameenphone's First Success in a long time

BTRC fines you
your customers desert you,
RAB robs you,
commercial banks blacklist you,
a chor now means you

Yunus jhamtis you,
CEO quits on you,
VOiP confesses on you,
Newspapers start pointing at you,
your print ads clearly aren't helping you,

$300 million ignores you,
$200 million is oblivious to you,
$150 million overlooks you,
private placement laughs at you,

SEC axes you,
IPO fails you,
Citibank doesn't know what's wrong with you,
Citi is sleeping because of you,

Mamun Rashid's worst failure is you,
SIM tax only calls you,
high rates only apply to you,
world recession ONLY hits you,
... isn't it time you stop being you?

Yet another Grameenphone article, but you knew this from my poetry skills. But now things are very puzzling. The Tk 425 crore bond issue went through without any drama. I was certainly expecting some. First there are 10 investors. One, AK Khan, who sold his stake at AKtel phone to the Japanese NTT DoMoCo decided to invest a part of his USD $400 million bonanza into a competitor he learned to hate but, as it is evident now, also secretly admires. AK Khan is said to have invested Tk 150 crore into Grameenphone. He told Financial Express that it was because banks couldn't offer the 14% interest the GP bond was offering. AK Khan is the only man in Bangladesh with such a liquid and fortuitous position.

Let me remind you that GP couldn't raise $300 million and AK Khan managed to raise more without the help of Mamun Rashid's Citibank. AK Khan will be the man to keep track of this year. I think in our upcoming award show, he would be the Man of the Year. Now back to Grameenphone. The bond issue does have some interesting aspects. Let's start with the positive ones first.

• Inflation is going to rise further. 14% lock in means Grameenphone is thinking early and setting a debt cap on some of its loans
• Market is already in a cash (more like hysteria) crunch. A 14% bond now may be a smart move now if the situation becomes worse
• Banks are becoming increasingly suspicious of the market and GP. Citibank NA sinking means even a local bank thinks twice before investing. Most are overly cautious these days about their investments. Even in New York, LC's and international trades are looked into very deeply in case the corresponding bank collapses. GP may have managed to avoid this paranoia.
  

And now the negatives

• A company of GP's size and status should be able to lock in a loan at 12% instead of a 14% bond. There is no need to issue bonds. It only makes the IPO more risky.
  
• A bond issue is highly suspicious. The Daily Star pointed out in 'quotes' that this bond is 'unsecured and unconvertible'. Meaning like bonds of many large and well-known companies they become junk because the companies won't honor the payments. A bank has some guarantee of a GP asset when it issues it a loan, but in this case AK Khan and banks can claim nothing.
• Fixed Deposit Rates may as well reach 14% with the inflation. Why do they need GP for anyway?
• GP has a new CEO, and like Anders Jensen, may claim he too had no knowledge about a bond being issued or where the excess cash came from. Thereby they are excused of the liabilities and will have an internal inquiry as to who is responsible for these nefarious activities.
  

At this point, I am not sure which way it is leaning. But then again I would like to give GP the benefit of the doubt. But from what has happened last year its better to sit on the fence.

As a side note, what was predicted here, is now getting national coverage. Commodity trade isn't what it used to be

Lost jobs, lost in words, lost in pain

In a country like ours where (1) getting a job is like getting the moon, (2) getting a good job is like getting the sun, the moon and (3) getting a well paid good job is like getting the universe in hand....the topic of losing a job, or being fired can be the least welcome, unwanted and untimely. Nevertheless, the global financial crisis have already started appearing as a Tsunami and lashing at people's livelihoods in the west, hundreds and thousands are being shown the exit with a pink slip in hand under the banner of very interesting terms and jargons used by their ex-employers. 'Streamlining', 'right-sizing', 'special force philosophy', 'business re-engineering', 'cost improvement plans' etc. are only to name a few terms used to disguise the unpleasant act of job termination.

I am not sure how the trend is out here, has there been any social research on this area of Bangladesh? Perhaps its too early, as usually since jobs are scarce here, we don't usually switch jobs as they are found after much struggle...so we prefer to become 'joke' employees, this 'joke' is not that 'joke', this is the Bangla 'joke', once glued, always glued. Also, those who are fortunate enough to be able to dictate terms with employers and do job-hopping from one company to another don't have to bother about the pangs and pains of being fired, of hearing the L-word (layoff) from the devil boss. Baki thaklo those unfortunate ones who are put under the axe wrapped around nice shiny jargons to spell sweet to the ears of the media. How does it happen? in Bangla...how do you say that you are being fired? apnake agun deya holo? apnake jaliya deya holo? What about 'right-sizing'? apnake shothik bhabe size kora holo? I wonder. Or may be all these are done in writing in English, sometimes English has an interesting quality to express harsh terms very vaguely.

Whatever the terms are, I hope we don't fall on the receiving end, God help us prosper fast so that we sit on the other side of the table and start hiring and firing 'others' at our and ofcourse Your will, under the umbrella of interesting and creative Bangla, English, Banglish words. apnake rasta dekhano holo, apnake dourer upor rakha holo, apnake baate falano holo. apnake dhora khawano holo etc.

Image courtesy:

http://www.mediabistro.com/agencyspy/original/layoffs.jpg

http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0206/features/images/feature_consult1.jpg

Empowering the Consumer

Consumer protection law has been promulgated recently. While this is a welcome step I would say promulgation of a law without a well thought out process will continue to be a reactive piece of legislation and will fall far short of the objectives that a consumer would want to see it achieve.

Laws in our part of the world, even if not deficient in their own intent and wording, are at the mercy of a process which winds through red tape, palm greasing and a stately reluctance on the part of those who should be enforcing them. And above all, unless there is a suo moto culture in the judiciary, laws themselves never help by just sitting there. An active and justice-seeking society is equally important to make triumph of justice a reality. While this new law is one good step in the right direction it should be taken as just a beginning of a journey and now more rests on pressure groups and active members of the society to make an otherwise reactive process into a proactive one.

It is necessary that dedicated NGOs having a full time objective of protecting consumers’ rights play an active role. If that is not possible because funding such organizations may be a matter of low priority for donors whose focus is more on primary social issues of the rural, Universities should encourage their students to form societies for consumer protection and they network across the country’s universities to establish a uniform voice on behalf of the society. These individual bodies can form a federation to promote a single voice and the funding can be done by the students’ bodies through a number of means starting from a humble beginning and ending up at an indirect taxation on the consumer, eventually through an act of parliament.

The importance of such a move should be seen in the scope of consumer protection which actually transcends anti-adulteration, anti-hoarding and unjustified price hikes by producers. Ultimately it is the quality of the product or service that should come under constant scrutiny of these bodies (read society). Activities like sample tests of products picked from shelves, consumer polls, chemical lab analyses etc. will be the real service to the society in the realm of consumer protection. Finally through a culture of widespread information sharing a consumer must be made aware all the time which brand of goods is giving a fair value for money.

Empowering the consumer is the only check that can protect the society. A decision of the consumer to boycott a product is far bigger and staggering a punch then a case in the court of law. Society needs to move into that direction. Youth, are you reading?

By Anis Motiwala

Anis Motiwala-Management Consultant

Image courtesy : http://www.wfdsa.org/cepi/ConsumerModule/main.jpg

Introducing Career Coach Quazi

Introducing the Career Coach Quazi who will be featured in this blog every Sunday with answers to your career related questions and queries. 

Email to careercoachquazi@futureleaders-bd.com to ask the coach questions related to your career planning, CV writing, interview techniques, overall grooming and relevent issues.

Career Coach Quazi can assist you in…

1. Identifying your key strengths

2. Discovering your core values

3. Exploring careers that 'fit' your strengths, life purpose, identity and personality type

4. Targeted & traditional job search strategy

5. Forwarding your career branding and communication

6. Effective networking tips

7. Expertise on CV writing

8. Successful interviewing preparation

9. Jumpstarting a new position

10. Work place problems and counselling

Educated and trained in Bangladesh, USA, Japan and Norway, Quazi takes pride in his excellent track record in career counseling, coaching, and training for the past 13 years. Since 1994, he has been presenting career related events all across Bangladesh and in 2004 was awarded with the honor of being an Ashoka Affiliate for his youth development activities. His interest in career coaching began back in 1991 when he did a course on “Career Decision Making Skills” at the Stern school of Business, New York University, USA. Quazi is a regular guest speaker in career talk shows on Bangla Vision, RTV, ATN and on other channels. He is currently the CEO of FutureLeaders--a training and consulting firm seving clients in the private, public and social sectors.

The coach is just an email away to help you shape your career and make the most out of it.  So what are you waiting for?

Enough with Dhaka, move to Chittagong

We ask questions, we seek answers, we remain curious, as we loiter around the streets of Dhaka. Its true that not all answers are found readily, some questions are meant never to be answered perhaps, you are expected to understand which are those questions. For example, one of the questions that keeps me haunting is trying to find out the rationale why the head office of the Coast Guards of Bangladesh is situtated next to my apartment in a residential area? I also try to find out how far is the coast line of Bangladesh from my apartment, my neighborhood and why the head quarters of the saviours of Bangladeshi coastline is choking my small alley? Similarly, everytime I ply through the airport road and the deadly warship and the torpedo intrigue me wondering why even the headquarters of Navy is situated in Banani and not in Chittagong? Well, let me very carefully shy away from blogging about men in uniform and their headquarters, that is not the point, the poing I am trying to drive home is...the reason why on earth and on Bangladesh...Chittagong has been kept at the back seat for so long?

Not only the government offices, I wonder how many of Bangladeshi corporates have their head offices in Chittagong. I am not talking about mere branch offices, I am talking about full fledged, fully functional and possibly flashy headquarter mansions in Chittagong, which merits to be the 'Business Capital' of this country. However, before pointing fingers at others, let me first reflect on my own reasons, why I don't live in Chittagong in the first place, if I love it so much and am advocating it to be officially called the Business Cap of Bangladesh.

1. I live in Dhaka because of historical reasons, since my father owns a house in Dhaka which he got from the government, I grew up there too and thus stay in Dhaka.

2. I am not rich enough yet to buy an apartment in Chittagong and live there

3. The company I work in does not have any function or any activity whatsoever in Chittagong, so I am assigned in Dhaka only

4. I never had any amourous relationship with any woman from chittagong, which never made me think of settling in the port city, or even asking 'would be father-in-laws' for an apartment by the sea side as dowry.

Now I wonder, in a layman's knowedge level, why should Chittagong be the business capital of Bangladesh.

1. It has a port

2. It is close to one of best tourist locations of Bangladesh i.e. Coxs Bazar and the Hill Tracts

3. It has an airport

4. There is still room (literally too) for some modern urban planning to make the city livable, unlike Dhaka which has become unlivable, unmovable, undoable.

5. Many industries are already located in or around Chittagong

6. Chittagong region has a history of great businesspersons and business ventures

So what can be done to encourage more businesses to set up their activities in Chittagong?

1. Offer some sort of tax incentives, lower loan rate for those willing to have their businesses in Chittagong

2. If 'Brand Bangladesh' is targeted more towards external audience i.e. foreign investors, 'Brand Chittagong' campaign should be targeted towards internal audience, and the lead needs to come from those who hail from the great port city

3. Chambers of Industries can take up a role to insist on having headquarters of their member businesses in Chittagong

4. Employees can be offered cash incentives, holiday incentives for accepting to stay in Chittagong on a rotational basis or even permanently. This influx of work force in Chittagong would eventually make way for better services in that region, also creating more demand in domestic/regional tourism surrounding the city.

Well, count these as some really rudimentary thoughts of a curious passer-by like me, who asks questions, sometimes uncomfortable ones for some, but seeks answers...that is for you to give. That is as Karachi is for Pakistan, Mumbai for India, where the political and commercial capitals are kept separate, its high time that we make the Gateway to Bangladesh...that is Chittagong...the Business Capital of Bangladesh. Time to move Motijheel and Gulshan office-para to Halishahar and Agrabad. Perhaps its easier to build from scratch an intelligent 'Vision City' in Chittagong like Putra Jaya in Malaysia than thinking of how to clear the mess and chaos in Dhaka. And the Bangladeshi businesses hold the key to this change in mindset.

Ship Breakers Ask for a Bailout

How international-trendy do we try to be? A lot. How stupid are we? Again quite a lot apparently. Ship breakers have asked the penniless Bangladesh government to 'intervene' in a bubble. This is a tactic taken out of the international rule book of asking for bailouts. In addition, they have sent a written request to Bangladesh Bank for an interest freeze on all their loans and even more fresh subsidized loans. I am trying to imagine the Governor of Bangladesh Bank in his WTF Kodak moment when he reads the request. And believe me he has had more than his share of WTF moments that I fear for his health.

As you may recall, earlier this year, we experienced the sky high prices of many construction materials including steel rods and concrete. This basically put off construction to a standstill and many contractors put off projects in hopes of better times. What did ship breakers do during the era of inflated prices? They went around aggressively buying more ships than they could accommodate. Refused to break down existing inventory in hopes of even more exaggerated prices. If Bangladesh doesn't buy overpriced rods, surely China and US will.

Do you remember oil traders who bought oil at $100 waited for it to reach $140, then $200 but all of a sudden its now worth $64. Do you have any remorse for these people who have caused so much havoc in the last year? Are they asking for a government intervention? Where was this government intervention when prices of rods/oil reached unimaginable prices? What makes speculation worth saving?

Even though local ship breakers have let their imagination run wild, their situation is extremely realistic and critical. Now construction materials are more affordable. This doesn't suit the ship breakers on the speculative and opportunistic empire that they built while dismantling the rational and conservative nature it once had. According to Financial Express, the industry raked up loans near Tk 5500 crore (close to $1 billion) to establish their companies and buy the now-useless junk at the price of gold. But many other newspapers pin the figure at around Tk. 15,000 crore (close to $3 billion) in loans and close to 10,000 crore in danger of going bad. And most of this, was debt financed involving a few select handful of local banks.

Which banks are these? As a reassurance not all banks are involved in this. The ones involved are those that you don't hear about, recognize, see, or even realize that they were banks until they report amazing profits in the neighborhood of Tk 200 crore to Tk 300 crore. And people always wondered how do these banks make money? The answer will now be publicized better. They finance these importers and ship breakers. Because of this opportunistic and speculative sector, these particular banks are going to have one hell of a write-off next year. This is after having yet another year of mind blowing paranormal profits in 2008. But the banks are certain to make it through with flying colors (they haven't asked for any assistance), but the steel breaking industry is in for a rapid change in status quo.

Update: Some of the articles that are published on this site are purposely delayed to give some 'face time' to other articles and to evenly spread them out evenly. This is fine because this is more of an analysis site rather than a news site. But time to time the analysis may come too late or be mistimed. Even though this article pointed some issues out on October 30 (and published November 3/4). The Daily Star is now reporting the same insights on November 5th. Although it is not plagiarism, it is wishful thinking that we may have some big-box media readers.

And thou shall not lie under the state of alcohol

Not a blog post about the merits of alcohol. I don't drink much, partly because its not readily available in Dhaka, secondly even if it is, I cannot or don't feel like affording it. The thought of getting on a high with such an exorbitant cost never lets me get on a high in the first place. However, all free things in this city come with much excitement and curiousity from ordinary people like me, alcohol is also no exception. Atleast it proved again that its lets you let loose, it brings down your inhibition, either you are at your 'devilest' best, or at your 'pervertest' best, or at your funniest best. Whatever state of mind you experience fuelled by alcohol, the journalist friend of mine spoke his heart out and expressed his true self that evening when we met for the alumni dinner at the posh Gulshan hotel. For quite some time, I had been chasing this acquaintance of mine, who happens to be a well-connected journalist, to give us some coverage. Us means, this blog...I had been trying to convince him during our previous encounters about the uniqueness of this blog, how it established an alternative platform for consumer-led business journalism, how it gives us a voice to speak about Bangladeshi companies, why and how the google ranking of the blog is high, what are its objectives and future plans blah blah blahs. He always seemed very scatter-brained whenever I used to engross myself passionately about how he or his team could come up with a tiny feature on this blog. I also tried to convince him by assuming that the media is always on the look out for new content to publish, something that might draw the readers attention and interest, so why not give this blog a try? However, all my advocacy and promotion for a little bit of mention finally landed on deaf ears as he ended up with airy assurances and 'bepar ta dektesi' type gestures. I didn't lose heart, somebody gave me a tip once that one should chase journos as they chase you otherwise.

However my chase kind of met a premature stop during that alcohol-powered gala dinner evening, when I was hopping from this circle to that circle, with a 'forbidden drink' wrapped with Bashundhara tissue in hand. I could spot my journo friend who seemed to have given in to temptation too early too soon. one peg, two pegs, three pegs and bingo....he was nearly flying...from this crowd to that, from this conversation to that, from this mix to that. I thought a happy moment for him such as this, could be the right occasion to play my persistent record..the 'ek dofa dabi'...I approached him and after a casual introductory chit chat, I again repeated my plea. He slowed down, looked at me with his sparkling eyes and in a lower tone asked me, "Ok ok, I will look into it, how much will you pay?". I experienced some momentarily lapse of quick reflex, as I never took any bribe myself in life, and never tried to bribe anyone, did think of doing it a few times though, it never realized. I recomposed myself and responded like a pro, "Arey that is what I have been waiting to hear from you Bhai!, so YOU tell me what suits you well!". He gave a professional sip at the Smirnoff and told me, "10,000", he will make sure its in the press. This time round, I gave him a 'bepar ta dektesi' gesture and proposed him yet another drink. He extended his ear to ear grin and nodded.

I was wondering what stopped him all this while to just say it in the first place that 'its all about money honey', 'paise fek, tamasha dekh'. Perhaps I was bekub enough not to have received his crafted hints during non-alcoholic times, perhaps I was too naive to realize that this is the way things are done in media here, or everywhere in the world. But good that I realized and learnt, thanks to the 'pagla pani', my journo friend could not hold back his true intentions any further, it came out laughing and rolling through his drowsy eyes and clumsy gestures. He laughed like the happiest person on earth and told me like a sage with utmost composure shortly afterwards that you pay me, you are in tomorrow's dailies, arrange a few foreign trips, you will be regularly in dailies and on air, arrange some free 'refreshments', I will make sure your entrepreneurial efforts, or whatever kind of thing you are into is brought into limelight. I smiled back and nodded, and pretended to be drawn to other acquaintances...slowly getting out of his sight, hoping and believing sincerely that he must have been an exception, taken over by alcohol...and failing the lie test. Hope there are not those who can outplay the intoxicant and keep playing the games they play with the most pwoerful tool of our times--the media.

Image courtesy:

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/EPH/9077~I-Get-Totally-Drunk-Posters.jpg

When Things Couldn't Get Any Worse

Couple months back, I wrote an article regarding Grameenphone's proposed $300 million IPO. I had concluded that instead of investments in Bangladesh, this money would leave first-class to Norway. GP and others have covered every nook of Bangladesh and they aren't interested in upgrading to 3G anytime soon when barely no one uses the internet, or talks with a smart phone or really knows how to operate a smart phone. (This is meant in a broader sense so don't be insulted if you fall in this category -which you probably do)

I shouldn't gloat. But just recently Telenor bought 60% of Unicom Wireless for a staggering $1.07 billion. This is more astonishing considering Unicom only paid $337 million for the India-wide mobile license earlier this year. Initial estimates are that they have to spend an additional $3 billion in the next three years to compete in a market that already has Virgin, Vodafone, Reliance, Tata and Airtel. Telenor investors didn't really digest this news really well, and the stock tanked 26%.

So Telenor needs $1.07 billion fast. I wrote couple months back that $300 million of the Bangladeshi IPO would be used for not-in-Bangladesh ventures. Since that was delayed to March 2009, a new Bangladeshi bond project worth $60 million in in the works. Newspapers did not connect the dots, but its safe to assume that the $60 million will be used to finance the Indian venture and not any Bangladeshi projects. Furthermore this $60 million bond is to be offered to private institutional investors. The same investors that Grameenphone decided to eliminate and provoke with GP's weird mobile-phone banking proposal. But then again Bangladeshis are highly skeptical of anything that involves India. Now its a double whammy -India and Grameenphone.

But $60 million from Bangladesh isn't going to cut it even if it is successful. Telenor is planning yet another IPO (or share sale to be specific) only this time in Norway. And only this time they 'plan' to raise $1.78 billion from the Norwegian market in the midst of their stock taking a dive and the entire world also taking a dive. It wouldn't surprise me if Telenor decided to hold multiple IPOs worldwide and slash the targets as time passes.

And this is the worst it could get right? Wrong.

Just recently, Russia decided to freeze (not literally as Telenor first assumed) all of Telenor's shares in Vimpelcom (the second largest mobile phone company there). Why? Because only this time instead of Yunus, Telenor has Mikhail Fridman as a partner. To make matters difficult Fridman is not aware what a Nobel Prize is or that he has been nominated for one multiple times. This is one Russian gangster who is too rich to pay off and doesn't make empty threats on Norwegian TV. Instead he works his magic and the next day Telenor has its shares frozen. And this is only his first baby step.

And this time, it is Telenor whining and making empty threats to Fridman.

Creative advertising in full swing

Undoubtedly the advertising industry in the country is booming, with so many classic advertisements and promos through various media. As always, however, we focus always on the rich and wealthy companies and tend to overlook the lower end of the spectrum. This part of the business value chain, with their mostly inherited sense of doing business, are doing their best to spread the word around about their businesses, themselves, their services and other rules and regulations concerning their activities. As the images indicate, perhaps there is much room for some improvement and hand-holding for these small businesses who are trying hard to market themselves.

There is a Problem When the DSE Looks Like This:

Notice something awkward? That is list of the largest companies listed on the DSE. However banks now dominate 11 of the top 20 spots. This is more alarming than reassuring.

Reassurance
The good news first. Banks are a low risk and secure investments in most countries. This is characterized by their low beta factors. The beta factor, which usually ranges from 0.5 to 3, for a stock measures its volatility to the entire market conditions. New and fast growing industries, such as software, have a beta factor of around 2, meaning if the market goes up the stock shoots up 2 times. If the market does poorly, the stock does tend to do two times worse. Old and stable industries, such as banks, have a beta factor of around 1. This makes banks worldwide one of the safest investments.

The DSE fared better in the worldwide recession because all banks had localized investments. The DSE itself is still dominated by these banks. There was no reason to panic other than to a yearning to pose like a now-trendy distressed investor. Granted these effects will likely hit the garments in six months time, but regardless of this the DSE banks won't lose 80% of their market value. That's simply because they haven't invested 80% of their money in the wrong industries. So with more reassurance and relief, people are still shielded.

Lack of Inventories
Now that most investors believe in banks is a good sign of stability and investment security. Banks dominating the stock exchanges also has to do with the nature of their business. For starters there is very little scope for accounting wizardry. Accounting wizardry's main playing field is usually in inventories. The closest thing that banks have to an inventory is 'cash'. And as you know cash is extremely easy to valuate. To realize the full potential of accounting wizardry we have to look into the diamond industry. Diamond is not a commodity and its price depends on very particular characteristics which include the shine, cut and purity. The diamond company can overstate assets and inventories as they please. And most industries extend this shining example in every way possible. But because banks lack this cloudy assets, it is nearly impossible for this magic to take place.

Assets
The second reassurance is that most banks have not reevaluated their assets. This means that the land that they paid Tk 10 lakh for in 1988, is still considered to be worth the same to the bank despite the astronomical increase in land prices. This may give an undervalued and inaccurate picture but it is better than the alternative. When a company tries to reevaluate its assets, it is considered highly controversial. Since no one has a certain valuation, the company in most cases overstate their assets justifying things like competitive-edge and potential for future earnings. This in turn ends up being more harmful and inaccurate rather than undervalued assets. But thankfully (not yet) banks haven't taken this step.

Anybody but Alamgir
The third reason that banks are dominating the DSE is that they use big-box accounting houses for their auditing instead of hiring Alamgir across the road. This is more reassuring because even though Alamgir will find it hard to apply his magic, big accounting firms will clearly look for any possible danger signals. This goes to show that despite the short term idiotic moves here and there by DSE investors, in reality they have a brain. One that works in the long term but clearly it doesn't function on many day to day issues.

The Alarm
But the domination of banks goes to show that the SEC has failed miserably. The telecoms haven't listed yet. Banglalink is not willing to list. AKtel keeps setting a year end date. And GP might list with a $1 at the rate they are slashing their IPO. This in the middle of when the entire industry now has less phone lines than earlier (how is that even possible?). While the telecom industry remains stodgy in their dry spell, the SEC continues to pursue other future Z category stocks instead of other multi-nationals like Unilever.

It was mentioned in one blog that GQ Ball Pen earned all their money in the first 6 months and had losses for the last 6, leaving very little as stock dividends. Yet the SEC continues to pursue future Z category stocks of this caliber and force them to list. The problem is not for them to list, but the fact that these list of Z-ers ask Alamgir to do their accounting holding a fat wad of cash if the magic is applied correctly. The SEC, from day 1, should simply have a list of acceptable accountants that the listed companies must use. If the accounting firm's company does poorly despite auditing then the firm should be removed from the list. What is the point of forcing to list these companies if they won't register a trade in the next century?

Recently in support of future Z-ers, BGMEA during another round table meeting asked entrepreneurs (Zers) to pursue the capital market as a source of funds. This was in reaction to banks already tightening up their belts. But the cost of asking the market to fund your company will appeal to many for the wrong reasons. Like many who have performed this extravaganza in the past, the money disappears right then. DSE still lingers of the stench caused by this bait in its nascent years.

And no one, for the right reasons, will not take funding from the market because as everyone knows, the cost of this money is extremely high when compared to a bank loan. Even in the rare case if an established entrepreneur does raise money through the capital markets he/she is more inclined to pay back the bank and himself first before paying a dividend. The entrepreneur will not care about dividends because he has got himself covered with a fat salary. So as both a top level manager and a shareholder of the company he has no intention to control the salaries paid out. To see why this is very crucial, in banks management and shareholders are in two groups. By keeping an eye on management salaries the shareholders are increasing their dividends. There is no conflict of interest for the shareholder representatives.

What we don't need is SEC to pursue a bigger version of this same capital market lie. Thankfully, as of now, this lie isn't working as evident how banks dominate the top positions. But creating a balanced market place is also necessary and crucial for the future of DSE. The SEC needs to clean up DSE's Z as well as set up accounting standards that prevent the Zs. But as usual, nothing has happened yet.

NewsCred offering credible news to the world

Do you belong to one of those people who jumped in joy hearing the news that Sushmita Sen was crowned the Miss Universe award in 1994? Do you remember the time when our newspapers were flooded with her images and our sentiments of Bengali heritage and the pride... that after all...Sushmita is a Bengali (even before she is an Indian...however a topic open to debate...and not in this blog). Similarly when Amartya Sen won the Nobel, we were also elated thinking that finally a Bengali has done it again...after ofcourse King Tagore. You know what, the starting question of this post actually applies to me, I was a school-goer when Sushmita reached the pinnacle of success and I spent days of awe and pride assuming that what an unbelievable combination a Bengali girl can have...brain, body, personality, appearance..all in one package...and she is after all...a Bengali...like me...wow. So I personally always looked for occasions in the global platform where I could be a part of the merry-making and shine of glory of fellow Bengalis and Bangladeshis or both. Even though Sushmita is first of all an Indian and then a Bengali, I tried to utilize that faint link of 'our being Bengali' and be happy.

Similar joy and pride hit me when the news about NewsCred reached my ears. A Bangladeshi newspaper claimed that its one of the happening and popular internet-startup set up by...guess...? two Bangladeshis! I was elated and and felt proud that Bangladeshi entrepreneurs have started emerging as the new 'Larry' and 'Eric' and 'Mark Zuck' in today's business world. I was not late in checking out their website here to find out how our Desi Bhais have done something so extraordinary and how we can learn from it. Well, I will certainly shy away from giving a review on their business and website, you can do it yourself if you Google them up. What I understand is that, they are doing well and they have a good business model. What I didn't however find in their 'Our Story' section, was the name 'Bangladesh'. And that is what made me wonder why I jumped in joy hearing Sushmita's winning the Miss Universe Crown...what was in it for me? Did that help me uplift my brand image as a Bengali? Did that help me avoid being singled out in global platform as being a Bangladeshi? May be...may be not. Similary, NewsCred founders say that one of them is from Sweden and the other one studied in the US. Wonder why they stopped short of saying that they are Bangladeshis and/or from Bangladesh. However, all this hoopla might go down the drain if the young entrepreneurs are NOT actually Bangladeshis. They might be born and brought up in the countries which are thousand miles away from Bangladesh any ways. Also, I am not sure if carrying a Bangladeshi brand behind your back will decrease your chances of getting a deep-pocket venture capitalist or not. Brand Bangladesh for business is yet to perhaps take up a soild shape.

Nevertheless, I would always be proud if NewsCred would like to share some of their glory with the name 'Bangladesh', that is if they at all are from Bangladesh in the first place, otherwise, sorry for this nagging to get a share of the success story....as you and we and I...all share the same country label....which needs a well-deserved rebranding in all means...and global business is the best way to do that.

Beyond Melamine...the Milky Chaos

Mr. Mofijuddin Milky, 36, private service holder, father of two sees more to this recent chaos regarding powder milk, which is one of the major items as baby food. The elated yet confused Mr. Milky wishes to thank the following with regard to this developing story.

He would like to thank God almighty first of all for bringing down this divine punishment to the sector which produces and markets powder milk in Bangladesh. He thanks Him for punishing these over greedy profit-mongers who happen to adjust (read increase mindlessly) prices for their powder milk almost every month. He thinks 'what goes round comes round', since those companies have taken the general consumers hostage for a long time, now its God's will that they get a taste of their own medicine.

Mr. Milky would also like to thank the media for singing in unison against the companies and
their brand who are 'caring enough' to feed melamine...perhaps as a replacement to calcium,
iron etc. to our babies. Media plays a big role in making or breaking or shaping up an industry. Journalists have babies too...they had been held hostage to this price crime by powder milk producing companies...and Mr. Milky thinks that its good that the journalists have joined this Jihad against this indiscriminant price tyrants. So this is not the time to pick and choose, its time to brush fire and the whole industry needs to bear the backlash fuelled by leading media in the country.

Mr. Milky also hails the media as those suspected companies are using that very media platform to publish their announcements of innocence and claiming that their product is free from melamine. So media is surely in the dominant role in these trying times. However he suspects that some of those rogue companies might be trying their best to convince some media and their mouthpieces to stop bullshitting and save their falling brand images and the consequential loss of consumer faith.

Mr. Milky thanks the lab of the Chemistry Department at Dhaka University, the Plasma lab,
the BSTI and all others for making the water muddier. He underscores that all kind of
revolution and protest against the odds and evils have always generated from the Dhaka University and this time as well, is no exception. So he thinks that this movement will be a success.

Mr. Milky would like to have a good laugh at the Government for making yet another committee and trying to find out what to do and what to advise to general citizens. He whips that starting from Tata's investment proposal to moon sighting during Eid, what they always do best is forming committees and then getting confused and remain without a decision until the general mass and media lose all interest to follow the topic any further and the issue goes into oblivion.

However, Mr. Milky is still worried about what to feed his children, one 2 years and one 5 year old. He has decided to cut down on his occasional habit of eating himself the infant food and he would advise his wife to do the same, given the scarcity of baby food. He is hopeful that this crisis would bring down the price of a vital product such as baby food down to tolerable limits and within the buying limit of the middle class. He would still keep on thinking about food items for his children...he plans to contact Pizza Hut and World Food Programme (WFP) if children in Bangladesh can be fed delicious pizzas from their very early years to alleviate hunger once and for all from the face of Bangladesh.

Grameenphone vs 40 Banks: India Weighs In

The Background

I will start out with some background info. Late last year Grameenphone proposed its own biased version of a 'mobile banking' guideline. This shocked all the local banks as it did the international ones making them group together in opposition because mobile banking has nothing in similar to what Grameenphone had proposed.

Furthermore Grameenphone had 'accommodated' consultants to fly around the world, and to report back how mobile banking is a good idea (it is). But they also indicate indirectly that Grameenphone's version is the one used worldwide (far from it) because GP is the payee for accommodation and airfare.

This had led to a spark in newspapers who were divided whether to publish the truth or get to get a year's worth of GP advertisements which even Standard Chartered, HSBC and Citibank cannot match. Prothom Alo published an astounding editorial by the former deputy-governor of Bangladesh Bank lambasting Grameenphone's scheme for confusing people about the nature of mobile banking. This was the best Bangla composition I had read in a long time. The Financial Express published another article despite censoring Grameenphone's name. The Daily Star started out as pro-Grameenphone but soon turned the other way realizing that this news was too far of a stretch.

What differences are there? Even though there are numerous fallacies in GP's proposal, it boils down to GP attempting to hijack 40 backs by preventing to access the mobile infrastructure and in place allow GP to benefit from this vacuum. Although this may seem minor this has very large consequences as no where in the world does such an idea exist.

India weights in

Bangladesh has a history in following the Indian regulatory bodies. WiMax gets issued in India, then its time for Bangladesh to issue WiMax. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is the regulatory banking body, exactly what Bangladesh Bank is to all the local banks. Much to the delight of Grameenphone, RBI halted all mobile banking transactions throughout India to create a framework.

GP had assumed that since mobile banking in India was conducted by banks, the temporary halt would mean more liberties to the telecom sector in line with GP's version of mobile banking. Many others had assumed similar fate as India's mobile phone companies are owned by powerful and vested quarters capable of flying and accommodating more consultants, place more TV and newspaper ads than GP.

The RBI, just last month, concluded on the guidelines. They are:

• Mobile banking only between one bank account to another (GP only wanted mobile number to mobile number, wanted to prevent bank account to bank account and even bank account to mobile number)
• A limit of Rs 2500 (Tk 3,523.46) and in exceptional cases and under strict supervision Rs 5000 (Tk 7,046.25) for these bank account transactions. (GP proposed a base limit of Rs 21,287 (Tk 30,000) which is 8x larger than Indian limits)
• As with mobile banking in the rest of the world, phone companies are not a stakeholder in this issue. (GP wanted to be the in the center of the issue by making the laws and preventing banks from mobile banking)
• Only banks can authorize transactions (GP wanted GP to authorize transactions)
  
• Only banks can accept money (GP wanted to open up a network of GP bank branches to accept money)

Many consultants and people have pointed out that mobile banking will take banking facilities to everyone as more people have phones than bank accounts. I strongly agree, but this vision is not applicable to Grameenpone's butchered version of mobile banking. India not only has a larger population but one that is more rural and spread out further than Bangladesh. Yet out of all the benefits they went for mobile banking, but not GP's version of mobile banking.

Similarly in Vietnam, less than 10% of the population have bank accounts but clearly more phone customers. But according to the consultants visiting Vietnam on GP's money, Vietnam should let GP solve this by bringing GP's version of mobile banking. What did Vietnam do instead? They got rid of more regulations that lets banks off the leash to serve the 'unbanked' and more freedom to expand further. Phone companies are strictly a medium, they were never equated to banking or mobile banking.

Much like GP's IPO valuation, its version of mobile banking follows the same logic as a supermodel's cure for world hunger and poverty. It is funny when they propose it, self-delusional and some misinformed people may be touched but yet we all move on in the end.

On Mobile Banking

This write-up is inspired by Mr. Ahmed Ali's post "Grameenphone Attempted to Rob 40 Banks", it caught my eye and made me think...

Well mobile banking is an emerging concept, its a great concept, no doubt about it. There are several aspects of mobile banking in terms of implementation. Now I do not have any inside data on which model Grameenphone has proposed to operate, for the simplicity let's assume, by mobile banking, a Grameen subscriber will be able to deposit his money to his cellphone account, will be able to transfer it to another account and also will be able to withdraw money from his account.

There has been three models to do this mobile banking. I will discuss two here, one is that the mobile operator will itself become a financial institution which will be able to take deposits. This model is particularly suitable countries where most of the people do not have bank accounts or cannot afford to have one. Another model is based on bank accounts where mobile phone only acts as a medium.

As you may have already guessed, the second model is not suitable for our country since there are lot more mobile subscribers than bank account holders. In my case, I had my mobile phone before I had a bank account. And you can understand how many would use a bank account in the semi-urban or rural areas. Moreover, in our country, if you look at the government run banks, you will know that they are not equipped to provide information online, most of the information still resides there in paper. Another problem is that, to tie up with a mobile account, all bank must be taken under one system of accounting, otherwise the transaction between from one bank's account to another will be chaotic. So I think initially it will be difficult for GP to tie up with these banks and the alternative seems to be really easy.

Now the "financial express" has raised the concern that the banks will be losing the deposits - true, it will happen, but it will happen to the short-term deposits only, and we know how important is the short-term deposit for banks to operate the day to day transactions. So here is the problem, that banks will be losing these deposits once people will be used to the mobile banking. And honestly I don't think that is a problem, Grameenphone has taken a good initiative to bring the banking facility to the mass. Now it's time for the banks to take initiative to tie up the accounts with Grameenphone, and keep their account holders with them. Few regulations here can straighten up the things, like:

1) Grameenphone will keep the option open for the customer to choose, if the customer wants and his bank has developed certain supportive system for mobile banking, s/he may choose to associate his bank account with the mobile banking account. Grameenphone will not charge extra for this choice, however banks may charge for the mobile banking facility.

2) GP will not provide any interest for the money deposited. It will discourage the depositors to keep big amount of money for long time period in mobile account.

So what I am trying to say is that GP should not only be blamed, because this is a big opportunity for banks as well to expand their business, which they should utilize in a orderly manner. Thanks to the fellow blogger Mr. Ahmed Ali for bringing up this important issue, and kudos to GP for taking a good step. That should be my ending line.. Good Day.

Emerging PPP in the streets of Dhaka

I really don't know why the other day I decided to wait for a Volvo bus to go from Bishwa Road to Kakoli. It has been long enough that I had stopped travelling by bus in Dhaka city, not because I have become richer and I need to maintain certain status quo, its just that I have stopped travelling around due to epic traffic jams and also because I have expanded physically in all directions to be able to fit into the 'murir tin' mini buses or literary naughty 'Duronto' vehicles which keep on clogging the streets of Dhaka. Gone are those days or even 3 years back, there were some AC buses which used to bring me from Farmgate to Bishwa Road, even the yellow cabs used to ply around with their ACs working, now it has all become fairy tales, or reality tales of living in Dhaka. However, getting back to my wait for the Volvo bus...many buses came and many buses left, my Volvo took ages to arrive. Wonder why was I handed the 8tk. ticket and why I was standing in the sun for 25 minutes to travel this distance. I also could not venture into other moving objects due to reasons described above. However, as something or the other keep on happening and does not elude my observing eyes, an emergence of PPP, yes a public-private partnership, seemed to be appearing in front of my eyes. I have noticed this phenomenon off and on before but that day, it was happening pretty frequently, so there is a good enough reason to blog about it.

While I was desperately looking towards the road expecting to see the double decker appearing, many private cars stopped nearby as the chauffeur very politely and with a smile extended his neck towards the window asking if I needed a lift towards Mohakhali. I was all ready to thwart off any possible mugging attempt under their new avatar and I was even more unprepared to see somebody smiling at me to offer a service. Although I nodded my head in the negative, I saw many fellow city dwellers and bus-awaitees getting into the private cars after a quick negotiation with the chauffeur. I gained confidence and since my Volvo bus never arrived till then, I decided to jump into the next private car cum cab that would come my way. After a while, came one Toyota Allion with a smiling and interested looking driver shaheb. For 10 tk. each he packed the car with many uradhura people like me and dropped us at Kakoli.I didn't forget to warn him that any possible attempt of 'thek deya' (mugging) will be vehemently foiled, so he better not think about it, he gave a red grin while chewing his betel leaf and cracked jokes on himself. We enjoyed a quick journey in the air conditioned Japanese car, while listening to Radio Foorti 88.0 FM. I felt free from the dust and noise of the 'otherwise chaotic' Dhaka streets. While in the car cum cab, the city looked better, and I felt pity for the not-so-fortunate people....thought what I can do for them, all while sitting in the comfy comfy Allion backseat. While getting off, we paid the 'fare' to the driver shaheb and he said 'thank you' with a smile, I didn't bother to reply...as I am not used to getting such service while using public transport in Dhaka.

Next story, my brother's friend got a drop at his university in Banani only to find out after going upstairs that the class had been cancelled. When he came downstairs to look for his car, he couldn't find it. The driver was also not following 'kaachey thakun' principle, implying that he was not carrying any mobile phone and he also disappeared. My brother's friend was puzzled and had no option but to wait in the premises for the next hour. The driver finally appeared with an embarassed face and upon interrogation, revealed that he was doing some part time ferrying of passengers from Banani to Gulshan-2 and Gulshan-1, as he thought his 'bhaiya' was attending the hour long class. He also admitted that he had been doing it for the last two months, which according to him 'helps him pass his time, does good to city dwellers in Dhaka and also gives him some additional income...je ja khushi hoye dey arki'.

So I guess by now you can pretty well imagine that a unique partnership between public and private sector is emerging to tackle the poor transport service in Dhaka city. Although I scored very high in statistics while being in Notre Dame College, I am no statistician, I can't remember well figures and numbers, and there is that quote that says "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics". So I leave the numbers for our think-tanks, gurus and liars, as a simple consumer and commuter, I believe that since the public transport system in this city has gone completely bollocks, such emergence of private sector taxi service is very natural. Think-tanks will keep on arguing about the ideal area of a city, proportion of required roads, number of cars, blah blah blah, but all these number crunching seminars and symposiums have done little to make the traffic move even an inch these days. People keep writing letters in national dailies giving ideas about tackling the traffic problem, but who is there to listen and who is there to implement? Many suggest to move Kamlapur Railway Station out of Dhaka, others suggest to make use of what we naturally possess...our water bodies and to introduce efficient water routes and water vessels to connect different corners of Dhaka, some even suggest to start planning for alternate capital city for Bangladesh somewhere near Gazipur with a 10 year plan to start designing a city from the scratch...somewhat like Putrajaya in Malaysia...but who cares and why bother huh? As long as I can move, go to my office, shoshur-bari, bachchar school, Nandon, Agora, Westin and Radisson, I am happy, bakita jader korar ora korbe...I am going for holiday in Dubai next week, then to London and then to the States, I can be least bothered of this blog post shit.

Nevertheless...I must mention that I am also amused to see many middle class families having as many as 3 cars in the same family, one for abbu, one for boro bhaiya and one for myself....if they can afford it, why won't they buy it, are there any rules to stop them? So they are also making good use of their cars, if its not serving the family, serve the nation profitably. Look at the misery of female commuters, help them and give them a hitch in your AC car, not a bad intention huh? So as heavy-brain-duty gurus keep on suggesting in seminars that private sector should join hands with public sectors to implement important development initiatives, the very chauffeurs of those gurus and ministers might be implementing what their shahebs must be preaching inside the auditorium. As an ordinary young commuter, who does not own a car yet and who cannot fit into buses and human haulers, such emergence of private car cum cabs is a welcome change. Although I am stuck in traffic jams anyways, be it in a private car or be it in a yellow/black cab, but atleast there is AC, music and a chauffeur who shows respect and smile...does not give me a feeling as if I am being hostage in this nearly unlivable city. Baki to shob dhorei nisi je kaj korbe na, so lets be happy as I ride jani na kon boro lok er dami gari from Bishwa Road to Kakoli.

Customer Care Dilemma

Ok you are seeing a pic I took, I hope this tower is called BTS, cos I have been looking for BTS ever since I had this little experience with my clearly ahead mobile subscription provider. I didn't know that it is important to know for a subscriber the location of this operator's BTS. The problem is I am not at all sure how to specifically locate this operator's BTS. So I am photographing all the BTS from my veranda cos I had this experience and I have another complain to make and for that I should better be prepared.

It happened so that I was staying in Chittagong for few days, and I found out that my heavily used mobile internet was shying to work in there. So I called up the customer service to inform the situation. ironically the guy who picked up is probably from Dhaka and doesn't know any place in Chittagong. Well that is not ironic, the ironic part was that, he was so keen to know my location that he started to ask questions after questions! to solve the problem. So I gave my address and the Thana in where I was residing. I thought that should be enough but this guy was irresistible, he asked about the adjacent thanas about which I had no idea. But enthusiastically this guy added, this is like dhanmondi thana is adjacent to mohammadpur thana and so your thana should be adjacant to some thana! (and I thought this guy needed a map and maybe he is bad in geography!). Now he asks (since I don't know about the adjacant thanas) "have you seen where the BTS is? How far it is from your house?" Ah so that was on this guys mind, to locate the BTS from the adjacent thanas, I understand!! But how on earth I should know where are the BTS located, they may be on some high-rise building, and I have no way to tell which one is grameen and which one is aktel. But most importantly I didn't know that it was important to know the location of your nearly BTS. Otherwise you will not be able to inform the Customer Care and they will not be able to take any action, and just as I was thinking after disappointing this guy, the line went "poof", call drop! yes while complaining about internet service a new symptom has arisen. I wonder what this operator would do. And how many like me would be passionately ready to complain these problems. Like now I am taking pics of all the BTS nearby my house in Dhaka. cos for few days I am experiencing calldrops and weak network from here as well. And now if the customer care asks about BTS I can send all the pics of the BTS and they could decide which one is theirs and from there they could (I certainly hope so!) solve my problem.

And finally this note is not to hurt anyone, I hope the companies in customer service would understand its importance and put proper support to satisfy the customers who are in trouble. Another thing is that since the customers are now charged to get the service, (probably 1 tk per/min or something) the persons providing the service would shorten their enquiry, or if required they should call back (even when a calldrop occurs while talking to the customer service).