business
Nasrul Hamid urges World Bank to expedite funding for power, energy projects
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has urged World Bank to expedite its funding to projects in Bangladesh’s power and energy sector.
He made the request while holding a bilateral meeting today with visiting World Bank Vice President for South Asia Region, Martin Raiser, at the ministry, said a release of the ministry.
It was noted at the meeting that two projects for gas meters installation have been approved by World Bank – implementation of which will begin from January 2023. There are 6 projects in the power sector being funded by World Bank.
Read:Dependence on LNG import to continue, more terminals to be set up: Energy Advisor
Both sides discussed various issues of mutual interest during the meeting.
The state minister focused on achievements, expectations and challenges in power and energy at the meeting.
He said electric vehicles and hydrogen will contribute greatly to the power and energy sector in the future.
“World Bank can play a major role in formulating a policy on hydrogen energy and electric vehicles to encourage the stakeholders in the sector,” Nasrul Hamid noted.
He sought World Bank’s cooperation to turn Bangladesh Power Management Institute into an organization of international standard.
Nasrul Hamid said it is necessary to further strengthen the partnership with World Bank in capacity building of the entities in the power sector to deal with wind power, transmission and distribution systems.
A wide range of issues like renewable energy, captive power, climate change, global energy crisis, solar irrigation pumps, lithium batteries, hydropower, regional power trade, net metering and rooftop solar, green building, efficient and cost-effective use of electricity and energy, oil refineries, land-based LNG terminal also came up for discussion.
Read: Govt working to revise renewable energy policy: Recent primary fuels crisis a reason
The World Bank Vice President expressed his satisfaction in working with Bangladesh and said that the focus on capacity building, regional cooperation and implementation of different projects is very promising.
He said promotion of renewable energy and the exploration of new areas of potential investment are putting Bangladesh in focus.
The World Bank top executive expressed interest in issues related to efficiency improvement, renewable energy and cross border power trade.
Senior Secretary of Energy and Mineral Resources Department Md. Mahbub Hossain, Power Secretary of Md. Habibur Rahman, World Bank South Asia Regional Director (Infrastructure) Guangzhe Chen and Acting Country Director Dandan Chen were present during the meeting.
WE summit in October, Dhaka to encourage women entrepreneurs
‘Women and E-commerce’ Platform (WE) will organize a women entrepreneurs’ business summit at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in October.
The organizers said the summit will be held on October 14 and 15 as the largest conference in the country, where the WE entrepreneurs can discuss problems and potentials of e-commerce business.
State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Junaid Ahmed Palak will preside over the inaugural ceremony. On this day, 30 guests will participate in the discussion.
Read: Bangladesh received over $1 billion remittance in Sep 1-15
Apart from this, there will be workshops by local and foreign guest speakers on various topics including easy and uninterrupted Internet access for entrepreneurs, adapting themselves with the logistics ecosystem and financing for business expansion, Facebook marketing, and photography. Eight sessions will be conducted online on these issues.
On the second day, there is a 'fashion show' on various products and services made by the WE entrepreneurs. Again, these entrepreneurs will host the event with cultural performances.
In the closing session, the best 20 women entrepreneurs will be awarded with the Joyee (winner) award. Among them, 10 will be WE members and the remaining 10 will be from other sectors.
WE President and E-CAB Joint General Secretary Nasima Akhter Nisha, “We have been organizing various workshops and training to improve the skills of local women entrepreneurs for a long time. At the same time, we are working to establish links with entrepreneurs on various public and private platforms.”
French retailer Carrefour wants to expand business in Bangladesh
Carrefour, a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, is looking into expanding its business in Bangladesh, according to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).
Jean Marie Fouque, director of textile global sourcing at Carrefour, paid a courtesy visit to BGMEA President Faruque Hassan in Dhaka Monday.
They discussed different apparel trade-related issues, including the challenges and opportunities of Bangladesh's readymade garments (RMG) industry and prospects of increasing sourcing from the country.
Also read: BGMEA teams up with upay to disburse stipends among RMG officials, workers
Also, they talked about how Carrefour could strengthen its partnership with Bangladeshi suppliers to expand its business base here.
They also discussed possible collaboration between Carrefour and the BGMEA to support the Centre of Innovation Efficiency and OSH. The Centre was sent up by the BGMEA to support Bangladesh's RMG industry with knowledge, skills and technical know-how to face future challenges and enhance its competitiveness.
Also read: BGMEA president meets Russian ambassador
ShareTrip scores World Travel Awards for fourth straight time
Online travel agency (OTA) ShareTrip was recently honoured with the "World Travel Awards" a fourth straight time.
ShareTrip won awards in different categories, including Bangladesh's Leading Online Travel Agency 2022 and Bangladesh's Leading Travel Agency 2022.
Established in 1993, the World Travel Awards (WTA) is also known as "the Oscars of the travel industry."
This award ceremony is held annually to recognise those who are working hard to provide excellent service in travel and tourism in different regions of the world.
This year, the organisation board received 2.3 million votes from across the globe.
Sadia Haque, co-founder, and chief executive officer of ShareTrip, said: "Winning the World Travel Awards for the fourth time is a remarkable achievement for us. It proves our consistent commitment to providing a seamless travel experience service and other travel-related services for travel lovers in Bangladesh."
ShareTrip started its journey three years ago as one of the earliest online travel agencies in Bangladesh.
It has been serving over half a million customers across the country bringing thousands of hoteliers and hundreds of airlines online and building the largest inventory of domestic hotels and resorts, according to a media statement.
National Life insurance premium can be paid through Nagad
Customers of mobile financial services provider Nagad can now pay the National Life Insurance Company's premium policy fee.
Nagad users can now pay monthly, quarterly, and yearly premium policy fees using their accounts.
Nagad customers can pay the fees for premium policies of National Life Insurance using the app or dialling the USSD (*167#) from their account.
Also, customers can use Nagad to pay the premiums for National Life Insurance Company's single insurance, Takaful insurance, Public insurance, and NPDI policies.
An agreement was recently inked between the two organisations in Dhaka.
Chief Business Officer Sheikh Aminur Rahman, Head of Payment Department Mohammad Mahbub Sobhan, and Deputy General Manager (FI and Insurance), Business Sales MD Bayezid of Nagad were present at the signing ceremony.
Chief Executive Officer and MD Kazim Uddin, Additional Managing Director Khasru Chowdhury, Chief Financial Officer Prabir Chandra Das of CA, Senior Executive Vice President (HRD and Sales Promotion) Md Enamul Haque, Senior Executive Vice-President (Finance and Accounts), Mohammad Nomanul Mehedi Khan, and SVP IT AMM Moeez Uddin of National Life Insurance also joined the event.
Islami Bank launches special campaign to popularise deposit schemes
Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited has launched a 15-day special campaign to make the bank's different deposit schemes more popular among customers and encourage them to save.
The Sanchoye Samriddhi Nirapad Agami was launched Monday in Dhaka. Mohammed Monirul Moula, managing director and chief executive officer of the bank, was present at the event as the chief guest.
The campaign is also expected to play an effective role in improving the standard of living of the underprivileged people through financial inclusion, according to a media statement.
Islami Bank is a joint venture public limited company engaged in commercial banking business based on Islamic shariah.
Established in 1983 as the first Islamic bank in southeast Asia, it is listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange and Chittagong Stock Exchange.
Bangladesh received over $1 billion remittance in Sep 1-15
Bangladesh received inward remittances worth over USD $1008.67 million (1,000 million = 1 billion) in the first 15 days of September, amid the forex crisis in the country.
Bankers said remittance inflow shows an upward trend as the remitters are encouraged by the depreciation of taka and they get more than Tk 108 per dollar.
The remittance inflow is expected to cross $2 billion in September.
Read: Uniform rate: Tk 108/dollar max for remittance, Tk 99/dollar for export income from tomorrow
Bangladesh received remittances of $2.09 billion in July and $2.03 billion in August, which became a blessing amidst forex crisis.
Md Serajul Islam, executive director and spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank told UNB that the central bank has simplified various processes to attract more remittance through banking channels.
The government is also extending remittance incentives as well as providing policy support. Now the dollar rate is getting higher, he said.
Read: Hope amidst forex crisis: Bangladesh received $2.03bn remittance in Aug
The sector insiders said that Bangladesh’s inward remittance flow will grow more as manpower export hit a new high in the past fiscal on a post-pandemic rebound of the overseas job market.
The data of the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) showed over 9.88 lakh workers had gone abroad in the fiscal year FY22 while this figure was 2.71 lakh in FY 21.
This happens to be the highest number of annual overseas jobs in the last seven years.
Read How to safely send remittance to Bangladesh?
It is also contributing to growing up the inward remittance flow in Bangladesh.
Tap teams up with Sonali Bank to launch inter-banking transaction services
Mobile financial services (MFS) provider Trust Axiata Pay (Tap) has launched inter-banking transaction services in collaboration with Sonali Bank.
From now on Tap users can avail of the services using Sonali Bank's add money option.
Read: Tap offers bonus data, cashback on Robi, Airtel internet packages
Customers can avail of the services for free by adding the Sonali Bank option to their apps.
To enjoy the service, add money or fund transfer option needs to be accessed.
"Tap customers can add money or transfer funds of maximum Tk50,000 and Tk3 lakh monthly," the MFS CEO Nazmul Hasan said in a media statement.
World HRD Congress: Robi scores Asia's Best Employer Brand Awards 2022
The World HRD Congress recently recognised Robi with the "Asia's Best Employer Brand Awards 2022."
These award honours organisations that have used marketing communications effectively in attracting, retaining, and developing talent, and retention policies.
Robi Vice-President (Organisational Change and Employee Experience) Sabin Rahman received the award at a ceremony held in Singapore.
Read: US-Bangla resumes Dhaka-Bangkok flights September 1
Robi's ability to translate and combine vision with action with human resource strategy, blend the strategy with the business, and cultivate competencies to ensure the organisation is future-ready were assessed as part of the awarding process, according to a media statement.
This is the second time that Robi has won the award. Previously, it won it in 2019.
Small traders can open bank accounts without trade license: Bangladesh Bank
Bangladesh Bank has simplified the bank account opening process for small traders, dropping trade license requirements.
The name of the account will be 'Personal Retail Account' or 'Private Retail Account'. This account can be opened in banks, mobile financial services (MFS), e-wallet service providers, and payment service providers (PSP).
Individual small entrepreneurs can transact through such an account for commercial purposes, said Bangladesh Bank.
Also read: Tax return document not needed for loans up to Tk 20 lakh: NBR
The central bank revealed this information in a discussion with Asian Development Bank on Saturday.
A personal retail account can be opened only after submitting the documents required for e-KYC in bank account opening. There is no cost to open this account. Besides, loan will also be available on the basis of transaction. Even if the account is in MFS, the cash-out cost will be less.
Director of the Payment System Department of Bangladesh Bank, Masbaul Haque, told UNB that there is opportunity to open a ‘personal retail account’ without a trade license.
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The central bank has issued such a directive to encourage the growth of small business sector.
According to Bangladesh Bank’s circular, no trade license will be required to open an ‘individual retail account’.
E-KYC and necessary documents to open a bank account have to be submitted. It will be managed like a current account. This account can be used for commercial purposes, Bangladesh Bank sources said.
Read Export Development Fund loans can be repaid in instalments from now on
However, a maximum of Tk 10 lakh per month can be transacted through this account. The one-time status of this account will be maximum Tk 5 lakh.
Micro and small traders such as grocers, floating food vendors, bus-CNG-rickshaw drivers, street vendors, sellers of various products and services on Facebook, or service providers engaged in various marginal professions can open this account.
A copy of the national identity card and proof of profession are required to open the account. Trade license is not mandatory for professional credentials. A valid document issued by the local public representative or the relevant business association is required. All banks, MFS, and PSP service providers in the country will open this account free of cost, said the central bank.
Read How to Get a Trade License in Bangladesh?