Thai AirAsia, a subsidiary of Malaysia-based AirAsia Aviation Group, has launched the Dhaka-Bangkok flight. The inaugural flight from Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport landed at Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport Friday at midnight. The airline will operate four weekly flights between Dhaka and Don Mueang. The incoming flight carried several eminent passengers, including Thai AirAsia officials. Thai Air Asia CEO Santisuk Klongchaiya, Regional Commercial Head Tansita Akrarittipirom and its senior executives of corporate communications were part of the delegation. Thai AirAsia's inaugural flight launching ceremony was held at a Dhaka hotel Saturday. Md Mahbub Ali, state minister for civil aviation and tourism, was the chief guest at the event. Read: 'Air Incheon-Korean Airlines’ introduces direct cargo flight from Bangladesh to South Korea Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh Chairman Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman, Thai Ambassador to Bangladesh Makawadee Sumitmor, Malaysian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Haznah Md Hashim, and Santisuk were also present. Thai Air Asia GSA, TAS Aviation Chairman KM Mozibul Hoque, Vice-Chairman and CEO Sheikh Mamunul Hoque, Managing Director Morsedul Alam Chaklader; directors Kazi Shah Muzakker Ahmadul Hoque, Md Atiqur Rahman Masud, Anwar Abedin Manik and other members of the company also joined the event. AirAsia, voted the world's best low-cost airline for 13 years in a row in Skytrax awards, has been operating 14 weekly flights between Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur since 2015.

Bangladesh is a preferred destination of apparel sourcing among global buyers for its world-class workplace safety and environmental sustainability, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has said. The exemplary strides made by the RMG industry of Bangladesh in workplace safety, sustainability and ensuring workers' well-being have boosted the confidence of brands and buyers, BGMEA President Faruque Hassan said. He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the 8th International Fire, Safety and Security Expo 2022 organised by the Electronics Safety and Security Association of Bangladesh (ESSAB) at Bashundhara International Convention Center in Dhaka Thursday. Read: BGMEA for ensuring workers' health, well-being for improving productivity Planning Minister MA Mannan attended the inaugural ceremony as chief guest. Faruque said: "To create awareness and culture of safety among the workers and employees, several training programmes on occupational safety and health and social dialogue and industrial relations were taken by the government of Bangladesh, the International Labour Organization, associations, brands and factories." Read: BGMEA chief stresses nutritious diet for workers’ health, productivity "As a result of all these initiatives and efforts, Bangladesh is today globally recognised as one of the safest apparel manufacturing countries. Also, to carry forward the progress made by the unilateral safety regimes and to establish national self-monitoring, the RMG Sustainability Council has been established." Md Jasim Uddin, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries, Brigadier General Md Main Uddin, director general of Fire Service and Civil Defence, and Zahir Uddin Babar, president of ESSAB, also spoke at the event.

Electronics brand Marcel has launched its Digital Campaign Season 16. Under the campaign, customers can get cashback of up to Tk50,000 and products on the purchase of refrigerators and washing machines, according to a media statement. The announcement of Digital Campaign Season 16 was made at a programme in Dhaka Sunday and its offers will be available till further notice. Read more: ‘Marcel to be best brand in Bangladesh’ Also, the Hot Sale campaign of Marcel fridges will continue till November 30. Marcel's Advisor Md. Shakhawat Hossen said, "Apart from providing high-quality products to the customers, Marcel is also providing various benefits." "Marcel now has about 200 models of refrigerators of various capacities. They include intelligent inverters, BSTI's 5-star energy rating, glass doors and side-by-side doors. The price of these refrigerators is between Tk14,990 and Tk92,990." Read more: Int’l Rating Chess: IM Minhazuddin, CM Sharif Hossain share top spot after 6 rounds  

The National SME Product Fair will kick off tomorrow (Thursday) to promote small and medium entrepreneurs’ products which are manufactured using local raw materials. The SME Foundation is organising the 10-day fair with the sponsorship of the Ministry of Industries at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC). Minister of industries Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun will open the 10th SME Product Fair as chief guest at 10:30 am at the fair venue. State Minister Kamal Ahmed Mojumder, Secretary Zakia Sultana, FBCCI president Md Jasim Uddin, SME Foundation’s Chairperson Professor Dr. Md. Masudur Rahman will also be present at the opening program. Around 325 entrepreneurs will set up 350 stalls to display their products. Read more: SME Foundation to hold fair in 6 divisions to promote local products “All foreign-made products are prohibited at the fair this year to encourage domestic industries,” said Dr. Md. Mafizur Rahman, Managing Director of SME Foundation. He said, “This year, 60 percent of the total stalls are by women entrepreneurs, as we are giving priorities to women in small and medium industries sector.” Most of the 130 entrepreneurs participating in the event are from the apparel sector. Apart from this, 45 are food/agricultural processing product producer, 38 in the handicraft industry, 36 companies in the leather goods sector, 35 in jute products, 8 companies in ICT products and services, 6 companies in light engineering products, 3 companies of electrical and electronics sector, 5 companies involved with plastic products are participating in the fair. Besides the 10-day fair, 5 seminars on easy financing for SME entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs, technology, ICT and cluster-based product development will be organised at the event premises. Among the seminars, CMSMEs’ access to finance in Bangladesh: Scope for alternative financing options will be held on November 27, cluster-based SME development and potentiality of cross border e-commerce on November 29, regional and global network for women entrepreneurs, and applying modern technology and ICT in SMEs will be held on November 30. Read more: BB revises cluster credit guidelines to boost small enterprises The SME Foundation set targets for this fair to promote, disseminate, sell and market expansion of products produced by small and medium-scale entrepreneurs at local and international levels; assist in developing relationships, communication, and bridging of SME entrepreneurs; connect consumers and SME entrepreneurs.  

For the third time since 2017, Bangladesh Ceramic Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BCMEA) is going to organise a three-day international ceramic exposition to give a worldwide exposure to the country’s ceramic manufacturers and exporters. The exhibition, titled “Ceramic Expo Bangladesh-2022”, will be held on Nov 24-26 at the International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) in the capital. The exhibition will host 90 exhibitors and 200 brands from over 15 countries this year. The exhibition is expected to be visited by over 300 delegates from different countries, making it one of the largest ceramic exhibitions in South Asia. Read: 3-day int’l ceramic expo begins in city Dec 5 Among the many exclusive features of Ceramic Expo Bangladesh-2022 are five seminars on relevant and crucial issues of the ceramic industry in Bangladesh. There will even be a job fair for individuals seeking work in the booming industry. There will also be award-giving ceremonies to recognise the best exhibitors for their creativity and engagement. The information was revealed by Md. Sirajul Islam Mollah, President of BCMEA, and Irfan Uddin, General Secretary of BCMEA, at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters' Unity (DRU) on Saturday. Read: CAMP '20 Orientation & Ceramic art exhibition held at Cosmos Atelier71 BCMEA Senior Vice President Moinul Islam, Directors Abdul Hakim Sumon, Rashid Maimunul Islam and Ruslan Nasir, among others, were present at the conference. Registration and entry to the exhibition will be free and the gates will remain open from 10:00am to 7:00pm during the event. Akij Ceramics Limited is the principal sponsor of the Ceramic Expo Bangladesh-2022 event. Sheltech Ceramics and DBL Ceramics are the Platinum sponsors, while Mir Ceramic, Abul Khair Ceramic Industries, BHL Ceramic and two other international companies, HLT DLT Technology and SACMI Imola S.C. SpA are co-Sponsoring the event. Read More: Can’t control global economy, but want to boost exports: BGMEA president

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has said harmonious industrial relations between workers and employers is one of the key factors behind the success of the country's apparel industry. "The relations built over many years of working together have taken a solid foundation which is very important to drive the industry forward. Also, the Industrial Police has been playing a pivotal role in maintaining a peaceful and cooperative relationship between workers and employers in the apparel sector," BGMEA President Faruque Hassan said Thursday. He was speaking at the founding anniversary ceremony of the Industrial Police in Dhaka. Read: BGMEA president briefs Moody's team on sector's outlook Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan attended the programme as chief guest while Prime Minister's Adviser on Private Industry and Investment Salman Fazlur Rahman, former president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries and BGMEA Md Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, Inspector General of Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, and Public Security Division Secretary Md Aminul Islam Khan were also present at the programme. Additional Inspector General of Industrial Police Md Mahabubor Rahman presided over the ceremony. Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association Executive President Mohammad Hatem was also present.

Elon Musk sought to reassure big companies that advertise on Twitter on Wednesday that his chaotic takeover of the social media platform won’t harm their brands, acknowledging that some “dumb things” might happen on his way to creating what he says will be a better, safer user experience. The latest erratic move on the minds of major advertisers — that the company depends on for revenue — was Musk’s decision to abolish a new “official” label on high-profile Twitter accounts just hours after introducing it. Twitter began adding gray labels to prominent accounts Wednesday, including brands like Coca-Cola, Nike and Apple, to indicate that they are authentic. A few hours later, the labels started disappearing. “Apart from being an aesthetic nightmare when looking at the Twitter feed, it was simply another way of creating a two-class system,” the billionaire Tesla CEO told advertisers in an hour-long conversation broadcast live on Twitter. “It wasn’t addressing the core problem.” Musk’s comments were his most expansive about Twitter’s future since he closed a $44 billion deal to buy the company late last month, dismissed its top executives almost immediately and, on Friday, fired roughly half of its workforce. Major brands including General Motors, United Airlines, General Mills and others have temporarily halted buying ads on the platform as they watch whether Musk’s plans to loosen its guardrails against hate speech will lead to a rise in online toxicity. Scores of companies big and small made their presence known among the more than 100,000 Twitter Space listeners by signing in with their brand Twitter accounts. The brand accounts for companies including banks Deutsche Bank, TD Ameritrade, gas company Chevron, automaker Nissan, airline Air Canada and many others appeared. Car brand Audi, which has paused Twitter ads, was there, as was retailer R.E.I., which said after the call its ads were still paused. Musk said he’s still planning a “content moderation council” representing diverse viewpoints that will tackle inappropriate content and reassure advertisers, but it would take “a few months” to put together. He said it will be advisory and “not a command council.” Lou Paskalis, longtime marketing and media executive and former Bank of America head of global media, said the briefing raised questions that will likely leave Fortune 500 advertisers uneasy. The biggest concern for big advertisers is brand safety and risk avoidance, he said. And Musk seems uninterested in reining in his Twitter persona that can be divisive — such as his tweet ahead of the election advising Americans to vote Republican. “To come out like Elon did ... and say ‘vote Republican since there’s a Democrat in the White House’ — I don’t know what marketer wants to go near that,” he said. One solution could be to hire a CEO to run the company and create stability while Musk continues to be his “Chief Twit” persona, Paskalis said. Read more: Elon Musk takes over Twitter: what to expect? Musk had earlier threatened by tweet a “thermonuclear name & shame” on advertisers that quit Twitter. But he took a more measured approach Wednesday, asking them to “give it a minute and kind of see how things are evolving.” “The best way to understand what’s going on with Twitter is use Twitter,” he told the group, which was represented mostly by the head of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a trade association. However, the confusion on Twitter continued Wednesday. The rollout hours earlier of the “official” labels appeared arbitrary, with some politicians, news outlets and well-known personalities getting the label and others not. In some cases, whether users could see an account’s “official” label appeared to depend on what country they were in. Then the labels started disappearing. YouTube personality and author John Green got the label but his younger brother and “vlogging” partner Hank Green didn’t make the cut. Then John Green’s label was gone. Another popular YouTuber, Marques Brownlee, who posts videos on technology, tweeted he got the label, then tweeted again that it disappeared. “I just killed it,” Musk responded, though at first it wasn’t clear if he was referring specifically to Brownlee’s label or the entire project. The site’s current system of using “blue checks” to confirm an account’s authenticity will soon go away for those who don’t pay a monthly fee. The checkmarks will be available for anyone willing to pay a $7.99-a-month subscription, which will also include some bonus features, such as fewer ads and the ability to have tweets given greater visibility than those coming from non-subscribers. The platform’s current verification system has been in place since 2009 and was created to ensure high-profile and public-facing accounts are who they say they are. Read more: Elon Musk says will ban impersonators on Twitter Experts have expressed concern that making the checkmark available to anyone for a fee could lead to impersonations and the spreading of misinformation and scams. The gray label — a color that tends to blend into the background whether you use light or dark mode to scroll Twitter — was an apparent compromise. Esther Crawford, a Twitter employee who has been working on the verification overhaul, had said Tuesday on Twitter that the “official” label would be added to “select accounts” when the new system launches. “Not all previously verified accounts will get the ‘Official’ label and the label is not available for purchase,” said Crawford. But after the labels started disappearing Wednesday, she again took to Twitter to say “there are no sacred cows in product at Twitter anymore.” “Elon is willing to try lots of things — many will fail, some will succeed,” she said. There are about 423,000 verified accounts under the outgoing system. Many of those belong to celebrities, businesses and politicians. But a large chunk of verified accounts belong to individual journalists, some with tiny followings at local newspapers and news sites around the world. The idea was to verify reporters so their identities couldn’t be used to push false information on Twitter. Read more: Musk says Twitter blue tick being revamped Musk, who often bristles at critical news coverage, pushed back against that use of the tool Wednesday, saying he wanted to elevate “citizen journalism” and the “voice of the people” over publications he suggested had too much influence in defining the “Western narrative.” Journalism professionals generally consider Musk’s concept of elevating “citizen journalists” dangerous because it ignores the need for standards, including fact-checking, that responsible news organizations enforce.

Institutions conceptualise and improve the practice of social business and examine the power of ‘3 Zeroes Clubs’ created by young people across the globe, said the Yunus Centre in a press release on Tuesday. The University of Turin is co-hosting the Social Business Academia Forum (SBAF), with the Yunus Centre. This Summit is the first in-person gathering of social business activists, entrepreneurs, academicians, researchers and students, since the pandemic started in 2020. The Global Social Business Summit is always designed as a very intensive two-day event leading to many new social business initiatives. After arriving in Turin, Professor Yunus was received by the founder of Italian NGO Sermig, Ernesto Olivero, before being taken to meet the staff of Sermig to share the experiences of social businesses with them. Read more: Esports can help youths imagine a new civilization: Prof Yunus Sermig was founded in 1964 in Turin by Ernesto Olivero and his wife Maria Cerrato and a few friends to defeat hunger, encourage dialogue, hospitality and peace. They transformed a weapons-producing factory during two world wars into one of Love and Peace. Sermig has provided shelter and food for over 130,000 homeless people, broken families and women from severe socio-economic conditions. They have served over 30 million meals.    

Samsung has ranked number 1 on Forbes’ ‘World’s Best Employers 2022’ list for the third consecutive year with the commitment to providing the best work culture to its employees. With major global technology companies regularly at the top of the rankings, Samsung has ranked first for the past three years, maintaining the company’s top-notch reputation in the IT and technology industry. In cooperation with Statista, Forbes conducted a survey over 150,000 employees across 800 companies globally, including companies from the UK, Germany, the US and many more, before ranking Samsung as first on the list of ‘World’s Best Employers’. Those who attended in the survey were asked to rate their willingness to recommend their employers to friends and family. Besides, they were also asked to rate the companies on various aspects such as economic impact and image, talent development, gender equality and social responsibility. Read more: Samsung Bangladesh brings new B Series TVs Samsung Electronics is having its branch office in Bangladesh, to market quality Consumer Electronics products & Handheld devices. The organisation claimed it is the no. 1 Mobile Handset Brand in Bangladesh for the last 4 years in a row. Hwansung Woo, managing director of Samsung Bangladesh Branch, pointed out his vision of working with a purpose- “We are relentless in serving our purpose of delivering the most advanced Mobile Devices & Consumer Electronics items in Bangladesh. “In addition, we have always been a firm believer in employee satisfaction through meaningful relationships, personalized efforts and advancement opportunities,” he said. In today’s advanced job sector and purpose-driven work are a great priority, and Samsung takes this very seriously, he said adding that they are hopeful of continuing to create a workspace of great value for our employees.      

Despite fulfilling the criteria of 100 percent margin, importers cannot open letters of credit (LCs) from the banks for importing cars, pushing this business to dire straits. Businessmen said this during the second meeting of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) standing committee on automobile in Dhaka Thursday. In Bangladesh, cars have long been considered luxury items, and the government has imposed a 100 percent LC margin on importing cars to deal with the dollar crisis. However, in the context of the country's current economic growth, cars have appeared as a necessary item, they said. "There is no alternative to trucks and pickups for goods transport on the road. These vehicles kept the supply chain running during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic," the businessmen said. They urged the government to keep cars out of the luxury list and called for incentives for hybrid cars like in other countries. Read: Automobile industry lacks policy to grow in Bangladesh: FBCCI In contrast to the global trend, in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority BRTA does not register electric vehicles. So, businessmen urged the government to introduce registration policies for electric vehicles. FBCCI Vice-President and Director in-charge of the committee Md Habib Ullah Dawn said: "During this global crisis, we agreed with a 100 percent LC margin decision, but the banks do not want to open LCs and discourage us through continuously seeking different documents." Also, the businessmen demanded amending the rule of mandatory driving licence while purchasing a motorcycle, harassment-free issuance of driving licence, specific HS code for an electric vehicle, registration for three-wheelers and sector-friendly policy support.