Bangladesh 2.0 Movement aims to spread crosscutting technology in every wake of life
A new civil society forum ‘Bangladesh 2.0 Movement’ was formed to move everyone to be active in the development of the country beyond individual professions in the IT sector. Bangladeshi entrepreneurs and social activists living in the country and abroad have joined this platform to spread crosscutting technology in every aspect of life. They believe that technology, business and economics are complementary realities of the future.
In the morning on Monday, they participated in a group-based way-out meeting held at a hotel in the capital Dhaka with the aim to take forward the new Bangladesh. After the open discussion, more than fifty participants discussed in 5 action groups to achieve the three goals of 'Reform, Reverse and Rebuild'. They will be vocal in their expectations, social responsibility, the main spirit of the students' revolution, by formulating a specific action plan for the needs of the country, the necessary structural and policy changes, the transition from the existing crisis and the establishment of corruption-free and good governance.
The meeting was chaired by Mitra founder Kishwar Hashemi at the initiative of Faheem Mashroor, the country's first online job search platform.
At this time, the speakers urged the interim government to implement unpopular but morally necessary initiatives to establish a firm position based on sector to make Bangladesh 2.0, created through the students' uprising, a success. At the same time, the speakers urged the sector concerned to play a leading role so that the IT business of Bangladesh cannot go to the neighboring countries. In addition to the constitutional reformation of the state infrastructure, special emphasis was placed on media and civil society to be vigilant. It is warned that no new mafia can take root in the future.
In his speech, Rokomari.com co-founder Mahmudul Hasan Sohag emphasized on the use of AI to prevent corruption and freedom of expression and suggested the use of 'growth hacking' model for the necessary changes in policies. He said that the people of Bangladesh are very creative to bypass the system. But blockchain and AI can be used in this field.
Mahtab Uddin, founder and managing director of Buildcon Consultancy said, "We stand even behind Pakistan in ICT exports. In telecom sector our position is even after Afghanistan. Due to policy, we are not able to reduce expenses. It is a politically motivated policy. They need to be renovated within three months.
Sinbad co-founder Jisan Kingshuk Haque expressed regret and said that even if there is an online payment option, none of us here could pay taxes without bribery. So, the process needs to be simplified in these cases.
Fahim Ahmed, managing director and chief executive officer of Pathao, said that history is written through winners. So, we need to know about energy. We must unite against corruption. There is no need to do politics for this. Social responsibilities should be fulfilled from their respective positions. We have to get out of such thinking that this is none of my business. Previous mistakes cannot be repeated. So, we all have to work together to build the future.
Rehnuma Kaiser, co-founder of Youth for All, said the uprising shown by young women is unique in the world. So, we need to train our youth in leadership to spread this position as country branding. I have already done Para Utsab. I can say from that experience, social welfare initiatives need to be implemented from neighborhood to neighborhood to handle issues like robberies.
Policy analyst Sadman Rahman said, for government and international communication, we have to be ahead of the private sector entrepreneurs. And in the past, NTMC has been using geo location and VoIP tools as political tools, said telecom entrepreneur Mustafa Mahmud Hossain.
Economist, writer and social activist Zia Hasan said, stability is needed for real reforms. But we cannot accept the death of even one person on the pretext of stability. Also, we need to increase tolerance. Over the past 10 years, the core of our business has been torn apart. It's not right at all. So, it has to be rebuilt. Because, a business will be small to medium and then big. No business will grow if it only survives in small and large businesses.
Barrister Miti Sanjana said that to build a new Bangladesh, everyone's work has to be shared. The judiciary of Bangladesh has been tarnished. We have lost our accountability. In such a situation, the unstable environment is being lied to divert our IT business towards them in the deep conspiracy of the neighboring countries. So, we have to be careful now.
While speaking as the president, Fahim Mashroor said, from now on, we don't need to do anything with the favor of the government. We have a lifetime to do business. If we cannot create the environment, it will be difficult to survive.
Among others are Fida Haque, co-founder of IT entrepreneur Suryamukhi Limited, Brain Station 23 Managing Director Raisul Kabir, Mpower Founder Mridul Chowdhury, Togumgu CEO Nazmul Arefin, Light of Hope Founder Waliullah Bhuiyan, Aastha IT Director Najaer Naji, Institute of Informatics and Development (IID) Executive Chief Saeed Ahmed, Innovation Consulting Managing Director Rubaiyat Sarwar and others spoke in the event.
