A sales carnival was held on Tuesday night at a restaurant in Dhaka to mark the eleventh anniversary of the event by honoring members and partners and organizing a seminar on ‘Smart Bangladesh Smart Business’. State Minister for Planning Shamsul Alam was the chief guest on the occasion. ICT Secretary Md. Shamsul Arefin was present as a special guest.
While speaking as the chief guest, the state minister said that the term Digital Bangladesh seemed to be a matter of irony but now it is real. But now we have to be careful about online fraud. Because there is bitter experience about losing money online from Bangladesh Bank. So the government controls the quality of digital fraud special products, market stability and syndication.
Ishita Sharmin, Chief Executive Officer of Online Classified Market Place Bikroy.com presided over the Panel discussions. Afterwards, the ICT Secretary Md. Shamsul Arefin advised everyone to be smart in mind. He said, we are lagging behind mentally as our long-term studies and curriculum are not realistic.
Earlier, in the seminar titled ‘Smart Bangladesh Smart Business: Possibilities and Challenges’ conducted by Mashroor Sadat, Head of Finance at Bikroy.com, the experts advised to move ahead with the possibilities without creating policy obstacles in the e-commerce sector. They advised to have positive dreams in extreme negative situations.
Munir Hasan believes that if a startup fails, a positive approach is more necessary than our policies to stand it up. He said, thanks to the internet, our youths have built organizations whose revenue is 1 taka, the valuation is 10 taka. Now is the age of 100 X. So now we have to get out of the old mindset. Therefore, importance should be given in evaluating their intellectual property. But now we loot and hold ‘radish’ in front of the youth. That is why the young people of Bangladesh go to Estonia by spending money. By solving such problems, places should be opened for the youth. Any startup that shuts down should stand next to it. He suggested to adopt NID instead of creating many paper complications in business registration to give them opportunity.
Participating in the discussion, Russell T Ahmed opined that ‘if incentives are given for bringing money from abroad, then incentives should also be given to the youth who earn from YouTube’. He said, it is not right to abuse Evaly without teaching humanity along with the practice of science and culture. Instead of focusing on why PayPal hasn’t arrived, we need to create a market where PayPal will arrive.
In addition, a2i 100 team leader Rezwanul Haque Jami said, Vice President (Market Operations) of Robi Axiata, Ahmed Arman Siddiqui, Chief Business Officer of Grameenphone Dr. Afif Naimur Rashid took part in the discussions.
Among them, Rezwanul Haque Jami said, small, medium and cottage entrepreneurs will play a big role in transforming into smart business. There are about 80 lakh CSME entrepreneurs in the country. We won’t be smart until they come online. Therefore, creating digital public infrastructure is of utmost importance. That’s why we need an integrated platform.
While delivering her concluding speech, Bikroy.com CEO Ishita Sharmin said, ‘As a startup we never compromised with responsibility. Now we are going to launch cashless services to go grass roots. However, although 13 crore people use the internet in the country, 2.5 crore people are now using bikroy.com. About 30 thousand business users. But I cannot serve those who are doing business from home now. I want policy support for that.’
Arefin Hossain, Head of Marketing of bikroy.com, said in the speech given earlier, that through this event, the Sale Property Fair will be inaugurated in more than half a hundred categories included in the sale.