State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak emphasized the inclusion of educationists in the discussion of opening the door to the possibilities of digital economy of smart Bangladesh. “We must have synergy between government-business and academics,” he said.
The ICT State Minister expressed this opinion while participating in the discussion titled ‘Accelerating the Trillion Dollar Journey: Harnessing the Digital Economy to Unlock New Frontiers for a Smart Bangladesh’ at the Bangladesh Business Summit 2023 held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center on Sunday. He also presented the keynote in this plenary session as a special guest.
By 2041, we will be a talent-based economy
Highlighting the benefits of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s creation of a business environment, he said, bKash is now the champion in mobile finance, everyone now has a mobile phone. Foreign direct investment has now come to Bangladesh. E-commerce has become the lifeline of commerce the Covid-19 pandemic. Our goal now is to build an innovation ecosystem. Agriculture, garments and expatriate remittance were the main driving forces of our economy till now. But now from labor dependent, we have become technology dependent. We think that during that time, our innovators and young entrepreneurs will be job providers instead of job seekers. I will create more problem-solvers without looking at the problem. Finally, we will build the startup ecosystem. In this way, by 2041, we will be a talent-based economy country. Bangladesh will be a trillion dollar economy country.
In response to the question about the trillion dollar journey, the state minister said, currently our GDP is 868 billion dollars. Our goal is now to reach one trillion dollars. That’s why we will build a startup ecosystem by 2025. 5 thousand startups are being established. These startups will create 3 million jobs. 5 unicorns will be formed out of it.
Palak said that in the last 5 years, 7 million small and medium entrepreneurs have created 3 million jobs. In the last 6 years, 2,500 startups have created 1.5 million jobs. If we put this figure together, each of the 7 million entrepreneurs created an average of 6 jobs. But each startup created more than 600 jobs. So we will be able to generate 20 percent GDP income from this sector by 2041 by building a startup ecosystem.
In the session, Foreign Secretary Masud bin Momen said that the IT and ITS sector is the future. Exports should not depend only on one sector. Information technology has many roles in all sectors of Bangladesh. The government is taking various policies to build this ecosystem.
Kamal Qadir, Chief Executive Officer of BKash said that all classes of people in the country are now getting the opportunity to deposit money due to the welfare of fintech. He said this opportunity is contributing to the economic growth of the country. To fulfill the goals that the government is moving forward with, preparations should be made accordingly. Supporting policies will also be needed. Apart from this, the environment should be created to attract investors while protecting the interests of consumers. Only then it is possible to build a technology-based Bangladesh.
Jorgen C Arentz Rostrup – Executive Vice President and Head of Telenor Asia said that although Bangladesh is one of the biggest telecom markets, there is a lack of knowledge and skills in mobile technology. Both education and training will be needed for Smart Bangladesh. Bangladesh has always been a priority for Telenor. Investment will also continue here.
Vivek Sood, Chief Financial Officer of Axiata Group Berhad emphasized on the policy framework for the implementation of 5G in Bangladesh. He said, investment depends on policy. Digital education is very important for digital inclusion. Bangladesh has to do more work here.
Bjarke Mikkelsen, Group CEO of Daraj highlighted the progress of Bangladesh in the digital commerce sector in the last five years and said that an ecosystem has been developed from infrastructure to consumers.
Taking part in the discussion, BASIS President Russell T Ahmed said that Bangladesh has immense potential. There are huge investment opportunities here. And the technology sector will lead Smart Bangladesh.
Convener of the program, President, Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce & Industry Syed Almas Kabir, and organizer of this event, FBCCI President Jasim Uddin gave greetings at the last stage of the panel discussion moderated by Mastercard Country Manager Syed Mohammad Kamal.