09-03-2021

TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2021 8
Nagad to create 10 women
entrepreneurs in each Upazila
"Overcoming Hundreds of Barriers, Women are Moving Forward"- with this slogan, Bank Asia celebrates
International Women's Day 2021 in a festive manner on 8 March 2021. Ms. Romana Rouf Chowdhury,
Director of the bank was the Chief Guest, Tania Nusrat Zaman, Director (Designate), Bank Asia Ltd., was the
Special Guest and Shamim Ara Khanom, Managing Director of Voice Breeze was the Honorable Guest of the
program. The leading female employees from different arenas of the bank shared their stories of journey
towards a successful career. Honorable Guests cut cake with the female employees of the bank after delivering
their motivational speech. Md. Arfan Ali, President & Managing Director, Deputy Managing Directors,
Departmental Heads, Branch Heads and other officials were present at the program organized at Conference
Room, Bank Asia Tower, Karwan Bazar, Dhaka.
Photo : Courtesy
Aiming to accelerate the process of
women's empowerment, Nagad, the
digital financial service arm of
Bangladesh Post Office has taken an
initiative to recruiting ten women
entrepreneurs in each upazila of the
country.
Nagad will train up the selected
women in addition and will be given
the necessary support to deliver Nagad
services at the remote level, a press
release said.
Any woman who wants to become
self-dependent through providing the
digital financial services can apply to be
registered as an entrepreneur of Nagad,
the fast growing digital financial service
provider of the country. Interested
candidates should apply by March 31
via e-mail with resume. E-mail address
for sending application
nari.uddokta@nagad.com.bd.
The Nagad, second largest mobile
financial service carrier of the country,
authority will organize special training
on digital financial services by
screening the applicants and ultimately
recruit as entrepreneur from the
successful trainee list.
Commenting on the issue, Tanvir A
Mishuk, Managing Director of Nagad,
said, "We are working to accelerate the
digital transaction services to all types
of people across the country. Women
empowerment is one of our top
priority. We believe that this initiative
will also make a significant
contribution to ensuring equal
participation of women in digital
business and eliminating gender
inequality from the society, which will
also ensure a digital lifestyle for all men
and women. Moreover, if women are
employed as entrepreneurs, the
number of financial inclusion among
women will increase."
There are currently over a hundred
women entrepreneurs working with
Nagad and a significant number of
them have established themselves as
Nagad entrepreneurs. Some women
entrepreneurs are transacting one to
two lakh take a day and they
themselves are earning good money.
This will be a unique initiative to
employ women entrepreneurs at the
grassroots level in the financial services
business.
Mercantile Bank Limited celebrated International Women's Day-2021 today (08/03/2021). Female executives &
officers of the bank participated in the event. Md. Quamrul Islam Chowdhury, Managing Director & CEO of the
Bank inaugurated the Women's Day event by cutting cake. Mati Ul Hasan, Additional Managing Director was
present on the occasion. Moreover, Mercantile Bank celebrated the Women's Day in the different divisions of
Head Office and 150 branches of the bank all over the country. Md. Zakir Hossain, Adil Raihan, Shamim Ahmed
and Hasne Alam Deputy Managing Directors, Mohammad Iqbal Rezwan, SEVP & Head of HR and Tapash
Chandra Paul, PhD, CFO of the bank along with senior executives and officers were also present. Considering the
pandemic situation Mercantile Bank celebrated the event in different divisions and branches instead of a colorful
central arrangement.
Photo : Courtesy
Padma Bank has launched a specialized woman banking product "Padmabati". Besides, earning interest every
day, women will receive special benefits along with special discounts and privileges at different shopping outlets.
The service will be provided by 58 branches in all geographic areas of Bangladesh. Also, customers will be able to
withdraw money from all ATMs of Bangladesh. Women entrepreneurs, salaried professionals, home makers,
students are all eligible to enjoy the features of Padmabati. Padmabati customers will receive free debit card, free
Privilege/Discount Card, free cheque book. Also, through this account other deposit products can be linked with
this account. Besides, there will be loan facility with less processing fee. Also, 50% discount will be provided for
locker service and special discount on student file processing and specially, daily profit earning which is first time
ever in Bangladesh provided by Padma Bank.
Photo : Courtesy
South Asia Has a New Economic Leader : Will
the World Take Note ?
COVID-19 has made Bangladesh richer
per capita than India. Will diplomatic
partners shift their strategies as a result?
Bangladesh — the overcrowded,
overpopulated flood-prone state that,
founded in 1971, is barely older than the
internet — is now one of the richest
countries in South Asia. The region was
rocked by this week’s data that
Bangladesh’s GDP per capita will exceed
India’s this year, despite India having a
25 percent lead just five years ago.
There is no doubt about what has
tipped the balance: COVID-19. While
India has struggled to bring the virus
under control, Bangladesh’s data-led
innovative public health approach and
rapidly improving digital infrastructure
has allowed the economy to continue
growing. But will the world take note, and
realize that there are newer (and more
stable) South Asian partners beyond the
traditional ones? Will the new “Global
Britain” prioritize the Bengal Tiger for a
trade deal? And will the U.S. president
(whether that’s Donald Trump or Joe
Biden, come January 2021) consider
Bangladesh a priority in South Asia, or
stick with familiar partners?
Certainly this news will change the
calculus by which an economy — and a
nation state’s — strength is judged.
Rather than just looking at a country’s
currency, exports, and governance, its
biosecurity capacity will now be seen as
something as pivotal as national security
— an area of policy that can make or
break everything else.
It is not just Bangladesh’s growth that
has contributed to this result, but India’s
decline after severely mismanaging both
the health and economic fallout of the
pandemic.
China is the best example of how swift
and effective pandemic management can
support continued economic growth
(consumer spending there has already
returned to pre-pandemic levels and its
GDP grew 5 percent in the last quarter).
But China is an extreme case — there
will be many winners across the world.
And there will inevitably be some who
can learn a great deal from those
winners, and avoid further blunders.
This change in South Asia’s economic
pecking order, combined with improving
social indicators and rapid digitalization,
could mean that many global powers will
pivot more of their attention toward
Dhaka. The shift is overdue. Since India’s
independence, it has understandably
been the focus of the region’s economic
and political activity. The region itself is
often referred to as the Indian
Subcontinent, perhaps a colonial
hangover based on generations of Brits
who interacted with an India that was
essentially the only significant state in the
region (not only modern day Pakistan
and Bangladesh, but also Burmese
territory was part of Colonial India).
thediplomat.com
Gold price
closes higher
in Hong Kong
HONG KONG : The gold
price in Hong Kong closed at
15,740 Hong Kong dollars
(about 2,025.74 U.S. dollars)
per tael on Monday, up 70
Hong Kong dollars from the
previous trading day,
according to the Chinese
Gold and Silver Exchange
Society. (1 U.S. dollar equals
7.77 HK dollars).
Brent crude oil
price surges above
$70 a barrel
HONG KONG : Brent crude
oil surged more than two
percent Monday following a
missile attack on facilities
owned by energy giant
Aramco in Saudi Arabia, and
on optimism about the
demand outlook as the
global economy recovers.
A barrel of the black gold
jumped 2.11 percent to
$70.82 a barrel, the highest
since May 2019.
China says
manufacturing
'greatness' still
30 years away
Many observers already see
China as the "world's
factory" given that more
than a third of global output
from cars to phones comes
from there, bbc.com
But China's leaders are
concerned about its heavy
dependence on the US for
high-tech products like
semiconductors.
"Basic capabilities are still
weak" Miao Wei warned on
Sunday.
"Core technologies are in
the hands of others" and
China runs the risk of "being
hit in the throat" warned Mr
Miao, who was Minister of
Industry and Information
Technology for a decade.
He is now a member of the
Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference
(CPPCC), the top advisory
body to the government.
Md. Ali Hossain Pradhania, Managing Director of Bangladesh Krishi Bank celebrates
the International Women's Day by cutting a cake with Shirin Athter,
Deputy Managing Director of the Bank and officers/employees of all grades. Md.
Azizul Bari, General Manager (Administration) of the Bank and Md. A. Rahim,
General Manager of Local Principal Office were also present in the occasion. The
Managing Director mentioned the slogan of this year's International Women's
Day " Women in Leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world" and
expressed hope that women will move forward in the workplace by acquiring
skills to implement the Women's Day pledge effectively. Photo : Courtesy
Dhaka seeks Saudi investment
in PPP projects
DHAKA : Dhaka has urged Riyadh to sign an
MoU between Public-Private Partnership (PPA)
Authority of Bangladesh and competent Saudi
authority to further enable Saudi investors to
invest in Bangladesh on the PPP projects.
State minister for foreign affairs M Shahriar
Alam made the proposal while holding
bilateral talks with his Saudi counterpart Adel
Al-Jubeir at the latter's Office in Riyadh on
Sunday, a foreign ministry press release said.
In reply, Saudi junior minister said that they
would soon sort out the MoU issue regarding
PPP and hope that potential Saudi companies
would invest in a vibrant economy like
Bangladesh.
Alam expressed Bangladesh's deep gratitude
to the Saudi King and Crown Prince for
allowing all the foreign residents including
Bangladeshi nationals irrespective of their legal
status for access to free COVID treatment and
inoculation. Upon a request made by Alam,
State Minister Jubeir assured of considering
and interim arrangement for the irregular
Bangladesh expatriates to have access health
facilities and employment.
The state minister also requested to
reappoint a cultural attach, at the Saudi
Embassy in Dhaka, so the service seekers'
would not need to send their documents to
New Delhi for attestation and Saudi side took
note of that. Both the state ministers agreed to
expedite the pending Agreements and MoUs
and to hold first Foreign Office Consultation
where the whole gamut of bilateral
relationship could be discussed.
Alam mentioned that under the visionary
leaderships of both the countries, the relations
have elevated to a strategic level.
For advancing from this point, he
emphasized on exploring further avenues of
cooperation on international issues based on
common interest and goals and economic ties.
The state minister stressed on regular
Business to Business dialogue to explore
bilateral trade and investment opportunities in
Bangladesh. Alam also reiterated Bangladesh
government's unwavering support to the Saudi
side and expressed solidarity condemning the
recent cowardly attacks Houthis.
Adel Al-Jubeir appreciated Bangladesh's
position on Yemen issue. The Saudi State
Minister congratulated Bangladesh at its 50th
anniversary of independence. He highly
praised the remarkable sustained economic
growth of Bangladesh carried out in last one
decade under the able leadership of Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina.
He continued the recent UN decision to
graduate Bangladesh from LDC category to the
middle-income country is a testimony of this
success. He fondly remembered the historic
ties between this two countries and the valued
contribution of the Father of the Nation
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to its
independence and laying foundation of Golden
Bengal.
ONE Bank Limited formally inaugurated Shohagpur Bazar Sub-Branch under its Ganakbari(EPZ) Branch on
Monday at Shohagpur Bazar, Mirzapur, Tangail. M. Fakhrul Alam, Managing Director of ONE Bank Limited inaugurated
the Sub-Branch. From this Sub-Branch local people of this area will get all kinds of banking facilities.
Kamal Hossain, DGM of Tangail Palli Bidyut Samity, Alhaz Humayun Kabir, Landlord of Humayun Super Market
& prominent businessman along with high officials of the Bank and prominent elites of the locality were also present
in the ceremony.
Photo : Courtesy