Young entrepreneurs amaze many
Staff Correspondent
They were excited for obvious reasons, but at the same time their innovative business ideas amazed many.
The Surma hall of Sonargaon Hotel was literarily too small to provide the encaustic young entrepreneurs with enough space, and with the announcement of the Young Entrepreneur Award 2008-09, the hall was about to be exploded with thundering claps and whistles.
Finance minister AMA Muhith congratulated the winners and all other participants of the competition, organised by Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Bangladesh. HSBC chief executive officer in Bangladesh Sanjay Prakash and marketing and communications head Mustafizur Rahman also spoke on the occasion.
The main attraction was the results of the competition. Among seven finalist teams, the team from International Business Administration named Viva La Vida bagged the top position to go to Hong Kong to compete with the winners from other regions. The IBA team secured the gold title with their ‘Water Wise’ project that suggested using rainwater to solve the water-crisis of mega-city, Dhaka. People in many parts of the world even in the developed countries, however, have been using rainwater for a long time to meet their daily needs.
Another IBA team, CMPI, achieved the second title with their project on cassava production and its use for making oral re-hydration saline and cheaper food items. Cassava is a major source of crobohydrade for the Pacific islanders including the people of Fiji and Tonga.
A team from the business studies faculty of Dhaka University secured the bronze title. The team, the Spartans BD, got the award for their waste converter project that advised rolling degradable municipal waste into petroleum and biogas. Some international oil and power companies earlier expressed their interest in this area to produce electricity for the Dhaka city consumers by using organic waste.
All the three winners received cash prices from HSBC. They will also get a weeklong study trip to Hong Kong.
HSBC Bangladesh selected the teams in phases. At the first phase, the bank’s staff visited different universities and invited student teams to submit their business ideas for the competition. Over 215 teams sent submissions from all over Bangladesh and 34 teams were selected for the second round. Only seven teams were selected for the final round.
The teams made separate presentations, detailing their business proposals, merit and depth of business concepts, commercial viability and innovation.
Crunch fund for knitwear
under consideration
Bdnews24.com . Dhaka
The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has told the knitwear manufacturers and exporters that the government will consider economic assistance of 10 per cent against export to help them to hold off recession impact.
Md Fazlul Hoque, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told reporters after a meeting with the prime minister Thursday that she also assured them of resolving the nagging power crisis.
‘The government in its recently declared stimulus package did not include knitwear industry. But the industry is on the verge of disaster. That’s why we sought assistance,’ Hoque said.
On the type of economic assistance he said, ‘We have sought 10 per cent performance incentive against each export.
‘The prime minister responded positively to our proposal.’
‘She told us as the stimulus package has the arrangement of reallocation, we can get it if necessary.’
The BKMEA president said the government was taking measures to resolve power and gas crises.
They asked the government to cut bank interest rate against loan for knitwear industries, allocate the Rajuk plots at Chasharah in Narayanganj to BKMEA at a fair price and end complications to set up a knitwear village at Benapole port.
The other demands included conversion of BIWTA jetty in Narayanganj into a modern terminal and building hospital for the knitwear workers.
Hoque said Wednesday they could propose to the government for even importing power to ensure smooth production in their factories.
The businesses often say that their production is being terribly hampered and the cost of production is skyrocketing because of the electricity crisis.
They hugely depend on generator backup, but on-and-off power supplies put the production on the edge amid tight deadline for shipment.
The garment sector, the main force behind the country’s export earning, has been demanding cash incentive for their industries to cope with the falling prices of the products that are mainly shipped to Europe and the United States, the origin of the economic crisis.
Visitors bring smile
to Khulna fair
Tapos Kanti Das . Khulna
Participants at the Khulna International Trade Fair are all smiling as they have got a very good response from Khulna metropolis. The fair has so far drawn a good number of crowd with some well-offs who have gone for a kind of buying spree.
The traders and salesmen at different stalls and pavilions said a huge number of people have visited the fair and their sales were double this week compared to the first week of the fair.
Md Sajib Biswas, owner of the Sajib Shoes from Dhaka, said his sales were good, but he was expecting more business in the last week of the fair as a huge number of people had been browsing to choose their goods.
Khulna branch executive director of real estate company Inspired Development Ash Shakur Rahman told New Age that his company got inquiry from a many people that would bring more business in future.
Mahamud Hasan Rony of the city’s Sher-E-Bangla road said he had been visiting the fair for the past five to six years and observed that the visitors were increasing. ‘I have bought two Saris for my mother and for my wife and have chosen an oven to buy later from the fair.’
Besides locals, some business firms from overseas including Pakistan, India, Iran and China are showcasing their products and services at 12 pavilions and 152 stalls at the fair. The products include ceramic, melamine, electric, electronics, computer, textile, Khadi, cosmetics, furniture, garments, foods, cement, handicrafts, machinery and iron goods.
We have ensured tight security during the fair and the security is being monitored through close circuit camera, said KCCI president Shaharuzzaman Mortuza, adding that the gathering in the fair was satisfactory.
The month-long fair jointly arranged by Khulna Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Masers D and D Trading started on April 11 at Circuit House ground in Khulna.
Rupayan flat fair begins today
Staff Correspondent
Rupayan Housing Estate Limited is going to arrange a three-day flat fair from today (Friday) at the city’s Sonargaon Hotel to launch its housing project ‘Rupayan Town’ at Bhuighar in Narayanganj.
‘The Rupayan Town with 784 flats in 28 buildings will be the pioneer in providing the customers with readymade flats in an affordable rate,’ said Sadat Hossain Salim, the managing director of Rupayan Housing while briefing newsmen at a press conference at Dhaka Club on Thursday.
The Rupayan Town will also house shopping mall, hospitals, schools, play grounds. The town will have its own water supply system, electric substation and central generator system, the managing director claimed.
‘One will get a readymade flat if the customer books the flat with a down-payment of only Tk 4, 14,000. The customer will have the opportunity to pay the rest of the money over the next 20 years by any finance company or by themselves,’ Salim said, ‘It is really a way out for those who want to own a flat with their monthly rentals.’
The cost of the flat will stand be Tk 2990 per sq ft. There will be four types of flats such as 660, 760, 965 and 1120 sq ft, he said.
The flat fair scheduled to be inaugurated by AKM Moshiur Rahman, adviser to the prime minister on economic affairs and will remain open for all from 10:00am.
Every visitor of the fair will be provided with a coupon and a lottery of the coupons will be drawn to select the winner of a flat in the Rupayan Town later.
CORPORATE DISCLOSURES
Business Desk
Bank Asia
The bank has informed that due to unavoidable circumstances the 10th AGM of the bank will be held at the Dhaka Sheraton Hotel instead of Bashundhara City. The date and time of the AGM will remain unchanged.
Himadri
As per audited accounts as on December 31, 2008, the company has reported net profit after tax of Tk 1.02m with EPS of Tk 1.36 as against Tk 1.00m and Tk 1.33 respectively as on December 31, 2007.
Modern Industries
The board of directors did not recommend any dividend for 2008. Date of AGM: June 11, 2009, time: 9:00am, venue: River View Cold Storage, Munshiganj. Book closure: June 03-11, 2009.
Peoples Leasing
The board of directors has recommended stock dividend at 20 per cent (20 bonus shares against 100 shares held) for 2008 subject to approval by regulatory authority. Date of AGM: June 22, 2009, time: 11:00am, venue: National Shooting Federation Auditorium, Dhaka. Record date: May 25, 2009.
BSRM Steels
Normal trading of the shares of the company will resume on May 03, 09 after record date and there will be no price limit on the trading of the shares of the company for the same day.
Source: DSE
Swine flu prompts Mexico to
shut down economy
Reuters/ Bdnews24.com . Mexico City
Mexican president Felipe Calderon told his people to stay home from Friday for a five-day partial shutdown of the economy, after the World Health Organization said a swine flu pandemic was imminent.
Calderon ordered government offices and private businesses not crucial to the economy to stop work to avoid further infections from the new virus, which has killed up to 176 people in Mexico and is now spreading around the world.
‘There is no safer place than your own home to avoid being infected with the flu virus,’ Calderon said in his first televised address since the crisis erupted last week.
Twelve countries have reported cases of the H1N1 strain, with the Netherlands the latest to join the list. It said a three year-old child had contracted the virus.
Switzerland also confirmed its first case on Thursday, saying a man returning from Mexico had tested positive for the flu. Peru reported the first case in Latin America outside Mexico.
Texas officials on Wednesday reported the first swine flu death outside Mexico, a 22-month-old Mexican boy on a visit.
The WHO raised the official alert level to phase 5, the last step before a pandemic.
‘Influenza pandemics must be taken seriously precisely because of their capacity to spread rapidly to every country in the world,’ WHO director general Margaret Chan told a news conference in Geneva on Wednesday.
‘The biggest question is — how severe will the pandemic be, especially now at the start,’ Chan said.
The world ‘is better prepared for an influenza pandemic than at any time in history,’ she said. WHO has stopped short of recommending travel restrictions, border closures or any limitation on the movement of people, goods or services.
In Mexico City, a metropolis of 20 million, all schools, restaurants, nightclubs and public events have been shut down to try to stop the disease from spreading, bringing normal life to a virtual standstill.
Historic rivals to tie up
in facing meltdown
Agence-France-Presse . Beijing
Japanese prime minister Taro Aso called Thursday for Tokyo and Beijing to unite in facing the world’s environmental and economic challenges, while playing down concerns over China’s military power.
In a wide-ranging speech in Beijing, Aso floated the prospect of a bilateral free trade deal and joint peace-keeping operations, and said a closer tie between the historic rivals was the only way forward.
‘Cooperation between Japan and China is a pre-condition for taking advantage of Asia’s potential as the growth centre for the 21st Century,’ Aso told a gathering of business leaders from both nations.
Aso, who met Chinese president Hu Jintao later Thursday for the final major engagement of his two-day trip, talked about working together to overcome the ‘once-in-a-century global economic and financial crisis’.
‘It’s extremely important that Japan and China, the world’s second and third largest economies, keep in step with each other,’ he said when talking about tackling the economic downturn.
‘We confirmed that Japan and China jointly work on issues such as macroeconomic policy centred on measures to boost domestic demand, preventing protectionism, and supporting other Asian developing countries.’
As evidence of the benefits of a closer partnership, Aso pointed to a major steel factory in Beijing that he visited on Thursday morning which is using Japanese technology to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
‘I saw an admirable case of realising both an improvement in... energy conservation and steel production through a Japan-China joint project,’ he said.
‘China is the world’s largest crude steel producer, while Japan has the world’s most advanced environmental and energy-conservation technologies.
‘Today I hardened my convictions that by uniting the two factors, Japan and China can make a great leap forward.’
Aso also raised the highly sensitive issue of China’s rising military might, which has caused concerns in Japan, the United States and its allies amid complaints about what they say is a lack of Chinese transparency.
‘We know that China has a resolution to contribute to building a peaceful and prosperous world,’ he said.
‘I expect that China’s behaviour will be in line with this resolution, thereby causing no worries or anxiety in the region and in the world.’
Aso called on the business leaders in the audience to think outside the box in devising ways for the Asian neighbours to work more closely.
‘I think we can discuss the possibility of a Japan-China economic partnership agreement (free trade deal),’ he said.
‘It is also important to discuss cooperation in the area of peace-building, such as arms reduction and non-proliferation, peace-keeping operations, anti-piracy and sea lane defence.’
Aso’s trip to China has primarily been aimed at pushing forward a recent thaw in relations between the two nations, and on Wednesday he met Chinese premier Wen Jiabao for two hours.
Aso and Wen discussed a wide range of issues including the global economic downturn, the swine flu threat and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
But despite the focus on warming relations, sources of friction did surface.
Aso last week upset China with an offering to Tokyo’s Yasukuni war shrine, which honours Japanese killed in World War II but also 14 prominent war criminals.
China, which remains embittered by Japan’s brutal wartime occupation, quickly protested over the offering and Wen raised the issue again during his meeting with Aso.
‘Historical issues are sensitive and affect the feelings of a nation’s people. It is hoped the Japanese side can endeavour to handle them properly,’ China’s official Xinhua news agency quoted Wen as telling Aso.
Nevertheless, relations have warmed significantly since the 2001-2006 administration of former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, who infuriated China with his annual visits to the shrine.
Phones weigh down Ericsson
Agence-France-Presse . Stockholm
The world leader in mobile phone network equipment Ericsson on Thursday posted a 30-per cent drop in profits, weighed down by its mobile phone unit, but said the impact of the global economic downturn was ‘limited.’
Between January and March, the company registered a net profit of 1.8 billion kronor (171 million euros, 227 million dollars), compared to 2.6 billion in the first quarter of last year.
That was in line with analysts’ forecasts.
But the company’s operating profit came in well below expectations, falling 49 per cent to 1.7 billion kronor, compared to 3.5 billion for the same period last year.
Meanwhile, turnover rose by 12.0 per cent to 49.6 billion kronor from 44.2 billion kronor.
At 1100 GMT, the price of Ericsson shares was down by 8.03 per cent to 71.00 kronor in a market down by 0.6 per cent.
Despite the fall in profits, Ericsson chief executive Carl-Henric Svanberg said the industry had not felt a major impact from the deteriorating global economy.
‘The effects of the global downturn on the market are so far limited, even if we see some,’ Svanberg told a press conference.
However, he said currency swings had led some companies to postpone some investments.
‘Some operators are also more cautious with longer-term investments in fixed networks, such as rollout of fibre networks. Most operators, however, have healthy financial positions, there is a strong traffic growth and the networks are fairly loaded,’ he said in an earlier statement.
Svanberg remained positive about the potential for growth in Ericsson’s three biggest markets: the United States, China and India.
‘Investments in wireless networks largely continues, and rollouts of new networks and new technologies accelerate in markets such as the US, China and India,’ he said.
Ericsson’s upbeat outlook contrasts from some of their other European rivals who are struggling to cope with the worsening economic conditions.
Germany’s Deutsche Telekom issued a profit warning on April 21, while France Telecom announced earlier this week it would cut capital spending due to the crisis.
Ericsson’s joint venture with Sony, handset maker Sony Ericsson, weighed down heavily on the firm’s profitability.
The handset maker produced a charge of 2.1 billion kronor on Ericsson’s results, owing to huge first-quarter losses that were announced in the middle of April.
‘Our joint ventures have affected us and they’re making efforts to adjust their operations,’ Svanberg told reporters.
Thomas Langer, an analyst with German bank WestLB, expressed doubts over Ericsson’s optimistic outlook.
‘Clearly what they have written is pure prose, not substance,’ he said, calling on the company to offload Sony Ericsson.
But Michael Andersson, an analyst with Finnish bank Evli, disagreed.
‘I don’t think they are too optimistic, I think they can manage quite well,’ he said, pointing to Ericsson’s increasing market share and the large losses suffered by its main competitor Nokia Siemens Networks in the first quarter.
Sony Ericsson has already announced 2,000 job cuts, while ST-Ericsson, a joint venture created in February with ST MicroElectronics, on Wednesday announced 1,200 job losses.
Swedish media have speculated that Ericsson was considering selling the Japanese-Swedish phone venture that was created in 2001, though Svanberg has maintained that Ericsson is committed to a long-term involvement.
Ericsson wants to make annual savings of 10 billion kronor by the second half of 2010, a goal which Svanberg described as ‘running according to plan.’
In January, the company announced 5,000 job cuts in a bid to cut costs.
Ericsson, which is the world leader in mobile phone network equipment ahead of Nokia Siemens, employed 76,900 people worldwide at the end of March, half of which are based in western Europe.
Final push for Chrysler
Reuters.Bdnews24.com . Rome
Chrysler rushed to clinch a last-minute deal on Thursday to stave off collapse ahead of a midnight deadline for the third-largest US automaker.
As of Thursday morning, Chrysler still had not gained the bondholder support it needs to move forward with a restructuring and avoid the first-ever bankruptcy filing by a Big Three US automaker.
The ailing US manufacturer is seeking a rescue deal from Fiat — combined, the companies would be the world’s fifth-largest carmaker — and a debt forgiveness agreement from its lenders.
The signals about how those discussions are going were mixed. Italian newspaper Corriere Della Serra reported Thursday morning that a deal with Fiat had been signed, but Fiat later denied this.
While getting a Fiat deal done is a key part of Chrysler’s historic day, bondholders still hold the key.
‘I think there is reasonable optimism that (a deal between Fiat and Chrysler) can be closed with an announcement perhaps even by president (Barack) Obama,’ Italian Industry Minister Claudio Scajola told Italian television on Thursday.
Chrysler, majority-owned by Cerberus Capital Group, is among the world car industry’s weakest players, but its plight reflects a slump in demand facing an industry whose $2.6 trillion annual revenue is equivalent to the GDP of France and which employs over 9 million people.
On Wednesday, Obama said concessions by Chrysler’s unions and its major bank lenders had made him more hopeful than a month ago that the struggling automaker could be made viable.
But he added it was still not clear if Chrysler would need to seek bankruptcy protection to cement concessions from lenders and move ahead with the Fiat deal.
The White House has set a series of aggressive targets for Chrysler in order to justify another $6 billion in investment on top of $4 billion in emergency loans the government has extended since the start of the year.
The No. 3 US automaker has won cost-cutting concessions from its unions in the United States and Canada and was on the brink of closing its deal with Fiat on Wednesday, a person involved in those negotiations told Reuters.
Putting the two car producers together would give the combined group annual sales of some 4.16 million vehicles, making it equal with Hyundai and behind Toyota, General Motors, Volkswagen and Ford.
Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne thinks a carmaker needs to produce at least 5.5 million cars a year to survive.
