The New Nation - Internet Edition

Bangladesh gets $95m WB loan for post-cyclone aid

BUSINESS REPORT

Bangladesh will receive a $95 million loan from the World Bank to implement two new projects to help poor families affected by last year's deadly cyclone, officials said on Sunday.

The cyclone Sidr killed more than 3,000 people in November, causing extensive damage to property, livestock, and crops, estimated at a total of $1.7 billion.

"It is our collective duty to help Bangladesh and promote the growing economy," Mohamed Alhousseyni Toure, Operations Adviser of the World Bank, said.

The Bangladesh government has undertaken a Social Investment Programme Project to help families affected by the cyclone. It has also launched an aid scheme for people with disabilities and vulnerable children in rapidly growing urban slums who are at risk after natural disasters.

"Bangladesh is implementing a number of projects to recover the economy with the help of development partners and we are coordinating the whole process," Toure told a meeting attended by experts, representatives of development partners and senior officials.

The 40-year World Bank loan will also cover $10 million in assistance for Disaster Management Bureau aimed at improving its efficiency, the bureau's director, Mohammad Abu Sadeque, said.

The authorities in Dhaka and the World Bank have assessed that the country will need $4 billion to fully rehabilitate the economy after the cyclone, officials said.

HSBC award winners attend grand finale in Hong Kong

BUSINESS REPORT

The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in Bangladesh has recently organised a study tour to Hong Kong for the HSBC Young Entrepreneurs Awards (YEA) 2008 Gold, Silver and Bronze award winners.

The Gold team from Bangladesh, Team Pandora, participated in the YEA Regional Grand Finale in Hong Kong and competed against other Gold teams from Brunei, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The Gold team from Thailand, Team Symphony, won the prestigious 'Best of the Best' and 'Best Presentation Award' along with a cash prize of HKD 100000 (BDT 7 lakh equivalent). Team Pandora put up a very strong showing, but was unable to repeat the feat of last year's regional 'Best of the Best' winners from Bangladesh.

Students attended a seminar on Entrepreneurial Skills Development and also went to Ocean Park, Cathay Pacific and Calbee Four Seas for corporate visits organised by HSBC. Students also enjoyed a tour of the HSBC main building in Hong Kong.

HSBC Young Entrepreneurs Award is a regional business plan writing and presentation competition which was launched seven years ago in Hong Kong.

Sunsilk transforms another 100 girls

BUSINESS REPORT

Sunsilk has recently handed over gift coupons to another 100 girls for availing makeovers at Persona. This activity is the follow up to the "Boishakhi bodoler din" campaign where a complete makeover including makeup, hairstyling, Boishakhi saree from design houses, ornaments and flowers were given free to 100 girls at the dawn of this year's Pahela Baishakh.

The activity was motivated from a universal research by Sunsilk where it was found that hair, more than anything else, influences and represents self expression and self esteem in a girl's life. The research found that more personal than clothes and more malleable than skin, hair defines the girl, and it can have a transformational impact on the way she lives her life. In fact it was found that more than any other girls in the world, Bangladeshi girls (96 per cent of them) use their hair to instantly transform their looks. Hair is the trigger that enables girls to make life happen now - and only Sunsilk truly understands the very real effect hair can have on a girl's happiness and confidence.

Inspired from all these findings, Sunsilk launched a consumer promotion for self-service store shoppers, who upon purchase of only Tk 250 worth of Sunsilk products could get the chance to participate in the promotion by completing the phrase-"What does Baishakh mean to me" and be one of the lucky 100 women to receive a Sunsilk makeover at Persona. The campaign was communicated through point-of-sales merchandizing and thousands of entries were received by the team who had to choose the best 100 answers that best exemplified the festive mood of the day and the "life can't wait" attitude that Sunsilk emphasizes. As Sunsilk believes that if their looks and especially their hair can be transformed they will be more confident in transforming their lives - to make life happen - because with beautiful hair now, life can't wait.

During the award giving ceremony, the winners were first introduced to the thought behind the new philosophy of Sunsilk "life can't wait" and the different variants and product formats that were launched recently.

Later they received a virtual makeover by uploading a digital picture on to the makeover machine software on the site www.gangofgirls.com, an exclusive Sunsilk website for Bangladeshi girls. The new website provides information on all the products of Sunsilk, hair care tips, shampooing advice and "life can't wait" stories of the international icons of Sunsilk - Madonna, Marilyn Monroe and Priyanka Chopra.

Persona, which is one of the leading beauty salons in the country, has supported this promotion and renowned Beauty expert Kaneez Almas Khan, who is also the exclusive hair style expert for Sunsilk, was present at the prize giving ceremony. She spoke about her long-standing relationship with Sunsilk for more than a decade and the importance of good hair care through the use of Sunsilk's complete range - shampoo, conditioner, lotion and treatment.

Mrs Khan said, "Persona shares the same belief with Sunsilk, that the style of a woman's hair has a transformational impact on her life and Persona has been working over the years in matching female's personalities with their entire look and making beautiful girls even more beautiful. We are very proud today in supporting Sunsilk in this." The winners also got an exclusive session with Kaneez to ask her about their hair care problems.

Through this initiative, Sunsilk tried to contribute in transforming looks of 100 girls which will indeed boost their confidence level and thus will enable them to change their life as well, says a press release.

BTRC to offer WiMAX licenses

Bangladesh's telecoms regulator, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has published its draft guidelines for issuing Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) licenses. The national licenses are being proposed - two in the 2.3Ghz band and one in the 2.5Ghz band.

The incumbent operators are banned from bidding - and the bidders are limited to having 60 per cent foreign shareholding.

The licensees will be authorized to develop and operate a telecommunications network to provide nationwide BWA services based on IEEE 802.16e (WiMAX) standards. The system can be point-to-multipoint or mesh radio systems consisting of BWA distribution hub stations and their associated subscriber stations (or BWA access devices). The last mile solution may be done in conjunction with WiFi.

The operators and end-users are allowed to use their equipment in fixed locations, in a nomadic manner or with a fully mobile capability, at their choice.

Interestingly, the draft proposals will mandate that all the licensed operators will have to share the same tower and the existing infrastructures.

The proposals will award a contiguous 30 MHz of unpaired spectrum from 2.3 GHz band (23xx-23xx MHz and 23xx-23xx MHz) to 2 licensees. A contiguous 30 MHz of unpaired spectrum from 2.5 GHz band (25xx-26xx MHz) will be assigned to 1 licensee. 2615-2620 MHz is kept as guard block between TDD and future FDD assignment. 30MHz contiguous channel will be allocated to each operator to provide BWA services. Per channel bandwidth should be either 5 or 10 MHz.

Subject to the availability, two pair of frequency will be assigned form any of the 18, 23, 26 and 38 GHz band to build their own point to point link.

The existing ISP license holders operating in 2.3, 3.5, 5.2, 5.4 GHz and 700 MHz will be allowed to continue their wireless Internet services for 5 years with pre-WiMAX equipments - but will not be allowed to replace any existing equipment.

Janata Bank MD gets Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin Award 2006

STAFF REPORTER

SM Aminur Rahman, CEO and Managing Director of Janata Bank Limited was awarded with Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin Award-2006 for his contributions as the 'Best Banker' at a function held on June 30 last at BIAM Foundation Auditorium in the city.

Adviser for Ministry of Primary and Mass Education Cultural Affairs Rasheda K Choudhury who was present as the chief guest at the function gave away the award to SM Aminur Rahman.

The Adviser also gave away the award among other eminent personalities who received the award.

Prof Md Nazrul Islam, Chairman, University Grants Commission, Dr Mohammad Sadique, DG Biam Foundation and other eminent personalities were present on the occasion.

UBICO signs deal with LankaBangla

BUSINESS REPORT

The UAE-Bangladesh Investment Company Limited (UBICO) has signed an Investment Management Agreement with LankaBangla Finance Limited in the registered Head Office of LankaBangla recently.

Under the agreement, Lanka Bangla will provide a comprehensive management support to UBICO to invest in the capital market.

Dr SM Akbar, Managing Director of UBICO and Mafizuddin Sarker, Managing Director of LankaBangla signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations.

Faisal Rashid, Deputy Manager and Head of Investment, Mumlook Hossain, Head of Finance and Company Secretary of UBICO and Quamrul Islam, Vice President and CFO, AKM Kamruzzaman, Vice President and Company Secretary, Mohammad Kamrul Hasan, Vice President, Masum Ali, AVP, Mohammad Shoaib, AVP, Ms Fatima Begum, Principal Officer of LankaBangla were also present on the occasion.

IBBL, Jalalabad Money Exchange sign accord

BUSINESS REPORT

An agreement on remittance was signed recently between Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited and Jalalabad Money Transfer and Travels Ltd at a function held at the Head Office of Jalalabad Money Transfer and Travels Ltd, UK.

Md Habibur Rahman, Deputy Managing Director and Head of International Banking Wing and Sayed Usama Al Musaddek, Executive Director of Jalalabad Money Transfer and Travels Ltd signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides.

The function was attended, among others, by Sheikh Md Abdul Awal, Director, Jalalabad Money Transfer and Travels Ltd.

With this agreement Bangladeshi expatriates working in the UK can send their money through Jalalabad Money Transfer and Travels Ltd in a sound, easy and safe manner.

Through different modernised technologies along with larger banking channel and internet facility Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited now ensures receiving money sent by the expatriates to their recipients in a shorter period than before.

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited, the leading bank in respect of collecting remittance has by now signed instant cash agreement with 77 banks and exchange houses and spot cash agreement with 43 institutions around the globe.

BIA holds training programme for executives for ACII

Bangladesh Insurance Association (BIA) started a training programme for the executives for ACII, the highest professional degree course in insurance on July 6 at the office premises of the association to meet the growing need of professionally qualified manpower in the insurance industry.

Twenty-six executives from nine insurance organisations are participating in the course.

AKM Rafiqul Islam, FCA, Chairman, Bangladesh Insurance Association and M Shamsul Alam, ACII (London), former chairman of the association and the Chairman, Sadharan Bima Corporation spoke on the occasion.

AKM Rafiqul Islam, Nasir A Choudhury, Akhtar Ahmed, Das Deba Prashad, KM Mortuza Ali, PK Roy, ABM Nurul Haq, Shah Abul Kashem members of the executive committee of the association and Mollah Md Nurul Islam, Secretary General of the association seen with the participants.

Sahazada Syed Nizamuddin Ahmed Independent Director of Standard Bank

Sahazada Syed Nizamuddin Ahmed, a prominent, distinguished and one of the senior most banking personalities of the country has been unanimously appointed as Independent Director of Standard Bank Ltd by the Board in its 127th meeting.

A postgraduate in Commerce, Nizamuddin Ahmed is one of the dynamic, highly professional, market oriented - development bankers of the country, having a successful banking career of more than four decades to his credit in both public and private sector banking with the credentials of holding the offices of General Manager of Janata Bank, Sonali Bank, Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Deputy Managing Director of Janata Bank and CEO and Managing Director of Rupali Bank, Ansar-VDP-Unnayan Bank and Standard Bank Ltd. He also served as Adviser of The Premier Bank Ltd and Adviser and Chief Banking Consultant of Standard Bank Ltd. During his tenure as General Manager of Sonali Bank and Managing Director of Rupali Bank he took all the initiatives and proactive role in pushing ahead the "Financial Sector Reforms Program (FSRP)" in both the banks which was introduced by Bangladesh Bank under the World Bank's banking reforms programme. During his tenure as Managing Director of Rupali Bank he was instrumental in establishing a "Full Fledged IBM Mid Range Computer Bureau" in Rupali Bank in 1994 within shortest possible time as a part of implementation program of FSRP.

He visited UK, France, Japan, Thailand and other Asian countries on professional assignments and on personal visits. He was a member of the Executive Committee of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management and Institute of Bankers, Bangladesh.

Nizamuddin Ahmed is a socialite, a distinguished social worker and was District Governor of Lions Clubs International, District 315 A-1, Bangladesh during 2002-2003.

Call for steps to ensure safe inland waterway transport

Speakers at a press conference yesterday rged the government for undertaking an integrated efforts to ensure safe inland water transport in the country by rearranging

and strengthening the present inspection system. They called upon the government for identifying the risky water routes and unfit and unsafe launches plying at present and fixing a timeframe for withdrawing from the routes in order to avoid frequent river accidents and save a large number of lives. They were speaking at a press conference on "Safe Water Transport" organized by the Safe Water Way Implementation Movement at the National Press Club in the city. Member Secretary of the Safe Water Way Implementation Movement Md Aminur Rasul readout the written statement at the conference. Leaders of the organization Shahadat Islam Chowdhury, Azizul Islam, Monir Ahmed Shubra, Shah Zaman Dulal, Sharmin Islam Daisy, Rafiqul Alam and AM Feroz Hossain also spoke.

Highlighting various irregularities in the inland water transports Aminur Rasul said, most of the water transports in the country do not have fitness and these vessels were not made following the proper design. Besides, most of the crews are not skilled and they lack of proper awareness.

As a result, a total of 529 launches faced accident in the country during last 31 years, of which about 70 percent were unfit and made violating the appropriate design, he said adding that if the vessels were made as per the design, then the risk of sinking the water vessels could be minimized.

Aminur Rasul also emphasized the need for formulating an inland waterway transport guideline in line with the International Maritime Organization (IMO).