The New Nation - Internet Edition

Decision to show special honour to remitters creates enthusiasm

BSS, New York

An enthusiasm has been created among expatriate Bangladeshis here following the Bangladesh government's decision to show special honour to the remitters. The expatriates are now collecting certificates against the money they have sent to Bangladesh as remittances. Sonali Exchange, an affiliated body of Sonali Bank, is the largest organisation of sending money to Bangladesh from the United States. It has seven branches in different cities of the US. The non-resident Bangladeshis are gathering in all the branch offices to collect the certificates. Besides, Placid Express, Janata Express, Rupali Express and Nano Money Transfer also send money to Bangladesh. They are also assisting the remitters in applying for special honour in Bangladesh. Recently, the government of Bangladesh announced special civic facilities for the expatriates who send remittances to the country.

To avail of the opportunity, one would have to apply in prescribed forms by July 31. In the US, the forms are available on the website of Bangladesh embassy.

Taiwanese co to invest $19.836m at KEPZ

BUSINESS REPORT

Messrs La Luna Shoes (BD) Limited, a Taiwanese company will set up a shoe manufacturing industry in the extension area (CSD) of Karnaphuli Export Processing Zone.

This 100 per cent foreign-owned company will invest about Tk 138 crore in setting up its plant and will produce to export annually 2,500,000 pairs of shoes of various types. The company will also create employment opportunity for 2,344 Bangladeshi and 115 foreign nationals.

An agreement to this effect was signed between the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and the Messrs La Luna Shoes (BD) Limited in BEPZA Complex, Dhaka recently. Prasanta Bhushan Barua, Member (Investment Promotion) of BEPZA and Chiu Po Yu, Managing Director of Messrs La Luna Shoes (BD) Limited signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.

City Bank launches CityBizness for SME entrepreneurs

ECONOMIC REPORTER

City Bank yesterday launched CityBizness--a new and revamped business line through which small, medium and women entrepreneurs will get loans ranging from Tk 5 lakh to Tk 40 lakh easily at low interest rates.

An entrepreneur with a maximum annual sales volume of

Tk 25 crore will be eligible to apply and avail loan facilities from City Bank under three different loan packages.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of City Bank Kazi Mahmood Sattar announced the launching of brand new CityBizness service while addressing a press conference at a hotel in the city yesterday.

Sohail RK Hussain, Deputy Managing Director (Business), B Choudhury, Head of SME Banking and Raihan Ul Ameen, Deputy Managing Director (Operations) also spoke at the press conference.

Mahmood Sattar said CityBizness with its innovative and appropriate services and deposit-cum-loan products would help take the SMEs of the economy to the next level.

He said CityBizness comprises City Shulov, City Muldhan and City Sheba--three new cluster-loan products very specially designed to meet the underlying financing needs of SMEs. As a result, entrepreneurs would not need to go to a second bank.

City Shulov is for small enterprises, particularly for those who are engaged in manufacturing sub-segment of the economy, while City Muldhan is for traders and City Sheba is for those who are adding value to service sector.

An entrepreneur will have to pay 17 per cent interest annually for loans under City Shulov and City Muldhan loan packages, while 16.5 per cent interest will have to pay annually for loans under City Sheba loan package.

Mahmood Sattar also mentioned that City Bank opened two new CityBizness Centres at Motijheel and Gulshan yesterday to serve both small and medium entrepreneurs under its centralised model of doing business for all segments of clientele base.

City Bank is going to open 13 more such centres across the country this year. In addition, the bank will also open five SME-NRB Centres by the end of this year in places where bank's branch network is not present to serve SMEs. Besides, these centers will serve the NRBs' (Non-Resident Bangladeshis) remittance beneficiaries as per guidelines of the central bank.

The centres will be managed by the City Bank's SME Division from the Head Office so that the entrepreneurs of small and medium enterprises can do business smoothly.

Rupali Insurance declares 20pc dividend for 2007

BUSINESS REPORT

The 20th annual general meeting (AGM) of Rupali Insurance Company Limited was held at Sonargaon Hotel in the city recently.

Mostafa Golam Quddus, Chairman of the company presided over the meeting. A large number of shareholders were present at the meeting. The shareholders unanimously approved a stock dividend of 20 per cent per share of Tk 100 each to the shareholders of the company for the year 2007 as recommended by the Board of Directors.

The Chairman of the meeting appreciated the management of the company for good performance during the year 2007.

Some of the shareholders present at the AGM spoke on the occasion highlighting the achievements of the year and congratulated the Board of Directors and the management for their good performance during the year 2007.

They also made some valuable suggestions for further improvement of the performance of the company in future.

All the persons present at the meeting mourned at the sad demise of sponsor Director late Alhaj Mohammad Ali and prayed for salvation of his departed soul.

It was reported that the company earned profit before tax of Tk 37 million. After allocating Tk15 million for reserve fund and Tk 10 million for income tax the company declared 20 per cent stock dividend for the year 2007.

Directors of the company KM Farookh, Kazi Maniruzzaman, Jinnat Ali Mian, Mostafa Golam Amran, Quamrus Sobhan, Aftab Ahmed, Mrs Runa Haider and Fauzia Quamrun Tania along with Management and Financial Consultant M Azizul Huq, Managing Director PK Roy, FCA and other senior executives of the company were present at meeting.

DBBL holds orientation course for newly recruited officers

BUSINESS REPORT

Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited organised a week long orientation course for the newly recruited Assistant Officers. The Managing Director of the bank Md Yeasin Ali inaugurated the orientation course held at the bank's Training Centre on July 16.

The orientation course is designed aiming at familiarising the participants with the principles, rules, regulations, roles and functions of the banking services. A total of 30 newly recruited Assistant Officers participated in the course.

In his inaugural speech, Md Yeasin Ali welcomed the officers in banking profession and laid emphasis on the need for commitment, devotion, sincerity and professionalism to meet the ever-growing business needs of the clientele.

He also mentioned that the success of a bank mostly depends on the core work force of the bank. He advised the officers to update themselves with the art of modern technology in order to perform their duties efficiently.

Among others, Additional Managing Director, AHM Nazmul Quadir and Head of Human Resources Division and Training Wing Md Shams-Uddin Ahmed also spoke on the occasion.

Aktel launches Tk 1/min offer to any operator from 7am-12pm

BUSINESS REPORT

Aktel, one of the leading mobile phone operators of the country yesterday launched a new promotional offer for its prepaid customers of Tk 1/min to any operator from 7:00am to 12:00pm across the country.

The launching ceremony was held at the Spectra Convention Centre at Gulshan in the city.

The customers will be able to continue talking at Tk 0.25 to their five partners' numbers 24 hours and to all the Aktel numbers from 12:00am to 7:00pm. There will be a call set up charge of Tk 0.50 to all mobile phones from 4:00pm to 12:00am.

While launching the offer, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of Aktel Jefri Ahmed Tambi said, "We are committed to provide a quality network accessibility and innovative services across the country. We are determined to bring simplicity to customers life."

Terming the customers as the main focus of the company, he said, "We always emphasised on the customer's necessity. We try to meet customer's demand being closely connected with the people."

About the different services of Aktel, Jefri Ahmed Tambi said, "We are working relentlessly to serve people through various value added services, such as, Phone Back Up, News Update, Café 8000 (music any time), Missed Call Alert etc. We will also launch Unwanted Call Blocker Service very soon."

Mentioning a number of successes of Aktel during the last 11 years of its journey, Aktel's Chief Commercial Officer Bidyut Kumar Basu said, "We give greatest importance to the needs of our customers keeping their expectations and feedbacks in mind. We want to reach before the people providing more amazing offers."

Javed Tariq, Head of Corporate Affairs and Nora Junita Hussaini, Chief Financial Officer of Aktel, among others, were also present at the launching ceremony.

Top distributors of Unilever Bangladesh visit Hindustan Unilever

Twelve distributors of Unilever Bangladesh Limited (UBL) have recently visited the Unilever India business-Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL).

The visit, the first of its kind, was led by Customer Development Operations Manager Kazi Amirul Haq and was organised so that the distributors could learn best practices in customer management at HUL. The distributors who represented Unilever Bangladesh were selected on the basis of their growth delivery over the last four years.

During the visit, the distributors got insights into how the Indian distributors managed their businesses. They also learnt how the team is dealing with challenges that they are faced with and also how they are taking advantage of new opportunities.

The HUL Regional Manager (East), Ansal Asawa welcomed the team and other senior managers briefed the delegation on different channel programmes, merchandising initiatives and utilisation of IT at distribution points. Best practices of both countries were also shared in the session which was held at Brookehouse, Eastern Regional Office of HUL.

Karmo Group opts for GP Business Solutions

Grameenphone Ltd has recently signed an agreement with Karmo Group to provide complete communication facilities under its Business Solutions package.

Grameenphone Business Solutions is an integrated telecommunications service specially designed for the business entities of Bangladesh, providing customised telecommunications solutions through a consultative approach, tailored to the needs of individual businesses.

Karmo Group is one of the largest foam industries in Bangladesh. Besides meeting local demand they are also exporting foam and mattress to foreign countries like India, England, Russia and other countries.

Comprising of modern mobile telecommunications services for any business needs, the GP Business Solutions provides voice, text messaging and mobile data and internet services. Also on offer will be a complete mobile-office solution, including mobile email, mobile high-speed data access, internet access and more, providing the freedom to work from anywhere within Grameenphone's wide coverage area.

According to the agreement, Karmo Group is being provided complete communications solutions tailored to its needs, including voice, data and other services. Karmo Group will use the services to further improve communication amongst its different businesses, at an affordable cost.

The agreement was signed by Md Mofizur Rahman, Managing Director, Karmo Group and Khandaker Omar Farhan, DGM, Direct Sales of Grameenphone, on behalf of their respective organisations.

Shahanaz Akhter, Director, Awlad Hossain Tuhin, Director, Salahuddin Atif, Executive of Karmo Group, Ehatasham Haider, Group Manager, Md Mamun Alam Topsy, Account Manager, Rafiqul Islam, Relationship Manager of Grameenphone were present at the signing ceremony.

Tajmahal Tower Super Market inaugurated at Moulvi Bazar

Tajmahal Tower Super Market was inaugurated on July 15 at Moulvi Bazar in the city.

FBCCI president Anisul Haque formally inaugurated the super market. After the inauguration, the FBCCI president said he was fortunate by inaugurating such a super market where all the items as per the demand of the customers are available. Among others, FBCCI director Md Belayet Hossain, Chairman of Tajmahal Tower Ltd Alhajj Abdur Razzak and Managing Director of Tajmahal Tower Ltd Md Abdul Halim were present on the occasion.

This ultra modern super market are equipped with all sorts of facilities with a view to providing customers cosmetic, baby items, toys, imitation jewelry, showpieces and gift items. Items are available at both at wholesale and retail prices.

Workshop on guti urea fertilizer use held in Naogaon

BSS, Naogaon

A workshop on use of guti urea fertiliser was held at the auditorium of sadar upazila parishad on Wednesday.

Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) organised the workshop.

Upazila Nirbahi Officer Mohammad Abu Zubair attended the workshop as the chief guest while Upazila Agriculture Officer Mohammad Abbas Ali was in the chair.

The workshop was addressed, among others, by district crop production specialist Mohammad Sirajul Karim, Sub-Assistant Agriculture Officer Afzal Hossain, farmer Dalilur Rahman, and Mahbub Hossain.

Later, the chief guest distributed guti urea among the farmers.