man, Alhaj Md Solaiman, Sponsor Shareholder Alhaj Anwer Hossain Khan, Managing Director Muhammad Ali, Deputy Managing Directors Md. Jillur Rahman and Md. Mukhter Hossain, Former MD M Kamaluddin Chowdhury were present in the opening ceremony.
The opening ceremony included reciting the Holy Quran, Milad Mahfil and Dua was held at the branch premises.
Economic slowdown hits cell phone growth in Bangladesh
BUSINESS REPORT
The growth of cell phone companies dropped in August for the first time in Bangladesh, one of the world's fastest-growing mobile markets, with operators attributing it on the current economic slowdown. The number of new subscribers in August fell by half a million compared to July according to the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
"Six cell phone operators managed to add 600,000 customers in August against 1.1 million in July this year,'' a senior official of BTRC, said.
He said in June the six cell phone operators, with Grameenphone being the top one, added 1.66 million customers.
The new addition, however, raised the total number of mobile phone subscribers in the country to 45.4 million in August, the official said.
The top three operators, however, maintained their usual growth with Grameenphone, holding the top position in the market with 20.84 million customers, followed by Egyptian Orascom Telecom's Banglalink 10.17 million and AKTEL majority owned by Telekom Ma laysia International, to 7.3 million from 6.4 million.
The number of customers of Citycell, the only CDMA carrier in the country, reached 1.68 million in July, which was 1.67 million in June. But the number of state-run TeleTalk subscribers was 1.07 mil lion customers in June while it fell to 0.93 million in July and 0.89 million in August.
Japan's NTT DoCoMo buys into AKTEL
BUSINESS REPORT
Japan's NTT DoCoMo has bought 30 percent of the Bangladesh unit of Malaysian mobile phone company TM International Bhd, TM International said on Friday.
TM International controls the AKTEL brand in Bangladesh, with more than seven million subscribers, making it the third-largest mobile services provider in the country.
DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile phone company, bought the stake from A.K. Khan Group, which was a major shareholder of the Bangladesh business since its inception in 1996, TM International said in a statement. It did not disclose the value of the deal.
"The new partnership will go a long way towards unlocking the future potential of TM International Bangladesh," said Jamaludin Ibrahim, chief executive of Kuala Lumpur-listed TM International.
Bangladesh has one of the world's fastest-growing cellular markets, with the number of users expected to grow to 70 million by 2011 from the current 45.4 million.
TM International was the result of a demerger in April by state-owned Telekom Malaysia. Khazanah Nasional, the investment arm of the Malaysian government, owns a 44.5 percent stake in TM International.
TM International shares ended 10 percent higher at 6.55 ringgit before the release of the announcement while the broader market KLSE gained 3.4 percent.
Eid shopping gains momentum in N'ganj
BSS, Narayanganj
The shopping centres and hawkers market here are now in the Eid and Puja Shopping merriment as the two festivals are getting nearer.
The great festivals of the Muslims and the Hindu communities are expected to be celebrated within the same week in the month of October next. So the people of these two communities are now busy in buying their attires of their choice despite their limited income.
The middle income group people have cut down their budget while the well to do section have almost completed the shopping.
The wealthy section who are in search of latest fashion in design and colour are crowding shopping malls like Al Joynal
Plaza, Sayam Plaza, Hoque Jewellery Super Market, Barshan Super Market, DIT Market and Chashara Cooperative Market. While the middle and poorer section of the society are rushing at Chashara Hawker's Market, Siha handicrafts fair at Shaheed Zia Hall, Tanbazar Municipal Market and Kalir Bazar New Market.
This year, Narayanganj Paurasabha and the district administration have jointly given permission to about two thousand floating hawkers to set up makeshift shops on foot paths stretching one kilometer long from Chashara to Netaiganj to run business during the Eid and Puja season.
Rahmat Ali 40, a hawker at Chashara expressed satisfaction over the decision of the administration for giving the permission for running their business on the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr and Durga Puja.
Of the Eid-attires women prefer saree in the list of their demand while panjabi and fatua are for male. Abdur Rahman 50, a salesman at Al Joynal Plaza said three piece Mugl-e-Azam embroidered with golden coloured thread is recent demand of college and university students which is being sold between Taka 2,500 and 5,000. Jamdani saree of Mirpur and Rupganj area are being sold between Taka 2,000 to 7,000 per piece.
Afroza Khanom 20, a third year honours student of Narayanganj Mohila Government College, who came to Chashara Cooperative Super Market accompanying her mother this morning said that she has a choice for 'Anarkoli' three piece for its rich design and embroidery. She said her mother agreed to buy it for her at any price.
Khadi Punjabi from Comilla is being sold at Taka 300 to 500
The shopping malls have been illuminated and selling and buying spree is going on till 12 midnight. The town has been brought under security net as special police force and RAB personnel are patrolling in the town to maintain law and order.
USAID Project supports Surovi for potato exports
BUSINESS REPORT
USAID-funded PRICE (Poverty Reduction by Increasing the Competitiveness of Enterprises) Project and Surovi Agro Limited announced signing of a MoU for increasing the export of high quality potatoes. Under this initiative, PRICE will provide immediate support to Surovi on a cost-sharing basis to organise and train potato farmers in Thakurgaon to increase both the yields and quality of their potato crops. The organisation and training of 80 farmers will begin this October and take place over the next six months of the production cycle. It is expected that the results will be 426 more metric tons of potatoes that will exported next year to Singapore, Malaysia & Sri Lanka to existing Surovi buyers. This will result in 207 new jobs over the next four years.
"Surovi is extremely pleased to have the support of PRICE to meet the demands of our foreign buyers", said Zaker Riead of Surovi. "Up until now, we had been constrained in terms of both quantity and quality to meet these demands. We are also looking forward to working with PRICE to find new buyers to support our ambitious growth plans."
Surovi Agro Limited is part of a group of companies under the Surovi Group that are engaged in the production, processing and exporting of different agriculture commodities, including potatoes, beans, mushrooms, green hot chili, okra, yard long bean, broccoli and papaya. It is currently exporting to Singapore & Malaysia and is looking to expand its export markets.
"Our partnership with Surovi presents an excellent opportunity to fulfill the PRICE mission of increasing sales, jobs and investment and therefore reduce poverty in Bangladesh," said Bob Webster, PRICE Chief of Party. "This work will benefit farmers in one of the poorest regions of Bangladesh."
PRICE is a USAID-funded project whose objective is to reduce poverty by facilitating the increase of sales, jobs and investment in horticulture, aquaculture and leather products. PRICE's activities will be driven by the demand of the market and will seek for the benefits of growth to be shared with women, young adults, SMEs and farmers as much as possible.
Asian countries ban Chinese milk products
UPI, Beijing
Asian countries are banning Chinese dairy products and foreign manufacturers are poised to benefit from China's tainted baby formula scandal, analysts say.
With the dairy products of three of China's leading brands found to contain traces of the banned chemical additive melamine, local Asian media say Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Burma and Bangladesh as well as Hong Kong have banned Chinese dairy products, BizChinaUpdate reported Sunday.
The publication said that while the European Union maintains no Chinese milk products have officially entered EU countries, it is warning illegally distributed dairy products from China should not be consumed.
Meanwhile, Chinese analysts say while the domestic dairy industry is crippled because of the scandal, foreign producers are rushing to fill the domestic void, China Daily reported.
Chen Lianfang, an analyst with Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultants, told the newspaper the market dominance of foreign brands will likely now be further consolidated.
He said only three domestic brands are among China's top 10 sellers and two of them, Shengyuan and Yili, have been implicated in the current scandal.
Asian Credit Union Forum begins in city: Experts, leaders of cooperatives from 21 countries attending
BUSINESS REPORT
A weeklong annual forum of the Association of Asian Confederation of Credit Unions began in the city yesterday.
Some 400 delegates including 220 experts and participants from 21 Asian countries arrived in Dhaka. Such a mega event is taking place in Dhaka after the previous forum in Bangladesh's capital in 1994.
Former adviser and renowned economist Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud inaugurated the three-day workshop sessions of the forum at Hotel Sheraton.
The inaugural day session conducted workshops on four potential cooperative issues--CEO, HRD, Youth and Women.
The main forum will take place on between September 26 and 28 at the same venue.
Theme of the forum this year is "Credit Union Growing to New Heights-Better Choices, Better Organization and Better Community."
"The annual event will bring together leading credit union experts and participants from a broad range of fields, to give a fresh look strategies enabling credit unions to present better choices," said Oh-man Kwon President and Ranjit Hettiarachchi CEO of the AACCU.
About AACCU
Since its birth in 1971, Bangkok-based AACCU affiliated more than 16,000 credit unions. With 20.5 million individual members in 26 countries in the region along with 17 affiliates, promoting credit unionism in Asia, AACCU deals $60 billion worth assets and deposits.
In Bangladesh
The Cooperative Credit Union League of Bangladesh Limited CCULB represents AACCU in Bangladesh. As a federation CCULB coordinates 413 cooperatives, across the country, having 1,80,000 members and it dealt Tk 260 crore worth assets and Tk 150 crore deposits in 2007.
HSBC terminates $6bn bid for KEB
HSBC has blamed turmoil in the financial markets after withdrawing its $6bn (£3.3bn) offer to buy a majority stake in Korea Exchange Bank (KEB).
The stake is owned by Texas-based private equity firm Lone Star.
A year after agreeing the deal, HSBC said its plans to buy the stake were no longer in the best interests of its shareholders.
There has been speculation HSBC will instead use the money to buy one of the western banks hit by the credit crunch.
It has already been linked with both Washington Mutual and Royal Bank of Scotland.
The deal to buy KEB has been complicated by legal disputes surrounding Lone Star's investment activities in South Korea.
Without the necessary approval from South Korean regulators, HSBC said it was free to withdraw its offer.
"In the light of developments around the world, not least changes in asset values in world markets, we do not believe it would be in the best interests of shareholders to continue to pursue this acquisition on the terms negotiated last year," said HSBC Asia chief executive Sandy Flockhart.
City Microentrepreneurship Awards 2008 get huge response from all over the country
BUSINESS REPORT
The Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards 2008 program, launched by Citi Foundation, the philanthropicarm of Citigroup Inc. and managed by Shakti Foundation for Disadvantaged Women (SFDW) and Citibank, NA Bangladesh, has received huge response and a large number of applications were received from all over Bangladesh.
A special Screening Committee formed for this award program with eminent personalities and experts in this area has started to screen the applications received in all four categories Best Innovative Micro Business of the year, Best Woman Microentrepreneurship of the year. Best Microentrepreneur of the year and 'Best' Micro finance Institute (MFI) of the year'. The finalists will be first drawn out of the initial screening from the applications before the winners are finally selected and announced by the distinguished jury panel. Each winner will be awarded Tk 3,50,000.
This award has been launched especially to identify the successful Microentrepreneurship and honour best practices of micro enterprises in Bangladesh, which have been linked to a traceable source of Micro Finance. More importantly the aim of the initiative is to recognise the success stories of the entrepreneurs and put the spotlight on local micro entrepreneurs who are working to uplift the economic conditions of their communities.
Bangladesh-Myanmar border trade to attain $10m this year
XINHUA, Yangon
The border trade between Myanmar and Bangladesh at Maungtaw trade point is expected to reach 10 million U.S. dollars in the present fiscal year 2008-09, according to Sunday's local news journal Flower News.
In 2007-08, it registered over 8 million dollars' transaction at the Maungtaw border trade point in western Rakhine state mainly with marine products.
Maungtaw remains one of the two border trade points between Myanmar and Bangladesh. The other is Sittway.
Official statistics show that Myanmar exported 23,000 tons of marine products to Bangladesh annually, standing as Bangladesh's fifth largest marine products importing country out of 30. Currently, Myanmar and Bangladesh are engaged more in border trade than normal trade. Besides marine products, Myanmar's exports to Bangladesh also cover beans and pulses and kitchen crops, while its imports from Bangladesh include pharmaceuticals, ceramic, cotton fabric, raw jute, kitchenware and cosmetic.
Myanmar and Bangladesh formally opened border trade in 1994.
According to the figures of the Ministry of Commerce, bilateral trade between Myanmar and Bangladesh stood over 60 million U.S. dollars annually with the balance of trade favoring Myanmar.
The two countries are striving to increase their bilateral trade to 100 million dollars, the sources said.
Ifter and Dua Mahfil at NUB
BUSINESS REPORT
Ifter and Dua Mahfil held a Northern University Bangladesh (NUB), Business Campus Auditorium on Saturday.
This programme organised by the department of Business Administration in honour of immediate past BBA and MBA programmes students.
Prof M Abu Bakar Siddique, Vice Chancellor (current charge) was present as chief guest in the function presided over by Prof MA Razzaque, Dean of the Business Faculty.
Dr Ataur Rahman Miazi, Professor of Dhaka University, Prof Dr Nurul Islam, Dean of Science Faculty, Associate Prof Dr Shahdat Kabir, Head of CGE were also present in the programme.
