E-franchising: A prospective market for Bangladesh
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Fahim Salek
The fate of a successful organisation lies in making its parts working together. It can be through achieving synergy, resulting in additional value creation within the organisation, or through strategic alliances where two or more organisations share a pool of resources and activities to pursue strategies and business goals. One of the frequent reasons for alliances is to obtain resources that an entity needs but does not itself possess. Among the different types of strategic alliances, franchising is gaining prominence around the world. It involves the franchisee to undertake specific activities such as manufacturing, distribution, selling or service providing whilst the franchisor is responsible for the brand name, marketing and training. It engages the pooling of resources, investments and risks for mutual gains. In this regard, a franchisor that can be showcased for disseminating the radiance of Information Technology throughout Bangladesh is 'BracNet', through its project 'E-hut'.
The term 'E-Hut' is self explanatory. E-huts are franchisees of BracNet and are owned and run by local entrepreneurs. BracNet e-hut is a one-stop cyber shop catering to different types of digital services. Through e-hut, BracNet hopes to bring internet and data connectivity to the grassroots of Bangladesh and is a catalyst towards achieving 'Digital Bangladesh'. A vast majority of e-hut shops will be located all over Bangladesh. BracNet would work with prospective franchisees and financial institutions to facilitate small scale financing if the prospective franchisees require starting e-hut in their communities. Some critics might refer to this approach as a unique selling proposition (USP) of BracNet, but if we look at the broader picture, the e-hut is a scheme towards mass improvement and convenience. We are residing in the Information Age and when the world is talking about wireless internet or WiFi hotspots which are spreading extremely fast, we are still struggling to make internet facility available to our colossal population let alone other digital services. But it is now or never scenario; the truth is, Bangladesh will not be able to sustain the harsh competition in the world market unless we work towards a tech-friendly culture. Bangladesh has a population of 160 million, making it the 7th most populous country in the world. Although internet connectivity is expected to become highly marketable due to demand, internet penetration remains low at 2 per cent.
BracNet through its e-hut programme is taking a stride towards providing internet broadband connectivity and digital services all over Bangladesh. Their effort is to provide people the necessary internet facility and to set up digital services for the people even in the remotest areas of the country. This will not only be a convenience for the local people but also the spark to a lot of entrepreneurs who want to start their businesses as franchisees of the BracNet. It might be through franchising, but our economy demands the spread and impact of more and more entrepreneurship in whatever scale the case might be.
Recently BracNet established a strategic partnership between KDDI, a Japanese corporation which is a global communications company and experienced player in the industry worldwide. The alliance will enable BracNet to expand their internet broadband coverage over Bangladesh. The synergies generated between BracNet & KDDI will enable the creation of truly effective and sustainable internet broadband environment and social infrastructure across the country. By deploying local communications infrastructure and promoting high quality and low cost internet broadband, BracNet's effort will bear beneficial results for the country. Bangladesh has not been urbanised as it should be outside Dhaka city and some major cities compared to other developing countries. So the hustle of the overall population is on the capital which is taking the city on the verge of a collapse in different respects. The problem lies in the lack of industrialisation and the poor technology base outside Dhaka and its suburbs. Almost all trade activities have been Dhaka based which makes it the centre of mass congregation. A potential option for this setback is to extend the beam of information technology and digital services all over the country, specially the countryside with ample training facilities, which will relieve the intense load on Dhaka city inevitably and be the foundation for self sufficiency and entrepreneurship. E-hut has come up with such a concern to educate people through training, facilitate through internet services and be an aid for digital exposure to eradicate deficiencies and work our way towards a progressive nation.
E-hut is elaborated in simple terms as 'Digital Business Centre' which makes a lot of sense from the standpoint of the entrepreneur who will be incorporated with the franchisor BracNet. The reason being as it will draw income for the entrepreneur as well as be the source of various digital services for the local people. BracNet, which is a concern of BRAC, is expanding their activities of e-hut as a major project. It aims to propagate internet and data connectivity among the people all over the country. The e-hut project office of BracNet will provide indispensable guidelines to the entrepreneurs or franchisees for their business improvements. Services provided by e-hut include internet browsing, broadband connectivity, IT training, web cam and digital camera, computer compose and printing, computer servicing, graphics designing, photocopying amenities etc. to the locality. Moreover, e-hut is optimistic about introducing services like IP phoning, e-commerce, video conferencing, money transfer and courier services in the future. Thus providing all these services for the betterment of the local people under one roof is certainly positive. We have a dream, and that is to have a 'Digital Bangladesh' to transform our huge unskilled population into skilled resource for our nation in the near future.
(Fahim Salek is at Anglia Ruskin University, UK, fahim032003@yahoo.com)
The fate of a successful organisation lies in making its parts working together. It can be through achieving synergy, resulting in additional value creation within the organisation, or through strategic alliances where two or more organisations share a pool of resources and activities to pursue strategies and business goals. One of the frequent reasons for alliances is to obtain resources that an entity needs but does not itself possess. Among the different types of strategic alliances, franchising is gaining prominence around the world. It involves the franchisee to undertake specific activities such as manufacturing, distribution, selling or service providing whilst the franchisor is responsible for the brand name, marketing and training. It engages the pooling of resources, investments and risks for mutual gains. In this regard, a franchisor that can be showcased for disseminating the radiance of Information Technology throughout Bangladesh is 'BracNet', through its project 'E-hut'.
The term 'E-Hut' is self explanatory. E-huts are franchisees of BracNet and are owned and run by local entrepreneurs. BracNet e-hut is a one-stop cyber shop catering to different types of digital services. Through e-hut, BracNet hopes to bring internet and data connectivity to the grassroots of Bangladesh and is a catalyst towards achieving 'Digital Bangladesh'. A vast majority of e-hut shops will be located all over Bangladesh. BracNet would work with prospective franchisees and financial institutions to facilitate small scale financing if the prospective franchisees require starting e-hut in their communities. Some critics might refer to this approach as a unique selling proposition (USP) of BracNet, but if we look at the broader picture, the e-hut is a scheme towards mass improvement and convenience. We are residing in the Information Age and when the world is talking about wireless internet or WiFi hotspots which are spreading extremely fast, we are still struggling to make internet facility available to our colossal population let alone other digital services. But it is now or never scenario; the truth is, Bangladesh will not be able to sustain the harsh competition in the world market unless we work towards a tech-friendly culture. Bangladesh has a population of 160 million, making it the 7th most populous country in the world. Although internet connectivity is expected to become highly marketable due to demand, internet penetration remains low at 2 per cent.
BracNet through its e-hut programme is taking a stride towards providing internet broadband connectivity and digital services all over Bangladesh. Their effort is to provide people the necessary internet facility and to set up digital services for the people even in the remotest areas of the country. This will not only be a convenience for the local people but also the spark to a lot of entrepreneurs who want to start their businesses as franchisees of the BracNet. It might be through franchising, but our economy demands the spread and impact of more and more entrepreneurship in whatever scale the case might be.
Recently BracNet established a strategic partnership between KDDI, a Japanese corporation which is a global communications company and experienced player in the industry worldwide. The alliance will enable BracNet to expand their internet broadband coverage over Bangladesh. The synergies generated between BracNet & KDDI will enable the creation of truly effective and sustainable internet broadband environment and social infrastructure across the country. By deploying local communications infrastructure and promoting high quality and low cost internet broadband, BracNet's effort will bear beneficial results for the country. Bangladesh has not been urbanised as it should be outside Dhaka city and some major cities compared to other developing countries. So the hustle of the overall population is on the capital which is taking the city on the verge of a collapse in different respects. The problem lies in the lack of industrialisation and the poor technology base outside Dhaka and its suburbs. Almost all trade activities have been Dhaka based which makes it the centre of mass congregation. A potential option for this setback is to extend the beam of information technology and digital services all over the country, specially the countryside with ample training facilities, which will relieve the intense load on Dhaka city inevitably and be the foundation for self sufficiency and entrepreneurship. E-hut has come up with such a concern to educate people through training, facilitate through internet services and be an aid for digital exposure to eradicate deficiencies and work our way towards a progressive nation.
E-hut is elaborated in simple terms as 'Digital Business Centre' which makes a lot of sense from the standpoint of the entrepreneur who will be incorporated with the franchisor BracNet. The reason being as it will draw income for the entrepreneur as well as be the source of various digital services for the local people. BracNet, which is a concern of BRAC, is expanding their activities of e-hut as a major project. It aims to propagate internet and data connectivity among the people all over the country. The e-hut project office of BracNet will provide indispensable guidelines to the entrepreneurs or franchisees for their business improvements. Services provided by e-hut include internet browsing, broadband connectivity, IT training, web cam and digital camera, computer compose and printing, computer servicing, graphics designing, photocopying amenities etc. to the locality. Moreover, e-hut is optimistic about introducing services like IP phoning, e-commerce, video conferencing, money transfer and courier services in the future. Thus providing all these services for the betterment of the local people under one roof is certainly positive. We have a dream, and that is to have a 'Digital Bangladesh' to transform our huge unskilled population into skilled resource for our nation in the near future.
(Fahim Salek is at Anglia Ruskin University, UK, fahim032003@yahoo.com)