Bangladesh should tap into its youth resources to build country branding as the nation suffers from negative image worldwide, an expert has said.
"The perception of Bangladesh outside the country is like that of India in 1960s in the UK when most of Indian worked as cleaner, carpenter, sardar and drivers," said Sunil Kumar Alagh, Founder and Chairperson of SKA Advisors and former Managing Director and CEO of Britannia Industries Ltd.
But India, he said, has overcome the crisis due to successive leaderships in 80s and 90s and by this time has been branded as a country of highly skilled manpower especially for IT experts, engineers, doctors and professions.
"Many countries including USA, Japan now wait for Indians," he said adding that Bangladesh can also overcome the crisis utilising its youth resources.
The expert's comments came at an interactive session highlighting urgency to utilise the human resources, especially the youth, which they said have the latent and the ability to lead the country into next stair.
Another keynote speaker Hermawan Kartajaya, president of World Marketing Association, stressed the need for quality leadership, skilled manpower, creating job opportunity and branding country image for attracting more foreign investment.
Hermawan Kartajaya, one of the 50 Gurus who have shaped the future of marketing, also described the history of the development of Indonesian economy, especially during the period of Sukarno, Suharto and incumbent Joko Widodo, adding that the vision of politicians is important for the national development.
"We do not need to apply western policy," he said adding that Bangladesh needs leadership like Joko, who was a salesman, for branding country image and attracting FDI.
The Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka (MCCI) organised the interactive session with Hermawan Kartajaya and Sunil Kumar Alagh at the Chamber Conference Hall on Saturday night. Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor attended the programme as the chief guest.
Presided over by MCCI president Syed Nasim Manzur, the programme was attended by a large number of chamber and trade bodies and representatives from various business enterprises. Formers presidents of the chamber Syed Manzur Elahi, Laila Rahman Kabir, Anis Ud Dowla and president of International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh Mahbubur Rahman attended the programme.
Welcoming the delegation, MCCI president Syed Nasim Manzur urged the visiting guests to share their experiences with Bangladesh entrepreneurs to offer ideas on how to go ahead overcoming the obstacles.
Mr Manzur said that business community and policy makers have felt the need for branding Bangladesh to the global community. "The rich cultural heritage and history we have is definitely worth sharing with the rest of the globe," he added.
Mr Alagh in his speech also highlighted the steps the Modi government has taken for building up country's image abroad to attract more foreign investment and creating jobs for new generations.
He said that Bangladesh can easily build up its image by developing it huge young generations who, he said are talented and energetic and able to lead the country forward.
When asked what form and how much essential is democracy for foreign investment, the Indonesian marketing guru said, "We need democracy and it should be in right form with visionary leadership."
Later, the MCCI leaders handed over three cheques, each worth about Tk 1 million, to Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor, who is also a trustee of Muktijuddha Jadughar, and two other trustees - Tareq Ali and Rabiul Hossain.
MCCI and two of its members-- ACI and Apex Footwear - made the contributions to the Liberation War Museum. Nasim Manzur, Manzur Elahi and Anis Ud Dowla handed over the cheques on behalf of MCCI, ACI and Apex Footwear respectively.
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