Earlier this month, I attended a graduation ceremony at Middlebury College at Vermont, USA. In her speech, the president of the college repeatedly mentioned the phrase “collective genius”, which has stuck with me since.

Russia and Ukraine have become major sources of wheat for Bangladesh after India’s ban of its shipment, thanks to a United Nations and Turkey brokered grain deal that allowed moving the cereal from Ukraine over the Black Sea. 

The export of chemical and combustible products from Bangladesh has been halted once again as the only depot designated by the Chattogram customs authority to handle dangerous goods has failed to maintain the minimum safety standards.

If you follow the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), you will find that most of the shares on the premier bourse of the country ended the day either unchanged or they witnessed a drop. As a result, the indexes were supposed to fall. 

Local software and IT-enabled service companies will display their technological advancement and look to attract local and global clients at the BASIS SoftExpo 2023 as Bangladesh plans to raise IT exports to $5 billion by 2025 and become a smart nation in two decades.

Bangladesh’s banking sector has long been going through a difficult time as a majority of banks are plagued by challenges stemming from a lack of corporate governance. But Bank Asia Ltd stands out thanks to its unwavering focus on following rules strictly under the leadership of a strong board of directors led by A Rouf Chowdhury. 

While companies must be innovative in order to thrive amid the fourth industrial revolution, they should initially start with small investments to build a sustainable business model, speakers said at a daylong summit held yesterday.

The business organisations have to renew many certificates every year, which is particularly problematic for small-scale industrial units, said MCCI President Md Saiful Islam

Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation (BHBFC) has reappointed the chairman of its board of directors. 

Sanath Manatunge, group managing director of the Commercial Bank of Ceylon, arrived in Dhaka on a visit on Friday. 

Metlife Bangladesh has been honoured by Superbrands Bangladesh in a life insurance category for 2023-24 for its “outstanding contribution to the life insurance sector in the country”. 

Inflation or prices of many products, including essential commodities, will come down if the same happens in international markets or if import duties are adjusted, not if interest rates are hiked, said FBCCI President Md Jashim Uddin yesterday. 

FBCCI will host Bangladesh Business Summit 2023 from March 11-13

The revenue authority desperately needs to accelerate tax collection in order to enable the country to widen its capacity to spend more from its own coffer and cut reliance on external funds, said its chief yesterday.

Mobile phone operator Robi Axiata missed clocking an additional Tk 178 crore in profit in 2022 due to the massive depreciation of the local currency against the US dollar. 

Shafiqul Islam, a farmer in Putia upazila of Rajshahi, initially started growing a new variety of guava, called Thai guava, on five bighas of leased land about five years ago in hopes of turning his fortunes.

Cost and management accountants yesterday proposed that the government tax either loans waived by commercial banks and non-bank financial institutions or the interest accrued on the loans to discourage defaulting on loans.

Small-scale enterprises of Chattogram are facing a crisis of capital in operating their business while banks have disbursed only 3.6 per cent of the loans allotted under a government stimulus package for cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises.

The Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida) has identified 106 factories as risky for lacking required fire safety measures and having vulnerable working conditions under a nationwide initiative aimed at preventing fire incidents and other disasters.

Trade in the stock market of Bangladesh has dried up once again as buyers are uninterested in making fresh bets considering the unsatisfactory declarations posted by listed companies for the July-December period of fiscal 2022-23.