Business
What to Consider Before Investing in a Startup or Company?
Investing in a startup or company can be an exciting opportunity, but it can also be a risky one. Before deciding to invest, several key factors should be carefully considered to help minimize the risks and increase the chances of a successful investment. By taking the time to thoroughly evaluate all the necessary factors, investors can make informed decisions. This article will explore these considerations in more detail and discuss how to evaluate potential investment opportunities.
11 Factors to Consider Before Investing in a Startup or Company
There are numerous reasons why a startup can fail – ranging from unfortunate circumstances to an inadequate business plan or poor timing. According to statistics from the US Bureau of Labor, approximately 20% of newly established businesses do not survive beyond their first year of operation. The following factors need to be considered before making an investment decision.
Analyze the Domain
We all have experience working within certain industries or possess a personal interest in particular sectors. To increase the likelihood of successful investment, it is advisable to seek out startups that align with one's area of expertise or interest. This enables one to better comprehend the business and its potential, thereby allowing one to invest with confidence.
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Conversely, investing in startups from unfamiliar sectors may make it difficult to accurately evaluate the business and make informed investment decisions.
Business Plan
When listening to startup founders pitch their ideas, it is important that their plans appear well-thought-out and not untested ideas with uncertain profitability. For early-stage investments, it is advisable to prioritize startups with practical and scalable concepts.
Before investing, it is essential to gain a thorough understanding of the company's framework and processes. Additionally, the business idea should be innovative and fresh and offer solutions to existing problems.
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Check the Confidence in Founders
A truly innovative idea can be captivating, especially when presented by a passionate founder. While venture investors primarily assess the team, the capability to execute the plan should be given priority. It is not uncommon for startups to be founded by individuals without prior experience in launching new ventures.
However, they must demonstrate their ability to transform an idea into a reality through past experience or accomplishments.
US-Bangla will be the first international flight to use new terminal of Chennai Airport
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is going to launch operations by handling US-Bangla Airlines flights from April 20 as part of a trial run of the newly inaugurated new terminal at Chennai Airport.
The AAI will operate an international flight through the new terminal as part of the trial before shifting full operations.
Local US-Bangla Authority expressed their gratefulness to AAI for choosing US-Bangla Airlines, according to a US-Bangla media release signed by Md Kamrul Islam, general manager (PR) of the organisation.
US-Bangla Airlines has been operating flights from Dhaka to Chennai continuously every week since 2018.
"This will be a trial to find out if all the systems are working properly as everything is new. It will also help us to find out if passengers are facing any inconvenience," Sharad Kumar, director at Chennai Airport, said.
Currently, the US-Bangla Airlines is operating flights from Dhaka to Chennai route with Boeing 737-800 aircraft.
Also, it operates daily flights to Kolkata from Dhaka and Chittagong.
EgyptAir set to start Dhaka-Cairo flights from May 14
After a long wait, EgyptAir, state-owned airline of Egypt, is set to begin its regular flight operations to Bangladesh on May 14, 2023.
According to EgyptAir, the airline has initially planned to operate two weekly flights between Dhaka and Cairo.
District manager of Egypt Air Mostafa Magdy Hussain Elkady, and executive director and chief operating officer (COO) of Egypt Air Bangladesh office Farhad Hossain met Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Md. Mahbub Ali at his ministry office on Tuesday.
They discussed the celebration of the launching of bi-lateral air connectivity between Egypt and Bangladesh.
During the meeting Mahbub Ali said that the start of EgyptAir flight operations in Bangladesh is a milestone in the bilateral relations between the two brotherly countries.
“As EgyptAir commences, its direct flights between Dhaka and Cairo will offer a great opportunity for different stakeholders intending to visit Egypt, Europe, and North America via Cairo, and would reflect exchanging businesses, cargoes, and also facilitate Bangladeshi students studying in Egyptian universities,” he said.
It will help the tourists who would come to explore the multifaceted Egyptian tourism, he opined.
Highlighting his country as the cradle of modern civilization Mostafa Magdy said, "Egypt and EgyptAir welcome tourists and passengers from Bangladesh to enjoy the Egyptian hospitality and various cultural heritage.”
He also discussed enhancing bilateral cooperation between Bangladesh and Egypt through trade, tourism, and investment.
Farhad Hossain said that commencing of the flights on this route would boost tourism, trade, and business between the two countries.
The airline will operate flights to and from Dhaka twice weekly on Sunday and Wednesday with brand-new Boeing 787-9 aircraft. Now, Egypt Air will become the sole operator of nonstop flights between Egypt and Bangladesh in the aviation history of Bangladesh, he added.
EgyptAir hopes the nonstop service will further boost leisure travel between the two countries and connect traffic through Cairo to the airline's onward destinations, such as the USA, Canada, Middle East, and Africa.
EgyptAir operates flights to over 80 destinations, including the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the United States, with a fleet of 69 modern aircraft.
Bangladesh Bank has revolutionised digitalisation of financial sector: Dr Atiur
Former governor of Bangladesh Bank Dr Atiur Rahman today said the central bank is doing a tremendous job at digitalising the financial sector of the country.
As a result, transaction of around Tk 3000 crore is being done daily by mobile financial services (MFS) and people of all income groups, in both rural and urban areas, are able to use digital services, he said.
Dr Atiur said this while speaking at a seminar as the chief guest today. The seminar, held at a Dhaka hotel, was on ‘Transformation of the Paper Money to Digital: Taking from and Making of Central Bank Digital Currency’, organised by Scholars Bangladesh, a society of non-resident Bangladeshis.
The former Bangladesh Bank governor focused on development of interoperable facility among mobile financial services and banks which will accelerate inclusion of more people on the digital platform.
He also suggested the central bank for developing a digital infrastructure where it will easily possible to detect real transactions and financial crimes.
Jamaluddin Ahmed FCA, PhD presented a keynote paper on the topic of the seminar. In the paper, he mentioned a study of IMF and Financial Intelligent Unit report that Bangladesh lost around US$ 50 billion in six years, from 2009 to 2015.
It shows that money laundering activities has increased by 62.33 percent through over and under invoicing.
Kamal S. Quadir, chief executive officer of bKash spoke at the seminar as the special guest.
Quadir suggested four key fundamental activities for developing stronger digital transaction systems such as unified legal frame, proper tracking or identifying the nationality of individuals, robust and global up to the mark technology used, and proper governance.
Professors and technology experts joined the seminar in person and virtually from different countries.
World Bank spring meeting begins in Washington today, announcement on $50bn allocation to face global crisis likely
The spring meeting of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) begins today (April 10, 2023) in Washington DC, USA.
This meeting is likely to announce an allocation of USD $50 billion from the organisations to face the global crisis.
The seven-day meeting will continue till April 16 at the headquarters of the IMF and the World Bank Group in Washington.
Read More: Bangladesh's GDP growth expected to pick up to 6.2% in FY2024: World Bank
According to the Ministry of Finance, a delegation of six members is participating in the spring meeting led by the Governor of Bangladesh Bank, Abdur Rouf Talukder.
Along with the governor, Bangladesh Bank Chief Economist Habibur Rahman, Finance Secretary Fatima Yasmin and Additional Secretary of Finance Department Rehana Parveen and two officials from the Economic Relations Department (ERD) are participating in the meeting.
Apart from this, three more officials from the Bangladesh Embassy in the United States are expected to join the meeting along with the Bangladesh team.
Read More: World Bank agrees to finance for development of metro rail-centric communication
Generally, such meetings are led by the finance minister. However, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal is not joining the meetings this time.
At this meeting of the World Bank Group, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), a subsidiary of the organization, may announce an additional financing of $50 billion to deal with the global crisis.
Being a member of IBRD, Bangladesh will also get the benefit of this financing, the finance ministry sources said.
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The World Bank's spring meeting will be chaired by President of France Emmanuel Macron, and Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Amor Mottley. They will be joined by world leaders, academics, development experts and climate experts.
Besides, finance ministers, central bank governors of 189 World Bank member countries will participate.
Nagad hands over more than 2000 gifts to winners under mega campaign
Nagad is spreading the joy of Eid to its customers ahead of this biggest religious festival in the form of many exciting gifts under a mega campaign.
The mobile money operator has so far handed over 2000 gifts, including more than 100 motorcycles and refrigerators, to its winners.
The joy of those winners has doubled when they received such gifts from their favorite stars, like Mishu Sabbir, Ziaul Hoque Polash, and Parsa Evana.
Under the ongoing mega campaign, on April 8, Krishnachandra Roy of Jashore received a motorcycle from actor Mishu Sabbir, and on April 5, Mahe Alam of Gazipur got a motorcycle from actor Ziaul Hoque Palash, while Kamrul Hasan of Narayanganj received his motorcycle from actress Parsa Evana on April 2, according to a press release.
After receiving his gift, Krishnachandra Roy said, “For belonging to a middle-class family, I struggle to make ends meet at times, let alone buying a motorbike. Nagad has now fulfilled my long-awaited dream of having a motorbike.”
“My trust in Nagad has now increased all the more,” he also said, adding, “After traveling 250 kilometers; Nagad took the motorcycle to my home. I am grateful to Nagad for that.”
Nagad has so far distributed more than 457 bikes, refrigerators, smart televisions, mobile phones and tabs under the mega campaign that started on 23 March. Besides, 850 headphones and smartphones were instantly handed over to the winners at shopping malls. Moreover, 785 headphones and smartphones were given to winners through couriers. In all, Nagad has handed out more than 2000 gifts as of now.
Sadat Adnan Ahmad, chief marketing officer of Nagad said, “Nagad’s mega campaign has appeared as a reason for happiness for our customers.”
“We are getting a huge response from people across the country. Every day winners receive their winning gifts. We want people to get used to digital payments and save their hard-earned money,” he added.
Under the campaign, customers have opportunities to win various exciting gifts only by buying products worth a minimum of Tk 500 from specific merchants using their Nagad wallets.
Besides, every hour 10 customers are getting a cashback of up to 100 percent or a maximum of Tk 2,000 on Nagad payments from 10 am to 11.59 pm during each campaign day. The cashback amount is sent to their Nagad wallets the next working day.
During this Eid campaign that will continue till 30 June, a customer will enjoy cash back a maximum of three times, while they will be eligible for the mega offer for once.
EDF loan ceiling reset as per IMF condition
Bangladesh Bank (BB) has reset the ceiling of the loans in US dollars from the Export Development Fund (EDF) to manufacturers and exporters for input procurements.The central bank took the decision implementing the guidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with a view to stopping a further fall in foreign currency reserves.The foreign exchange policy department of BB on Sunday issued a notification in this regard and sent it to the top executives of the banks for immediate execution.The circular stated that Bangladesh Bank has decided to reset the ceiling to $10 million from $15 million for input procurements under back to backLCs (BBLCs) against relevant export orders.The limit for imports under BBLCs by individual member mills of BGMEA and BKMEA is set at $20 million and $15 million, respectively, including $15 million for individual exporters of leather goods and footwear sectors.In addition, the maximum eligible limit for bulk imports by a member of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association has been kept unchanged at $20 million, where it was slashed for a member of the Bangladesh Dyed Yarn Exporters Association to $10 million from $20 million.
IBBL distributes food among 31000 underprivileged children
Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) has distributed food among 31000 underprivileged children across the country during the holy month of Ramadan.
As part of this, Additional Managing Director of the bank Md. Altaf Hossain distributed food on Sunday among underprivileged children at Jamia Ashrafia Madrasha, Baridhara, in Dhaka.
Md. Maksudur Rahman, Senior Executive Vice President, Bashir Ahamed, and Md. Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan, Executive Vice President, Md. Abul Hasan and Nazrul Islam, Senior Vice Presidents, and Maulana Abdul Alim Faridi, Principal of Jamia Ashrafia Madrasha and Md. Shafiqul Islam president of Baitun Noor Jame Masjid attended the programme.
Top executives and employees of head office of IBBL attended the programme.
Earlier, on 1st Ramadan different zones of the bank distributed food and iftar among 30,665 underprivileged children and orphanages across the country, said press release.
Jackfruit: Export Opportunities for Bangladesh's Economy
There is a reason why jackfruit is Bangladesh's national fruit. It grows in abundance across the country, particularly in the highland areas. Madhupur and Bhawal are among the top areas where jackfruit production is high. Once considered a backyard fruit, jackfruit now has the potential to become an export item - offering new economic opportunities and providing a sustainable food source for the population. In this article, we will explore how jackfruit can become a game-changer.
Why Jackfruit?
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, about 1.5 million metric tons of jackfruit are produced in Bangladesh every year. Researchers observed that in the last few years, about 45% of this total production, i.e., about 5 lakh tons of jackfruit were wasted.
During jackfruit season, fruits like mango and litchi are available in the market, and it is difficult to process jackfruit for eating as compared to these fruits. Most people in Bangladesh think that jackfruit can only be eaten when it is ripe. There is a lack of interest in consuming unripe jackfruit. So a large part of the jackfruit produced in Bangladesh is wasted every year.
Read More: Delicious Jackfruit Recipes to Try Out Today
Keeping these issues in mind, researchers are trying to make food products with jackfruit that are easy to preserve for several months. Thus, they are aiming to reduce wastage and open up new economic prospects for the country.
Products Made Using Jackfruit
In recent times, various types of delicious foods are being prepared from jackfruit in Bangladesh, which includes jackfruit jam, pickles, chutney, chips, cutlets, ice cream, curd, ready-to-cook jackfruit, fresh cut (vegetable meat), jackfruit powder, and various other packaged products. Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute has developed these products for the first time in Bangladesh. Customers can find these products in several supermarkets and retail markets across the country.
Between 2019 and 2022, the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute partnered with NewVision Solutions Limited to carry out a three-year research program, titled "Jackfruit Postharvest Loss Reduction and Marketing Strategy". The objective of this program was to prevent the wastage of jackfruit and explore its various uses.
Read More: 7 Nutritious, Delicious Jackfruit Recipes for Curries, Snacks, Salads
As part of the project, the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute provided training to around 700-800 individuals on the production and marketing of jackfruit. These individuals are now engaged in producing a variety of jackfruit products. Additionally, the institute is also offering free training to anyone who is interested in learning more about producing jackfruit products.
Initially, the researchers focused their efforts on studying four products, namely jackfruit chips, pickles, fresh cuts, and dried products, as part of the project. However, they have now come to realize that jackfruit can be utilized as a resource for over 30 different products.
According to researchers, the market demand for fresh-cut or unripe jackfruit is higher than that for other jackfruit products. This benefits farmers, as a single jackfruit that would usually sell for Tk 60-70 can be sold for Tk 200-250 as fresh-cut jackfruit.
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Currently, a range of food items, such as unripe jackfruit vegetable rolls, cutlets, and shingara, are being prepared in the market. Meanwhile, ripe jackfruit juice is being used to make ice cream, cakes, and fruit roll-ups. In addition to that, these products made using jackfruit are already creating employment in the country. On the other hand, there is a demand for these products in the international market as well.
7 Ways to Earn Money with ChatGpt
With the advent of technology, diverse artificial intelligence (AI) tools and chatbots are appearing in 2023. Among them, the text-based artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, has attracted millions of users worldwide. Although many feel apprehensive about ChatGPT replacing human workers, it has some benefits too. This chatbot can quickly respond to almost all types of queries and provide answers and materials. This efficient AI model can facilitate a lot of tasks that would make earning money easier.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI and launched as a prototype on November 30 in 2022. This model was built on top of the GPT-3.5 language mode which was fine-tuned using supervised as well as reinforcement learning techniques. The latest version of ChatGPT based on GPT-4 was released on March 14, 2023. This version is available only for paid subscribers only.
Read More: ChatGPT by Open AI: All you need to know
7 Ways to Earn Money through OpenAI’s ChatGPT
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a passive earning method that involves promoting a certain product or service on online platforms like websites, blogs, or social media. Here the promotion is done through articles, product reviews, audio, video, or other audience-building mediums. Affiliate marketers earn commissions on the sales purchased through their leads or affiliate links.
ChatGPT can be utilized to develop articles and videos. However, to avoid strikes on YouTube and other online platforms, copyright rules should not be ignored.
Read More: Ways of Affiliate Marketing while Staying in Bangladesh
Blogging and AdSense
Those who have a passion for writing can start blogging on a specific niche like sports, lifestyle, music, cooking, parenting, food recipes, technology, etc. ChatGPT can help cut down the time to research specific topics and produce content. However, the content should be well-researched and plagiarism-free, while offering something new that others are not. Duplicate or similar content will be penalized by search engine operators.
After uploading around 20 to 30 pieces of content, the blog can be submitted for Google AdSense. Once Google AdSense is approved, the blogger can earn through CPC (pay-per-click).
Read More: Monetizing Your Blog: How to Make Money from Blogging
Software Development
ChatGPT AI model has coding and programming skills. Using ChatGPT, programmers and software engineers can design easy-to-use software, apps, and online tools that they can sell or earn commissions from.