Business
RFL introduces bubble flow technology in Shine Platinum series
RFL Plastics Saturday launched Shine Platinum Bathroom fittings, which use bubble flow technology.
RFL Group Managing Director RN Paul said: "After introducing Shine branded bathroom fitting, we received good response from the consumers due to its affordable price and high quality. We have used bubble flow technology in the Shine Platinum series which will save 30% to 40% of water."
Also read: PRAN-RFL donates safety equipment to health workers
Around 103 types of Shine Platinum Bathroom fittings are available at RFL exclusive and authorised dealer showrooms, read a press release.
Also read: Bidyanondo CHT orphanages get RFL 'icy water bottles'
WTO talks on Trips waiver from June 30
World Trade Organization (WTO) members will on June 30 begin talks on the scope and coverage of the waiver of provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) agreement proposed by India and South Africa for Covid-related medicines.
At the informal meeting of the Trips Council on Thursday, it was also decided that other issues such as duration and implementation of the waiver will be discussed at a later stage depending on the first stage of talks, officials said.
Read:WTO to start Covid-19 vaccine supply negotiations amid clash on patents
Differences remain on how to ensure rapid and equitable access to vaccines and Covid-related medical products for all as the European Union and a few others are still opposing a revised proposal by India and South Africa seeking patent waivers on Covid-related medical products for three years, with a provision to review the duration annually.
“There was agreement on regular Trips Council sessions to push negotiations,” said an official.
The meeting was the first after the WTO members agreed to engage in text-based discussions on the proposal for waiver of intellectual protection rights for Covid medication.
At the Thursday meeting, the US expressed doubts about starting a discussion on the scope of the waiver instead of focusing on common objectives and said some proposals could be very expensive as they unfold over the next 5-10 years.
Read:WTO panel considers easing protections on COVID-19 vaccines
The discussions on the proposal will continue on July 6, 14 and 20 between which meetings among small groups would be held. The first consultation period will start soon, leading up to the first open-ended session and stock taking meeting on June 30.
The General Council of the WTO will check the progress of the negotiations on July 27-28, instead of July 21-22 as planned earlier, the official said.
EU seeks parity
The European Union, which has backed the use of flexibilities within existing frameworks such as compulsory licences instead of new ones, sought its submission to be treated on a par with the waiver proposal though India and South Africa argued that the two be discussed separately in parallel tracks.
“While the India and South Africa proposal is based on Article 9 of the WTO Agreement, what the EU has made is not a formal proposal. They can’t be treated equally,” said an expert on WTO issues.
Read:World trade primed for strong but uneven recovery after Covid-19 shock: WTO
South Africa argued that from the legal point of view of the discussions, the waiver proposal and the communication by the EU should be addressed on different tracks.
This article was first published on The Economic Times
Want to start freelancing from Bangladesh? These are the best platforms for you
Working online through different freelancing websites is currently a very popular line of work because you can match the opportunities on offer to almost any skills-set that you may possess. It can denote both white-collar and blue-collar work. It is possible to earn thousands of dollars by using your own skills through different freelancing platforms - these web-based apps or websites can be essential to match you with the right opportunities, from the ones that abound in the global gig economy.
When outsourcing a lot of their business processes, organisations often engage specialist firms and even freelancers. Bangladesh is also keeping pace with the transformation underway in how human beings view and understand the concept of 'work'. Our large population, which is also youthful, makes it a very attractive pool for recruitment agencies that are often engaged to hire their freelancers.
A 2019 report by Payoneer, the Global Gig Economy Index, put Bangladesh at number 8 for countries with the highest year-on-year revenue growth in the freelance sector - earnings had grown 28 percent from what it was in 2018. Almost all successful freelancers have started their careers through different websites, also known as platforms. This article will discuss freelancing websites where you can get a job faster, matching your skills.
Read Work from Home, Earn and Be Your Own Boss
Top Freelancing Websites for the Beginners
If you research based on your skill, you will find multiple freelancing websites, and those are good enough to confuse your kickoff. Therefore, we have made a list of freelancing websites for beginners from Bangladesh. The following websites are great for newbies.
Fiverr
Founded in 2010, Fiverr is well ahead of other freelancing sites. As a newbie, anyone can open an account in Fiverr. Because it is much more effective and easier for beginners. If you are quite new to outsourcing and do not know which website to start, then feel free to open an account with Fiber and start working.
Jobs at Fiverr start from $5. Further, there is a huge demand for jobs like digital marketing, logo design, content writing, translation, audio, and video editing in Fiverr. Unlike other platforms, no hourly work has been launched here yet; only fixed-rate work will be available. You can withdraw Fiverr's income via Payoneer and Bank Transfer in Bangladesh.
Read Passive Income Ideas in Bangladesh in 2021
Upwork
Getting a job in Upwork is a bit difficult as you will need to bid on the jobs to get hired. However, if you are a skilled candidate and can show your potentiality to the clients, you can get the job easily.
Currently, Upwork is one of the most popular freelancing websites. The job posting feed here is updated very quickly. From small businesses to large multinational organizations, hire their freelancers from Upwork. In 2015, Upwork changed its name from oDesk. Well-known freelancing website Elance and oDesk teamed up to launch a new and expanded platform called Upwork.
Although you will find job opportunities for every sector, jobs like web development, graphics design, customer support, freelance writing, and WordPress management have relatively more in demand in Upwork. Upwork offers both fixed and hourly rates. Payment methods here are PayPal, Payoneer, and bank transfer centric.
Read Taxation of Bangladeshi Freelancers in 2021
Freelancer.com
Freelancer is quite old and popular compared to other freelancing platforms. It has about 16 million users. With more users here, both job opportunities and competition are proportionately higher, and it can make it difficult for newbies to get a job. However, Jobs are available at both hourly and fixed price rates. Earnings from Freelancer.com can be withdrawn through PayPal, Skrill, Pioneer, and bank transfers.
Guru.com
Guru is another popular freelancing marketplace with 1.5 million members. Both fixed price and hourly jobs are available here. Usually, job prices at Guru.com range from $100 to $200. However, after completing each task, the platform deducts Tk 4.95% to Tk 8.95%, which is relatively lower than other platforms. So, working on this site is a little more profitable than other sites, but getting a job is difficult. The payment receiving process can be done through PayPal, Payoneer, and bank transfer.
Read How to Earn Money from Mobile Photography?
PeoplePerHour.com
People Per Hour is a popular outsourcing marketplace based in London and the United Kingdom. As you can see from the name, you can find work here on an hourly basis. However, at present, in addition to the hourly system, fixed-rate job opportunities have also been created here.
This platform has huge competition. The minimum income for each project is $20 to $200. However, the platform charges 15% to 20% on the earned money. Freelancers can withdraw money from PeoplePerHour through PayPal, Bank Transfer, and Payoneer.
Read Quarantine Income Opportunities: How to Earn Money during lockdown period
Choose the Freelancing Sites Based on Your Skill
As we have mentioned earlier, you need to have the skill to start a freelancing career. Clients will not offer you a job out of anywhere. So, it is mandatory to know your category of skill. After that, you can assess yourself and apply for the right job. Randomly applying will not land you a job. Hence, opening an account on the right platform is highly essential. Let's see the best freelancing platform based on specific skills.
Programmers
For the programmers and developers, Toptal.com is the first choice. Besides, Gun.io, Turing, Hired, Upwork, and Freelancer.com are also good choices for programmers.
Graphic Designers
Graphic designing is the most common and popular job category. That is why there are some specific websites where only graphic designers can get a job. Upwork, Freelancer, Fiverr, 99designs, Toptal, Guru, and PeoplePerHour, are well-known platforms for graphic designers.
Read Free Online Graphic Design Courses to Enhance Your Skill
Educator and Trainers
Since this category might not have enough freelancers, most of the platform doesn't focus on that. But Guru.com, Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer.com have a huge load of jobs for educators and trainers.
Writers
There are some specific freelancing websites focusing on the writers, such as textbroker, iWriter, WriterAccess, etc. Further other popular platforms are Upwork, FlexJobs, Fiverr, and Freelancer.com.
Read How to Get Hired for Online Writing Jobs
Business and Finance
Almost all the popular platform has plenty of job for business and finance experts. Especially, Upwork and Fiverr have more jobs related to this expertise. So, if you have experience in a company's business and finance department, you can think of a freelancing career as full-time or part-time.
The global pandemic situation has increased the demand for remote freelance work. So, if you intend to start a freelance career, you can work with any of the websites we have mentioned here.
Digital Marketers
As people are living in the internet culture, the job of digital marketers is increasing. To meet the demand, different organizations tend to find experienced freelancers. Therefore, if you are a digital marketing expert, you can open an account on Upwork, Fiverr, and Frelancer.com. If you are an experienced marketer, you can find a job at Hubstaff Talent.
Read Top 10 Free Online Digital Marketing Courses in 2021
Upay, Falcon sign agreement on salary disbursement
Mobile financial service provider upay has signed an agreement with Falcon Group to facilitate the monthly salary disbursement of the group.
Sydul H Khandker, managing director and CEO of upay, and Mahtab Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, chairman and managing director of Falcon Group, signed the agreement in the capital, read a press release issued Wednesday.
Upay, a subsidiary of United Commercial Bank, launched its operation in March 2021 to provide mobile financial services to people from all walks of life.
Read Digital Currency: Benefits and Risks of the Cashless Economy in Bangladesh.
Australia says it’s reached a free trade deal with Britain
Britain and Australia had agreed on a free trade deal that will be released later Tuesday, Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan said.
The agreement is the first for Britain since it left the European Union.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison had reached agreement on the deal during negotiations in London, Tehan said.
Read:Odds of settling US-EU trade rifts? Hope may outrun progress
“Both prime ministers have held a positive meeting in London overnight and have resolved outstanding issues in relation to the FTA,” Tehan said in a statement, referring to the Free Trade Agreement.
“Their agreement is a win for jobs, businesses, free trade and highlights what two liberal democracies can achieve while working together,” Tehan added.
Both prime ministers would make a formal announcement on Tuesday morning in London and release further information, he said.
Tehan said he spoke to Morrison on Tuesday. Australian Agriculture Minister David Littleproud described the deal as a “in-principle agreement.”
Read:OPEC to boost oil output as economies recover, prices rise
“The details are being nutted out from the in-principle agreement that our two prime ministers were able to get to last night over dinner,” Littleproud told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“Our departments and the Trade Department are working through feverishly to make sure that an announcement can be made at our time tonight so that Australians will see exactly what is in that in-principle agreement,” he added.
The agreement is Australia’s 15th free trade agreement.
RMIT University international business expert Gabriele Suder said the deal was good news for both Britain and Australia.
Read:Australian court upholds ban on most international travel
“It’s wonderful news for the U.K. ... in particular because this is the first post-Brexit deal that has been really constructed from scratch, negotiated from scratch, and in addition has been negotiated in a record time of just one year, which is very, very unusual for free trade agreement negotiations,” Suder said.
Britain is Australia’s fifth-largest trading partner. Suder said she expected the deal would add 1.3 billion Australian dollars ($1 billion) a year to the Australian economy.
8 Mistakes to Avoid in a New Ecommerce Startup in Bangladesh in 2021
A recent study showed that almost 40% of the eCommerce transactions in the world happen through Amazon and more than half of all the startups in any category fail. The truth is, it's never easy to run a successful eCommerce startup considering the risk involved.
Amazon doesn’t operate in Bangladesh and even though there are successful eCommerce sites in town so it’s possible here. In this article, we will look at some of the beginner's mistakes that one should avoid in new eCommerce platforms.
Not getting things Down to a Niche
Unless you have an angel investor to back you till it reaches a break-even point, it’s almost impossible to succeed with a broad range of products. Narrowing it down to a specific niche product/consumer group is critical. Broadening the niche requires higher volume of communication to the client base which is never easy. It means one is competing with the existing and often established market players. The best course would be to focus on a specific niche to build customer loyalty as well as brand image.
Also read: Potential of e-commerce hemmed in by bottlenecks
Poor UI/UX design and Navigation
Before assessing the product of the platform, a client first interacts with the website itself. if the design of the website is not of quality and the navigation complicated, visitors would be discouraged to be there. The best thing is to hire a professional web developer to ensure a quality, responsive and sales facilitating site.
Lack of Product Research
Let's say you are passionate about skiing. You love everything about skiing and would like to sell skiing products on your website. However, given the climate of Bangladesh, it is pointless to sell skiing materials as there is virtually no demand for snow gears. A lack of demand means your product won't sell, no matter how good it might be. So it's better to conduct proper market research on your niche before listing products on your website. Understand what the customer wants and then act on it.
Read Visa’s Fintech Initiative for Bangladesh: New Opportunities for Start-ups?
No Marketing Strategy
An eCommerce platform isn’t like a normal business where you open an offline shop and wait for customers to arrive. You need to promote your platform so that people get to know about it and the product. One problem with eCommerce startups is that they focus on the product and the platform, but not enough on the marketing strategy. You need to create a concrete marketing strategy to attract customers and convert them to sales.
Undercutting or Overdoing
The key to a successful eCommerce platform is its simplicity. As long as a user feels at home on your platform, they will end up making purchases. But keeping things simple doesn’t mean you will underserve your customer. This might often happen with a lack of product description or poor product photography as well as a lack of customer engagement mechanism.
There are also instances of overdoing with too much information that confuses the customer or overselling a product. Focus should be to create an amicable environment for the customers.
Read The SWAP story of Bangladesh's first reCommerce startup
Failing to Add Value
If your business strategy only revolves around selling products and not creating value for your customer base, there's a high chance that you won't be able to retain these customers, ultimately depleting your business potential. Focus on personal interactions and relations with the customers to better understand what they require and sell products that will bring value for them.
Failing Back-Up Product Claims
Your product is only as good as its reviews. You can make bold claims on your platform regarding a certain product but if it's not backed up by sufficient reviews, it's not much good. You should incentivize your customers to write reviews on the platform to make the purchasing process easier for the next customer. A unified review scale across product denominations will help to better certify your platform and increase its reliability.
Read Top 10 Co-working Spaces in Dhaka
Not Defining Correct Metrics
A common mistake of beginners in the eCommerce platform is that they may tend to look at the wrong metrics to define the success of the platform. For example, an eCommerce platform might exclusively focus on driving more and more traffic to the platform but that isn’t a success unless the traffic is converted to sales. The best way would be to reduce acquisition costs and convert the sales to profit.
Bottom Line
As a startup eCommerce platform, the margin of error is very small. You need to make sure everything that you do, aligns with the overall business goal of the startup. It's very easy to make these rookie mistakes. Make sure that you follow the best practices to ensure the success of your eCommerce platform.
Read 20 Most Promising Education Start-Ups in Bangladesh
Odds of settling US-EU trade rifts? Hope may outrun progress
President Joe Biden has vowed to mend America’s trade relations with its European allies, which were stretched to the breaking point by President Donald Trump’s mercurial behavior, combative policies and aversion to multinational alliances.
Yet when he meets Tuesday with European Union leaders in Brussels, Biden may find that making up is hard to do. The prospect of forging an accord to resolve their differences — and perhaps form a united front against an increasingly confrontational China — may be stymied by European skepticism.
Sounding a sour note about Biden’s intentions, Valdis Dombrovskis, a Latvian political leader who serves as the European Union’s trade chief, said in speech last week that the time had come “for the U.S. to walk the talk.”
Dombrovskis was referring in part to Trump’s 2018 decision to impose import taxes on foreign steel and aluminum — a decision that left European leaders furious and triggered retaliatory steps against the United States. Biden has been slow to take up the possibility of dropping the tariffs, which Trump had imposed on the basis of “national security.”
Read:OPEC to boost oil output as economies recover, prices rise
Asked about the tariffs during a news conference Sunday as he wrapped up his time at the Group of Seven summit in the U.K., Biden pleaded for patience with his young administration, saying, “A hundred and twenty days. Give me a break. Need time.”
And with trade tensions still shading the trans-Atlantic relationship, the EU may also prove reluctant to join a U.S.-led effort to confront China over its provocative trade policies.
Then there’s a longstanding dispute over how much of a government subsidy each side unfairly provides for its aircraft manufacturing giant — Boeing in the United States and Airbus in the EU.
“This has been going on for 17 years,” says Cecilia Malmström, a veteran of trans-Atlantic battles as the European trade commissioner from 2014 to 2019.
All that said, U.S.-EU relations are still certain to be much friendlier than they were under Trump, who regularly accused the Europeans of shirking their responsibility to pay for their own defense through NATO and of exploiting what he called unfair trade deals to sell far more products to the United States than they buy.
In a goodwill gesture in March, the Biden administration and the EU did agree to suspend the tariffs they had imposed on each other in the Airbus-Boeing battle. Several news outlets have reported that U.S. and EU diplomats are working on a draft communique that would call for the Boeing-Airbus dispute to be resolved by July 11 and for the U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs — and the EU’s retaliatory sanctions — to be lifted by Dec. 1.
Read:Biden directs US to mitigate financial risk from climate
The Biden administration also announced Friday that Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo would be joining the U.S. delegation; her department administers the steel and aluminum tariffs.
Kelly Ann Shaw, a former Trump administration trade official who is now a partner at the law firm Hogan Lovells, suggested that the EU and U.S. are eager to move past their tariff battles “so they can move on and tackle some 21st century challenges, not the least of which is China.”
Last week, though, Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, sounded noncommittal in speaking with reporters on Air Force One.
“There has been good progress in those negotiations,” Sullivan said of the Boeing-Airbus dispute. “But I’m making no promises about what might happen.”
Regarding the U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs, Sullivan noted that the EU agreed last month to suspend plans to escalate retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products — a concession meant to ease tensions and encourage further negotiations. But he added: “That’s going to take some time to work out.”
Asked specifically whether the United States would be rolling back the metals tariffs, Sullivan shook his head.
Read:Ji'nan to hold ‘Dialogue Sessions of 2021 for Executives from Multinational Corporations (Ji'nan) & China-Japan Industrial Innovation and Development Exchange Conference’
The steel and aluminum dispute is an especially sensitive one. In moving to tax imported metals, Trump dusted off a little-used weapon in U.S. trade policy to justify the tariffs: He declared the foreign metals to be a threat to U.S. national security — a decision that startled and outraged Europeans and other longstanding American allies.
“Almost all the EU members were NATO members,” said Malmström, now a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “How could we be a national security threat? It was offensive.”
Malmström said she was surprised that Biden hasn’t already dropped the tariffs and hopes he will do so at the summit Tuesday.
“Maybe he’s saving this as a gift,” she said.
Complicating the political calculus for Biden is that U.S. labor unions and steel and aluminum producers — some of them concentrated in states important to Democratic election prospects — want to maintain the tariffs on the imported metals to help keep prices up. A key reason is that China, which churns out more than half the world’s steel, has contributed to an oversupply that has otherwise kept global prices down.
Demonstrating a united U.S.-EU challenge to China’s aggressive policies could strengthen the trans-Atlantic negotiating leverage. But Malmström said she is skeptical about whether the EU is eager to join the United States to face up to China and force a reckoning over its trade practices.
Read:Apple brings CEO Tim Cook to court in defense of app store
The Trump administration’s imposition of tariffs on $360 billion of Chinese goods came against the backdrop of a roiling conflict over the predatory tactics that China is widely accused of deploying to try to supplant America’s global technological dominance. Many trade experts say Beijing has coerced American companies to hand over trade secrets as the price of access to its market, forced U.S. businesses to license technology in China on unfavorable terms, used state funds to buy up American technology and committed outright theft.
Critics, including Biden, had lambasted Trump for alienating would-be allies like the EU instead of enlisting them to help challenge Beijing. For now, though, Biden hasn’t called off Trump’s trade war against China.
Malmström noted that among the EU’s 27 member countries, “there is no full unanimity on how to deal with China.” She suggested that the EU might go along with the United States on specific measures — perhaps cracking down on Beijing’s subsidies to its own companies, for example — but still stop short of joining the United States in any wide-ranging confrontation with China.
“The EU will not just sign up to a U.S. agenda on the bottom line,” she said. “The EU is not in trade war mode against anyone.’’
Visa’s Fintech Initiative for Bangladesh: New Opportunities for Start-ups?
One of the key challenges faced by the start-ups in Bangladesh is regarding the payment gateway. As an emerging market for tech start-ups and Fintech organizations, the lack of accessibility to a secured channel of the transaction is a concerning issue. In both securing funds and operating a multi-point transaction system, access to a secured globally accepted transaction model is an integral part to develop the financial aspect of any start-up. To this end, Visa Digital Payments brought forward exciting programs to assist the start-ups in their financial operations.
What is Fintech?
Fintech stands for Financial Technology. Simply put, it is the process of incorporating technology in the financial processes of organizations to digitize transactions. Initially, Fintech was limited to the back-end use of financial institutions to develop the infrastructure of the banking system. The core focus was to develop the service at the back end to offer efficiency to the client at the front end.
However, with advancement in the field and tech becoming more and more accessible to people, Fintech took a front-end position as well. Now, Fintech is widely used in various banking processes and is directly available to the customer as credit cards, debit cards, or instant wire transfers even.
Read Fintech MFS: Best Mobile Financial Services in Bangladesh
The horizon of Fintech, however, isn’t limited to the banking sector alone. With more and more diversification, Fintech has seen prospects in the mobile banking sector, cryptocurrency, and stock exchange as well. Stocks have now become more accessible to people through app-based transactions which are all entailed by Fintech.
Financial Scenario and Constraints Facing Start-ups
In the present context of Bangladesh, start-ups and Fintech organizations require an omnichannel transaction support system for their businesses. Even though cash is still one of the primary bases of the transaction, there is a huge interest in digital payment scenarios as well.
The claim is further backed up by the popularity of bKash, a mobile banking platform powered by Fintech under BRAC Bank. With over 45 million BDT worth of transactions per day and over 22% of all adults of Bangladesh being its user, the popularity of the platform is on the rise for a considerable time now.
Read 20 Most Promising Education Start-Ups in Bangladesh
This growth trajectory will only continue as more and more start-ups are promoting digital transactions on their platform. Start-ups like Pathao, Foodpanda, and Shohoz offer discounts and cashback offers in various digital payment methods. As more and more people get access to the internet, digital payment platform seems to be the future of monetary transactions.
However, there is still a lack of innovation when it comes to developing the Fintech scenario in Bangladesh. With more than 1700 digital start-ups in Bangladesh, the digitization process is far from the optimum level and the few stories of Fintech integration cannot be considered as the mean value.
There is still a lot to develop in the merchant ecosystem as well as client end facilities. As start-ups in Bangladesh are focusing on the digitization of their platforms, the issues pertaining to the ease of access of the payment channels as well as digitizing currencies remain a burning issue and unexplored opportunities for the start-ups.
Read The SWAP story of Bangladesh's first reCommerce startup
What does Visa’s Initiative mean for Startups?
Visa is probably the largest singular body when it comes to digital transactions. They are not only the leader across all the countries of the world but also one of the most secure platforms and channel operators when it comes to online transactions.
Visa recognizes Bangladesh as one of the top emerging markets for tech start-ups and Fintech solutions. However, the company also realizes the lack of ease of business as automation and innovation are still in the nascent stage when it comes to leveraging the full potential of digital payment scopes. To that end, Visa has designed a 12-part webinar for the start-ups and Fintech in Bangladesh to better communicate the service and innovation Visa offers.
The entire webinar is divided into three parts – Visa Connect, Mentorship Series, and Thought Leadership series. Basically, Visa aims to introduce up-and-coming start-ups and Fintech with the cutting-edge technology offered by Visa.
Read: Sofol App from iFarmer: A Revolution Towards the Agriculture Digitization
The mentorship program will focus on Visa’s approach in alleviating the Fintech experience for the clients as well as develop processes in the merchant end as well all the while maintaining efficiency and security. The leadership thought series will see Visa work closely with the start-ups to innovate processes to better suit the market of Bangladesh and understand the best means of digitizing transactions.
Visa is working in collaboration with Start-up Dhaka for the project. The country director of Visa for this region, Soumya Basu feels that this is an excellent opportunity for the start-ups to learn about digital transaction systems from a company that has pioneered the platform itself. He also feels that it will create new opportunities for businesses as they perfect their financial modelling and diversify their offering to the client base.
The webinars will start on 17th June 2021. You can learn more about the webinars and the project here.
Bottom Line
Truth is that the start-ups in Bangladesh are lagging in the digital transaction landscape. Businesses aren’t able to utilize the existing digital transaction channels properly and neither are their new growth opportunities. To this end, the initiative taken by Visa to promote their services and incorporate them in the growth of start-ups and Fintech is certainly commendable.
Read Shammi Quddus: A Talented Bangladeshi Woman in Google Global Fintech Industry.
Renowned Ice cream brands, companies in Bangladesh
Unlike the old days, it is not uncommon to see a three-wheeled van carrying ice cream. However, the unavailability of local ice cream did not reduce the attraction of young and old, attraction towards ice cream has not decreased at all, but has increased. Because, in the last decade, several local and foreign brands of ice cream parlors have started their journey in Bangladesh.
Although there is a joy in eating ice cream from local brands such as Igloo and Polar, many people also go to the ice cream parlors. However, we are not going to focus on the fancy ice-cream parlors, we will discuss the renowned ice-cream brands in Bangladesh.
Top Ice-cream Brands and Companies in Bangladesh
Igloo
Igloo is a popular Ice cream brand in Bangladesh. As a subsidiary of Abdul Monem Limited, Igloo is a different company. Started in 1964, Igloo has been the top ice cream brand in Bangladesh. Currently, they are holding 38% of the market share. Over the years, the company has always experienced growth. Now, they offer more than 100 flavors, shapes, forms of ice cream.
Read Top FMCG Companies in Bangladesh: At a Glance
The company aims to be innovative through its endless varieties. However, the same ingredients are used in igloo as in other countries of the world. About 90% of the ingredients are imported from Europe. Packaging is manufactured in Bangladesh, but some packaging also comes from outside the country. But the recipe is different.
With their strong supply chain, Igloo is now available in more than 20,000 retail stores, hypermarkets and supermarkets in Bangladesh. Besides, they also have a large corporate customer base. They won the no. 1 ice cream brand award in Bangladesh by the Bangladesh Brand Forum.
Read Top Bangladeshi Milk and Dairy Companies, Brands
Polar
Polar is another favorite brand of the Bangladeshi ice cream consumers. Owned by Dhaka Ice Cream Industries Limited, Polar holds a 28% market share. Polar started their journey in 1987 and for more than 30 years the company has been providing quality ice cream. Polar started its journey through visionary businessman Mr Amanullah Miah. But the brand got to see its real value in 2009 when Mr. Nazim Uddin Ahmed was included as a new partner. With the quality of the products, Polar became the 1st ISO 22000:2005 certified dairy category in Bangladesh. They offer a variety of ice cream cake, cone, container, liter container and stick ice-cream.
Bellissimo and Za ‘n Zee
Both Bellissimo and Za ‘n Zee are owned by the Kazi Food Industry. Both brands combinedly hold the 13% market share. The company introduced Bellissimo as the premium ice cream brand in 2013. Bellissimo aims to offer the taste of international quality ice cream to Bangladeshi consumers. It is made with 10% milkfat and natural flavors that provide texture, creaminess and unmatched taste. Bellissimo is considered to be the first premium ice cream brand in Bangladesh. Bellissimo is rich, dense, rich, flavorful, creamy, and made with real ingredients. With their taste and quality, it has become one of ten top choices of the superstore consumers.
Following the introduction of Bellissimo, Kazi Food Industry brought out another brand Za 'n Zee in 2014 for the general customers to meet the mass demand of people in Bangladesh. For the new brand, the target market was the young generation and kids. Although the brand is only 6 years old, it already got quite popular among young people as Sakib Al Hasan is the brand ambassador of Za 'n Zee. However, the quality of the ice cream is highly addictive and the prices are reasonable too. Both Bellissimo and Za 'n Zee are on their way to grab more market share.
Read Top Bottled Drinking Water Brands, Companies in Bangladesh
Bloop
Bloop from Golden Harvest Ice-Cream Ltd. started its operation in 2015. However, in a very short span of time, it has grabbed a considerable market share. According to 2018 data from LankaBangla Investment Ltd, Bloop is holding an 11 percent market share. Over the last 4 years, Bloop has introduced more than 40 variations in the ice creams including cups, cones, sticks, sorbets, calippo, cakes, tubs and more.
Kwality
Kwality is a concern of the Sanowara group. Started in 1997, Kwality has been producing yearly 24000 ml of ice cream. It was co-founded by Dr. Kanti Parekh Ph.D. who is a Food Scientist, a Food Technologist, QA specialist, and a Flavorist with the aim to offer safe products for all. Further, the Kwality ice cream resembles a super premium ethnic quality. This brand is reputed for its all-natural ice-cream, rich pure flavors, and smooth creamy texture. Nevertheless, the brand is specialized in Kulfi, Cassta, and Eggless Ice Cream Cakes. Kwality now offers more than 56 flavored ice creams and they also cater for restaurants, weddings, and banquets.
Read Top Biscuit and Bakery Companies, Brands in Bangladesh
Lovello
Ice cream brand Lavello is not old enough in the country's market. But, market statistics say that although new, it has a steady growth compared to others. It has grabbed a good market share already. Lovello was incorporated in 2016 by Taufika Foods and Agro Industries Ltd. The company has a substantial plant that can produce 50,000 liters per day.
According to Lavello, it is different from others in the quality of the product. They don’t compromise on quality. Milk for Lavello ice cream comes from Australia, while chocolate comes from Singapore, premium quality chocolate comes from Europe, and vegetable fat comes from Malaysia. It offers small size ice cream at a low price which has attracted the young generation and that’s why they have become popular in a short time.
Savoy
Savoy’s ultimate goal is to produce delicious ice cream that satisfies the general consumers by maintaining international food quality and hygiene. Besides, Savoy premium ice cream offers the best natural ingredients. They made both local and western flavored ice cream. However, the company has not experienced steady growth. As a result, it cost them changing ownership. In 2015 the brand was acquired by Golden Group to expand the production as well as to grab more markets in the country.
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Arogga: The Bangladeshi Medicine Delivery Startup Which Raised $200k
Providing healthcare for 160 million people is always a tough task. Even if that is available, sourcing prescribed medicines is even more difficult. If that ailment is uncommon requiring special drugs, the problem is serious. Startup Arogga comes in here hoping to provide prescribed medicine right to the doorstep ensuring quality and reasonable price without the hassle of visiting a pharmacy.
Healthtech Scenario of Bangladesh
Online and remote access health care startups have taken off recently partly pushed by the Covid-19 from early last year. There was a sudden shortage of available services, and people faced restriction on movement due to lockdowns. Popular startups like Doctorola, DoctorsBD, and Rx71 moved in to fill this demand gap.
The same went for medicine supply as well. Popular delivery services like Pathao, Food Panda, and Shohoz also introduced a separate pharmaceuticals section to deliver medicines directly to homes. Arogga, formed in the early months of 2020 was able to move in and grew rapidly in a short period in this market sector.
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The Story of Arogga
Arogga was founded by Rosina Mazumder, an investment banker turned entrepreneur. She left investment banking to start her publishing venture, the Cake Masters. This magazine has been very successful with over 125K followers across social media platforms and millions of readership within a decade.
Rosina and her three co-founders Yawar Mehboob, Shamim Hasan and Fahad Hossain felt that the main problem in Bangladesh was the cost and availability of medicines forcing many to go without meds even. Added to that in the pandemic situation was the problem of physically procuring the meds. Arogga felt it could very much address this demand.
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Building the Startup
Arogga decided to work with the pricing of medication first. Most conventional medication delivery apps source the medicines in retail from Pharmacies after getting an order. So there is no price commission but delivery charge has to be added making profits less.
What Arogga did was partner up with the leading medical manufacturers to source medicines in bulk quantity. This strategy developed from Aroggo’s own experience. When it began, Arogga was looking at a daily order of over 200 on an average. But due to the pandemic, the company failed to source products from the market forcing the company to temporarily shut down
So Arogga set up a climate-controlled warehouse, a pharmacy and a 10 member staff along with a certified pharmacist. This brought about a huge change in the business, and Arogga has seen a 60% month-on-month growth since restarting its business in late 2020.
The company even managed to secure 200K dollars of seed funding from Falcon Network which made the business expansion possible.
Finding a Place in the Market
Startups always face a sustainability challenge which Arogga did and overcame. The 60% month-on growth and over 6500 deliveries meant Arogga was finding its space in the medicine delivery market. And it doesn’t have too many challengers in the market working on its model right now.
Arogga’s big draw is its customer retention rate, almost 55%. Most of the clients are chronically ill patients which means repeat orders. Arogga has focused on this niche and done very well.
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What Sets Arogga Apart?
Its focus on the customer-centric approach and acquiring meds directly from manufacturers has done wonders. It can provide original medicines at a cheaper rate than the pharmacies do without any extra delivery charge and it works.
The ordering process is very customer-friendly which makes it a client’s dream. Instead of typing orders online on digital forms, one can simply upload a picture of the prescription and get delivery at the desired location. The ease with which the users can navigate their app is what has prompted over 20,000 downloads on the Android platform since its inception.
Bottom Line
The health-tech sector of Bangladesh is still in its nascent stage with high growth opportunities. Bangladesh-based medicine delivery Startup Arogga is one of the first companies to make the process a digital one. The innovative approach and user-friendly service has made Arogga a success.
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