August 07, 2022

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) and Grameenphone, jointly launched Graduate Employment in Private Sector Programme under an alliance called "FutureNation" today (07 August) at a hotel in Dhaka, to create economic opportunities for all and accelerate the journey towards a smart Bangladesh by 2041.

Future Nation, an alliance of the private, public and development sectors, is created to accelerate the Nation's future economic growth by enhancing the skills and potential of youth by identifying opportunities for development, employment, entrepreneurship, and investment in the post-pandemic situation.

Salman F Rahman, Private Industry and Investment Adviser to the Honorable Prime Minister; Zunaid Ahmed Palak, State Minister for ICT; Md Sirazul Islam, Executive Chairman, BIDA; Radwan Mujib Siddiq, Strategic Advisor, UNDP; Ms. Mohsina Yasmin, Executive Member, International Investment Promotion, BIDA, Sudipto Mukerjee, Resident Representative, UNDP; and Yasir Azman, CEO, Grameenphone graced the “FutureNation: Graduate Employment in Private Sector Program” launch.

Sudipto Mukerjee, Resident Representative, UNDP, in his opening remarks said, “Global job market is consistently evolving. We must ensure our youth is prepared for the new reality presented by the fast-paced economic and technological evolutions.”

Salman F Rahman, Private Industry and Investment Adviser to the Honorable Prime Minister addressing the event as the chief guest, said, “After realizing a ‘Digital Bangladesh’, the government is now working to establish a ‘Smart Bangladesh’ to be successfully involved in the 4IR, engaging in creating youth employment through various ICT initiatives, a pre-condition for sustaining Bangladesh’s prosperity. I wholeheartedly applaud this initiative, ‘FutureNation by Grameenphone, UNDP and BIDA.”

Zunaid Ahmed Palak, State Minister for ICT in his speech said, “Bangladesh is uniquely positioned to potentially benefit from a demographic dividend. But to reap the benefits of a demographic dividend, stable employment opportunities and equipping the youth with digital competencies is pivotal. We must collaborate to reduce the disparity between the urban and rural areas by transforming the country into a digitally connected society. FutureNation is an of this co-creation.”

Radwan Mujib Siddiq, Strategic Advisor, UNDP, in a video message shared his vision about FutureNation. He said, “FutureNation, with its advanced grooming method and more realistic assessment procedure, will help endow the youth with employable skills. I am delighted to see this coalition support the very critical area of building skills through their technology and innovation. Such an initiative will be impactful to upskill the youth and prepare them for real work."

Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup, EVP, Head of Asia, Telenor, in his video message shared, “Creating opportunities for youth is fundamental for any nation, and it is crucial for Bangladesh. Grameenphone has been creating employment opportunities for the last 25 years. At Telenor, we believe strong partnerships create a stronger impact.”

Yasir Azman, CEO, Grameenphone, said, “I see great possibility to work with the young people of Bangladesh to prepare them for the future industry. The time is now! Our youth will be the biggest contributors to take the journey of Bangladesh to become a developed nation by 2041. Grameenphone is glad to have the opportunity to lead from private sector and contribute to the development of youth workforce through FutureNation coalition with UNDP and BIDA."

A panel discussion was held after the launching of the platform on “Graduate Employment Challenges in Bangladesh”, where Mohsina Yasmin, Executive Member-3, International Investment Promotion, BIDA; Bikarna Kumar Ghosh, Managing Director, Bangladesh High-tech Park Authority; Russell T Ahmed, President, BASIS; Zaved Akhtar, Managing Director, Unilever Bangladesh; Anir Chowdhury, Policy Advisor, UNDP; Hakon Bruaset Kjol, SVP, Head of External Relations Asia, Telenor and Rashedur Rahman, Executive Director, ICE Center, University of Dhaka shared their valuable opinions. The program was wrapped after the Vote of Thanks from Van Nguyen, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP Bangladesh.

FutureNation has developed a home-grown aptitude assessment tool, which can assist the corporates and the private sector in finding the appropriate human resources with the necessary skills needed for their organization. Walton, Akij, Pran-RFL, Abul Khair Group, Nasir Group, Nagad, ACI, and many other reputed organizers have been listed as the potential employers for this program, while Dhaka University, North South University, BRAC University, and a few more names are listed among the potential academia for FutureNation.

July 4, 2022

Four medical camps have hence been deployed in Netrokona, Sylhet, and Sunamganj, providing medical consultancy and necessary medicines to the flood affected people in the nearby impacted upazilas free of cost. The teams have been dedicated to working from June 29 and are expecting to offer treatment to more than 6 thousand patients throughout the 10-day initiative, finishing on July 08, 2022. Till July 3, 2173 patients have been treated through 4 medical teams. Netrokona Sadar, Barhatta, Kalmakanda, Dakshin Surma, Kanaighat, Osmaninagar, Balaganj, Bishwanath, Companiganj, Gowainghat, Bishwambarpur, and Sunamganj Sadar are the upazilas that are set to be covered under this collective effort from Grameenphone and BDRCS.

"The sudden flash flood caused a grave crisis in the north and north-eastern belt of our nation. While our team, in collaboration with regulators, local administration, defense forces and network operating partners, fought hard to restore the emergency lifeline mobile network and provide connectivity to people when they needed the most; we have also simultaneously assessed the distressed communities' healthcare and food support needs to come forward and stand by them. I am thankful to the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society for helping us reach out to the people with emergency responses." - said Yasir Azman, GP CEO.

Besides the medical camps, soon, there shall also be 15 thousand food relief packs distributed among 15 thousand families as one week's essential food supply for each family. Earlier, Grameenphone offered 10 minutes of free talk time for the Grameenphone users struggling in the inundated areas to help them reach out to meet survival needs.

The post COVID-19 era marks a significant change in the minds of the young people. They have witnessed how the world has adapted to so much change in matter of days. Early in their lives they have encountered a deep reality and I see that influencing their plans for the future.

With disruptions and changes in ways of learning, interacting, transacting and overall behaving in the society, young people are moving away quickly from the legacy beliefs of a defined future with a 9 to 5 job. What is clear is that becoming an entrepreneur is quickly becoming the number one choice for “Generation Next” – as many young people already want to break away from the fixed salary jobs. It’s not just the established big businesses that help society get through a crisis like COVID-19 but a new generation of up-and-coming entrepreneurs who are fostering innovation, ensuring future sustainability, focusing on building safe, equitable business models are strong contenders in the game.

The revolutionary startups who are struggling yet hungry to establish something new are the biggest source of inspiration to young minds! I see two primary traits of these future startups: number one is agility and the other is resilience. Consumer expectations have changed. People are much more at ease with using new technology. So It is certainly becoming easier to become an entrepreneur and think beyond geographic boundaries. Cloud-based tech business has more than halved costs in starting and running a business. It’s also much easier to access new technology. Websites and platforms that integrate a tech stack enable small businesses to market products to a wider audience, with better connections and transparency between buyers, sellers, and partners. Thus, becoming an entrepreneur and building a small business is now the number one option when it comes to the gen Z young people.

· The young people are more informed and at par with global concerns, they have high awareness on building a sustainable world and speak a common language. They are more equipped to make the largest impact in the society, such as

· They see what others see, but see it from several different angles and perspectives

· They are good at spotting and observing the emerging trends even before it is noticed

· They are creators, who do not mind taking risk, looking weird or sounding ridiculous

· They get propelled by how they can make it work, focused on multiple solutions

· They are interested in how a seemingly unnoticed common problem or pain of masses can create opportunity for a new business

· They fail often, but get around the failures by resounding success

· They disrupt the existing and set new trends by thinking, asking, doing what was not done by most

· They are the biggest learners; they learn from every walk of life and from everyone

· They challenge status-quo, themselves and the experts

Let’s encourage our next generation to follow this behavior of constant learning from everywhere. Let’s encourage them try and fail and learn. Whenever their passion, idea and time to market are in resonance there is bound to be many more Steve or Gates or Ayman or Afeef in the limelight. The future entrepreneurs will create the leap of our economy. We need not only a young workforce who are fit to join work but even more people to think differently and contribute to the creation of more and more jobs in the market. To create something fabulous that has a 10X ripple effect in the economy. The Gen Z entrepreneurs will propel the growth of Bangladesh to become the developed nation of 2041.

When we were growing up bullying used to happen face to face. It was mainly in the form of peer pressure bullying. It was done mostly to your face or behind your back verbally. Trust me I know firsthand as I not only was bullied by a classmate as a young kid, but I also witnessed bullying to others even after that happened to me. Unkind words have immense impact on anyone. Fortunately, I had a very kind teacher who gave me courage to fight back. She taught me to see why the bully was weak. Understanding his perspective and his reasons. You may have heard the saying, “Before you criticize or judge someone, walk a mile in their shoes.” This quote is all about empathy or kindness.

Kids nowadays still must deal with bullying in two folds - in real world and in a virtual environment. Technology has become a new and current avenue for bullying to occur. This type of bullying is known as cyberbullying.  

Being bullied is never a fun experience be it online or offline. It hurts the same. Therefore, kindness has never been more needed than it is now. In parallel pandemic has not only opened a new and unknown world of interaction for us and for our children. We are all coming together in online space where the rules, manners and approach is new. But that does not mean the regular rule of interaction like decency, kindness and empathy is not applicable in here. In fact it is much important in online space than in real world. What Aesop said more than 2,000 years ago sums up the basic: “No act of kindness no matter how small, is ever wasted.”

Few easy rules that can keep kindness around and active

·   To understand empathy, children can be told to imagine themselves in another person’s shoes with a narrative to help them understand impact of unkind words.

·      Help them imagining an internet user as more than a username in reality: that there is a real person with real feelings on the other end of online interactions.

·      Applying real world rules  involving smiling, waving, eye contact, and welcoming gestures therefore makes all the difference.  This will encourage children to both visualize the real people behind computer screens, and to critically consider the nature of their actions and words online. 

·      Always good resource helps. These days children like learning through gamification. Here Digiworld game can come into play as this is an interactive game that teaches through gamification. It is age appropriate and an interesting activity that can be played together.