Web-based entrepreneurship a must for economic growth
July 5, 2009
FE Report — Despite wider internet accessibility, the growth of web-based entrepreneurship in Bangladesh is largely hindered by lack of IT knowledge and soft skills, speakers at a seminar said Saturday.”Any one who can use a mobile phone can be a web-based entrepreneur,” said Hasan Zillur Rahim, an engineer, entrepreneur and educator based in software heartland at Silicon Valley, California.
Although almost all parts of the country is “enabled for online access”, only five million Bangladeshis now use the internet, which is one of the lowest in Asia, Rahim said
Rahim was presenting a paper in a seminar on web-based entrepreneurship in the city. It was jointly organised by Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) and the Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS) at CIRDAP auditorium.
“We should spread knowledge of IT and soft skills such as email etiquette and English language to foster the growth of web-based entrepreneurship in the country, which is a must for boosting national economy,” he said.
He said web-skills can make a lot of difference for even small boutique shop, as “traditional business scales linearly while web-based business scales exponentially”.
Entrepreneurs need core web training for creating and updating websites and business English, he added. The US-based entrepreneur urged the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of Bangladesh to use web as a business tool. “It can help in quality control and spread of wings in global market.”
Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry Senior vice president Shekil Chowdhury emphasised the involvement of commercial organisations for raising web popularity. Former advisor of the immediate past caretaker government Dr. CS Karim presided over the seminar where his former colleague Hossain Zillur Rahman spoke.
Speakers at the seminar demanded creating specific websites for individual sector. It will encourage students, doctors, engineers, businessmen, farmers to use the internet regularly, they added.
“Primary and higher secondary text books of the National Curriculum and Text Book Board (NCTBB) would be available on internet by this year. But we need to have information and references of every sector available online”, president of BCS Mustafa Jabbar said.
Source: bbc.co.uk/
Comments
Got something to say?
You must be logged in to post a comment.