Interview of Md. Rokonuzzaman Sujon, Publicity & Public Relations Secretary, CCOAB

Md. Rokonuzzaman Sujon is the Publicity & Public Relations Secretary, CCOAB. He is also the owner of Global_Soft Cyber Café. He set up his cyber café in 2001 and thus, he has become a veteran in this field. Recently, he gave an interview to Business Bangladesh Updates. Rashidul Hasan Bulbul (editor BBU) took this interview and here it is:

Q: Tell us something about Cyber Café Owners Association of Bangladesh?

Md. Rokonuzzaman Sujon: Seven or eight years ago, there was an attempt to set up a cyber café owners association in Dhaka, but it did not happen because of difference of opinions among the owners. Then, nearly three years ago, cyber café owners association was formed. Then, we applied to FBCCI and FBCCI approved us as an association one year ago. Now, we are registered with FBCCI.

I am one of the executive members of this association. There is an election in March 2008.

Q: After setting up of CCOAB (Cyber Café Owners Association of Bangladesh), is it the first election?

A: After CCOAB was set up, there was an election. Thus, it is going to be the second election.

Q: When did you arrange first fair from your association?

Md. Rokonuzzaman Sujon: We arranged the first fair at Chittagong in 2005. That time, submarine cable did not come to Bangladesh, but there was a lot of talk about this matter. So, we decided to organize the first fair in Chittagong. I’d like to mention another matter here. After Dhaka, Chittagong has the largest number of cyber cafes. So, we wanted to create awareness among people about Internet technology.

Q: When did you first set up your cyber café and why did you come into this business?

Md. Rokonuzzaman Sujon: I started this cyber café (Global_Soft Cyber Café) in 2001. So, you can see that it is now almost seven years old. At that time, I did a one year course on E-commerce. I found that there was hardly any place to use Internet in Bangladesh. In fact, there were very few places where ordinary people could browse internet in Dhaka city. Most people used dial up internet and the speed was extremely slow. It took nearly 30 minutes to open and send an email.

In 2001, broadband internet facility came to Bangladesh and within four months, I opened Global_Soft Cyber Café. At first, my intention was to do some kind of business through internet, but since Bangladesh did not have the necessary law and other infrastructure related to e-commerce, I had to focus on cyber café business. From this background I became involved with cyber café business.

Q: What kind of training did you have before entering into cyber café business?

Md. Rokonuzzaman Sujon: I tried to take a lot of education about computer field before I started cyber café. I just told you that I did a course on e-commerce. Before that, I did a course on basic matters of computer. You know that in a cyber café, 10 to 15 computers are connected and that is why I learnt about computer networking. I also got some training on hardware and trouble shooting. This education has helped me a lot. Now, I can solve most of the problems myself and I do not have to wait for any technician to come and fix my problems. I think that every cyber café owner should at least have some basic idea about networking and basic hardware trouble shooting.

Q: How can internet bring more benefit for ordinary people in Bangladesh?

Md. Rokonuzzaman Sujon: I often think about this matter and I think that ordinary people have wrong image about internet in Bangladesh. Many of them think that internet is a technical thing and it is for highly educated and rich people. However, internet can bring direct benefit for ordinary people. For example, most of our court cases are related to land property. If government takes an initiative and make every land document computerized and put them in internet, then many of our problems will remove. Then, before buying any land, the customer can get all the information about that land from internet. It will not cost any money, but will bring a lot of benefit for ordinary people.

Q: What do you seek from Bangladesh government?

Md. Rokonuzzaman Sujon: I think that they should be a national policy on internet. If there is a national policy then government officials will have to become more active about IT sector. For example, the price of bandwidth should be reduced significantly. I am happy that the government has already decreased bandwidth price, but this is not enough. There must be more reduction. There is also another problem- 15% VAT on cyber café. We have to remember that rich people do not come to cyber café. They have their own internet and computer connection in their home. Those people who do not have internet at home come to cyber café and they have to bear the burden of VAT. So, you see that the ordinary people are paying the price of this burden. If the government reduces the price of bandwidth 90% then we can give 10 times faster internet speed to our users.

Q: What is your idea about VOIP?

Md. Rokonuzzaman Sujon: VOIP is something that is too much needed for a country like Bangladesh. Many Bangladeshi people are working in other countries and VOIP can allow their relatives to talk to them at a very cheap price. Unfortunately, for many years the government has kept VOIP as illegal. This only helped corrupted people. I believe that VOIP should be opened without any delay. Good thing is that government has taken the decision to open VOIP. As a result, very soon we will be able to talk very cheaply with many countries of the world. We will also be able to send and receive large files within Bangladesh and with foreign countries. The government will get a lot of benefit too. VOIP will increase tax revenue of the government. So, I feel that VOIP will help everyone equally.

The Participants of Math Olympiad visited SoftExpo 2008

About 500 participants of Math Olympiad visited the SoftExpo 2008, organized by BASIS, at the Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Centre yesterday (16 February 2008). Being invited by BASIS, about 500 participants of math Olympiad, from across the country, along with their parents acknowledged the latest update of the software industry of Bangladesh, visiting the exhibition. At that time, T I M Nurul Kabir, convener of BASIS SoftExpo 2008, and all the members of the executive council of BASIS along with the General Secretary of Math Olympiad were also present.

The participants of math Olympiad made queries about different software products, visiting the stalls of the exhibition.

Get, Gain and Grow- on the basis of this theme, more than 150 local software companies and a few companies from Denmark, Grate Britain, Japan, Germany and France are taking part in the exposition. These softwares and IT enabled service organizations are showcasing the products related to business software, outsourcing, multimedia/animation and games, mobile and wireless application, e-commerce, e-governance, hardware technology solution, telecommunication and networking, IT education, financial institution and ICT development. It is worth to mention that ICT outsourcing has become the center of attention to all in Bangladesh recently. Besides showing the software products and services, seminars and workshops on different issues, and business match making is being held at the exhibition.

The sponsors of BASIS SoftExpo 2008 are Microsoft Bangladesh Ltd. and the Business Promotion Council of the ministry of commerce. Denmark is the Theme Country. The international partners are Danish Federation of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry, UK Trade and Investment and Jettro. Daily Star and Radio Today are the media partners.

(Information: Courtesy of BASIS SoftExpo 2008 Media Center)

Interview of Nobuhiro Hotta Chief executive officer, Dream Cluster Inc.

Nobuhiro Hotta is an IT entrepreneur. A residence of Japan, Nobuhiro Hotta is the founder and owner of Dream Cluster Inc, a group of companies consisting of nine companies. Recently, Nobuhiro Hotta came to Bangladesh to participate in BASIS SOFT EXPO 2008. Japan is a developed country with a thriving IT sector. Many Japanese IT companies are now looking forward to outsource their operations in other countries. As a representative of Japanese IT companies, he came to collect detail information about Bangladeshi IT sector. In an interview with Business Bangladesh Updates, Nobutada shared his thoughts and ideas.


Here is the interview:

Tell us about your company.

I am the founder of Dream Cluster Inc. It is a group of companies consisting of nine companies. Out of these nine companies four have come to Bangladesh to participate in BASIS SOFT EXPO 2008. The main target of this mission is e JOBGO, a portal site. Currently, there are 20,000 software industries in Japan. Out of these companies five and half thousand companies are members of this website. This website is dedicated to bring together companies that are involved in the same business operations and increase their network. As a representative of these companies, I have come to Bangladesh to gain insight about the IT companies of Bangladesh.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

After finishing my study, I started my career in a software company named System Integration. I used to work as an engineer in the salary department. After the company was converted into a public limited company, I supervised the planning of the IT section of the company. While working there I used to deal with other IT companies. I learned about human networking. A major problem with Japanese IT companies is that they do not have a very good communication system. Big companies only go to other big companies. They do not look for small companies. With a view to break this communication barrier and increase the networking between the IT companies, I established e JOBGO four years ago. Within this short time, the website observed a huge influx of IT companies. Similar problem is arising in China. In China, there are many IT companies of various sizes and to build up a network among these countries they require this type of web portal.

Earlier, you said that four of your companies have come to Bangladesh. Would you tell us about these companies?

Yes. The four companies are: e JOBGO, Sonic Blaster Inc, Zealous Adjuster, and Space Minister Inc. I have already told you about e JOBGO. Sonic Blaster Inc. works on developing network infrastructure. It develops softwares that monitor computer networks. Zealous Adjuster Inc. is a website developing company. They have developed a software named Web Smarty. Using this software, people can easily build and design website homepages. To develop this software, we use Movable Type, an American software. Space Minister Inc. is a real-estate search portal containing information about house renting, apartment renting/buying, lands etc. People in Japan search website to look for apartments. Our goal is to develop a real-estate search portal for Bangladesh. After developing it, the portal will be maintained by Bangladeshi IT workers.

What do you think about BASIS SOFT EXPO 2008?

I am very much surprised to see so many Bangladeshi IT companies participating in this event. Today, I met with officials of almost forty Bangladeshi IT organizations and all of them showed great interest to work with us. Currently, the lion’s share of the Japanese off-shore outsourcing goes to China. There are large number of Chinese software engineers knows Japanese language. Because of this rise in the demand, service charge of the Chinese Software Companies is going upwards. To fight with this problem, we are looking into developing countries with sufficient IT infrastructure such as Bangladesh, Vietnam, countries that would provide us quality service at a lower price. We are currently researching the market of these countries.

At present, Bangladeshi IT engineers are now working for many reputed American and European Software companies. There are many talented software engineers and developers. So, we think there is a very good possibility that we could do business in this country. The main problem is communication. So far, language seems to be the biggest obstacle for us. Almost all the Japanese people do not speak English and none of the Bangladeshis know Japanese. Japanese officials submit their documents in Japanese. They expect the service providers to know Japanese language. Since, Bangladeshi people are skilled in English, they can work and communicate very well with American and European companies.

In this regard, Vietnam has a big advantage over Bangladesh. Vietnamese people are very much interested to learn Japanese language. Vietnamese government made it compulsory that university students study Japanese language along with their studies. As a result, there are large number of IT engineers who understand Japanese language very well. Thus, many Japanese companies are expanding their businesses in Vietnam.

You are interested in IT outsourcing. What type of works you are interested to outsource to Bangladesh?

Based on, whatever we have found out within this limited time, we want to outsource open source software related works to Bangladesh. We believe that Bangladeshi engineers are very skilled in open source software. Many Bangladeshi IT companies are working with American and European organizations and proved that they are very good in open source software. We are planning to outsource these types of works. The main problem is language.

What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of our IT sector?

This is my first time in Bangladesh. So far, I have not worked with any Bangladeshi companies and there are not too many Japanese companies that worked with Bangladesh. At this stage, it is a bit difficult for me to comment on this subject but whatever I have seen I am very hopeful about Bangladeshi IT sector. Bangladeshi IT workers are skilled, highly motivated and quick learners. If the language barrier could be overcome then it will ease up the tension. Whenever, I told the officials from Bangladeshi IT companies that their employees have to learn Japanese language they became worried a little bit. If Bangladeshi IT workers are serious and dedicated then they could overcome this barrier.

e-Tutor: Some Information

e-Tutor was present in Basis SoftExpo 2008 and today, we talked with them from Bangladesh Business Updates. They have a website: http://www.etutor24.com . You should visit their website and check different services offered by e-Tutor. They have provided some information about education and they are providing a number of facilities for the students. The good part is that e-Tutor is a free website. There is a forum too where people can exchange their views.

We got a press release from e-Tutor and we are giving it here:

“In the examination hall only thyself is the helper- none else” – this reality motivated the design of e-Tutor (www.etutor24.com). Every student must prepare himself as per his own study plan through lots of reference books, suggestions, notes as well as more and more self assessment tests before sitting for the exam. e-Tutor will help the students prepare theirselves in these ways – in the form of Quality Distance Learning. All students deserve the same high quality learning experience to the online world, combining superior tutors, engaging content, a fully customized online learning environment and a high level of service to support student success.

Top features of e-Tutor

House Tutors House tutors are greatly encouraged to register in our House Tutor section online completely free of cost for their own publicity. We have currently more than 300 House Tutors contact address as per their experience and area of working in our database. Any interested guardian or student himself can be easily reachable to them through our database collection at completely free of cost.
Coaching Centre Various offers from reputed coaching centres as well as their timing, class routine and notice can be obtainable from home – online at totally free of cost.
Books All book lists from education to literature and where obtainable can be easily found in our database online. In the honor of this month – “The International Mother Language Day” we published the books list which are released in the Book Fair along with where obtainable. We also updated our database with the book list which are published by the NRB.
Admission Universitiy/School-College as well as Kinder Gardens’ Admission related notices can be easily obtainable online totally free of cost.
Study Abroad Our database contains more than thousand institutions’ study curricullum with their tution all over the world. And all these are obtainable totally free of cost online as well as through e-mail request.
Scholarship We try to cover all scholarships offered in our country both domestic and international. Any one can get these info totally free from our site.
Online Model Test, Virtual Class Room and Forum We are very happy to announce that we are going to provide Online Model / Self Assessment Tests totally free which will cover – BBA, MBA, MBM, Dhaka University, Medical, Private University, TOEFL and IELTS. And freely registered students can attend our virtual class room session and they can express their problems and ideas in the forum conducted by www.etutor24.com
Suggestions Suggestions published by different publications as well as Made-easy and Test Papers are digitally available in our site at totally free of cost.
Syllabus All Educational Boards’ Seconadary syllabus are obtainable online from this site
Career All Education sector related as well as Non Educational jobs announced at different media are regulalrly published in our site. And we do also maintain a CV database.

SoftExpo 2008: Seminars of the Third Day

Today, we visited SoftExpo 2008 and spent a number of hours there. There was a very important seminar in SoftExpo and some important persons came and talked there about software and ITES. Thanks to the media center of BASIS, we got a detailed press release.

Here is the press release from BASIS

Bangladesh Association of Software and Information services (BASIS) holds a seminar on “Infrastructure requirement to accelerate the growth of software and ITES Industry” on the occasion of BASIS SOFTEXPO 2008 today (16-02-08).

Brigadier General M A Malek (Retd.), Special Assistant to Honorable Chief Advisor, Ministry of Post and Telecommunication, was present at the seminar as the Chief Guest while Hua Du, country director Bangladesh residence mission, Asian Development Bank, Major General Manzurul Alam (retired), BTRC Chairman, S. M. Wahid-uz-Zaman, secretary, Ministry of science and information technology, Margub Morshed, former BTRC Chairman were present as special guests.

BASIS president Rafiqul Islam Rowly presented the key note at the seminar.

Speech by Message of Brigadier General M A Malek (Retd.), Special Assistant to Honorable Chief Advisor, Ministry of Post and Telecommunication

Distinguished Special Guests, Discussants, Key note presenter, discussants and participants -

I am very happy to be present here at today’s seminar which is discussing a very important issue for the development of the software and IT enabled service industry of the country. All of us know how important Information and Communication Technology has become for the development of the country. On the one hand, if the power of ICT can be harnessed rightly, it can significantly improve the productivity and performance of all the activities we do in every spheres of society. On the other hand we can directly use ICT for employment creation of a huge number of educated youth in the country who are currently unemployed. This we can do though involving thousands of our talented youth in different ITES jobs like Call centre, BPO, graphic designing, digitization etc. Our neighboring countries have successfully demonstrated that in recent times.

Dear Guests,

In the speech on the occasion of BASIS SoftExpo2008, the Honorable Chef Advisor Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed has specifically mentioned the bottlenecks of the development of ICT sector in the country. Among other things, he has mentioned about the importance of Infrastructure issue for the development of the sector. The current Government is fully aware of the problem in respect of infrastructure issue. And this Government is fully committed to work on this. You all know that, very recently, responding to the demand of Software industry, particularly by BASIS, government has recently reduced Internet Tariff by a maximum of 40%. And you know that the Chief Advisor has specifically mentioned in his speech that it can be reduced further if needed. This is a very specific step from the current government.

The importance of such line is felt heavily by all of us given the last two weeks of experience of sudden cut of the SEA ME WEA 4 line at Egypt.

We know that redundancy of SUBMARINE cable is very important. You also know that recently BTTB has signed contract for establishing alternative fiber optic line from Cox’s Bazar to Chittagong to minimize risk of disruption of Internet connectivity. BTTB has currently very good back-up VSAT capability and it can give certain level of backup for the submarine cable connectivity. For for complete redundancy we need to have the second submarine cable connectivity through different routes. We are also in the process of establishing second Submarine Cable and we hope to establish that very soon. We will also explore possibility of private sector investment in this area.

Ladies and Gentleman,

You know that this government is very open to listen to suggestion of private sector. There is a public private initiative of “Better Business Forum” which has specific working group of “Infrastructure Development”. From our Ministry, we also welcome you to come up with specific suggestion that can help your industry.

Thank you.

Part of the Speech by Hua Du,

ADB has been promoting ICT development as a priority sector for regional cooperation under the Sub regional economic cooperation (SASEC) program involving Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal. In December 2007, ADB approved a $21.2 million project for developing ICT in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal through enhancing the availability of affordable broadband Internet connections, skilled manpower and local content and Internet applications.

ICT provides powerful tools to fight against world poverty. We need to apply state-of-the-art modern ICT for quickening poverty reduction and improving the lives of poor and disadvantaged, particularly in the rural areas.

Access to digital technologies remains highly unequal globally, and even among the developing countries themselves. The three area identified by ADB for such strategic intervention include i) creating an enabling environment for ICT development, ii) building human resources iii) developing ICT applications and information content in ADB assisted projects.

Chairman of BTRC Major General Manzurul Alam (retired) said: mentioning the different measures taken by the government he said we want support you with regularatory facilitator.

The government is cordial to spread the ICT infrastructure facilities to the rural areas and the government would provide subsidy for the users at rural areas. The government is also thinking of issuing license for Call Centre at a nominal price to encourage the youth to come to this business.

He also invites foreign investors who want to work to spread the ICT facilities to rural areas.

The chairman of BTRC also said “if any private entrepreneur want to take connection of submarine cable the government will welcome the initiative.

Margub Morshed, former BTRC Chairman said, the private sector has all the potential to make ICT to have huge contribution for the economic growth of the country. The government should be more supporting to the private sector.

Some software of STM Software Ltd

STM Software Ltd., the sister concern of STM Vision InfoTech Ltd., the only distributor of Tally India Private Ltd. in Bangladesh, has come up with a few software in the BASIS Softexpo 2008. The softwares are as follows:

1. The final software for Human Resource Information Management, ‘STM Pro- HR’
2. Micro Credit Management Software for NGO- STM Pro- LC
3. Multipurpose Credit Co-operative Management System- STM Pro- Credit
4. Fixed Asset Management System- ACTM Pro- Asset
5. LC Management Software- ACTM Pro- LC
6. Complete Retail Shop Management System- ACTM Pro- Pos

Different organizations can customize the softwares depending on their need. Some of the renowned organizations of the country are already using the softwares. The same support and service, that Tali provide, are being provided. The offer will remain active until SoftExpo 2008 continues till the 18^th.

(Information: Courtesy of STM Software Ltd)

SM Kausarul Islam in BASIS SoftExpo 2008

Covering a fair or expo is a difficult work for journalists. There are so many people in the fair that it is easy to lose track and also it is difficult to collect information at a large crowd. So, media support has become an integral part of any large fair in Bangladesh. BASIS has arranged a media support center in SoftExpo 2008 and today, we from Business Bangladesh Updates (BBU) had a fast hand experience of media facility at SoftExpo 2008. We also had a friendly chat with SM Kausarul Islam who is Program Associate and media coordinator of BASIS SoftExpo-2008.

SM Kausarul Islam was quick to give us the necessary information related to the Expo. We also give him our email and he promised to send regular press releases. We wanted to take his interview and talked some more. He talked to us about the responsibilities he had related to BASIS SoftExpo. He was a journalist in the past but now, he is working for BASIS. Mr. Islam viewed that we have a large pool of educated people and we need to give them proper training so that they become skilled workforce. We need to motivate them for hard work and toward Information Technology. He felt that Bangladesh has a great opportunity to become successful in outsourcing. He said that Denmark was the theme country of SoftExpo 2008 and some Danish companies were eager to give outsourcing works to Bangladeshi companies.

He thanked the journalists of Bangladesh for their support towards the ICT sector. Mr. Islam praised the role of media in the development of ICT sector of Bangladesh. He said that it was very nice that Bangladeshi media understand the importance of ICT and that is why they give adequate coverage towards any ICT event.

At the end, we wanted to know about the facilities being given to the media at SoftExpo. He showed us a number of laptops and we sat in one of them. We were very happy with Internet speed of the laptop and we could do our work quite smoothly. We saw some other journalists doing the same thing at the media center. Some other journalists came and we had to finish our friendly chat with SM Kausarul Islam. Mr. Islam again became busy in serving other journalists. Mr. Islam is skilled in his work- no doubt about that but the thing that attracted us most was his modesty.

Second Day of BASIS SoftExpo 2008

Today was the second day of BASIS Softexpo 2008. I went to visit the exhibition and was delighted to see a fair number of enthusiastic visitors at the exposition. Softexpo is the largest exhibition of software in Bangladesh. BASIS has been organizing softexpo ever since the exposition was launched.

Today was Friday, the government holiday of Bangladesh. So, a large crowd came to visit the fair. There are 150 stalls in the five-day long exhibition. All the companies have come up with some attractive offers for their customers. Telecom companies, universities, banks, different software companies etc. are participating in the exposition. Aside from the local companies, there are few foreign companies too. Companies from Denmark, Japan, UK are taking part in BASIS Softexpo 2008.

This year, Denmark is the theme country of the exposition. A number of delegates from Denmark have come to attend the softexpo with a view to increasing the mutual relationship between the two countries. Reports have it that the delegates will go though match making program with 50 local companies, looking for the companies they are interested to give outsourcing activities.

Besides the stalls and all of the various offers from different companies, there are some seminars as well. There were three seminars held today. The stalls are located on the ground and first floor of Bangladesh-China friendship conference center. The media center of the exhibition is located at the Harmony hall. The visitors can get a map showing the locations of the stalls in the media center. Media center was providing help to the journalists and helping out the general visitors if they face any problems. People in the media center were working hard to give the best service to the journalists. Journalists were asking for press releases, seminar schedule and other information, and the media people were helping them.

There is high speed internet connection in the media center for the journalists. I think, it would have been better if BASIS could make a list of new software offered by different companies. Thus, the visitors would be able to know about the new softwares and could visit the company’s stall that offers his/her preferred software.

BASIS Softexpo 2008 will conclude on 18 February. So, three more days are left in the softexpo 2008 exhibition. Many more fans are yet to visit the exhibition. As of now, I have to say that BASIS Softexpo 2008 has got off to a good start and steadily going towards a successful ending.

There were several seminars in the second day.

About second day of SoftExpo, you can read this report:

Danish ICT market offers opportunities for Bangladesh

Citycell in SoftExpo 2008

Citycell is the only CDMA operator in Bangladesh. At SoftExpo 2008, Citycell is offering its Internet service. When we visited their stall we found that many people were interested about their Internet service which is called Zoom.

We fond Fazlay Rabbi (Rajib) and Md. Razibul Islam at the pavilion of Citycell. They surely were having a busy time. We had to wait few minutes as they were explaining about their Inter service to a number of visitors. One question that was raised by a number of persons was that whether Citycell Zoom contained any unlimited browsing offer. Sadly, they don’t have any unlimited offer but the good thing is that Citycell is providing fast Internet access.

North South University in BASIS SoftExpo 2008

North South is considered to be the top private university in Bangladesh by many people. There is a serious competition in the admission test in this university. North South University has a computer science department. You can find North South University’s stall in BASIS SoftExpo 2008.
Today, while we visited the expo, we talked with the Vice President of North South University Computer Club, M. Abdun Nafee. He told us that the expo has occurred at a time when most students are very busy with midterm exams and that is why, they could not display the activities of their club so well. He said that in the Expo, North South University was informing the visitors about the Computer Science Department and Computer Club. M. Abdun Nafee informed Business Bangladesh that next month, the Computer Club was going to organize its ICT fair.

Masharul Tasbeeh Pamir, General secretary of North South Computer Club was also present.

About the computer club, I am giving an extract from their website:

North South University Computer Club (NSUCC), is one of the biggest and most successful clubs in North South University by every means starting from human resources to its different activities over the years ever since the club was started, which is way back in 1994.

One of the very unique and important qualities about this club is that this is the only club in North South University that provides a vital platform for all those students who are interested in Information Technology. The club offers a grand chance of exchanging and learning detailed information about IT for students who are interested in building up their career in the particular field. Students here can interact with all the other students who are enthusiastic about the same profession. Club activities among students help them make friends with a huge number of people of the university from different batches through this club.

So, you can see that NSU computer club is a vibrant organization and it organizes regular programs.

Bangladeshi Food : Some Information

Listing:

Food taking time: Thrice a day (Morning, Afternoon and Evening).
Breakfast: Potato, Roti, Egg
Modern breakfast: Bread, Butter, Jam, Jally.
Lunch: Rice, Vegetable, Curries, Pulse.
Evening Tea: Tea, Coffee, Somocha, Roll etc.
Dinner: Rice, Roti, Curry etc.
Fast Food: Chicken Broast, Burger, French Fries.
Seasonal Food:
Summer: Mango, Jackfruit, Lichi, Jam, Grapes, Bell.
Winter: Date Juice, Cakes, Bhapa Pitha, winter vegetable, tomato, Shim, Coliflower, Carrot.
Rainy: Khichuri, pickle, Hilsha fish.

Sweets: Chamcham, Roshogolla, Roshomalai, Shandesh, Kalojam, Shamai etc.
Occational Food: Biriani, Chicken Roast, Rezala, Sweet Rice, Borhani, Fenni.
Traditional Food: Panta Bhat, Hilsha fish, Shatkora, khichuri, pickle.
Regional Food: Moghlai Poratha, Bakorkhani, Tihari, Meghban, Dawat.
Production of food and availability- food habit also depends on production of food.
Cultural food- Shatkora, coconut, dry fish.
Variation of foods- food varies from place to place because of it’s geographical structure and productivity.

Free Writing:
Food is the toughest and acceptable art to all kinds and ages people. In South Asia, most probably Bangladesh and India are very well known to other countries for their delicious and varieties of food items, but Bangladeshi is well known for religious cuisine too. However, we are concerned about the taste of food rather than its value. When food is tasted then value does not matter. However, I am describing about Bangladeshi food with description. Bangladeshi people are well known as a voracious nation. We take meal thrice a day. For breakfast, we take handmade bread of flour (Rooti) with lots of vegetables and meat. In the rural areas people eat rice soaked in water as their breakfast. They like to have it with green and red chili, onion and salt. Some rich families take western breakfast like toast, Jam, butter. Other two main meals are lunch and dinner. All of us like to have our staple food rice for lunch. As a river country Bangladesh produces lots of fishes.

But Hilsha is our national food. We also take smashes (bhorta) of different seasonal vegetables, cooked vegetable pulses with rice. The curries differ according to the financial status of the families. We usually take the same kind of food for lunch and dinner. On special occasions we eat some especial kinds of food. They are Polao, Biriyani, Chicken or lamb roast, rezala and as drink we have borhani. We also have some special food for each season such as we eat khichuri on a rainy day; rice, cakes and pithas on winter morning and juice fruits on summer.

Bangladeshi people are fond of sweets. We Bangladeshi people love to have sweets as deserts-Chamcham, Roshogolla, Roshmalai, curd (Dahi)shandesh, kalajam are only few of them. We also like home made sweets like payesh, Halua, Jarda etc. Though it is not a part of our culture but our young generation is greatly attracted to fast food now-a-days. There are many fast food shops in BD which sell burgur, pizza, samusa, sandwitch, chicken fry, cold drinks etc.

Outlining:
We have got many things when we made listing. However, all are not important or necessary for writing section. So, we include some important things that are important and informative. Now, I am giving below the outlining of this article:-
Variation of foods (food varies from place to place).
Production of foods and availability-
Food taking time- Thrice a day.
Cultural food- shatkora, coconut and dry fish.
Seasonal food-
Summer: Mango, Jack fruit, Lichi.
Winter: Cake, Vegetable, carrot, tomato.
Rainy: Khichuri, pickle, Hilsha fish.
Sweets: Chamcham, roshogolla, roshomalai, curd (Dahi), Kalojam, Shamai etc.
Traditional food: Panta Bhat, Hilsha fish, Shatkora, khichuri, pickle.
Modern breakfast: Bread, Butter, Jam Jelly.
Occasional food- Birani, Chicken, Roast, Razala, Borhani, Fenni.

Press Conference of BASIS SoftExpo 2008

Yesterday, a press conference regarding BASIS SOFTEXPO 2008 was held at the BSRS Bhaban, Kawran Bazar, Dhaka. At the press conference organized by BASIS (Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services), the high officials of BASIS provided various information regarding BASIS SOFTEXPO 2008 to the journalists.

BASIS SOFTEXPO is the largest software exhibition of Bangladesh. This year, the five-day exhibition will take place at the Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Center. The software exhibition will kick off from 14 February.

At the press conference, T I M Nurul Kabir, Convener of SOFTEXPO 2008, shared various information regarding the fair with the reporters. Nurul Kabir said that there were some milestones in each of the previous fairs. This year BASIS got Denmark as their theme country, which he termed as the milestone of the exhibition of this year. Indicating the increasing number of outsourcing works between Denmark and Bangladesh, he said that the flow would continue this year as well. Mr. Kabir informed the journalists that 14-16 delegates were coming from Denmark who would be match making with 50 local companies looking for outsourcing works. Eight Danish companies are also taking part in the exhibition. Convener hoped that this match makings will be able resulted in joint venture outsourcing alike the past.

IT Industry Association of Denmark is the associated partner of ASIS Softexpo 2008. Nurul Kabir also indicated that BASIS had convinced UK Trade and Investment office of Bangladesh to include IT in their priority sector. UK Trade and Investment is one of the strategic partners of the exhibition. The other strategic partners are Danish Federation of Small and Medium Industries, Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO). Companies from different countries are taking part in the exhibition. Stressing on IT education, Mr. Kabir said that students from some universities were offered to present with their projects in the exhibition. Being asked if there would be any special arrangement for the student or for the small entrepreneurs, he said that a special zone would be there at the fair only for the students and small entrepreneurs. The entry fee for the fair is 20 Tk., while school children will not require any entry fee in order to attract the young generation to IT.

President of BASIS, Mr. Rafiqul Islam Rowly said that the IT projects would be showcased in the exhibition of this year. He also added that the exhibition is getting wider after ever year. In response to a question of Business Bangladesh correspondent, Mr. Rafiqul Islam said BASIS always tried to inspire individual enthusiasm, but as it was not an organization, it was not always possible to help in individual sector from the fair. Mr. Islam stressed ever increasing market of software export. Indicating a chronological order of software export, he hoped that BASIS was expecting US $30 million exporting software this year, while the amount had been US $26.8 million previous year.

Mr. M. Shoeb Chowdhury, Senior Vice President of BASIS, said that for the first time the chief of the government would be at the opening ceremony of the fair. He also revealed that there would be a media center in the exhibition from where the journalists would be able to use internet and can get help about anything. Mr. A K M Fahim Mashroor, chairman of seminar of Softexpo 2008, introduced the seminar set to be held during the five day long exhibition.

Ahmed Hasan, Vice President of BASIS, Shameem Ahsan, Joint Secretary General of BASIS, Co-convener of the exhibition, Mr. Shafquat Haider were also present in the press conference.

BASIS SoftExpo 2008: Beginning from 14 February

Bangladesh Association of Software and information services (BASIS) is the organizer of SoftExpo. SoftExpo 2008 is going to start from tomorrow and today, BASIS organized a press conference in this regard. A good number of reporters attended the press conference held at BASIS office. BASIS leaders discussed about different sides of SoftExpo 2008. They also answered to the different questions raised by journalists about the expo. They also talked about the condition of ICT sector of Bangladesh. They invited everyone to attend SoftExpo and hoped that a huge crowd will enjoy the expo.

BASIS provided a press release and we have put the press release here at the end of this entry. Business Bangladesh editor Rashidul Hasan Bulbul was present at the press conference.

Here is the official press release:

Bangladesh Association of Software and information services (BASIS), the national association representing software and information technology enabled services (ITES) sector of country, is going to organize BASIS SoftExpo 2008 form February 14-18, 2008 at Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Center, Dhaka, BASIS SoftExpo, the yearly mega event of Basis has, by now, earned the reputation of the largest ICT event of the country.

Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed. Honorable Chief Adviser, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh will inaugurated the five-day long expo on February 14 at at Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Center, Dhaka. Mr. Manik Lal Somaddar, Special Assistant to the Honorable Chief Adviser, Ministry of Science and information & Communication Technology and His Excellency Mr. Einar Hevogard Jensen, Ambassador, Royal Danish Embassy will be present as the special guests.

This year’s Expositon is expected to have a lot of focus on some recent technology trends and issues in the industry like e-Governance, telecom Software, Banking software, ERp/Crm/SCM software, web applications.BPO, E-commerce, E-learning etc. Apart from showcasing of prodects and services by the exhibitors, a series of workshops and seminars will be organized on the occasion.

More than 150 local and foreign exhibitors and internatnional delegates from and participatnt form Denmark, France, UK, German, Japan are taking a part in Basis SoftExpo 2008. The Exhibitor companies will expose Business Software, outsourcing. Multimedia & animation, Games, Mobile & Wireless Applications, e-commerce, e-governance, Hardware Technology Solution, Telecommunications & Networking , ITES and BPO, IT Education, Financial Institution, ICT for Development etc. Apart from showcasing of software products and services by the exhibitors, a series of workshop and seminars, business matchmaking etc. will be held during the exposition.

ICT Outsourcing in Bangladesh in generating lot of interest a recent time and the forthcoming exposition will host a seminar on outsourcing where those involved in outsourcing both form home and abroad will attend.

Delegates form Danish companies will visit this year’s SoftEspo and take part in matchmaking meeting in addition to participating in various seminars, workshops and roundtables. Besides nembers of Japanese companies will be visiting the BASIS SoftExpo 2008 to attend matchmaking and other events and to explore the possibilities of engaging in business ventures with Bangladeshi TCT companies

The visitors expected to visit the expo includes CEO/MDs from the corporate word Government decision and policy makers, academia, business leaders, media, ICT professionals, students, and ICT users form all over the country.

BAISS SoftEspo-2008 at a glance:

Number of total Exhibitors: 150

Business Software Exhibitors: 87

Outsourcing Companies: 16

High-End Hardware & IT solution exhibitors: 5

IT Education and Traning exhibitors: 8

Multimedia and Animation: 6

Pavilion Exhibitors: 10

Special Zone Exhibitors: 18

Theme Country: Denmark

Partner Association: IT Association of Denmark (ITB)

Strategic Partners: Danish Federation of small and Medium Sized Enterprises (DFSME)

Paris Chamber of commerce & Induatry, UK Trade Investment and JETRO

Theme of BASIS SoftEspo-2008: ‘Get. Gain. Grow.’ (This emphasizes on transforming Bangladesh into an e-nation by utllizing the immense potentials of ICT in every phase of tour economy as well as society).

Number of Seminars and business sessions: 12+ by BASIS (To be participated by key decision makers of the country and renowned experts & stakeholders from aboard).

Date: 14 to 18 February.

Venue: Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Center, Dhaka

Entry Fee: Tk. 20 (entry fee is free for students).

Exhibitors include:

• BASIS Members

• Local and multinational ICT companies

• Mobile application development companies

• Successful ICT projects in Multinational and local companies

• IT training institutes & Universities

• ICT consulting houses

• Financial institution

• International ICT Associations

The best place to find information about SoftExpo is its official website: http://www.softexpo.com.bd/

So, take a look and find out more information there and if possible visit SoftExpo 2008.