Department of Business Administration
20th June 2020, 11:00.
Post COVID-19 World: Top Five Opportunities for Bangladesh.
A Webinar on “Post COVID-19 World: Top Five Opportunities for Bangladesh” was organised by the Department of Business Administration of Northern University Bangladesh on Saturday, the 20th of June, 2020. The focus of the webinar was how the economy of Bangladesh can overcome the pandemic and what opportunities are ahead of us.
A panel of renowned subject field experts joined the webinar to discuss the top five opportunities for Bangladesh after the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chief guest of the webinar was Prof. Dr. Engr. Md. Humaun Kabir, Pro Vice Chancellor, NUB and he is also the Dean of FoSE. The keynote speaker of the session was Mr. Abu Sufian, Writer & Editor, VROMON Magazine while the webinar was chaired by Dr. Javed Mahmud, Head, DBA, NUB.
The webinar went live through the NUB Business School’s official Facebook page and was also shared in the official Facebook page of Northern University Bangladesh so that students and faculties from other departments could also participate and get enlightened by the session.
The keynote speaker has tremendous experiences. Abu Sufian attained Masters in Accountancy from the University of Dhaka. As a writer, he has already found a niche for him in our realm of literature. His writings studded with wit, humour, and fun have found favour with a large number of readers. For his style, simplicity, and evocativeness he is a household name in Bangladesh. In addition, at present, he is quite known as the Editor of a Travel Magazine VROMON (only international standard travel magazine in Bangladesh) to its reader and very popular with television audience as a Playwright and Director as well. By engaging in news media for the last twenty-eight years, he is a regular writer to popular Bangladeshi national dailies like daily Prothom Alo, Bhorer Kagaj, weekly Jaijaidin, Ajker Kagoj, Jugantor, Ittefaq, etc. His columns Adhghonta and Poune Ekghonta in Bhorer Kagoj and Prothom Alo respectively were widely acclaimed. He has already got 19 titles including six novels to his credit. His writings on countries of Asia, Australia, and Europe earned popularity. Out of them there are four travelogues about Paris, London, Sydney and Spain. He is also a researcher in addition to his field of print and electronic media. Abu Sufian apart from a popular writer he is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Tourism & Hospitality Management and in GED-Art of Living at Daffodil International University.
When the keynote speaker was addressed with the question of what opportunities are ahead of Bangladesh, he mentioned that the first and most important task is acceptance to the situation and take quick actions accordingly. In his discussion, he compared the opportunities in life as a ‘penalty shoot’ in football, and in order to grab those opportunities, the actions should be taken with right skills and mindset. He added that people should now start to adapt to the changes and accept them. He then talked about the five opportunities that will emerge dynamically and students should try and grab them. The opportunities will be in E-commerce, healthcare and medical equipment, disinfecting and hygiene materials, food delivery business and domestic tourism. He then used statistics on tourism to explain his point. He also compared the graduates in the United States with those of the country to elaborate what opportunities are there for the graduating students in the rural areas. He also used an anecdote to prove his point. He added that when someone is down in his/her life, rather than losing hope, s/he should find strength and use them to gain the opportunities in the right time and in the right situation.
The Pro Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Engr. Md. Humaun Kabir, started his discussion addressing the key note speaker, the head of the department and viewers and completely agreed to the points that the keynote speaker has mentioned and also discussed elaborately about how to overcome the unemployment rate of Bangladesh. He added that the students will be highly benefitted if they listen to the advice that the keynote speaker has given. In his discussion, he mentioned that if education sector, domestic tourism and healthcare sectors can be explored and flourished, then it will help the economy and it will play a vital role in improving lives. He was persistent on the point of feasibility study and skill-based learning and asked the students to think long term rather than short term. He used examples from Germany to elaborate his point on skill-based learning and updating the course curriculum. He finished his speech by thanking the keynote speaker, the dean and head of the department and rest of the business department.
The session chair, Dr. Javed Mahmud, summarised the discussion and mentioned that the human race should actually use the threats of the pandemic to create opportunities. He was optimistic that working from home, online banking and less traffic will actually benefit the economy in the long run. He agreed to the points raised by the keynote speaker and the chief guest and concluded the webinar with words of gratitude to the speakers and the viewers.
The respected Dean and Head of the department, along with many faculty members and students participated in the live session. The insightful webinar was hosted and moderated by Ms. Farzana Chowdhury, Senior Lecturer in Statistics, DBA, NUB.
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