Bangladesh urgently needs to diversify investments giving the priority to the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to take its growth to the next level, industry captains said on Thursday.
They said the policy push will not only help widen the country's export basket but also give enough impetus to the backward linkage industries.
The top executives of major local conglomerates also called upon businesses to come up with their resources to lead a mass-scale production by using the publicly-offered benefits, including those available at the under-construction special economic zones.
To attain such sustainable economic vibrancy across the country, they suggested putting more investments in diversified sectors, energy distribution, logistics and technical education to produce technically-sound workforce.
The suggestions came at a webinar on 'Enabling investment climate to realise great potential,' jointly hosted by Citibank, N.A Bangladesh and the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI).
N Rajashekaran, Citi country officer for Citibank NA Bangladesh, moderated the virtual discussion held on Thursday night.
Aameir Ali Hussain, CEO and managing director of BSRM, termed the country's investment climate suitable for business and called upon the entrepreneurs to use it with a long-term investment plan.
"Bangladesh has a great potential in future and investment for any investors will bring positive results," he said.
Calling SMEs essential for sustainable growth of the country, Mr Hussain said the vibrant SMEs can help the growing economy.
But various obstacles, including poor access to formal credit and in the absence of quality utilities hurting the promising the sector, he said.
"The stimulus package needs to reach them. Special economic zones with quality utilities will certainly help them to grow," he said.
He also highlighted the need for building a good number of quality technical institutions to produce sound technical hands required by the industries.
Sharing the successful journey of Pran RFL Group, its CEO and chairman Ahsan Khan Chowdhury said the mindset of doing something good is the most important part in business to flourish.
"If you have the right spirit, passion and desire to grow, others will follow," he said.
Terming business people from Chittagong passionate, Mr Chowdhury urged them to come up with investment in diversified sectors and create a mass scale of production in the coastal region cashing in on the opportunities available in and around the economic zones.
"Bangladesh will continue to grow to change the lives of millions. If the country grows, businesses will automatically flourish," he said.
To create a strong consumer base, the top executive of one of the leading business conglomerates was also emphasising the culture of sharing resources with the stakeholders once the business grows.
Miran Ali, managing director of Bitopi Group, said Bangladesh is the second-largest apparel producer, after China, with holding less than 6.0 per cent of global trade.
"We can double the size through the diversification of products. We need diversification into manmade fibre from traditional cotton products," he said.
To attract more overseas investors and buyers, he said, the country needs to launch a global advertising campaign showing the economic potentials of the nation.
"Bangladesh is the future destination for FDI. We need an international campaign to sell our image globally," he said.
Executive chairman of the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) Paban Chowdhury said over 50,000 acres of land have been developed for the industrial usage in the land-starved country since he joined the office in October, 2014.
Besides global corporations, almost all the leading local businesses have already got plots in the zones and many more are in the pipeline, he said.
According to him, the BEZA has already received investment proposals amounting to more than US$20 billion and the volume keeps increasing.
Giving an example of an economic zone for Japanese investors at Araihazar in Narayanganj, he said, all plots in the 1,000-acre site have already been booked by the leading Japanese enterprises.
"So, the SEZs are changing the industrial landscape of Bangladesh," he said.
To raise the contribution of the SMEs to the GDP, the BEZA executive chairman said, they have started providing land to small and medium enterprises.
"We're making a separate SME cluster at the Bangabandhu Shilpanagar in Mirsarai," he added.
CCCI president Mahbubul Alam said investors sometimes lack ideas on the opportunity of investment in diverse sectors and therefore tend to follow others and invest in the same sector, which makes a sector crowded and eventually all the business in the sector suffer.
"Investors need to be guided on finding the right sector for investment, which should be a part of the comprehensive investment diversification strategy." he said.
jubairfe1980@gmail.com