The 'worst of times' and 'best of times' were arguably the best phrases to be included in the title of a book. Charles Dickens' message reinforced the prevailing of will over adversity, individually and collectively. A handful of people with scant resources scoured the world seeking support for Bangladesh's freedom; Sir Winston Churchill went from pillar to post till deciding on his resolve to stick it to the enemy; India built her own technology of infrastructure before allowing the world to dip in to the gravy; Bangladesh shrugged off the World Bank brow -beating to fund the Padma Bridge.
Internationally, robust economies have been built in the face of restrictions, trade-embargoes and sanctions. Innovation, policies and brave leadership have led the way, resilience being the binding element. China has international currencies' reserves and enough mutual trading pacts to withstand the sanctions imposed by the US. They broke ground with imitation products and can now challenge quality standards and costs simply due to economies of volume. Russia has withstood all that the US could throw against the fatherland and North Korea has suffered international disapprobation and are widely believed to have won a cold war of sorts. Iran, hasn't had delivery of passenger planes it paid for, can't pay UK staff through banks and are still a force to be reckoned with.The nuclear deal that isn't legally binding on anyone, resulted in the hefty Iranian economy opening up to the world and yet no major investments made. Till now, the other authors of the deal, haven't joined the US in the sanctions even though they risk facing up to the red-tape of US wrath. Theresa May has talked to Mr. Trump to explain why it isn't a good idea. She isn't the first and won't be the last.
The adversities brought the best out of these countries much of which has been social and education improvements. Admittedly, social empowerment and democracy hasn't been furthered. Taking Russia,China together that's a huge chunk of the world population. Their establishments have created the platforms much envied in terms of cheaper, quality production and businesses are already fretting decisions by political leadership that impact on the bottom line.The spill-over of hard-nosed focus on honing skills has helped carve positions that puts the best at stiff competition and a pipeline of enduring talent that will lead the future.
Till now, it has been a challenge in terms of organising finances. But Bangladesh has both opportunity and merit available, the platform exists both in information communication technology (ICT) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). As the biggest employer after agriculture, SMEs have proven capable of performance. Perhaps they, not the big businesses need support fillip.
