Bangladesh is developing its own social media platform 'Zogazog’ as an alternative to Facebook, said State Minister for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Zunaid Ahmed Palak. An application named ‘Alapon’ like WhatsApp will be launched as well.
He disclosed this while speaking online as the chief guest at the virtual inaugural function of the ‘Entrepreneurship Masterclass Series-2’, organised by the Women and E-Commerce Forum (WE) on Saturday.
The state minister said the ICT department has already developed alternative online meeting platforms called ‘Boithok’ and ‘Surokkha’ for Covid-19 vaccine management system. Mentioning the ICT department’s own alternative social media platform with the aim of making the country self-reliant, he said, “The entrepreneurs of the country will be able to create their own online marketplaces and group for information, data and communication through this. Entrepreneurs no longer have to depend on foreigners.”
Palak said the Women and E-Commerce Forum has grown in size over the years and has developed into an orderly platform. At present there is a huge family of about 12 lakh members.
Mentioning that the digital e-commerce policy was formulated in 2018, the state minister said the government is providing various assistance including policy to the youth in any new innovation to create millions of entrepreneurs in the country.
"Our goal is to generate 2 million jobs in the ICT sector by 2021. Of these, more than 1.5 million job opportunities have been successfully created. The e-commerce, hardware, software and BPO sectors will be able to meet the target of more than 20 lakh jobs by 2021. Besides, it will be possible to earn 5 billion US dollars by 2025,” he quoted.
Palak said the first challenge to becoming an entrepreneur is to have the courage to take risks. He called upon the women entrepreneurs to engage themselves in innovation with honesty, dedication and transparency.
Additional Director General for the Department of ICT Rezaul Maksud Jahedi, CEO of Silk Global and Global Adviser to WE Soumya Basu, Founder and President of WE Nasima Akter Nisha and Adviser to WE Kabir Shakib were present, among others, at the event.
