Bangladeshi, Singaporean businesses explore collaboration, mergers

Bangladeshi businesses asked their Singaporean counterparts to invest in their businesses and sought joint ventures after pitching business plans.

Participants at the International Business Networking event in Dhaka highlighted the business prospects and investment scopes in Bangladesh and Singapore, and shared how the firms of both countries can expand businesses for bilateral interests.

A 20-member delegation from Singapore graced the networking event at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the capital on Wednesday, where the local business community harnessed the chances to share ideas and exchange views on bilateral business issues.

Bangladeshi Charter Accountancy firm Howlader Maria & Co (HmAC) and the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), the apex business chamber that champions the interests of the Singapore business community in trade, investment and industrial relations, jointly organised the grand networking event at Pan Pacific Sonargaon in the capital, with the goal to connect local businesses with global ones to boost bilateral growth and opportunities

While giving a brief about the Bangladesh economy and its business prospects, Maria Howlader, founder and CEO of HmAC, said, "Bangladesh has an inspiring story of growth and development aspiring to be an upper middle-income country by 2031. It has a strong track record of growth and development, even in times of elevated global uncertainty." 

Stating that Bangladesh, like many other countries, faces global economic challenges, she said rising commodity prices and a surge in imports in the second half of FY22 resulted in widening the Balance of Payments (BoP) deficit and accelerating inflation.

Participants from Bangladesh and Singapore got a good chance to share business prospects and investment scopes in both countries.

The Singapore delegation from multiple sectors shared their investment plans and tried to find out business opportunities in different sectors such as IT, agriculture, construction etc.

At the event, they learned the risk factor of business investments, talked to each other about whether they can acquire or merge businesses in the country, and explored new investment opportunities. 

Local companies also hoped to forge connections with other concerns of these companies from the Singapore delegation.

Thanking the participants from both Singapore and Bangladesh Business houses, Maria said, "The networking event represents how we feel about doing business in Bangladesh and matching business to business for business growth and expansion.

"I believe today's program is a great opportunity for all the Bangladeshi companies to connect with SBF and for all Singapore companies present here to match with Bangladesh's businesses."

HmAC is closely working with SBF in business expansion and foreign investment enhancement in Bangladesh, Maria said.