I was born in Lalbagh of Puran Dhaka, and I was there till I was 3 years old. Then we shifted to Azimpur to get a better education, where we lived for about 2 years. I was a student of Government Laboratory High School, Rifles Public School and College, Asia Pacific University where I studied Computer Engineering as my undergrad major, and lastly BRAC University where I did my masters on Development Studies. I had chosen to study them to find ways to implement technology to improve the rural areas of Bangladesh, that was my dream.

In 2003, I had gone to WSR and IT Summit in Switzerland, where I attended conferences and practiced advocacy for Bangladesh at different places. Then I went on a fellowship and worked at Proshika, after which I interned at and eventually joined Global Manage Partnership. Later I got the chance to research in Thailand under UNDP which lasted for four months. When I came back to Bangladesh, I joined UNDP Dhaka where I worked for 2 years. Then I felt like starting a business and become an entrepreneur.

My father was a respected teacher as well as an ICT leader and promoter. In 1989, he had founded a computer training institution and launched the first IT magazine of Bangladesh in 1991. He was very active since the very beginning of the computer rave in Bangladesh. He used to go to houses and institutions to teach everyone how to operate them, and I grew up watching and learning from him. He inspired me at a very young age which got me interested in the digital world and involved in writing for magazines. At school, there was a platform called Manobsheba where my friends and I used to participate in social activities, forums and initiations.

My mother was the magazine publisher, and when my father’s health really started to deteriorate due to liver cirrhosis, she took over it completely and paved the way for other magazines, writers, and programmers. We were the ones to introduce internet plans and the first to host programming contests.

When I first started my business, Comjagat Technologies in 2009, my mother and my wife were the most supportive. But before I did, we decided to digitalize our magazine. At that time, people weren’t accustomed to online magazines and business. So, I started to think that we may have to start providing a service to earn better and launched the first live broadcasting service in 2009 for different events, conferences, symposiums, etc. to be attended online. That is how I started my business and currently we’re serving 1000+ corporate clients and have various innovative products revolving around software and app development being released. We created E-learning platforms and online training programs, and even worked with the government on different projects. I was also a consultant at ADP on Climate Change Knowledge Management Network Development. I was the concept developer of Taththaapa project for Mother & Child Welfare Organization of Bangladesh. In collaboration with ICT division and A2I, we developed smartboards and gave 4000 girls in Bangladesh the opportunity to get better education.

2.  What inspired you to pursue the E-Commerce sector? How did your journey with e-CAB begin?

We started our journey in 2012. My cousin, M A Haque Anu, Assistant Editor of Computer Jagat, and I thought about getting full-fledged invested in working in the e-commerce industry as we believed it to be the future of Bangladesh. My father used to help new organizations flourish, and that gave me the idea to help enhance the e-commerce rate in Bangladesh.

In 2013, we found a few e-commerce companies and bank paying systems which led us to hosting the first E-commerce fair of Bangladesh that year. We received immense help from, Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka and organized the successful event in Dhaka and a few months later in Sylhet. Then sir said that since around 5 lacs of Bangladeshis are settled in London, there may be great opportunities in the London market, and so we went to London to host another fair there at which various Bangladeshi companies participated.

We slowly started to organize these fairs in different divisions of our country at different times of the year. Then in 2014, N I Khan Sir (Former Secretary Education Ministry) and my well-wisher Mir Shahed Ali gave us the idea to form an association and then along with our 1st president of e-CAB Rajib Sir and my cousin Anu, we worked for it and we got the license which gave us the idea to form an association, and we got the license for it by 2015, after which we hosted e-commerce fair in London for the second time. We basically wanted to create the association because if we wanted e-commerce to have the perfect structure, we’d need a network with policies to improve delivery, logistics, supply chain, payment service, and all the issues being faced in other sectors.

We sent a proposal to the government, informing them how digital commerce was becoming a necessity and it got accepted. We tried to enlarge our association from the very beginning and very quickly it started to expand, working on development and inspiring about 1200 people to join us. We brought all of them to one platform and now all E-commerce sites and companies using E-commerce in Bangladesh are a member of our platform.

We then worked on projects with the government to initiate some E-commerce training programs and, gradually, we started to train about 5000 people. We also worked on budget, national issues, government policies, and gave different sorts of input regarding Bangladesh Bank’s policies. We try improving the customer-complaint system management and host a lot of campaigns on awareness. We had even developed an app called ‘Stop Dengue’ in an attempt to minimize the spread of dengue. Moreover, we are affiliated with a lot of international companies and our directors have gone to different conferences and did various research. And, the E-commerce fairs has also become a regular event of ours but recently none were held because of the ongoing pandemic.

3.  With what vision was E-CAB formed? What is E-CAB currently doing?

The vision was to create, structuralize, and expand digital economy in Bangladesh, to connect the hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs to the platform, and since everyone around the globe is trying to do something involving e-commerce, our job is to prepare them for it for the betterment of the industry. Our intent also includes helping the government make policies and assisting them with infrastructure development.

When the pandemic first started in Bangladesh, we set to work in our virtual office with all our employees. We made our membership online-based so that our members get all the service they require at home and don’t need to physically come to our office. We developed a support center for which the members have to call ‘01678100700’ for us deal with all their issues and provide them solutions. The E-commerce association and we decided not to let go or decrease anyone’s salary, or even bonuses, in the pandemic, and on top of that we tried hiring more employees along with developing new and improved services and products. This is so that nobody is financially affected during this crisis.

Like any other business right now, ours faced a major setback in the pandemic but we were able to convince ICT division and Ministry of Finance that if we want people to stay home in peace, we’ll need to let them work online and that if they need a service, we’ll have to be able to deliver those at their door in time. Then after getting the permission, we shared awareness amongst our companies to ensure our members that the employees would be maintaining their best hygiene and taking all the necessary precautions. We also helped the ride-sharing industry and the food-delivery industry to continue their operations during the pandemic. We have various standing-committee for the various sectors to know the impact on and of the e-commerce industry and come up with plans to have an even larger and better impact.

We created a platform named ‘Manobsheba.com’ to get the e-commerce companies engaged and give suggestions and advice on how to and why to stay at home and to promote doing everything online. We also use that platform to get donations and provide food to the people who are underprivileged or are the most affected by the pandemic. We also create and share content with information on COVID-19 and direct about 5 online programs weekly to share awareness to a greater extent.

We create series of dialogues for different industries on how to shift traditional sectors to the virtual world and give birth to new ones. We believe that in a year or two, about 5 lacs of employment opportunities will be developed in the E-commerce industry alone. We ran campaigns closely affiliated with Ministry of Finance to start an E-commerce trade will all the mango-sellers around the country so that they can sell them at the best price as well as deliver their products swiftly. We also hosted an event on cross border to determined how we can use it in the betterment of e-commerce, and another one at Ali Baba to understand how we can create an e-companionship between two countries. A major breakthrough we had was digitalizing the post office just before the pandemic, and the current immense project we’re working on is the Digital Hut.

Eid-ul-Adha is coming up, but people are concerned about going to purchase animals in such large crowds in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Some communities have decided to just sacrifice a cattle in their respective villages  whereas others are thinking about not celebrate Eid in the proper sense this time. So, we brought forward a digital hut, so that people can buy and sell cattle while sitting at home via our E-commerce sites in association with the City Corporation and ICT division. Now if someone wants to give ‘qurbaani’, City Corporation would help them with the ritual, and send the meat to the customer after it undergoes a hygienic packaging system. We are getting great response and at least 4 ministers have already purchased a cow from the site, such as minister of LGED, ICT, Finance, Fisheries & Livestock

4.  What were the challenges you have faced during the development stages of E-CAB?

E-commerce is an industry of its own and the challenge was to properly introduce it in the first place. A lot of people made negative remarks about it just like they are not amused by anything they are not familiar with. So, it was tough to gain people’s trust to make it all work.

It was difficult to make the government understand its necessity and power to change the country’s future. And it was also not easy to bring such great companies under the same platform and to encourage the new ones to flourish beside them.

We have a complaint management system but there were thousands of complaints coming in for which we had to structuralize it in a better manner. And, we are still looking for ways to improve dealing with the cross-border issues.

5.  According to you what are the major problems which need to be addressed for E-commerce platforms in Bangladesh?

If we want people to run their business sitting at home, we’ll have to digitalize Bangladesh even more. They should be able to get TIN certificates and create bank accounts sitting at home. Their home-address should be considered as the address of their office when applying for important legal documents such as those of a trade license.

Many investors and bank still don’t seem to understand the concept of e-commerce properly which leads to many financial issues that need solutions. Again, complaint management should be dealt with efficiently to keep customers happy by keeping our promise to provide them with the best service.

6.  What initiatives can be taken to improve efficiency and ensure consistency of delivery?

We’ll have to look into the delivery as well as the organizations’ Facebook entrepreneurs.

The delivery system is still very new and is gradually growing in the market. The pandemic hit us pretty suddenly and drastically for which some people are stuck away from their house or work-place for which the demand for delivery skyrocketed but not enough employees can be hired or want to work putting their safety at risk. If the logistics team work together to help one another out in times of need and understand that the pandemic has hit some more than others, I believe that the issues would resolve themselves. Some E-commerce companies have partnered up with ride-sharing companies to make this task easier, and I think the more the E-commerce companies take part in such partnerships, the better would be the delivery systems in the country.

7.  Is there any chance for Amazon or Flipkart to enter the Bangladeshi Market? Would their presence create pressure on the existing E-commerce platforms?

If such big companies come into Bangladesh, the small ones would merge but at the same time we’d have to protect the local industry. The model should be such that the local successful online businesses should be the only one developing a certain product that the international companies won’t be allowed to so that their business isn’t hampered much by competition.

Powerful organizations such as Google and Facebook should open accounts in Bangladesh so that the locals can pay in our currency. There aren’t such offices here to do that yet and so a lot of people are doing it via other people. There should be a model process to carry out these transactions because if not, these will lead to much graver problems in the future.

8.  How can the F commerce contribute to the development of E-commerce?

The F commerce sector is already contributing immensely! A lot of companies have started conducting business via Facebook, but they should be careful not to be completely dependent on it, because what if a glitch stops you from gaining profits one day? So, I think, Facebook should be just a part of your network.

9.  The pandemic has caused huge growth in the E-commerce industry with many new and old players occupying the industry. What’s your opinion on this mass expansion?

The mass expansion is good, but it is important to be ready for it. If we want to flourish, there needs to be a synchronization between demand and supply for our customer care, support center and everything to work perfectly. The demand for a lot of E-commerce services has shot up but their quality has deteriorated whereas others have lesser demand now, but their products have improved. I feel that companies should think about giving the best service first before making any decisions.

10.  Trust and reliability have always been an issue among consumers. Do you think that it is gradually improving due to many new parties and the healthy competition among them?

Their products have enhanced over the years, but their customer service needs to be more upgraded. The government should monitor them closely so that no user is unhappy. This is because if one person gives a bad review, 10 other people second guess the company. The complaint management team should find ways to deal with consumer’s problems so that they don’t lose the consumer’s trust or of others.

11.  Which trends do you predict will create greater demand for e-commerce?

Bangladesh is the home to 18 crores civilians with hundreds of thousands of demands every day. So, if one is able to provide a service in the best possible manner, the business would be sustainable. Also, one should look into creating new sectors or expanding existing ones to get to the top.

I think the demand for locally made items would increase in the future, we can already see it happening around the world. E-commerce is still very new, and I believe a lot more services can be provided through it.

12.  How do you think E-CAB will influence the Bangladeshi market in terms of creating new work opportunities in the next 5 years?

I’d like to believe that E-Cab would become one of the largest associations in Bangladesh. I want there to be laws regarding E-commerce so that companies raise the benchmark of customer care so that their customer satisfaction advances.

It is my dream to see about 2 lacs of locals being invested in e-commerce and achieving great heights because of it. I also want e-commerce to have the biggest contribution to the GDP of Bangladesh.

There’s a lot of opportunities for the youth to get involved in the IT sector. If someone knows how to work in a virtual office, no matter what the job is, the demand for them would skyrocket in the near future. Language barrier may be a problem, so it is best to learn how to communicate online with peers. There are different aspects to e-commerce, if someone has a mindset to be a part of one, then he/she should participate in our training programs.