The first ever Digital Trade Week 2020 organized by Merchant Bay received overwhelming response from the industry partners. It was the first such initiative for the garment sector in Bangladesh.
Throughout the seven days of Digital Trade Week 2020, 15,000 industry partners visited Merchant Bay. More than 400 suppliers have expressed interest in business aspects offered by Merchant Bay in the digital space, among them 150 registered in the platform. With this we now have 1200 suppliers registered in Merchant Bay.
During the whole trade week, 300 buyers from 40 different countries connected. Buyers gathered information about the products, pricing and other issues of the suppliers in Bangladesh. Also, Merchant Bay had discussion about business opportunities with buyers through 70 private sessions.
Five live panel discussion also held throughout the trade week. Number of experts from 7 countries besides Bangladesh took part in those discussions. First session titled Digital Trade in Global Perspectives held on the first day of the trade week. Mena Hassan of the World Trade Organization and Dr. MasrurReaz from Policy Exchange of Bangladesh discussed the various aspects of digital trade from the policy point of view. JETRO's Bangladesh Representative Yuji Ando highlighted how Japan is facilitating digital trade and how they have set 5 trillion dollars digital trade goal by 2027.
BGMEA President, Dr. RubanaHuq emphasized on how we can take maximum advantage of digital trade in the context of Bangladesh. Tareq Rafi Bhuiyan of New Vision Solutions Ltd. explained the possibilities of digital trade and what we need to do to accelerate the digitization.
On the third day, three webinars of Leadership Conclave were organized by JCI Bangladesh.
On the first webinar, how entrepreneurs are transforming themselves through digital transformation was discussed. Through the discussion, the possibilities of digital transformation in South Asia and Bangladesh came up and topics related with challenges were discussed. Renowned entrepreneurs from Bangladesh and around the world also took part in this webinar.
In the second webinar, the entrepreneurs expressed their views on staying ahead in adverse conditions during the period of Covid19. This webinar showed a guideline on how a business can survive during such crisis situations and how to stay successful.
In the last webinar of the third day, three investors discussed about start-up funding. This session was very important for the young entrepreneurs of Bangladesh. The panelists said that, in order to get investment in a start-up, an entrepreneur must clearly know the indicators, accounts and documentation must be transparent and there must be clear statement and data on why funding is needed.
On the fifth day, young entrepreneurs in the garment sector of Bangladesh expressed their opinion on innovation. They believe that through cooperation, it is possible to popularize eco-friendly and efficiency friendly innovation in the garment industry of Bangladesh at lower cost.
Abrar Hossain Sayem, Managing Director of Merchant Bay said, “This is the first time in the country that Merchant Bay has organized such an event to take forward the garment and related sectors of Bangladesh. We hope that the support of industry partners, journalists, associations and policy makers will continue in the future. We hope that with your prayers and support, we will be able to continue our progress and organize Digital Trade Week every year.”
