I am happy to see my successors are in the agility of organizing the extravaganza event with overcoming the challenges erected from the Covid-19 situation. Certainly, I will congratulate BCS members at the central office to the branch members at the grassroots level. Their altogether effort made the body the biggest IT trade association in the country. Today I am proud to be one of the co-founders of BCS and former President of the trade association, which now went beyond its business peripheries.
We all know a tiny seed can’t be a banyan tree unless we nurture it with water, fertilizers, light, etc. This is teamwork, and from time to time a team should be changed to create new leadership. I was not only involved with the BCS during its three-decade-long journey, with other IT pioneers I helped to create the ground for building BCS. Since the 1980s I am involved with the IT sector as a businessman and turned organizer for popularising ICTs in the country and in the international arena. From the beginning of Bangladesh Computer Samity, I worked continuously for BCS for more than 15 years. After that, I tried to represent the ICT sector of the country in the international zone.
I was elected as Vice Chairman of ASOCIO in the year 2005. In 2010 I became Deputy Chairman of ASOCIO, and in 2013/2014 I became Chairman of the international IT body. From 2015 till today, I am the Chairman of the award committee of the body. Besides, I am running my IT businesses named JAN Associate and Canon Products. Our Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is sincere and serious about helping us for making Digital Bangladesh. successful; we have taken inspiration from her to create examples of making the best ICT infrastructures in front of other nations. Under her dynamic leadership, the country has launched its first satellite ‘Bangabandhu- 1’ enabling us to offer a wide range of digital services to consumers, which is now saving our foreign currency. Soon we are going to launch the second satellite ‘Bangabandhu- 2’. It’s a matter of time to see the country from the galaxy and every part of the nation is digitally connected. However, still, we are struggling with some bureaucratic bottlenecks and a traditional mindset. We should pay more attention to the local entrepreneurs than taking solely advice from foreigners with ignoring local experts' opinions. It was my privilege that I was one of the men behind the registration of BCS, which went through some technical problems about selecting the right name and address for the registration from the Joint Stock Company.
I approached the renowned Artist Mr. Hashem Khan who made designs of three logos for us, one of them instantly impressed me; I shared all designs with other founding members of BCS, they without hesitation chose what I liked first. I teamed up with some IT pioneers to launch BCS in 1987, but it was first registered as the ICT trade association of the country in 1992 with 15 member companies. Currently, BCS has 2,165 ICT companies as its members. BCS has 8 branches—Sylhet, Khulna, Jessore, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Cumilla, Barisal, and Chittagongacross Bangladesh to promote ICT services and products among the common people. In the year 1993, we drew the attention of the citizens of the country with a mega-event called ‘BCS Computer Show.’ In the 35 years of BCS’s journey, I can remember a lot of things, which should be written as memoirs and read by the younger generation of BCS. I can remember some of the members who contributed hugely to the rise of BCS to the international arena. BCS is representing itself on global platforms like ASOCIO, WITSA, and at prestigious IT events. The country has also received several prestigious awards from ASOCIO and WITSA for integrating ICTs in the government’s projects and private sectors. It is promoting the nation in the year-long events - seminars, meetings, fairs etc. The apex ICT trade body joined the Asian-Oceanian Computing Industry Organization (ASOCIO) as an associate member in 1996 and has taken a remarkable place in the international field.
ASOCIO is an ICT federation organized by ICT associations of 24 countries from the Asia Pacific. BCS made its contribution to the policy-making level by proposing 45 recommendations to the JRC committee in 1997. The historic recommendations included the withdrawal of duties, tax, and VAT from the computer and all kinds of computer accessories, the formation of the National ICT Task Force headed by the head of the government, declaring ICT as a thrust sector, the formation of National ICT Policy, special incentives for the local and foreign investors and entrepreneurs among others. As part of our campaign, the government included computer education in the curricula of SSC and HSC levels in 1998. The same year the government also decided to withdraw all duties, tax, and VAT on computer and computer accessories. In the same year, another achievement was joining as a member of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA), which is a consortium of ICT industry associations from economies around the world representing over 90 percent of the world's ICT market. Bangladesh Computer Samity established the BCS Computer City, a one-stop ICT market, at the IDB Bhaban in Dhaka in 1999. In the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution, when we are looking for strategies to migrate from the level of the 3rd Industrial Revolution to go beyond. In this context, Digital Bangladesh is no longer a dream, it’s a necessity and a reality. We are not only busy with selling ICT products and services; we made tremendous progress in providing government services through software and applications. We became one of the outsourcing destinies; even freelancers are inspired by BCS IT fairs and awareness programs.
The history of computer use in the country is longer than many
developed countries in the world. We started using a mainframe
computer in 1964 at the Atomic Energy Commission. The rich
history has taken us at the doorsteps of the 4th Industrial
Revolution. The market has been a role model in South Asia. BCS introduced
ASOCIO Multilateral Trade Visit on ICT in the Asian-Oceanian
region starting from Dhaka in 2000. It obtained full membership
of ASOCIO in the following year. We are going to be more than just a technology-driven society;
bringing an opportunity at a common ground to help everyone;
creating rendezvous for leaders, policy-makers, experts, and
people from all income groups and nations, and nurturing the
adoption of technologies for building an inclusive
human-centered future blessed by the artificial intelligence,
which will be run by the new generation of BCS members.
We were dreamers in the 1980s and found like-minded friends to
move ahead with the digital dream, today BCS is the carrier of the
dream; Our young successors are dreaming more than us.
Therefore, certainly, they are finding the right path to take the
dream to the next level of the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR).
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