Hasina urges youth to opt for entrepreneurship

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged the young people of the country to opt for entrepreneurship rather than running after jobs.

“Today, Bangladesh is moving forward and we need fresh entrepreneurs,” Hasina said as she inaugurated the 11th National Small and Medium Industrial Products Fair-2024 in the capital on Sunday.

“All I’ll tell the youth is that they shouldn’t run after jobs after getting a simple degree but instead become an entrepreneur and become qualified enough to offer jobs to others.”

The prime minister suggested that young people should take the opportunities offered by the government to become entrepreneurs.

“We’re offering special advantages for startup programmes. There’s a separate budget for it. Young people should take the different opportunities that we’re providing and move forward. More women, in particular, should become entrepreneurs.”

Hasina reminded that there was a special demand for handicraft items in the export market.

She highlighted the importance of export diversification. In addition, creating a local market by alleviating poverty and increasing people’s purchase capacity is necessary, she said.

The premier also requested them not to cause any damage to the country just to save some money when buying chemicals.

“Geographically our country is very small but it has a huge population. Hence we should plan everything properly and in an environment-friendly way. Of course, we need to set up industrial factories but we must maintain proper industrial waste management. Please don’t cause damage to yourself and the country just to save a bit of money needed to buy chemicals,” she said.

The government wants to make the industrial sector environment-friendly, Hasina said.

Whoever set up factories must ensure that the factory wastes do not get dumped in the rivers and pollute them, the prime minister said.

“The global economy has become stagnant due to the Ukraine-Russia war, the coronavirus pandemic and other issues, causing a slump in exports and imports, inflation and other crises. Bangladesh is suffering too. The Gaza war is another setback for the economy. Hence, import costs went up and inflation rose. We’re trying to control it. And we can do that only when our production increases.”