Innovative entrepreneurs can create quality jobs: experts
Bangladesh needs a lot of innovative entrepreneurs to create quality jobs, add value to the gross domestic product and help the country become a developed nation by 2041, experts said yesterday.
Bangladesh has done an excellent job in meeting the Millennium Development Goals, said Prof Md Akhtaruzzaman, vice chancellor of Dhaka University.
Now, it has to go one step further to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), he said.
“To attain the SDGs and reduce poverty, we need a group of inventors who will foster entrepreneurship in the society.” Akhtaruzzaman said universities can play a vital role in developing entrepreneurs by preparing the younger generation.
His comments came at the inaugural session of the third international conference on business and economics at the Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban auditorium in Dhaka University.
The business studies faculty organised the event themed “Shaping the future through inclusive development”.
Every government should nurture an innovative society to achieve an inclusive development, said Partha S Ghosh, a professor at Tufts University in the US.
“To build a just, equal and innovative society, we must address the inequality and unemployment and come up with initiatives, efforts and ideas,” he said while presenting a keynote paper.
Prof Ghaleb El-Refae, president of Al Ain University of Science and Technology in the UAE, said university education should support employability, as this lacks in many societies because of irrelevant curriculum.
Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, vice-chancellor of the United States International University-Africa in Kenya, said democracy and development of a country are linked.
Prof Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam, dean of the business studies faculty, and M Sadiqul Islam, a professor of the Department of Finance, were present at the inaugural ceremony.
