Kotha iphone app spreads wings to Sri Lanka
Kotha, Bangladesh's maiden social and lifestyle app, is set to go on a glorious maiden voyage from the Bay of Bengal to Indian Ocean's island Sri Lanka within the company's ambitions to become a continental superpower as a social networking service provider.
It has finalised a deal with Sri Lankan FOLLOWING DAY Technologies to determine a joint venture company to run the iphone app in the moniker of Katha and the contract will be signed in September.
"That is a proud moment for Bangladesh for the first time a homegrown social media and lifestyle software will now be accessible in another country," Mahboob Zaman, chairman of Kotha Technologies Limited, told The Daily Star yesterday.
Created by a team of Bangladeshi developers, software engineers and data scientists, Kotha has the mind-boggling capacity to send messages, make voice calls, order grocery and food, stream music and movies and buy tickets, along with other functionalities.
It really is similar to South Korea's Kakaotalk, China's WeChat and the Phillippines' Tantan.
The beta version of the Kotha iphone app was rolled from 12 February for both Android and iOS and has up to now been downloaded about 1.5 lakh times.
"To me, Kotha is our Facebook, our PayPal, Netflix, Twitter and WhatsApp," said Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for ICT, at the app's launch.
A different country has expressed interest in Kotha, according to Zaman.
"So you want to spread our application to different countries, particularly in Asia," he added.
Katha will have the Sri Lankan languages and customised to suit local preference. Kotha Apps & Technologies, that was initiated in 2015, will provide the full technology support for the Sri Lankan tie-up.
"As it is a jv, you won't only brighten the image of the country but we may also get a share of the profit," said Tashfin Delwar, ceo of Kotha Technologies.
The Sri Lankan company, for the present time, comes with an e-commerce business and includes a partnership with Dialog Axiata, a telecom company with a subscriber base around 14 million. In addition, it includes a partnership with a high Sri Lankan mobile financial service provider.
"So, thousands of Sri Lankan users will be benefited from the platform."
The server of the iphone app will also be handled by Kotha Technology.
Delwar said Katha in Sri Lanka could have the same features that are in the app in Bangladesh: chat, post, feeds, free calls, stickers, lifestyle contents.
The jv latter will partner with different Sri Lankan entities to supply smooth service in payment and various lifestyle services and products.
Despite its designs to spread its wings, Kotha's main focus remains in targeting the Bangladeshi population.
"Indian government has banned many Chinese apps, including TikTok, plus they now want to create a local app to displace them. In lots of countries around the world, people are preferring local tech platforms," Delwar said.
Kotha is continually reviewing the recommendation of the users and able to provide more customised service for locals than the global tech giants like Facebook and others.
"We are a local entity and we realize best what the persons of the country want," he added.
For example, Kotha on 14 April launched a virtual hospital -- HelloDoc -- where patients can consult doctors through video conferencing and also have certain lab tests done at home to greatly help the country fight coronavirus.
It also added a feature where users can see hospital information including the option of ICU beds in a hospital.
Bangladeshi customers are creating a lot of data now through the use of different digital services which will soon become a minefield, said Zaman, a renowned technology entrepreneur and managing director of DataSoft Systems Bangladesh.
Each year, different social media platforms like Facebook and Google are earning a large number of crores of taka from Bangladesh through users' data and that helps the brands connect with their customers aswell, Delwar said.
If a locally developed platform gets the popularity, the data will be protected and save a large number of crores taka from flying out of the country.
"Certainly, data is definitely the next currency and if we've access to the info, people will experience a drastic change within their lives," said Zaman, also a former president of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services.
On data protection, Delwar said protecting user data is essential therefore far, Kotha has handled it dextrously.
Kotha is also planning to introduce a fresh feature where a business account can be opened and it'll help build local professional networking and selling products.
Small and medium entrepreneurs can sell their products through the app, he added.
Besides, you will have an electronic marketplace in the application where content creators can sell their digital products.
To facilitate the service, Kotha is signing a handle local mobile financial service agency bKash over payment integrating in a few days.
