Health, mobile banking pique Norway's interest

Norway wants to invest in Bangladesh's health and mobile banking sectors, said Dilek Ayhan, the Nordic country's deputy minister for trade, industry and fisheries.

“We are keenly interested to expand our investments here,” she told The Daily Star in an interview on Wednesday during her maiden visit to the country to attend the inauguration of the Nordic embassy in Dhaka.

She did not share any details of Norway's plans regarding health sector investments, but about mobile banking, she said the final decision will be taken once the Bangladesh government approves the guideline for it.

“The main challenge is the regulation. The regulation needs to be in place first, and the government is yet to approve the guideline. We can't finalise our plans based on verbal comments.”

Norwegian telecom giant Telenor Group has a 55.8 percent stake in Grameenphone, the market leader of Bangladesh's mobile phone industry.

In 2008, Telenor acquired the majority shares of Tameer Microfinance Bank of Pakistan to roll out its mobile financial services project in the country.

Named Easypaisa, it is often touted as the “model to follow” in launching mobile banking services.

Asked if Telenor will tread the same path in Bangladesh, she said: “We have yet to finalise any single plan.”

Once the mobile banking guideline is finalised, they will look into the finer details and will seek out opportunities for investment.

Apart from health and mobile banking, Norway is looking at energy, ship building, maritime, seafood and ICT.

“I will tell our businessmen about the prospects of Bangladesh and the opportunities present here. Hopefully, they come here with new ideas and invest.” During her two-day visit to Bangladesh, Ayhan met with senior government officials including Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali.

She also visited the Norwegian companies operating in Bangladesh.

Ayhan, who is the co-founder and former managing director of Alarga, a company established to strengthen competitiveness of Norwegian businesses, said the people in Bangladesh are eager to start new businesses and find new solutions.

“This is the power of this market,” she said, while praising the country's young demographic.

“You have a good number of impressive youths. Many countries would be jealous of Bangladesh for this,” said Ayhan, also a former managing director of JADE, a European network for young entrepreneurs. Bangladesh's growth figures over the last decade also impressed her.

“You are amassing 6 to 7 percent growth every year -- not many Europeans countries can boast of this level of growth.”

She also touched upon Grameenphone, saying that investments to enhance the operator's product offerings will be continuous.

By June, Grameenphone will provide 3G connectivity across the length and breadth of Bangladesh.

“Telenor is doing this for the first time in Asia,” she said.

Other than Bangladesh, in Asia Telenor has operations in India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia, but its 3G network in those markets do not cover the entire country.

She said Grameenphone is offering “very cheap” internet in the country, which is contributing to the government's digital Bangladesh vision.

“The politicians here have big vision of a digital economy and the companies too are aligned with that government vision.”

Asked about the challenges facing Bangladesh, Ayhan said: “Challenges create opportunities.”

She signed off expressing hopes of a stronger bilateral relationship and more investment. “This is the belief.”