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Branding Bangladesh with its own resources

M S Siddiqui | November 27, 2019

Bangladesh is yet to identify itself as a truly resourceful nation despi te many of its assets, attainments and potential to grow. Rather, it is known as the most densely populated country, which is prone to natural calamity and plagued by poverty, says a report by London-based Brand Finance.

The Rana Plaza tragedy of 2013 or the Islamist terrorism attack on Gulshan Holey Artisan Café in 2016 created certain image of Bangladesh around the world. With negative image like 'rogue', 'poor' or 'weaker', a nation is bound to face some difficulties in today's inter -connected world. In such a situation, it is hard to make global people believe that Bangladesh has set up seven green textiles dyeing factories out of 10 globally recognised ones.

However, Bangladesh has a brand value of US$257 billion in 2019, up 24 per cent from the last year's (2018), according to the valuation by Brand Finance, which claims itself to be the world's leading independent brand valuation and strategy consultancy. Brand America is at the top of the list with a net worth of US$25,899 billion. The ranking takes i nto consideration investment, society, goods and services, and gross domestic product (GDP) of a country.

The brand of a nation is defined as the sum total of all perceptions of a nation in the mind of international stakeholders. It contain elements such as people, place, culture, language, history, food, fashion famous faces (celebrities), and global brands. Each country has a current image to its international audience, be it strong or weak, clear or vague [Fan, 2006].

In another definition, country brand is said to be the sum of how citizens perceive a country across six areas of national competence -- tourism, exports, governance, people, culture and heritage and investment and immigration. Singapore is a glaring example of nation branding how a small fishing vil lage has been transformed into one of the world's finest seaports, major tourist destination and business hub.

Bangladesh's present international image has been influenced by reports carried out by the international media, such as the BBC, CNN, VO A and some media of our 'friendly' countries. The local media, the intelligentsia and the state's communications machinery could not build a better image

internationally. Thus Bangladesh is projected as a country affl icted with many problems like political instability, hunger, population growth, corruption, natural disasters, illi teracy, human rights violation and a country heavily dependent on foreign aid.

Still it would be self-defeating to engage in blame-game and put responsibil ity of such misrepresentations of the country only on the international community, when there are many opportunities for branding Bangladesh with all its positive aspects.

It is the only country on earth that protected right to speak in mother tongue by mass upsurge, sacrificing l ives. The struggle has been recognised by the UNESCO, which has declared the February 21 Language Martyrs' Day of Bangladesh as the "International Mother Language Day''. The nation is yet to promote it.

Bangladesh is the second largest ready-made garments exporter and stands seventh in terms of earning remittances. McKinsey, a leading global management consulting firm, has termed Bangladesh as the next China. "Made in Bangladesh" tags are frequently showcased in US and European retail stores.

Bangladesh is one of the largest countries in outsourcing jobs based on information technology. Two-thirds of its population belongs to working age group.

In spite of being a resourceful country, Bangladesh is yet to promote itself as such due to lack of communication skil ls. It is not understandable how Bangladesh with more than 160 million population is a small country! It is pursuing the dream of becoming a developed country by 2041 after it is set to reach the upper threshold of the middle income country status by 2030.

Bangladesh has the scope to brand a number of products based on traditions. Jamdani sari could be one. Hilsha fish has a unique delicacy and it can be globally promoted for export as well as country branding.

Of course, Bangladesh can take pride from innovating micro-credit and sharing the model with the rest of the world. Brac, established by Sir Fazle Hasan Abed is the largest NGO (non-governmental organisation) in the world. Professor Muhammad Yunus, a pioneer in microcredit and social business, is a Nobel Peace laureate.

Unfortunately, the country has failed to portray its image with certain achievements and more potential. Political failure, lack of proper strategy and initiatives from opinion leaders and misuse of resources could be considered some of the obstacles to making a positive brand image of Bangladesh around the world.

The country needs rebranding in order to remove its negative images and uphold the positives. A rebranding initiative has to be a coherent approach driven by various stakeholders - the government, political parties, the civil society, media, intelligentsia, painters, artistes, professionals, the private sector. When all of us can share a common identity and vision, we will be able to establish Bangladesh with a rejuvenated brand that the world will respect.

The nation needs to send a message to the international community that we mean business, there is policy continuity despite changes of government, democracy means the same here as elsewhere, and that we are continuously striving to build institutions.

Despite its huge population, Bangladesh has achieved self -sufficiency in food. The country has proved its resil ience in disaster management. It is one of the fastest growing economies of the world.

Over the recent decades we have come across slogans such as 'Malaysia: Truly Asia', 'Dubai: The Jewel in the Desert', 'China: The Factory of the World', 'Singapore: Uniquely Singapore', and 'Thailand: Amazing Thailand'. But Bangladesh is yet to establish any remarkable slogan of its own.

For example, more than 20,000 Bangladeshi -owned restaurants are in operation in Europe and selling Bangladeshi foods but they are mostly named as Indian restaurants. It is the imperative of the hospitality and service industry to uphold country image of Bangladesh.

Noble laureate economist Amartya Sen has always appreciated Bangladesh as the best social sector performer in South Asia, in terms of women empowerment, healthcare and reducing child mortality, and life expectancy. He has recently termed Bangladesh as the best society of religious harmony among the countries of the region.

MS Siddiqui is a legal economist.

mssiddiqui2035@gmail.com