One of the hallmarks of an economy looking to take the next step in its development journey is its ability to expand its industries beyond just the local market, and go global. For too long, in the case of Bangladesh, this has been limited to our RMG products, and this newspaper has editorialized repeatedly that in order for Bangladesh to truly reach its potential, we require more industries and companies to step up to this task and show ambitions of expansion beyond just our borders.
To that end, news that Walton has acquired three European legacy brands - ACC, Zanussi Elettromeccanica (ZEM) and Verdichter (VOE) - and acquire the trademark, branding rights across 57 countries, as well as intellectual properties such as patents and licenses is extremely encouraging, showing the type of intent we want to see from our corporations.
These are sure to bolster the company’s production capacity, while simultaneously establishing significant market share in not only Europe, but other markets globally.
Walton’s bold ambitions – of becoming one of the top global consumer electronics brands by 2030 – mirror that of Bangladesh as a whole as it looks to become a middle-income and then a high-income nation in the next two decades. As such, it is good to see intent match ambition, with Walton capitalizing on the opportunity to allow further expansion.
However, Walton is but one company, and we require a push from entire industries as a whole to go global and establish Bangladesh. To that, we hope that the authorities assist our industries in every way possible, and to our industries, we hope that they display the ambition that Bangladesh requires in order to make the jump and become known for more than just its RMG products.
