Hopes and dreams can take us a long way. As human beings we have to dream big and hope they turn out to be true as long as we take the necessary steps.
As a nation we should be very hopeful about our young generation. Over 57% of our total population is under 25 years old and they have tremendous potential to take the nation far ahead beyond our imagination.
Indeed, some of them are already doing that and are more hopeful about the future of the nation than older people. I am very happy to see their emerging technical knowledge and leadership skills combined with optimism and love for our country.
Transformational leaders know how to help others to dream big by demonstrating the power of hope. It is always easy to be negative and more difficult to be positive.
In the 2008 US presidential election, Barack Obama’s famous slogan was: “Yes we can.” At that time the US economy was struggling, people were losing jobs and homes all round and most people were against the Iraq war. It was hard to see the way out of that disastrous situation.
Against all the odds, the young senator from Illinois who had not yet finished his first term decided to run for president and won the election as the first African American president in US history.
During the campaign he used the internet to get more young voters engaged and was able to raise more money than opponents Hillary Clinton and John McCain by highlighting the power of hope. His positive attitude, hopes, and dreams uplifted the nation.
Any political or business leader should have the capability to inspire others and know how to motivate people, even in difficult situations. Here I cannot resist mentioning the young entrepreneur and motivational speaker Sabirul Islam, who visited Bangladesh in September to talk at different public and private universities to inspire the young generation to become entrepreneurs.
He is a British-Bangladeshi who started his entrepreneurial ventures at the age of 14 and has spoken at over 750 events worldwide. He is running a campaign called Inspire1Million with the goal of creating one million young entrepreneurs throughout the world.
I was fortunate enough to hear his speech. He is a good role model to our youth, as he talked about the benefits of entrepreneurship over more traditional careers and the legacy entrepreneurs can leave after their death.
He is very hopeful about Bangladesh and advises our young generation that they do not need to go abroad for a better future as they can create their successful future here in Bangladesh.
He advised his audience not to pay attention to what the government gives them but to focus on their goals. Entrepreneurs do this mainly not through creating jobs for themselves but by creating jobs for others.
However, most parents in Bangladesh do not value becoming an entrepreneur compared to say careers as a doctor or engineer. They do not encourage their children to start up new companies.
Fortunately this trend is heading in a more positive direction. In view of the current business environment, we should encourage our young generation not to depend on the traditional job market but to become entrepreneurs.
We should have more faith in our younger generation. The people of the Facebook era are full of ideas, very technically knowledgeable, and hard-working. Young, self-taught entrepreneurs are already taking advantage of the internet for business and networking by advertising their products, service, and skills through Youtube, Facebook and their own websites.
Young entrepreneurs in Bangladesh contributed Tk2bn to our economy through IT outsourcing in 2012. These earnings can be increased with better technical training, marketing tools, and increasing proficiency in English. Just as important, the speed, availability, and cost of internet usage needs to become more within reach for more people.
DCCI (Dhaka Chamber of Commerce), BASIS (Bangladesh Association of Software & Information Services), different public and private universities, and print media should get tax and other credits for organising different activities to encourage entrepreneurship and sharing knowledge about the success stories of our entrepreneurs to encourage others to go into business.
They should be supported for helping provide advice for entrepreneurs. Print media, TV channels and our business leaders should also be encouraged to come up with programs, support services and training, in order to create a better climate for funding new ventures.
Such initiatives will encourage our youth to become entrepreneurs and to create jobs which bring foreign currency for the nation and help our economy positively. So like Sabirul Islam, I would also like to see a better future for Bangladesh and tremendous potential in our young generation.
