bdapps’s first ever summit energizes young apps developers
Dhaka, 30 July 2019: The first ever bdapps developer summit was held yesterday at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre. A total of 500 apps developers who are hosting their apps on bdapps had attended the summit. The summit energized the apps developers from around the country.
ICT Division’s Hon’ble Secretary, N M Zeaul Alam attended the summit as the chief guest. Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Service’s (BASIS) President, Syed Almas Kabir and Startup Bangladesh, ICT Division’s Investment Advisor Tina F. Jabeen attended the programme as the special guests. Robi’s Managing Director and CEO, Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, Chief Digital Services Officer (CDSO), Shihab Ahmad along with other high officials and members of the bdapps team were present on the occasion.
Taking to the stage, Robi’s CDSO informed the gathering that within five years, bdapps has emerged as the largest application ecosystem of the country. He also informed that 7 thousand apps developers have so far hosted 14 thousand apps on the appstore till now and expressed his hope that by the end of the year, the platform would be able to host 20 thousand apps by engaging with 10 thousand apps developers. Mr. Shihab also declared that by 2021, bdapps would be connecting 50 thousand apps developers to the platform. He wished that, young apps developers will proudly introduce themselves as “Ami bdapps kori” while interacting with others in the society.
Mr. Shihab invited all the aspiring apps developers to visit www.bdapps.com to create their own app and avail opportunity of monetizing it by hosting it on bdapps. He also requested them to drop an email to support@bdapps.com for seeking help from the bdapps team on any matters relating to the apps development.
The apps developers present at the summit raised some of the challenges they are facing at the moment. They shared their struggles with the taxation regime they have been subjected to. Besides, proposals were made to allow bdapps developers to sell their service to customers beyond Robi and Airtel, which they cannot at the moment since other operators are not connected to the platform yet. The apps developers also advised to explore international market to sell their apps based service and highlighted the hurdles of settling the payment with overseas clients.
Chief guest of the programme, ICT Division’s Secretary, N M Zeaul Alam said: “Over the last 10 years, the ICT sector of the country has made giant strides. In this backdrop, I find Robi’s initiative to engage young apps developers from around the country under bdapps, to be highly laudable. I am happy to tell you all that the ICT Division is implementing a project to set-up Sheikh Kamal Incubation centers in all the 64 districts to help in growing the skills of our apps developers. I can very well see bdapps complementing ICT Division’s initiative through collaboration.”
Assuring the apps developers, Robi’s Managing Director and CEO, Mahtab Uddin Ahmed said: “We will do everything possible to maximize opportunity for apps developers associated with bdapps to grow their digital business. In order to institutionalize the growth of apps developer community, Robi is soon going to create an innovation hub. I would like to take this opportunity to announce that, bdapps is going to start a nation-wide boot-camp in major divisional headquarters to provide on-site training and mentoring for the local developers around the country. We no longer want to be regarded as a nation that only consumes apps from global apps platforms, rather we want to emerge as the powerhouse for apps development in the global arena. bdapps will be with you all the way to make sure we get there as a country.”