Bangladesh unveils home-grown alternatives to Facebook and WhatsApp

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<strong>In a significant move to make itself self-reliant in digital space, Bangladesh is all set to create its own social media platform “Jogajog”. It hopes that the home-grown initiative can rival Facebook in the social media space in Bangladesh.</strong></p>
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Going beyond this, the country is also ready to launch a substitute for WhatsApp which is a very popular platform for people to contact with others. This platform is named “Alapon”.</p>
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Bangladesh’s State Minister for Information and Communication Technologies Zunaid Ahmed Palak made the announcement on June 24 (Saturday). He made this news public when he was addressing the inaugural ceremony of Entrepreneurship Masterclass Series 2 organized by Women e-Commerce.</p>
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According to a report in dhakatribune.com, Palak hoped that these platforms will helped the business community at large. <a href="https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2021/07/24/bangladesh-to-launch-jogajog-as-alternative-to-facebook-says-palak">“Through the Jogajog app, the entrepreneurs</a> of the country will be able to create their own online marketplace and group for information, data, and communication,” the Minister said.</p>
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Going further, Palak also explained to the gathering how the ICT Ministry had successfully created “Boithok” app as an alternative to Zoom and :Surokkha” for Covid-19 vaccine registration.</p>
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Quoting data, the Minister said, according to the digital e-commerce policy of 2018, e-commerce, hardware, software and BPO sectors will be able to meet the target of creating more than 2 million jobs by 2021.</p>
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The Minister was hopeful that ICT will help to contribute to the country’s growth. He said that it would be possible to earn $5 billion in export earnings from ICT by 2025.</p>