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Center for Enterprise and Society

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Center for Enterprise and Society

Center for Enterprise and Society is a leading Bangladeshi university-based think tank.

24/09/2026

On Tuesday, 22 September, CES held a workshop in Chattogram under its donor-funded project, “Building a Thinking Society.” The three-day programme was held at century-old St. Placid’s School and College, and was facilitated by Uday Shankar Chowdhury, Assistant Teacher at the school.

The session saw participation of 50 students, mostly from grades 8-10. The workshop looked at how students form opinions, question assumptions, use evidence and engage with views different from their own. Students showed strong interest in the discussions and activities. The programme follows the same three-day curriculum being used across the school component this year.

CES sees strong value in working with students at an earlier age. Recent research on adolescent development and our experience with youth programming show that this is a period when students are still forming many of the habits through which they understand information, make judgments and respond to people with different views. Hence, CES is piloting working downstream into high schools this year.

The broader programme, running for almost a decade, is supported by a prestigious donor. Since 2016, the initiative has reached around 20,000 youth through universities, MOOCs, symposiums, international academic collaborations, media engagement and other youth-focused activities.

22/09/2026

CES Executive Advisor Dr. Sajid Amit writes in The Business Standard on what a prolonged Middle East war could mean for Bangladesh, particularly for energy costs, foreign exchange, remittances and industrial production.

With some policy room still available, the piece argues that Bangladesh should prepare early through stress testing, energy diversification and stronger financial buffers.

Link to the full article is in the comment section.

17/09/2026

How do you secure your first opportunity in journalism? What skills do modern newsrooms look for? And how can you turn university assignments into stories worth publishing?

To help students navigate these questions, the Center for Enterprise and Society (CES) at ULAB is bringing together students and industry expertise for a career session titled “How to Build a Career in Media and Journalism.”

The session will be conducted by Tanveer Mohiuddin, In-Charge, Special Supplements at The Business Standard.

The conversation will cover:
•⁠ ⁠Landing your first opportunity in journalism
•⁠ ⁠Developing the skills expected of a modern journalist
•⁠ ⁠Turning university assignments into newsroom-ready stories
•⁠ ⁠Building a portfolio that demonstrates your ability
•⁠ ⁠Asking sharper questions during interviews and reporting

If you want to pursue a career in media and journalism, this session offers an opportunity to connect with an industry expert, expand your professional network and gain practical career guidance and mentorship.

Event Details:
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
3:15–4:15 PM
PD102, ULAB Permanent Campus

Registration link: https://forms.gle/xSLee2tbRczebWob8

16/09/2026

The Center for Enterprise and Society (CES) has restarted its research program on financial inclusion in Bangladesh.

There is good reason to return to this topic now. Over the last decade, Bangladesh has built a much wider financial access architecture. As of now, Agent banking alone operates through more than 20,500 outlets, around 85% of which are located in rural areas. Women also account for around 49% of agent banking deposit accounts.

But access does not always mean inclusion. The latest World Bank data point towards a geographic and gender divide. In 2024, around 33% of women in Bangladesh had an account at a financial institution, compared with around 54% of men. Only around 9% of women reported saving formally through banks.

With this in view, we are currently working on three research papers.

1. Microfinance Meets Fintech: Creative Destruction or Complementarity in Bangladesh?

This paper looks at how mobile financial services and agent banking are interacting with Bangladesh’s large microfinance sector. We are particularly interested in whether digital finance is replacing parts of the traditional microfinance model or creating new complementarities around payments, savings, credit and so forth.

2. The Gender Geography of Finance in Bangladesh: Which Delivery Architecture Actually Closes the Gap?

Women’s financial inclusion varies considerably across Bangladesh. This paper looks at whether different combinations of bank branches, agent banking, mobile financial services, microfinance institutions and female agents can help explain why some areas perform better than others.

3. Does Fintech Disintermediate Women or Bring Them Into Formal Finance?

Digital finance has made transactions considerably easier, but the larger question is whether it creates a pathway into the formal financial system. This paper examines whether women who enter through digital finance move towards formal savings, credit and deeper financial relationships over time.

The three papers are therefore placed as a starting point. Over time, we hope to build a broader body of research around financial inclusion, fintech, microfinance, gender and economic development in Bangladesh.

15/09/2026

Why should a young investor in Bangladesh care about interest rates, inflation, the Middle East, or what happens thousands of miles away? Because increasingly, all of it shows up in your economy, wallets, and the Dhaka Stock Exchange!

Stay tuned for the full podcast dropping soon featuring CES Executive Advisor Dr Sajid Amit, former investment banker!

13/09/2026

On Thursday, 10 September, CES held a faculty training workshop under its donor-funded project, “Building a Thinking Society,” at BRAC University. The project is part of CES’s broader donor-funded work in this area, which the Center has been implementing for last 10 years. The session was led by Fahmida Rahman, Program Director and Senior Lecturer, School of General Education, BRAC University.

The workshop focused on how teachers and students look at evidence, question assumptions, and consider different points of view before forming a judgment, and how faculty can bring these ideas into the classroom in a simple and relevant way.

Participating faculty members included:

Nooha Sabanta Maula, Senior Lecturer, BRAC University
Dr. Saima Ahmed, Assistant Professor, University of Dhaka
Sonia Akter, Lecturer, Daffodil International University
Mahmudul Haq, Lecturer (Adjunct), University of Dhaka

The faculty training is being conducted over three days, following the project’s student-facing curriculum. The first day focuses on how people form and test ideas, including questioning assumptions and examining evidence. The second looks at how people engage with disagreement and differing viewpoints. The third explores how these habits of thinking relate to trust, society, and everyday civic life.

This year, the “Building a Thinking Society” project is reaching out to six universities and four high schools across Dhaka, Chattogram, and other parts of Bangladesh, with activities expected to engage more than 1,500 youth.

The faculty training is part of the project’s broader effort to prepare educators and facilitators to take these discussions into classrooms and student communities across participating institutions.

25/08/2026

As part of its broader programming around critical thinking, openness and pluralism, CES is expanding its youth engagement to high school students, building on years of programming across universities. We kicked off the high school component with a three-day workshop at Lord's International School.

The first session brought together around 35 students and was facilitated by Ms. Maha Khan, with Principal Ms. Nancy Choudhary in attendance. Day 1 focused on the foundations of critical thinking: how we form opinions, question assumptions, look for evidence, and remain open to perspectives different from our own.

Over the next two days, students will build on these ideas by looking more closely at how we process information, respond to disagreement, challenge stereotypes, and engage thoughtfully with people who may think or see the world differently. We will take the workshop to four other schools this year, as we believe these habits are better developed early, when youth are still forming the ways in which they understand information, differences and the world around them.

The broader program, running for almost a decade, is supported by a prestigious donor. Since 2016, the initiative has reached around 20,000 youth through universities, MOOCs, symposiums, international academic collaborations, media engagement, and other youth-focused activities.

16/08/2026

CES Executive Advisor Dr. Sajid Amit was recently invited by The Business Standard (TBS) to join TBS Markets for a discussion on the current state of Bangladesh’s capital market.

The conversation came at an interesting point for the DSE. Since the start of this year, the market has risen by around 21%, making Bangladesh the second-best performing market in Asia after Thailand, while several regional peers have remained in negative territory. That performance has, naturally, brought renewed investor interest. But as Dr. Amit noted during the discussion, the more important question is what happens from here. Markets, after all, often begin to move on expectations before improvements are fully visible in the wider economy. In many ways, that appears to be an important part of the current conversation around the DSE.

For anyone trying to make sense of where the market may go from here, the conversation offers a useful way to read not only the signals and risks, but also the developments that may matter most in the months ahead.

Link to the full conversation in the comments.

13/08/2026

The ULAB Kaleidoscope Club, managed by the Center for Enterprise and Society (CES), ULAB, recently organized Asian Mosaic, a student-focused discussion on the cultural diversity of South Asia, with a particular focus on Bangladesh, and the importance of pluralism, tolerance, and peaceful coexistence.

The session featured Dr. Md. Anisur Rahman, Associate Professor, Department of Islamic History and Culture, Jagannath University, and Mrittika Kamal, Lecturer, Media Studies and Journalism, ULAB. The speakers engaged students in a broader conversation on cultural identities, diversity, and the need to build a more tolerant and inclusive society.

The event saw strong participation and interaction from students across different departments at ULAB, reflecting a continued interest among young people in engaging with these important conversations.

Since its inception in 2023, K-Club has continued to provide a platform for students to engage with questions around diversity, civic values, critical thinking, and social cohesion, both within and beyond the classroom.

29/07/2026

A recent article in The Business Standard by Dr. Sajid Amit examines how high oil prices, when they persist, may influence the global financial order.

The article explains that rising energy prices do not affect all countries equally. Energy-exporting countries earn more, while import-dependent economies pay more for the same resources. Over time, this creates a transfer of wealth from importers to exporters and gives producing countries greater financial and strategic flexibility.

For Bangladesh, the issue is particularly relevant. As an energy-importing economy, the country remains exposed to a higher import bill, pressure on the currency, and less policy space when energy prices remain volatile.

The link to the full article is in the comments.

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House 56, Road 4A, Dhanmondi
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Opening Hours

Monday	09:00 - 17:00
Tuesday	09:00 - 17:00
Wednesday	09:00 - 17:00
Thursday	09:00 - 17:00
Sunday	09:00 - 17:00

Telephone

+8801730082198

Website

https://ces.ulab.edu.bd/

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