Grameen phone Limited PROFILE
Grameen phone Limited is an existing company, and is the leading cellular service provider in Bangladesh operating a nationwide. Over the past few years the use of cell phone brought about tangible changes in the lifestyle of the people of Bangladesh. Today, a cellular phone is a mere necessity. From a small retail trader at Karwan Bazaar to a remote villager uses cell phone. Four companies are operating in the mobile phone sector in Bangladesh. Grameen phone, Citycell, Aktel and BanglaLink. Among them the services of Grameen phone appear to be comparatively better in terms of nationwide networking, customer handling, trouble shooting, billing system etc. Grameen Phone (GP) has been established to provide high quality GSM cellular services at affordable prices. In addition to providing prepaid and postpaid cellular phone services, the company also assists in a -Village Phone- service by being the sole provider of telecommunications services to the Village Phone operators. The Village Phone service provides rural connectivity to approximately 30 million people. Grameen Phone’s total capitalization was US$120,000,000; including around US$50 million from IFC/CDC, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). It also received US$60 million in equity from the four Grameen Phone private partners. “Grameen Phone” might have been born in Bangladesh, but soon it is likely to join the international cellular jargon. GSM MoU Association at GSM World Congress in Cannes where many villagers made their first-ever call using pre-paid, recently rewarded rural cellular marketing, by Vodaphone in South Africa. “Grameen Phone” the unique cellular operator from Bangladesh, also made an impressive presentation at Cannes.
Highlights:
► November 11, 1996: Grameen Phone was offered a cellular license in Bangladesh by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.
► March 26, 1997: Grameen Phone launched on the Independence Day of Bangladesh.
►After Eight years of operation: After eight years of operation, Grameen Phone has more than 2.8 million subscribers as of March 2005.
VISION, MISSION & CHALLENGE OF GRAMEEN PHONE
Vision:
“To be leading provider of telecommunication services all over Bangladesh with satisfied customers and shareholders, and enthusiastic employees”
Mission:
Grameen Phone Ltd. aims at providing reliable, widespread, convenient mobile and cost effective telephone services to the people in Bangladesh irrespective of where they live. Such services will also help Bangladesh keep pace with other countries including those in South Africa region and reducing her existing disparity in telecom services between urban and rural areas.
Challenge:
The famous slogan of Grameen Phone is – “Connectivity is Productivity”.
Company Profile of Grameenphone:
Introduction: November 28, 1996: Grameenphone was offered a cellular license in Bangladesh by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications March 26, 1997: Grameenphone launched its service on the Independence Day of Bangladesh After eight years of operation; Grameenphone has more than 3.5 million subscribers as of May 2005More than 3.5 million mobile phone users in Bangladesh now prefer Grameenphone as of May 2005. GP added nearly 1.4 million new Subscribers to its network in 2004. It took Grameenphone six years to reach the one million subscriber mark in August 2003, about one year to reach the second million in September 2004 and just about six months to reach the three million subscriber mark in March 2005.
Main Even of Grameenphone:
Continued Growth:
The subscriber-base of GrameenPhone continued to grow at a healthy pace.Another 1.4 million subscribers were added to the network in 2004.
Network Expansion:
Increasing the capacity and expanding the coverage of the GP network around the country continued throughout the year. Starting with 680 base stations, GP ended the year with 1400 base stations on air.
Enhanced Coverage:
Coverage of the GP network continued to be expanded around the country. Sixty-one districts are under the coverageof the GP network.
New Products:
GP introduced two new postpaid bundled products named “Anytime 450” and “Anytime300” in April, the first such product to be launched in the local market.
Premium SMS service:
New features like ring tone and logo downloads were introduced in cooperation with the content providers last year.The subscribers can download ring tones and logos by sending SMS with codes to special numbers.
SMS to other operators:
Inter-operator SMS services were introduced with City Cell,Aktel and Banglalink.
Mobile e-mail Launched:
A new value-added service named ‘Cell E-mail’ was been launched with the help of Inforev Limited in September. This service has enabled the valued subscribers to send and receive e-mail through SMS from their mobile phone without any Internet connection.
Internet Bill Payment:
Grameenphone signed agreements with two banks named Eastern Bank Ltd and Commercial Bank of Ceylon Ltd enabling its subscribers who have accounts with those banks to pay their GP bills through the Internet.
Mobile Meal:
Grameenphone organized Mobile Meal, the country’s first ever exposition of mobile phone handsets and accessories in June 2004. Seeing the immense response from the visitors, the second such Mobile Mela was held in November in a much larger scale, with GP connections on sale too. More than 70,000 people visited the fair.
BTRC Citation:
Grameenphone was lauded by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission for its role in expanding the tele-density in Bangladesh. BTRC Awarded GP with a citation and crest on the occasion of reaching the two million subscriber mark in September 2004.
Improved and New CRCs:
GP opened a Customer Management Center (CMC) in Dhanmondi in late December. Moreover, all the seven CMCs around the country now remain open on Saturdays, while the Gulshan CMC offers evening service from 5:00 pm till 8:00 pm. A new Call Center helpline was introduced to allow customers to call from any other telephone.
Flood Relief and Tsunami Aid:
Grameenphone took part in the flood relief program during the devastating floods last year. GP donated BDT 2.5 million to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. The company also donated medicines to Bangladesh Red Crescent Society and ICDDR,B. In addition, health camps were set up and medicines and other relief materials were distributed among the flood-affected people. GP also donated more than BDT 10 million towards the ‘School Rebuilding Program’ of UNICEF for the Tsunami affected areas of Sri Lanka and The Maldives.
Computer Donation:
GP donated more than 100 computers to educational institutions mostly in rural areas, which is benefiting thousands of poor students.
International Roaming Program;
The International Roaming program continued to expand during the year. At the end of the year, GP had 230 International Roaming partner networks spread across 81 countries in five continents. Moreover, GP has introduced Local Direct Dialing, through which GP subscribers can make calls to a visiting roamer in GP network without ISD connection. A new hotline was also introduced for the International roaming customers and visiting roamers to cater to their queries in early 2005.
Growth of Village Phones Continues:
The Village Phone Program continued to witness rapid growth during the year, doubling the number of Village Phones in operation to more than 94,000.
Cricket Sponsorships:
Grameenphone sponsored two Corporate Cricket Leagues last year in April and in November. The players in the teams were from the National Team and the First Division League. The Grameenphone team won the title in the second Corporate League. Together with the Bangladesh Cricket Board, in December, Grameenphone launched the month-long ‘Grameenphone Pacer Hunt’ in search of fast bowlers from anywhere in the country. Selected players will be invited to be part of the High Performance Program for the 2005 off-season.
New employees:
A total of 371 new employees joined Grameenphone during the year, bringing the total to 1004. Extensive training programs, both at home and abroad, were arranged during the year for the benefit of the employees.
Deployment of 1800 MHz frequency:
GP has started to deploy the 1800 MHz base stations in Dhaka and Chittagong earlier this year.
This will enable the expansion of the capacity and further improvement of quality.
Launch of djuice:
GP successfully launched the international brand djuice in March 2005 with very good market response. It is specially targeted towards the youth, which is a very important segment of the market as they constitute about 40 percent of the population in the country.
FlexiLoad:
The electronic recharge system for pre-paid accounts was introduced in April. GP pre-paid users now have the freedom to recharge their account electronically with any amount they prefer.
EDGE:
GP introduced EDGE, an advanced high-speed mobile Internet and data service, for the first time in the country through a soft-launch in June this year. It enables advanced mobile services such as down loading of video and music clips, multi-media messaging (MMS), high-speed Internet access and e-mail on the move.
Balance Transfer:
Grameenphone introduced a new “Balance Transfer” feature of FlexiLoad, the electronic recharge system, for GP pre-paid subscribers. The Balance Transfer feature enables all GP pre-paid subscribers, EASY, EASY Gold and djuice, to transfer certain amounts of balance to any other GP pre-paid subscribers.
Grameen Telecom:
Grameen Telecom, which owns 38% of the shares of Grameenphone, is a not-for-profit company and works in close collaboration with Grameen Bank. The internationally reputed bank for the poor has the most extensive rural banking network and expertise in microfinance. It understands the economic needs of the rural population, in particular the women from the poorest households. Grameen Telecom, with the help of Grameen Bank, administers the Village Phone Program, through which Grameenphone provides its services to the fast growing rural customers. Grameen Telecom trains the operators, supplies them with handsets and handles all service-related issues. Grameen Bank currently covers more than 51,000 villages which are serviced by 1326 bank branches (December’ ‘04) all over the countryside. At the end of the year, the bank had 3.78 million borrowers,
95 percent of whom were women. Grameen Telecom’s objectives are to provide easy access to GSM cellular services in rural Bangladesh, creating new opportunities for income generation through self-employment by providing villagers with access to modern information and communicate.
CURRENT MARKET SITUATION
There are at present four companies operating in the mobile phone market. GP is the market leader in the mobile phone industry with nearly 70% of the market share.
► GP has more than 2.8 million subscribers as of March 2005.
► GP’s mobile-to-mobile connections have proved to be extremely successful. 94,000 of GP’s subscriptions are mobile-to-mobile.
► 55 out of 64 districts are at present covered by GP. Services in Barisal were recently launched, expanding GP’s coverage to all six divisions. GP has by far the largest coverage by any mobile phone operator in the country.
► 27% of the country’s land area and 37 million people are under GP’s coverage
► GP has 75 corporate clients, including British American Tobacco (BAT) Bangladesh Limited, Unocal Bangladesh Ltd., Cairn Energy, BOC Bangladesh Ltd., and Lever Brothers Bangladesh Ltd. There is a separate Corporate Sales Section, and dedicated corporate clients’ service is available to provide to special services.
► GP launched International Roaming operations with 35 new operators in 2002, bringing the total of 127 operators in 49 countries.
► National Roaming facility is being provided with Pre-Paid well as post paid services.
► GP has 353 points of sale (including dealers, outlets and individual agents) all over the country.
INTRODUCTION TO SALES DEPARTMENT OF GRAMEEN PHONE:
The following picture shows the Organizational Chart of only Marketing & Sales Division, & Sales Department falls under this big division.
The Sales Department of GP has been started their journey on the beginning of Grameen Phone. As its name suggests this department involves in the selling procedure of GP and thus enjoys the responsibility of direct interface with the customers. When the GP started their journey, there were only 12 sales representatives in that organization. Now the total number of sales personnel is close to about 1200.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF SALES DEPARTMENT
Market survey and collecting the feedback
Participation in exhibition
Participation in opening of dealer’s outlet
Instant delivery
Introducing & selling new packages
Follow up with existing subscribers
Building up relations with subscribers
DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL
The distribution channel consists of the Info Centers, Dealers and the Corporate Sales force.
Info Center:
Info center provides spot solutions. Here subscribers can get subscription. 8 trained and friendly people are serving at Info Center from 8am-6pm. There are also 2 Sales & Logistics Officer who is responsible for providing SIM (Subscribers Identification Module) cards and handsets to the subscribers and distribution of marketing items.
Dealers:
4 persons are responsible in dealing with Dealers at Dhaka and Chittagong each. There are 3 Dealers at present -Flora, Grameen Telecom and Butterfly.
Corporate Sales Force:
15 officers are ready to serve any corporate in Dhaka and 10 employees in Chittagong.
Recruitment is an important event for any department in any organization. Same is true for the sales department of Grameen Phone. Because sales persons come in direct contact with the customers and they are the ones to leave a direct impression of the organization in the customers’ mind. If a proper person is not recruited, this can in turn, substantially increase the hiring and training cost of the organization. The performance and potential of GP’s sales team has a direct correlation with the quality of recruitment. Recruitment is to find potential job applicants, inform them about the company and getting them to apply. The entire sales activities ultimately depend on a successful recruitment approach.
GRAMEEN PHONE RECRUITMENT PROCESS:
GP has a standard recruitment procedure for all the departments. However, that does not mean that the recruitment process is inflexible. It can vary whenever deemed necessary by the departments’ requirements. The same is true for sales recruitment as well. Vacancies may arise in sales department because of organizational growth, separation, resignation, etc. The HR Department is responsible for handling the recruitment process with an involvement of the sales department. The company follows the Equal Employment Opportunity Act by not being prejudiced against men, women, minorities, etc. GP has a recruitment policy, which is fair and consistent, and conforms to legal regulations and best agreed practice. It claims to be non-discriminatory on the grounds of sex, age, race, religion or disability. The HR department has the main responsibility for recruitment. It follows the following procedure for recruitment.
Grameenphone Recruitment Process:
Identification of the need to recruit
This information is passed up by the Sales Department to initiate the recruitment process. They usually inform to the Human Resources Department to let it know that new people are needed for the sales department and what kind of qualifications are anticipated for the specific jobs which have a shortage of employees so that the HR department can take the required steps. The first step in the recruitment process of GP is to find out the vacancy, the position of the job, required qualifications, job description, and the personality traits desired.
Recruitment Budget
Upon request from the Sales Department, the HR Department makes an estimated budget according to the specific needs of the total recruitment process that will be undertaken to hire the new recruits. In this way, total cost of recruiting of the new personnel will be estimated. The finance & accounts department is also involved in this process.
Advertisements
GP (HR Department) advertises the vacancies to attract the candidates. But in this aspect, it is a bit nontraditional for Bangladesh. GP advertises mainly over the Internet. However, newspaper ads are also used when required and so are job fairs. In either media, the job qualifications are properly mentioned with some other necessary information to limit the number of applicants as well as to find the best candidates for the job. Besides, the ads give a brief description of the job, its roles and responsibilities, the specifications and also give an idea about the compensation and training programs. The Ads also mention a deadline for receiving CVs from applicants.
INITIAL SCREENING
Upon receiving the CVs, the initial screening takes place. Simply put, GP (HR Department) shortlists the number of candidates based upon the information provided in the applications. In this process another organization named bdjobs.com helps Grameen Phone is short listing. Grameen Phone is one of the biggest corporate clients of Grameen Phone.
The written examination
The candidates passing through the initial screening process are then called for a written examination (not always). This test is to evaluate job knowledge, communication skills and analytical aptitude of the candidate.
The Interview
A panel of managers takes the interview of the candidates who have passed the written test. The panel must have mangers from the HR department and the sales department. Well-structured interview focuses on required competencies for the particular sales position. The procedure is designed to solicit information from a person’s responses to oral inquiries.
Medical Examination
As with all sales jobs, the applicant requires to pass a medical examination. A doctor or a diagnostic center selected by the company conducts this examination. Employment will only be effective if the doctor certifies the recruit to be medically fit for the job.
Appointment and orientation
A candidate who passes through all these steps is of course the selected candidate. The deemed eligible candidate is then provided with an appointment letter and then is confirmed about his new job at Grameen Phone. The candidate joins the job and is instantaneously oriented with the organization, the department, his or her mangers and the fellow co-workers.
TRAINING PROGRAM OF GRAMEENPHONE:
In Grameen Phone, there are 2 types of training. One type of training is ‘Job-Specific Training Program’ and the other is ‘General Management Program’. Job-specific training program is given to the employees within their separate department. According to the need of that specific job of specific department, each department specially organize training program for their employees. Like for the sales force, this training program is given to the new employees to give them knowledge about the changes in products, markets, customers’ need, competition,
company policies, marketing strategies and industry trends etc. General management training program is mainly for the existing employees. In this training, employees are given more advanced training, because as they are more senior and mainly supervisor of the new employees, they need to have more knowledge in the management sector rather than simple product knowledge and market condition. That is why, this training program is mainly for the existing as well as executive employees provided by the Human resource department. A chart has been given in the next page to show the two types of trainings available in Grameen Phone.
SWOT ANALYSIS
S = Strength, W = Weakness, O = Opportunity, T = Threat
SWOT ANALYSIS OF GP’S RECRUITMENT & SELECTION:
STRENGTHS
All the rules and procedures are clearly defined.
It is very easy for interviewers to evaluate candidates based on systematic process.
The involvement of both HR and sales department in the recruitment makes it professional and effective.
The process is designed to test the employee from various aspects, so the probability of choosing a good candidate is good.
WEAKNESSES
The advertisements are mostly posted over the Internet. But for Bangladesh, the best media for job advertisements is seen to be the newspapers.
The recruitment process is lengthy.
OPPORTUNITIES
Grameen Phone has established itself as a lucrative employer and so, it can expect to get many god candidates for the recruitment.
The company can arrange job fairs and try to get a larger and interested pool of candidates for the sales divisions.
THREATS
As Grameen Phone is the industry leader in its sector, other companies are copying the procedures of GP and are benefiting from it.
Other companies that are copying GP’s recruitment procedures can soon be able to modify the process and in the process, come up with a way to better recruiter than Grameen Phone.
Industry Life Cycle
The industry is now at its growth stage with demand increasing at 20% every year. It will be another 5 – 7 years before the industry reaches the maturity stage.
Grameenphone Social Responsibility:
CSR at Grameenphone:
Grameenphone started its journey 10 years back with a believe that “Good development is good business”. Since its inception, Grameenphone has been driven to be inspiring and leading by example, when it comes to being involved in the community. At Grameenphone we believe that, sustainable development can only be achieved through long term economic growth. Therefore, as a leading corporate house in Bangladesh we intend to deliver the best to our customers, business partners, stakeholders, employees and society at large by ‘being a partner in development. Grameenphone defines CSR as ‘a complimentary combination of ethical and responsible corporate behavior as well as a commitment towards generating greater good in society as a whole by addressing the development needs of the country, To interact effectively and responsibly with the society and to contribute to the socio-economic development of Bangladesh, GP has adopted a holistic approach to CSR, i.e. Strategic and Tactical. Through this approach GP aims to, on the one hand involve itself with the larger section of the society and to address diverse segments of the stakeholder demography, and on the other remain focused in its social investment to generate greater impact for the society. Grameenphone focuses its CSR involvement in three main areas – Health, Education and Empowerment. We aim to combine all our CSR initiatives under these three core areas to enhance the economic and social growth of Bangladesh.
We believe that Corporate Social Responsibility is a journey along which we will create a positive difference in the community and the development of the country; thus meeting the expectations of our customers and stakeholders.
Grameenphone Organizes Blood Donation drive in Chittagong:
Grameenphone Ltd. organized a blood donation drive today at Agrabad Hotel in Chittagong for the benefit of Thalassaemia patients. A spontaneous participation from the Grameenphone employees, corporate clients, partners and vendors of Chittagong region made the event successful. A number of Bangladesh Railway officials also participated in the blood donation program. A total of 55 bags of blood were collected through today’s event. Grameenphone is committed to
helping the Bangladesh Thalassaemia Hospital (BTH) by periodically organizing blood donation drives, jointly with BTH, for the treatment of the Thalassaemia patients as well as assist them in raising necessary public awareness on this deadly disease. Thalassaemia is a blood-related, genetic disorder inherited by children from parents having the Thalassaemia trait. The disease has no cure and the only way the life of a Thalassaemia patient can be prolonged is through blood transfusion at regular intervals with other medical support services. Without blood transfusion and other medical support, an early death is inevitable.
This is the third blood donation program organized by Grameenphone for BTH. Earlier blood donation drives were arranged in Dhaka and Sylhet, where Grameenphone employees and its business partners as well as corporate clients came forth to donate blood.
Education:
Education is the key to prosperity and good life. Every human being should have the opportunity to make a better life for him or herself. One of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) for Bangladesh is to achieve universal primary education; unfortunately too many children in Bangladesh today grow up without this opportunity, because they are denied their basic right to even attend primary school. The country’s low literacy rate of 41% (2004 UNESCO Report), may indicate that we are far away in pursuit of sustainable development, but at the same time the gradual increase in the adult literacy rate gives us the hope that our nation has the potential to improve in this sector.
The marginalized and disadvantaged groups in general — particularly the rural and urban-poor of Bangladesh — have significantly less access to education than other groups. Though initial enrollment in primary school is high, the completion rate is notably low; approximately 65% (World Bank 2004) and a smaller percent of that even complete secondary school. Bangladesh government has provided lot of incentives, such as, free distribution of textbooks in primary schools, secondary stipend program for 100% of the girls, Food for Education project, to encourage and improve the educational sector of the country, which has helped in improvement in the literacy rate. But still we have a long way to go to make our country illiteracy free, thus we look forward to support this sector, which will eventually help to build a developed country.
Providing access to education, especially for children from disadvantaged backgrounds who might not otherwise get the opportunity, is the main goal of Grameenphone CSR education initiatives. Many people in Bangladesh still lack the basic technological knowledge and marketable skills, thus we plan to focus further to develop an educated and skilled workforce through creating opportunity in capacity development; skilled workforce would in turn be able to create and share knowledge and contribute to the economy of Bangladesh.
Empowerment:
Lack of empowerment and poverty is a chronic and complex problem for Bangladesh. According to UNDP HDI report (2006), which measures the average progress of a country in human development, in terms of, life expectancy, adult literacy and enrolment at the primary, secondary and tertiary level, Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), etc., Bangladesh ranks 137th among 177 countries. Moreover, 50% of the total population of Bangladesh lives below the poverty line, defined by less than a dollar a day. Some of the major factors contributing to this situation are inequality in income distribution, lack of access to resources, lack of access to information and inadequate infrastructure. The rural people of Bangladesh especially are deprived of these facilities, which is a major issue to break out from the shackles of poverty prevailing in the country. Empowerment is a key constituent towards poverty reduction, and it is a key driver for sustainable economic development. Empowerment is a process of enhancing the capacity of individuals or groups to make choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes, which in turn helps them to secure a better life.
We acknowledge that development and poverty reduction depend on holistic economic prosperity; therefore our aim is to increase development opportunities, enhance development outcomes and contribute towards development of the quality of life of the people through our CSR initiatives and innovative services. We would like to facilitate empowerment opportunities to the vulnerable people of Bangladesh, so that it enables them to better influence the course of their lives and live a life of their own choice.
Grameenphone organizes Free Eye Camp at Barisal:
Grameenphone, jointly with Sightsavers International, organized a free Eye Camp at Government Gouronodi University College, Barisal on March 13, 2008.
This is the seventh free Eye Camp organized jointly by Grameenphone and Sightsavers International. Through these camps, conducted in rural parts of Bangladesh where people have little or no access to quality healthcare, Grameenphone aims to provide free eye-care services to the economically disadvantaged people of the area. The Dhaka Progressive Lions Eye Hospital (DPLEH), Takerhat, Madaripur, is the local partner in this eye camp.
Mr. Mohammad Monjur E. Elahi, Deputy Commissioner, Barisal, was present at the inaugural session as the Chief Guest. MD. Rafiqul Islam, UNO, Gouronodi, Lion J.L. Bhoumik, Chairman, DPLEH, and Prof. Md. Shahidul Islam Bhuiyan, Principal of Government Gouronodi University College were also present as the special guest. Debashis Roy, Deputy General Manager, Corporate Social Responsibility, Quazi Farhad Ahmed, Manager, Barisal Region, Grameenphone, and Dr. Md. Alamgir Hossain, Program Coordinator, Sightsavers International were also present. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Elahi expressed his appreciation of Grameenphone’s efforts to come to the aide of the underprivileged people of Bangladesh. More than 3000 patients arrived for care at the Government Gouronodi University College ground. All patients were given routine examinations and prescriptions for refractive error were given to those who required it. Among them 150 patients were referred for and administered Intra Ocular Lens (IOL) or cataract surgeries.
Grameenphone provides employment to Acid victims:
Grameenphone extends its support to the Acid Survivors’ Foundation (ASF) in the rehabilitation of acid victims by providing employment opportunities. Grameenphone has already taken six individuals who have been supported by the Acid Survivors’ Foundation and provided them with employment within the company. These individuals will also be provided with adequate training to help them develop the necessary skills to take on their new responsibilities in the company. Ms. Barbara Richardson, Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, was present as Chief Guest while Mr. Arne Haug, First Secretary of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Bangladesh and Mr. Shaukat Mahmood, President of the National Press Club, were present as Special Guests at the ceremony. Mr. Erik Aas, Managing Director, Mr. Kafil H.S. Muyeed, Director of New Business Division of Grameenphone, and Ms. Niharika Momtaz, Acting Executive Director of ASF, were also present at the occasion. Bangladesh has one of the highest numbers of incidents related to acid violence and acid burns. These incidents constitute 9% of total burn injuries in Bangladesh. The majority of the victims of acid violence are women (47%), while men and children account for 26% and 27% respectively. Grameenphone believes that is important to rehabilitate these acid survivors, and provide them with vocational training and job opportunities so that they may become economically independent and able to contribute to the national economy. Grameenphone will also provide the necessary support to ASF in raising awareness against acid violence. ASF is a non-profit NGO, which works as a coordinating agency working to eliminate acid violence from Bangladesh. ASF is dedicated to raising awareness on acid violence, an urgent public concern. ASF’s general strategy is to implement its programs through a large network of national and local partners. ASF provides group counseling and narrative therapy for acid survivors, as well as job placement, skill development training, educational support, on-the-job training, income generating scheme and family assistance. ASF also provides assistance in the social reintegration process of survivors. Grameenphone had previously lent its support to ASF in the form of financial assistance for some awareness building activities against acid violence.
Grameenphone hands over 100 rickshaws in Sylhet:
Grameenphone, on June 28, 2007, presented ownership papers and documents for the handing over of 100 rickshaws to the Green Disabled Foundation, Sylhet Foundation and Mukti-Joddha Shangsad in Sylhet. Green Disabled Foundation and Sylhet Foundation work towards the welfare of blind and disabled people whereas; Mukti-Joddha Shangsad works towards the welfare of poor Freedom Fighters, as well as the blind and disabled slum dwellers in Sylhet. The 100 rickshaws were donated as alternative income streams for these non-profit organizations which they may use for various development initiatives. Azam Khan, Acting Mayor, Sylhet City Corporation was the Chief Guest at the occasion. Md. Israil Howlader, Deputy Commissioner North, Sylhet Metropolitan Police, and M. Nasim Hussain, Senior Vice President, Sylhet Chamber of Commerce & Industry, were present as special guests. Kafil H.S. Muyeed, Director of New Business Division of Grameenphone, handed over the papers for the rickshaws on behalf of Grameenphone. Mohd. Aulad Hossain, Head of Sylhet Region of Grameenphone, was also present on the occasion. As a responsible corporate citizen of Bangladesh, Grameenphone believes in its duty to help achieve sustainable development in Bangladesh by way of assisting the financially constrained becoming economically independent contributors to the society and nationally
Village Phone:
The internationally acclaimed Village Phone Program (VPP) continued to grow rapidly during 2006, providing telecommunications services in rural areas all over Bangladesh, covering even the remote off-shore islands in the Bay of Bengal. Managed by Grameen Telecom in cooperation with Grameen Bank and Grameenphone, the VPP further expanded to add nearly another 100,000 new VP subscribers, with the total year-end figure standing at around 191,000 in 2005. As of today, there are more than 260,000 VP operators in over 50,000 villages in 439 Upazilas (sub-districts) of the country. Amongst GP subscribers, VP operators yielded the highest average revenue per month. Commencing its operation in March 1997, the VPP is a unique initiative to provide telecommunications facilities in remote, rural areas where no such service was available before. It has brought about a quiet revolution
in mobile telephony in Bangladesh, by putting cell phones in the hands of the rural poor, many of them women, who had never seen a telephone before. The Village Phones work as an owner-operated pay phone. It has created a good income-earning opportunity for the VP operators, mostly poor women who are borrower members of Grameen Bank. Typically, a member of Grameen Bank takes a loan to buy a handset and a GP subscription and she is trained by Grameen Telecom on how to operate it. VPP has received many international awards while it has also been extensively featured in the international media over the years and documented by researchers both at home and abroad. It was given the “GSM in the Community Award” by the GSM Association at the GSM Congress in Cannes, France in February 2000. It also received the “Commonwealth Innovation Award” in 2003 and the “Petersburg Prize” awarded by the Gateway Foundation in 2005. The Village Phone Program has also been replicated in a number of countries including Uganda and Rwanda in Africa
Findings:
RECRUITMENT & SELECTIONS:-
More involvement of Sales Managers required in the recruitment process:
The HR department seems to be more involved in the recruitment process with the sales department being the less active one. The HR department is of course professional about the matter. However, the sales department has the better idea about the kind of attributes and qualities that is required for the job. They are more capable of identifying the better potential in the candidates. Therefore, the sales managers should be more involved in the recruitment procedure, while the HR department acts more as a facilitator in the process.
Co-relation between Recruitment & Turnover:
Quite recently, there has been a substantial increase in the turnover rate compared to the previous years. There is always a co-relation between recruitment and turnover rate in all organizations. To counter this, the recruitment process needs to be corrected. The solution to such problem is to go through a more rigorous test of candidates before selecting and appointing them at GP. There must be interviews targeted to find out the eagerness of the candidate and his or her probability of staying at GP.
Give ads to other Medias:
One key issue of recruitment is to attract a pool of candidates. However, the candidates have to be quality candidates. The more quality candidates that are available, the more probability there is that the recruitment will be a success. GP mainly advertises its vacancies over the net. But the more prominent media used by potential applicants is the newspaper. It is true that more technology oriented people use the net. But they do not necessarily use it to seek jobs. So, GP try on campus recruitment, job fairs and newspaper ads more often than now.
TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT
Quick approval of training budgets:
The process of allocating the budget represents another problem by being very lengthy and bureaucratic. The problem is magnified in times when quick training is necessary to fill-up vacant places or to deal with certain types of situation. The top management should devise a quicker decision making process and keep a sharp eye so that inter-departmental bargaining can’t affect the proper allocation.
Increase in the amount of training budget:
One of the major problems that are prevalent in Grameen Phone is that the board is bit reluctant to provide with sufficient training budget. In general, there is a positive co-relation between the training budget and the quality of the training. As Grameen Phone is in such an industry where moderate level of technical knowledge is required by the sales persons, who work as educating the agents afterwards, top management should focus on increasing the training budget to avoid suffering from “myopia” i.e. increasing the temporary benefit at the cost of long-term organizational goals.
Separate staff sales trainers:
At present GP is relying on line sales executives and to some extent to the outside consultants. A large corporation like GP should have separate staff sales trainers along with line sales executives, who will be working on developing more sophisticated, up-to-date sales training programs in order to meet the upcoming challenges. Inevitably, line sales executives have less concentration to provide training while there work is on progress. If the line sales executives do focus more on training then there’s a high chance they will be unable to complete their main tasks. So, in order to increase the effectiveness, GP should also acquire staff sales trainers who would be held responsible to greater extent for sales training programs development, implementation and evaluation.
CONCLUSION
In our country Grameenphone company work is very important for our country that because one of the common reasons is Telecommunication Company is the most important part for a country to develop. In Bangladesh Grameenphone company reputation is very high that because Grameenphone company do everything’s in the country. If I see the Social responsibility of Grameen phone that this the participation of this company in every were. Grameenphone is one of the biggest telecommunication company in Bangladesh. If a country don’t have a telecommunication service so this country was never grow up in the world. So without Grameenphone Company or any other telecommunication company Bangladesh never grow up and we also cannot communicated with the people.
Recommendation
In this report I have talked about GP’s recruiting & training process, what is required for recruitment & training and so forth and also we have discussed about the training technique of the sales force at the same time I have discussed about the drawbacks of both recruiting and training process and I have also discuss about the ‘‘Social Responsibility of the Grameenphone company’’. So the social responsibility of Grameenphone company is very important of our country. I have also recommended for overcoming these drawbacks. So the bottom line of the project paper is Grameen Phone is a well-known and most popular mobile phone company in this country.
For any organization, recruiting and training, these two are very significant tasks. Recruiting the right sales force for any company has a very significant impact for Grameen phone. As it is the leading telecommunication organization in this country, it is very important for the company to recruit the right sales force for its operation. If they fail to recruit the most efficient sales force, it will be not possible for the company to remain as the number one mobile industry in the competitive market. And to remain as the number one mobile industry Grameen Phone need to train its sales force more efficient and effective than ever before. And to do so, they will have to make the training technique more effective, more motivational and more efficient.
