Bangladesh, the world's eighth most populous country with approximately 158 million people, is witnessing an economic growth rate surpassing five percent for the past ten years.
The economy is expected to continue to grow and present many business opportunities.
In one of the office buildings at Gulshan crossing in central Dhaka, the work is on for construction of a new branch office for Toshiba, the first Japanese electronics company to have a branch in Bangladesh.
Sayaka Kanagawa, who joined Toshiba in 2008, has taken command for the opening of Toshiba's new Bangladesh Liaison Office.
To establish a stronger presence in Bangladesh and to support the country's continued economic development, Toshiba Asia Pacific Private Limited, Toshiba's Singapore-based wholly owned subsidiary, promoted Kanagawa as in-charge to advance to Bangladesh.
With two years of experience in Bangladesh as JICA volunteer, Kanagawa is a fluent in Bengali.
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"Actually I was working for the rural development, especially the capacity development of the local governance. Then after two years, I went back to Toshiba and very luckily now the Bangladeshi market is very focused and Toshiba also wants to penetrate this market," said Kanagawa.
With an interest in Southeast Asia since her childhood, Kanagawa enrolled in the university to study social problems and regional research of Asian region. Kanagawa, who has also studied in Thailand, went to Indonesia to study after graduation.
Kanagawa extends her career in Bangladesh, supporting the improvement of the local living standards through Toshiba's technology.
"Not only the product but the solution wise we would like to propose something," said Kanagawa.
The development of industry particularly in needs of the infrastructure, required to support economic expansion, including power generation, transmission and distribution and urban transportation.
Toshiba's track record in Bangladesh extends from supplying steam turbine and generators for the power plant in 1970, to provision of medical diagnostic today.
"Many young graduates have moved out from country for better jobs. I want to be a part to create an establishment which can provide opportunities for the Bangladeshi people to earn continuous success in this country as well as the development of the industry," said Kanagawa.
Many Japanese companies, which are expanding their global businesses, have showcased varied technologies used by them.
At Interphex Japan exhibition in Tokyo, Toshiba Nano analysis Corporation showcased many different technologies for pharmaceutical industry.
In a model of laboratory it displayed the use of medicated powder for workers at a manufacturing unit.
Toshiba Nanoanalysis Corporation offers high sensitive particle containment assessment by taking advantage of clean room environmental measurement technology for semiconductor industry.
"Toshiba puts focus on healthcare industry. So, we want to follow that policy and utilize our technology in the industry. PM 2.5 is big problem now, especially in Asia. So, we want to offer our assessment technology for the problem," said Masato Nishizawa, a senior fellow at Toshiba Nanoanalysis Corporation.
Kurita Water Industries Ltd. offers drinking water that contains the balanced mineral. And it earned good response from the visitors.
"Our main business is offering the equipment to make ultrapure water that is necessary for semiconductor manufacturing. Also we operate the equipment by ourselves and send the ultrapure water to the client's factory. In future, we want to promote this machine in countries such as Korea and India. Especially in Korea, it might become big business to make generic medication of bio-pharmaceutical," said Tomoyuki Fuse, Deputy Manager, Sales Group, Facilities Division, Kurita Water Industries Ltd.
Kurita has made this machine that is used to remove impurity in a process of manufacturing bio-pharmaceuticals by taking advantage of their technology of producing high-purity water.