Three ministers from Bhutan, Maldives, and Congo were once visiting Bangladesh to attend the ICT Fair. Dohatec New Media was excited to offer them a tour of our office. Our team made efforts to gather information about their visit, but unfortunately, the details were unclear. We received a notification on Wednesday that someone would be coming, but there was no further communication thereafter, leaving us puzzled. Welcoming foreign ministers to our company required adequate preparation time, and this lack of information made it challenging.
One significant hurdle we encountered while preparing for their welcome ceremony was the absence of photographs of the ministers. We wanted to prepare banners dedicated to each minister, but we could not get our hands on their pictures. Still, our employees managed to obtain pictures of the ministers from Bhutan and Maldives, but finding an image of the Congo minister proved to be a struggle. Eventually, one of our employees came across a photograph taken on a mobile phone, showing the Congo minister seated on a rickshaw during his visit to Dhaka. Since we had no alternative, we used that picture, and to our surprise, the minister recognized himself on the banner when he visited our office and was quite surprised to see that photograph of himself.
The three foreign ministers sitting at DohaTec’s office, (from left) Minister from Congo, Minister from Maldives and Minister from Bhutan
The individuals responsible for bringing the esteemed guests perceived Dohatec as a small-scale software company occupying a corner office in a large building. This misconception led them to ask us on Friday which building and room they should bring the guests to.
As the guests were staying at Hotel Radisson, Mr. Doha provided them with directions: “Take a left after leaving Hotel Radisson, then continue straight until you encounter a church. Take another left from there, and my team will find you.” True to his words, our team successfully located the guests following those directions. Dohatec put forth their best effort to extend a warm welcome to the three foreign ministers.
We wanted to treat our guests to the finest local cuisine, so we made lunch arrangements at Kosturi, a renowned local restaurant. However, the restaurant is usually closed on Fridays. Fortunately, Luna Shamsuddoha, our chairman of that time, made special arrangements with the restaurant to cater for 40 people. She also prepared some dishes herself, ensuring that the guests were served the best of Bangladeshi food.
The ministers paid a visit to Square Industries the next day. They stated during the concluding ceremony of their visit that they had been to two major industries in Bangladesh, Square and Dohatec. We felt honored by their recognition.