Bangladesh - Cross-Cultural Etiquette

Bangladesh: Cross-Cultural Etiquette & Understanding

In Preparation for the Dr. Muhammad Yunus delegation April 5-6, 2016 at Becker College

Delegation

• Dr. Muhammad Yunus

• Mrs. Lamiya Morshed, Executive Director

• Mr. Imamus Sultan, Managing Director of Grameen Kalyan

• Dr. Frank Crossan, Executive Director, Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing

Bangladeshi Facts

• Population: over 165 million; 8th most populous country in world

• Capital: Dhaka (over 15 million)• Language: Bengali; English• Religion: Muslim=89%; Hindu=9%• Poverty: About 1/3 of the population (~40%)

lives in poverty/extreme poverty• Current Challenges…

Greetings

Salaam aleykum Handshakes

Communication

Facial expression; Nonverbal cues Thumbs up sign Open gifts in private; give and receive

gifts with both hands Always give and receive with your

right hand Address people directly Expect most senior male to make

decisions

Views of Time (Forewarning!)

• Casually viewed: show up at meetings or events late

• Not linear: schedules are followed loosely• Often small talk before the meeting begins

About Dr. Muhammad

Yunus

• Born: 1940 in Chittagong• Third of nine surviving children• Active Boy Scout• BA and MA in economics at Dhaka

University• Fulbright to study economics at Vanderbilt

University and received Ph.D. in 1969

• Married a fellow student and had a daughter

• Served as assistant professor of economics at Middle Tennessee State University (1969-1972)

• Activism for his home country• Returned to Bangladesh in 1972 and

headed economics department at Chittagong University

• Developed idea of microcredit; established Grameen Bank in 1983

• Grameen serves >8 million poor people; 98% women

• Grameen America: 11 cities, over 64,000 women served, almost 180,000 loans dispersed, over 67,000 jobs created

• Married Dr. Afrozi Yunus in 1980 and had a second daughter, Deena

Bangladeshi Trivia

Most popular sport? National fruit? National tree? National flower? National bird? National animal?

CRICKET

JACK FRUIT MANGO TREE

SHAPLA

MAGPIE ROBIN

ROYAL BENGAL TIGER