How much money does Ekushey Book Fair make from sponsorships? Bangla Academy has no idea

Bangla Academy says an event management firm signs agreements with sponsor companies

Bangla Academy, the organiser of the Amar Ekushey Book Fair in Dhaka, is clueless about the revenue the flagship event raises every year from sponsorships. 

An event management firm, sanctioned by the academy, collects the money according to its contract with the sponsors. The government makes no separate allocation for the national event. A part of the academy’s annual festival budget is spent on conducting the fair. 

Celebrated actor and cultural personality Ramendu Majumdar expressed his shock over the process. Citing the gaps between the collection and accounts of income from sponsorships, he said, “It should not be like that, as an organiser of the event, Bangla Academy must have the record of income.” 

He demanded a separate government fund for the fair, condemning the practice of taking sponsorship from the private sector as the month-long event is held in keeping with the spirit of the 1952 Language Movement.

“The book fair will not need sponsorship from the private sector if the government can allocate up to Tk 50 million each year for the fair. It’s not a big deal, rather the publishers can have incentives from the allocation,” he said. 

“The fair is a people's festival now, the government should take its financial responsibility.” 

The organising body of the fair said it receives no state funding for the event. All the expenses of the fair came from sponsorship, stall rent and money received from the academy’s annual budget. The event management firm manages the construction of stall infrastructure, entrance and the main stage at the academy premises.

The event management firm pays for the expenditure of the fair from the funds collected from the sponsors, but does not submit any income or expenditure report to the Bangla Academy.
In that case, the firm solely makes or loses money. 

Crosswalk Communications Ltd, a Dhaka-based advertising agency, has been engaged for this year’s event management. Likhon, manager (operations) of the agency who gave a single name, refused to disclose the amount of money it received from sponsorships supported by companies like bKash, Abul Khair Group and Dettol.

Bangla Academy would not like to have its annual earnings and expenses audited because it is a state-run organisation, several officials tied to the organising of the fair said.

The academy hands over the responsibilities to the event management firm to avoid complications, according to the officials. 

KM Mujahidul Islam, member secretary of the fair, admitted that the academy does not have an account of how much money the event makes from sponsorships. 

“It’s kind of grey. We will change it from next year. As of now, the sponsors came to the fair under their contracts with the event management firms who actually managed the part. They are still not accountable to the academy to report their gains from such agreements.”

He said the academy had asked the agency this year to finalise the sponsorship contracts in the presence of the academy officials but it failed to do so. The authorities would bring the issue to light during the submission of its reports at the end of the fair. 

“Efforts are underway to secure government funds for the fair in the future,” Mujahidul added. 

The month-long Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2023, which began on Feb 1, is drawing to a close on Tuesday. Poet Mohammad Nurul Huda, director general of the academy, addressed the closing ceremony of the event at 5pm.