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Of the Bangladeshi outsourcing workers, 22% work in software development and technology, representing 3.7% of all freelancers in the world
Abu Kahar, an SSC graduate from Kalai, Joypurhat, earns Tk50,000 per month.
While that is rare in itself, it is even more surprising when one learns that the boy failed twice in the higher secondary certificate education exam.
But the lack of an HSC certificate did not prevent Kahar from earning this handsome amount.
Coming from a low-income family, Kahar grappled with frustration about his future. But his passion for the web brought about opportunities that changed his life.
When Kahar learned about a training on digital marketing being offered for free by the government, he did not hesitate to sign up. This training, it turns out, would change his life.
In recent times, Kahar has earned up to $1,000 a month.
Like Abu Kahar, thousands of Bangladeshi tech savvy youngsters have brought a revolutionary change to the ICT outsourcing marketplace, contributing hundreds of crores of taka to the economy, thanks to various initiatives undertaken by the government.
Aside from being self-employed, many of these freelancers now provide jobs for others.
According to Oxford Internet Institute (OII) at UK’s Oxford University, Bangladesh is the second largest source of online workers in the world. Bangladesh’s market share in the online workforce is 16.8% after India, whose share is 24.6%.
Of the Bangladeshi outsourcing workers, 22% work in software development and technology, representing 3.7% of all freelancers in the world.
The majority, about 40% or 6.8% of the world, work in sales and marketing support. About a quarter work in creative multimedia, which is or 4.2% in the global context. Similarly, about 3% work in writing and translation, 7% in clerical and data entry and 2% in professional services – representing 0.5%, 1.3% and 0.4% of all freelancers on the web.
“Being the son of a poor farmer, I barely passed SSC with GPA 4.62 with great difficulty. In HSC exam, I failed twice in physics,” Abu Kahar told the Dhaka Tribune.
“One day, I come across the training advertisement of Learning and Earning Development Projects (LEDP) and apply for it immediately,” he said.
“After receiving the training on digital marketing, now I am able to earn Tk50,000 a month,” he added. Since December 2016, Kahar has earned over Tk5.6 lakh.
Kahar has bought his landless father 50 decimals of land.
Under the Professional Outsourcing Training programme, the government has planned to train on graphic design, web design and development and digital marketing to 13,000 unemployed people. Already, a total of 11,920 people have completed training and of them, 5,680 people have earned Tk3.44 crore.
From self employment to creating jobs
There are vast opportunities for Bangladesh in the outsourcing industry, as costs are rising in countries like India, China and the Philippines and employers are out looking for alternatives. Bangladesh can cash in through upgraded training.
Bangladesh has one of the largest and youngest populations in Asia, of whom almost 65% are under the age of 25. One of the biggest advantages of freelancing is that one can work from home.
“I was frantically searching for a job in any sector as I am getting old and very close to the cut-off for many jobs,” Rezaul Islam of Lalmonirhat told the Dhaka Tribune.
“Now I have a handsome monthly earning. This is because of my outsourcing training under LEDP,” Rezaul said. He had earned $1,200 last month.
“Sky is the limited in outsourcing. Like me, thousands of unemployed youths can get engaged in earning. My vision is to establish an IT centre in my area where 100 people will get jobs. I am working towards that goal and everything is on the right track,” he added.
According to the ICT Division, there are 650,000 registered freelancers and about 500,000 are working regularly, making $100 million annually.
Successful freelancers are engaging more people in the sector and they are opting to open their own IT centres. Kahar already employs six people.
Challenges
Higher prices of bandwidth and lack of quality internet services is a problem for freelancers in rural areas. Although there are broadband connections in some areas but it is too slow to suit their work, a group of freelancers told the Dhaka Tribune.
Long term and high-level training is another obstacle to getting highly paid work.
“Human resource is the raw material of the industry. They should be trained based on the industry’s needs. There must be a long-term plan on where Bangladesh wants to take its human resource to tap the huge opportunity of demographic dividend,” Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) President Mustafa Jabbar told the Dhaka Tribune.
“If we look into the present status of the outsourcing workers, most of them only have a general education and no special training,” said Jabbar.
Former BASIS president Fahim Masroor told the Dhaka Tribune: “It seems a bit surprising when a student goes for an MBA after graduating from computer science or engineering.”
Educational subjects as well as degrees should be job-oriented and the human resource development should focus on the needs of the industries, Fahim, owners of bdjobs.com, said.
“On the other hand, most of the government training is entry level. It should be focused on international level so that we can go for higher paying jobs, especially in software and graphic design,” he suggested.
“Be equipped with international standard skills, get involved in outsourcing – that is my suggestion to beginners,” Golam Faruque, a freelancer, told the Dhaka Tribune. Faruque was ranked second and fourth in the graphic design and illustration category on the freelancing platform Upwork in 2015 and 2016. Currently, Faruque earns over $1,500 per month.
Employers may lose confidence in the Bangladeshi market if they find unskilled workers doing jobs, he said.
“Besides LEDP, the government has taken steps to establish the Sheikh Kamal IT Training and Incubation Centre to provide higher training for freelancers and make the sector sustainable,” State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak told the Dhaka Tribune.
At the centre, SSC and HSC graduates can receive six-month trainings and later follow up with training to upgrade knowledge on freelancing, he said.
“Under the direction of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, we are working to get fibre optic connections to the union level by 2018 to ensure affordable high speed internet,” said the junior minister.
“The goal is to translate the vision of Digital Bangladesh into reality by 2021”.
“Since 70% of our population is young, the government’s vision is to make them tech savvy and engage them in IT-based work through freelancing,” he added.
Paypal has started operations in Bangladesh and it has made payment easier for freelancers, he added.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/career/2017/09/20/freelancers-turn-bangladesh-hub-ict-outsourcing/
...watch them get mad over their imported "refurbished" clunkers ...and subsequent scampering to portray those as "better" even though the demand is tiny to begin with.
