Feature

NSA seminar urges collective
effort for outsourcing business

Edward Apurba Singha

NeoSTAR Alliance (NSA) in association with CSC Dept. of American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) organised a seminar on outsourcing titled, ““Amalgamation with Global Outsourcing Trend to Expedite the Growth of Hi-Tech Industry in Bangladesh” on March 29 at AIUB. The prime objective of the seminar was to create awareness among the students about emerging opportunity of outsourcing and at the same time conveying message to policymakers to ensure congenial atmosphere for the outsourcing business in Bangladesh.

Hasanul Haq Inu, Member of Parliament (MP), Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Post and Telecommunications Ministry was present in the seminar as the chief guest. In his speech he said, “Bangladesh could be a hub of outsourcing business in this region and government is keen about this issue. We are planning further price cut of bandwidth to ease Internet based communication. We also think to offer special incentives to global technology giants to open up their offshore development centre in Bangladesh. The government is planning to establish a separate call centre zone to inspire this industry. Nowadays people who provide service to foreign companies face hurdle to channelize money. Bangladesh Bank already realized this issue and by this year we will fix this problem”.

Shameem Ahsan , Chief Executive Officer (CEO), E-generation & Member, Prime Minister's Digital Bangladesh Task Force talked on outsourcing trends in Bangladesh. He said, “Currently around 150 IT companies in Bangladesh are exporting to over 30 countries and annual export value is USD 33 million (as of 2009). Although this is not a very shining figure but we have every opportunity to turn this country a unique outsourcing destination. At present more than 70,000 professionals working in IT & ITES industry and among them 15,000 IT engineers in 400 software companies. Each year Bangladesh gets 4,500 IT graduates. Major areas of outsourcing business in Bangladesh are custom application development in Microsoft & open source technologies, graphic design & animation services and computer aided design services”.

A.K.M. Fahim Mashroor, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Bdjobs.com Limited in his keynote speech talked on outsourcing and economic progress. In his speech the CEO said, “IT could be a tool to expedite the economic growth. But for the sustainable progress of the IT industry we need to focus on HR development, infrastructure development and quality assurance. Currently, we have numerous business graduates compared to science graduates. But we need more people with sharp mathematical and analytical power to innovate new solutions. ”.

Takashi Suzuki, Representative, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) Dhaka talked on offshore IT business in Japan. He said, “Customize software development leads the IT service industry in Japan. Our country has an acute demand for IT experts and in this regard there is a huge scope for outsourcing business. Bangladesh could be a lucrative destination for the Japanese companies for its supply of IT graduates and cheap labor”.

Habibullah N Karim, President, BASIS in this speech underscored national branding to turn Bangladesh into an outsourcing destination. “We must be cautious about our capacity and do not dream something that is not achievable.”

Dr. A.B.M Siddique Hossain, Dean, Faculty of Engineering, AIUB stated the necessity of industry academia collaboration. He said, “Our country has a large population of 30 age limit. They are our asset. If we provide them proper incentives they will lead the digital trend in the country. In this regard, industry academia collaboration has no alternative to provide quality education and generate employment opportunity as well”.

(Writer is the founder & president of NeoSTAR Alliance (NSA))