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IT The next bright spot

zina tasreen
Bangladesh and readymade garment are almost always spoken of in the same breath nowadays. But, there is life beyond it — and nowhere is it simmering more than at the software and IT-enabled service sector.
'I see the IT sector becoming something like Bangalore to all the big companies -- it is just a matter of time. The people in Bangladesh are naturally intelligent,” Sonia Bashir Kabir, country manager of Microsoft, said.
The south Indian city is a major global hub for lower-end outsourcing services as well as higher-end innovation, with the region's software exports in fiscal 2012-13 hitting the $26 billion-mark, according to data from the Electronic and Computer Software Export Promotion Council of India.
If not as big as Bangalore, she definitely considers it to be the next big sector to come out of Bangladesh after the readymade garments.
Her optimism, after all, is not unreasonable: the sector has seen tremendous growth in the last 4-5 years, with the average growth being around 50 percent according to Shameem Ahsan, president of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS).
Its exports have crossed the $300 million-mark and by 2018, it hopes to hit $1 billion. It is also looking to capture a $1 billion local market by then.
Samsung, the global leader in consumer electronics, has already set up a research and development centre in Dhaka, while Accenture has already shifted its payroll processing
The reason for the wave of optimism surrounding the IT sector, Ahsan says, is the country’s large youth demographic,
who happen to be very receptive to the latest technology.
Of the country's total population of 160 million, 60 percent are below the age of 35. *Our youth are very pro-lT and are easily trainable,” he said, adding that more than 5,000 IT graduates are coming out every year.
Furthermore, the expatriate Bangladeshis are doing well and are moving up in the decision-making
BASIS is also working with the government to formulate the best policies for the sector, he added.
But what the sector really needs for the definite leap is thought leadership and infrastructure, said Kabir, who buil up her curriculum vitae in Silicon Valley.
The void of thought leadership can be filled by foreign companies like Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Juniper and
nies train the locals to their standards to enhance their own human resource database, which, ultimately, can be leveraged for the benefit of the country.
That creates another problem, which is of brain drain. But Kabir said local companies like Aamra Group are getting around that problem by incentivising competitively.
As for the infrastructure issue, it is both a bane and a boon, she said.
ladder of big tech-companies such as Google, Microsoft and Facebook.
*A11 of it has created a global ecosystem,* he said, while citing the Aamra Group and TigerlT as examples of beneficiaries of the network.
The government, too, is very committed to nurturing the sector. It has been granted tax exemption for the next five years and 300 acres of land in Kaliakoir to develop an industrial park.
Dell, she said.
"When multinationals come, they do not just bring their brand, they bring thought leadership and global best practices, all of which create a valuable talent pool.”
The employees in the local entities of Microsoft and Dell, for instance; can choose to work at any of their offices around the world, according to Kabir.
In other words, the foreign compa-
“Because we have nothing to replace, we can get straight to the most modem technology out there. We can morph from zero to state-of-the-art.”
Kabir cited the introduction of short message service in Bangladesh as a case in point: it arrived here before the US.
About possible areas for growth, she said: *1T is an enabler and the next sector to take advantage of it would be education.”
The way of teaching is changing -we now have interactive media training and digital classrooms. The donors are spending a lot of money -- and are enforcing the government -- to incorporate all of that in the classrooms.*
Plus, the fret that there are 30 million students enrolled in schools in Bangladesh at any given time make it a lucrative proposition for all IT companies, she said.
'Again, this is another area we will morph from zero to state-of-the-art The US and other developed countries would not have digital classrooms everywhere — for that, their existing infrastructure would need replacing*
Ahsan though tipped the internet and e-commerce to be the next big money chumers, as, after all, in the next five years, the government is looking to make half of its 160 million population full-fledged internet users by 2018.
He highlighted the recent spike in values of the local jobs portal bdjobs.com and e-commerce sites like Flipkart and Alibaba as case in point
In April, Australian job portal SEEK International acquired a 25 percent stake ofbdjobs.com for Tk 38.5 crore, meaning it valued the site in its entirety atTk 150 crore.
Indian e-commerce site Flipkart has become a $7 billion company, while its Chinese counterpart Alibaba, which made its trading debut recently, saw its first shares change hands at $92.70, which is well above the $68 initial price that some investors paid.
Alibaba's shares finished the day at $93.89, giving the company a market value of $231 billion, which is larger than Procter & Gamble Co.
"All big companies in the world are looking to Bangladesh. We feel that we are near the cusp of riding that big wave. We will be at inflection point in a few years from now,* Kabir concluded.