Lack of strategy, exposure holds back Bangladesh IT
Says Danish expert
Kawsar Khan
Although Bangladesh has potential to emerge as an offshore destination for international IT companies, it is lagging far behind due mainly to lack of proper strategy and exposure, remarked a Danish information technology expert and entrepreneur."Yes, the country will have to go a long way for development of IT skills and infrastructure, but in the given situation, it could welcome many international IT companies, had it maintained business relationship with Denmark," said Henrik Egede, also vice president of Danish IT Industries Association (ITB), in an interview with The Daily Star recently. ITB, the leading association for IT business community in Denmark, has around 400 IT member-companies. Egede was on a visit to Bangladesh to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) on behalf of the ITB. Under this MoU, a few local software companies will be trained up in the next two years for capacity building, enhancing consultative ability and export. "The challenge for Bangladesh IT sector is that it is a newcomer in the international IT market, so you need to be more extrovert. You have energetic workers, but you need exposure and strategy," Egede said. He also pointed out that Bangladesh, through supplying IT professionals, can avail of the dearth of skilled people in this sector Denmark now faces. "Recently I met with 15 new members of our association who expressed their concern over the shortage of enough manpower", he added. The ITB official informed this correspondent that the Danish Federation of SMEs (DFSME) with the support of Danida (Denish International Development Assistance) is now working in Bangladesh to bridge the gap between local and Danish IT firms and it has so far brought 30 Danish IT firms here. Egede saw outsourcing as a booming sector because of availability of cheap labour in Bangladesh. He also identified small number of IT graduates here as another obstacle to the sector's growth. Citing an assessment of DFSME, he said presently the universities of Bangladesh supply 2.5 thousand IT graduates annually, but it should be many times higher to feed the local industries and to tap the export market. "You have to take the young people and make them skilled for tapping offshore destination in international IT companies", Egede suggested. When asked about how the local IT industries can be benefited by the ITB, he pointed to the possibility of more joint ventures in the IT sector. In the short visit to Bangladesh he also found the high cost internet service facility as another bottleneck in flourishing the local industry. "It (internet) is extremely expensive compared to that in other countries," he said.
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