Bangladesh's 'Virtual Talent' is its opportunity

Notwithstanding the recent terrible tragedies inflicted on the citizens of Bangladesh by terrorists, the world cannot abandon one of the poorest countries in the world. Now more than ever Bangladesh needs international support and friendship.

International companies should still come to Bangladesh to do business, but they must do business in a fair way, in an ethical way that helps the country. Unlike the garment industry that is manually intensive and mostly women with little or no education, the outsourcing sector attracts well-educated people and pays much higher wages comparable with competing ICT/BPO nations like India and the Philippines.

The ICT/ BPO industry in Bangladesh is relatively new in comparison to other business sectors and the Bangladesh government is very well aware of what BPO- ICT has done for The Philippines, lifting it from abject poverty to be the second fastest growing economy in Asia after China with a growth rate of 6.8%.

The Bangladeshi workforce is traditionally renowned for their quick learning abilities. The workforce, especially, has historically strong abilities in mathematical and logical analysis processes. Bangladeshi students regularly appear as winners in a number of programming and mathematical competitions globally."STEM" is the new global outsourcing buzzword. It stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

The Bangladeshi workforce has higher competencies in English compared to countries like China and Vietnam; however, the language proficiency is to some extent skewed towards professionals with better schooling. I am sure that there are many other things to consider including business grade English skills, and cross cultural training to improve 'soft skills' that need to be addressed very quickly so that Bangladesh can move forward while its window of opportunity is open.

If the government can play its part by making access to the Internet free or very low cost they will be rewarded by creating an environment that will create income for many of their citizens which in turn will create a trickle down multiplier effect for their economy.

The writer is the Founder and former President of 'The Australian BPO Association'