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A new dimension has been added to the economy of Bangladesh with the rise of the readymade garment (RMG) industry. At the time of the country's independence in 1971, our only export items were jute and jute products. Now our main export item is readymade garments. Another important source of foreign exchange earnings is manpower. However, jute and jute products are now more holding that position. The information and communication technology (ICT) sector has come up as a new source of forex. Nearly 157 million people in the world are involved in freelancing and 70 per cent of them are aged 35 years or below.
Emergence of freelancing sector:
The youths of the country are showing their competence in various fields. Along with the development of the IT sector in Bangladesh, there has been a silent revolution in freelancing. Young people in cities and villages are earning hundreds of thousands of dollars a month by doing freelancing. Today Bangladesh accounts for 14 per cent of the world freelancers. They live in the country and do various jobs online.
The World Trade Organization's (WTO) 'World Trade Report 2023' has described various developments in the information technology sector of Bangladesh. In the chapter 'The New Shape of World Trade', it has been said that efforts to make trade sustainable and inclusive continue despite the global crisis. For that, a digital platform is needed most. In this report of the WTO, various developments in the information technology sector of Bangladesh have been described like how the IT sector has progressed in such a short span of time. Our neighbouring country India earns foreign exchange every year from the IT sector. Bangladesh also feels the wave of the IT sector's rise in India.
Freelancers:
There is no timetable for doing freelancing. This profession does not require a nine-to-six office time. Freelancers can work from office, home or anywhere. This requires skills, electricity and a fast internet connection. If the organisations of different countries of the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe, do some work based on information technology through local workers, then it costs more. Again, the required workers are not available all the time. They then outsource the specific work. It saves money for the organization and the freelancer also earns money by doing the work from any place.
How is freelancing in the country:
Most of the jobs found on some websites called 'online market places'. The interest of the youths in freelancing is increasing as a result of the expansion of the IT sector because of public and private sector initiatives in the country. There is no exact information on how many freelancers there are in Bangladesh. No information on this is presented in the WTO report. According to Bangladesh Freelancer Development Society data, 153 marketplaces are accessible for freelancers from Bangladesh. In that case, the number of freelancers will be around 1.0 million (10 lakh). According to the data of Exploding Technologies, a US company that helps entrepreneurs and investors analyze various data, 1.57 billion people in the world are involved in freelancing. More than 70 per cent of them are 35 years old. Web design freelancing is in the highest demand in the world. They earn, on average, $21 per hour. However, according to Payona's Freelance Income Survey Report 2023, freelancers earned $28 per hour.
What is the progress?
Freelancers in Bangladesh work for very low wages. We must now move on to higher wage jobs. For that, the person who studies the subject will do freelancing in that subject. Freelancing is done in only 11 fields from Bangladesh. But there is an opportunity to encompass 1,023 subjects for freelancing which is done sitting at home. No office is required for this. It is very easy to qualify oneself for freelancing by learning technology online for half an hour every day.
Export of digital services
According to the WTO report, Bangladesh is quite ahead in the digital services sector. Since 2005, Bangladesh has been able to achieve an average growth of 11 per cent by exporting goods. In contrast, the average growth in digital services exports is 15 per cent. E-commerce businesses are growing at an average of 18 per cent per year. In 2021, 11 million (1 crore 10 lakh) people used high-speed internet. There are 8,280 digital centres in remote areas. In the fiscal year 2020-21, 400 companies in the information technology sector exported digital services worth 1.3 billion US dollars to 80 countries. Exports to 167 destinations in 2022 were $1.4 billion. Currently contribution of the digital IT sector in the country is 1.28 per cent. More than 300 thousand people are directly involved in this sector. By 2025 it will stand at more than 500 thousand.
According to the data of Bangladesh Bank, the export of various services including consultancy services, non-customized computer software, data assessing and hosting services including computer repair has increased by more than one and a half times in four years. In the fiscal year 2017-18, more than 182 million dollars were received from export of computer-related services. In FY 2020-21, it increased to $303.7 million. In the outgoing fiscal year 2022-23, exports of computer-related services increased to US$ 550 million.
Need to be careful:
There is a lot of responsibility of the state for creating freelancers. The government should take more planned, robust, transparent and international initiatives for this. However, as a result of some government initiatives, the number of freelancers in Bangladesh has reached 14 percent. This is very good news. Even better, when we hear that 80 per cent of our foreign exchange earnings will come from the IT sector, like the ready-made garment industry. This requires short and long-term planning. But suggestions are made as follows:
1. We need to make a massive change in our education policy. Without modern education system, it is impossible to keep pace with the world. We need to change the quality and technique of education. So the education policy should be made more modern and timely.
2. Technical education should be given more importance. At least four technical education centres should be there at the upazila level. The establishment of universities at the district level should be stopped. A private university is a non-profit university as per law. But entrepreneurs are setting up universities for business purposes. To change this situation, the Private Universities Act 2010 should be amended.
3. The government should reduce tax, VAT and advance tax collection to reduce the cost of IT sector inputs. Low-income people have difficulty with IT. There is no substitute for cost cutting aiding the rise of the freelancing sector. Currently, freelancing is done in only 11 sectors in Bangladesh. But there are 1,023 sectors. So, skilled manpower is required.
We need the government's encouragement and incentives. We have a large number of young people aged 35 years and they can engage in freelancing. For this, the country needs healthy politics. Transparency, accountability and acceptability of elections at all levels, including national elections, are essential. The hopes of the youths will never be fulfilled unless there is a government that governs the country taking the mandate through reliable and acceptable elections. If the political problem is not resolved politically, the development of all export-oriented industries alongside freelancing will be affected.
Abul Quasem Haider is the Founder Chairman of Eastern University, Islamic Finance and Investment Ltd., Australian International School and Abul Quasem Haider Mohila College, Sandwip, Chattogram.