YOUTH entrepreneurs in the country are set to pave the way of economic advancement as the country’s IT and software exports have kept on increasing. The youth are ambitious enough to target exports of $ 1 billion worth of software to the international market this year. In the first eight months of the current fiscal year, according to the Export Promotion Bureau, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector earned around $ 86.07 million. The growth of the country’s IT-enabled services is very encouraging as many of the local entrepreneurs have been exporting their products to world markets. Meanwhile, a good number of youths are working as freelancers, who are on course to earn about $100 million a year by 2020. While the traditional businesses are being struck repeatedly due to political unrest, blockade, shortage of FDI, corruption, youths are independently and boldly contributing to the country’s economy and fending for themselves as well. As the country has the blessings of a demographic dividend as 40 percent of our population is young and the IT sector is largely driven by the youth, the government should provide full support to them.
A local daily reported that demand for local software and other IT-based services increased by more than 14 percent in last July-February period both in domestic and international markets while the sector earned around $ 124.72 million in FY 2013-14. Bangladeshi youths are now working to provide services, including accounting and finance, content and document management, marketing and sales automation to animation, multimedia and graphics industries in the global markets. The growing demand of IT-based services in the modern world could be occupied by the Bangladeshis empowered by the large number of our young adult population while most developed countries are suffering from ageing populations.
The sector leaders said that the international clients’ confidence in local IT companies and small entrepreneurs’ capacity is growing day by day. Global consumers have been turning to the country as production costs in Bangladesh are very low compared to other countries. Youths, mainly fresh graduates, are coming up with their innovative ideas, skill, strategy, business plans, youthful capacity to drag the world IT business. In a fast-paced global economy marked by rapid technological advances, the fact that our youths are not only managing to compete but are turning out to be world class workers signals an exciting future for the country. There is good news that Bangladesh is ranked seventh among 186 countries in terms of earnings through freelancing and currently around 5.5 lakh Bangladeshi freelancers have registered with different freelance marketplaces.
Given the right atmosphere and incentive, our young people have the drive and initiative to produce great success stories for the country. The government and the large conglomerate can play a pivotal role by encouraging the self-driven youngsters anxious to prove themselves. It is not encouraging or reassuring for the younger generation to find disappointingly that corrupt and incompetent ones belonging to a politically favoured group can have advantage from the government. All must have the level playing field.
