Employer’s Insight: A Discussion with Faisal Saeed

JOBS-ICT Private Limited (JIPL) is conducting a series of interviews discussing about the various aspects of the ICT sector of Bangladesh. One of our first such discussion was with Mr. Faisal Saeed, Deputy General Manager, Head of Research and Analysis and Marketing Division of Grameen Phone and discussed few important issues on the ICT Sector of the Bangladesh economy. Here is what he had to say:

Q.1: What is your opinion about the present scenario of the ICT industry of Bangladesh?
Ans. To speak in general terms, Bangladesh faced fairly a slow growth in this industry. In spite of having a large labor force and intellectuals in the respective fields, this sector has yet to grow at a faster pace and compete with the global market. The main obstacle lies behind the growth of this sector is the lack of proper initiatives by the government as well as lack of collaborative efforts from the front runners of the industry.

Q.2: How would you compare ICT sector of Bangladesh to those of other economies?
Ans. If we take the account of countries like India, Pakistan, Vietnam; we can easily identify a trend of upward sloping growth curve of the growth in the ICT sector of those countries. The reason behind the boom in ICT sector of those countries is good governance from government end. For instance, India produces 0.2 million quality ICT graduates each year and they are taken care by the government. But the problem with our country is, we are extremely sluggish to react and this is the only reason why we fail to grab opportunities to do something good for the industry, which ultimately impacts in our economy. Another basis to state the fact behind the shortcoming of the ICT industry is the market size of the country. Bangladesh is still a developing country and the economy it self is very small in contrast to those booming countries like India, Pakistan, Vietnam etc. In these countries, their governments are the biggest purchasers in the county, so their quality products are being easily absorbed by the different government bodies in different industries which are completely missing in our country.

Q.3: What would you refer as the drawbacks that are hindering our desired rate of growth in this sector?
Ans. The world in fact has a steady supply of IT graduates. But they are not actually having the right platform to grow their interests. To use these minds, there are needs of positions. Now the question comes that how to increase or create the opportunities. The simple answer first traces back to the government actions. Secondly, IT sector works comfortably in a service based economy, one that resembles USA and other giant economies. For all services in USA, there is always a need of ICT backbone since the economy is heavily dependant on the tertiary sector. Once Bangladesh is compared globally on these terms, it is a fact that we do have a long way to go. The government itself is not IT based. But the private sector for the past decade has certainly shown healthy rise in its potential. We are not at present quite dependant on IT support in our day to day work.

Q.4: What are the catalysts needed to steer up the growth further to a higher level?
Ans.  There is always room for improvement and considering the fact that Bangladesh is still a growing economy, we do have a lot of actions yet to be taken to develop our sectoral performances; and in this case we are talking about the ICT industry. To state briefly our government has lots of role to play to get this sector to a higher platform. For instance, more foreign companies and multinationals have to be encouraged to locate here, and so policies to strengthening this process have to be coined. In addition, our talents don’t get much focus in this market since the industry is yet to grow a lot. One of the most important factors are the lack of proper implementation of government rules and regulations such as patent laws, piracy etc that acts as one of the most de-motivating factor. Once issues such as these mentioned are mitigated and taken care of, I am sure this industry will face a higher growth.

Q.5: Do you feel that HR stands as a core platform for the ICT Industry in Bangladesh?
Ans. Human resource itself carries a huge definition. It certainly has a vital role to play in every stand of different sectors, and so ICT industry is no different. The HR policies might differ from sector to sector but the true concept behind HR stays the same. Another factor stressing the difference in the importance of HR from sector to sector is based on demand and supply. If demand is there, HR can do miracles. It is important to keep the right person in the right place and only then a lot of value addition will take place.

Q.6: Do you think that availability of cheap labor can be attributed as an advantage in steering the growth from the present situation of the ICT sector?
Ans. It is true that the high population of our country has resulted in cheap labor force, which of course stands as a major advantage for many of the sectors in our economy. But in this case, ICT sector is very much specialized and needs quality more than quantity. Thus, cheap is not the case here, reliability is the factor. The market is very much competitive and I do believe there are many quality graduates out there. But then again I have already mentioned that we always fail to grab the opportunities.

Q.7: Why does it seem that there is a present hype among the graduates wanting to get job in the telecom sector, particularly in large corporations such as Grameen Phone or Banglalink? Is it all because of the brand?
Ans. It is actually not the case as it seems. There is indeed a presence of intense competition that results in the failure of many ICT graduates in getting their suitable job. The telecom sector all through out this time was expanding rapidly and thus provided opportunities for many. But then again, the number of ICT graduates is decreasing since past records say that their seniors who graduated before them were unable to find suitable job. Even if the example of big MNCs are taken, the institution might employ 5000 people or more. Of them, only 5% or less will be ICT graduates and the rest are from other disciplines. So it is not certainly the hype of the ICT graduates in getting their job in these companies. Brand is also not the factor here.

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