JOBS-ICT Private Limited (JIPL) organized a 2-day interactive and activity based workshop at the Gulshan club on the 13th and 14th of March 2009, with a total of 28 students from various universities in Dhaka. The workshop titled “JIPL Corporate Grooming Competition 2009: Plan All the Way” high-lighted on different activities and projects that assessed the participants’ ability to communicate effectively, project management skills, team playing capability, time management and other soft skills.

The two day program focused first on promoting the importance of professional verbal and written communication, appearance, introductions, etc through a series of activities and theoretical sessions.  On the second day trainers guided participants in applying lessons learned on Day 1 to the challenge of event planning.  Each group created their own scripts, choreographed and staged their own fashion show to showcase what they have learned in Day 1. Creativity, entertainment and fun paired with serious project management skills went hand in hand as the participants took to the task of staging their individual performances.

The first day started from 9:30 am at the Patio Hall in Gulshan Club with the division of groups and ice-breaking activities. Each group consisted of students participating from North South University, BRAC University, State University, Dhaka University and London School of Commerce. All the three groups represented one particular sector from the economy and formed their own virtual company. Starting from the name and logo of the company, they described their company’s mission, vision, the services, the marketing strategies and all the competitive edges that make their company the best!

On the second day, participants started to pour in from 12 noon to run their practice sessions. The enthusiasm in all the participants was really something to applaud for! The show started from 6 pm as the judges arrived to provide and assess each team’s performances and individual scores. As soon as the show ended, each of the groups were waiting patiently for their scores to arrive. After a fifteen minute break, the winning group was announced by the CEO of JIPL, Ms. Elli Takagaki. North South University was selected as the best team in terms of their performance and creativity. There were three grand prizes sponsored by SAMSUNG for the best three scorers in the competition. Ms. Amani Faiza Mulk, participant from LSC won the grand prize, a 22 inch LCD monitor. Ms. Tarannum Ali, participant from NSU got the second place and won 17 inch LCD monitor. Mr. Awranga Jeb from Dhaka University was the third best scorer winning a SAMSUNG digital photo-frame.

Bibi Russell representing from fashion industry provided tips for each participants after they cat-walked and showcased their own created companies through presentations. Among other eminent personalities present during the grand event, Mr. Asheq Ul Islam represented from SAMSUNG, Ms. Tamina Mahmud Chowdhury from bdnews24.com, Ms. Erika Hoffman-Kiess from JOBS, Mr. Faisal R. Ferdous from APEX Pharma, Mr. Riaz ur Rahman and Ms. Nahar Abed Gullo from Gulshan Club and Ms. Shirin Jahangeer from World Bank were the judges.

All in all, it was certainly a grand event with the catchy decoration and music. JIPL plans to hold more events like this and at a wider scale to promote the importance of soft skills development and build up the workforce capacity of Bangladesh.

LSC Management Workshop on Corporate Grooming: JIPL Plan All the Way

JOBS-ICT Private limited (JIPL) organized a workshop titled Plan All the Way for the students of London School of Commerce (LSC) on the 29th of November and 6th of December 2008. This 2-day LSC Management workshop provided an apt platform to help nurture the working capability within a professional environment. This was one such venture of JIPL designed as a direct and practical approach to training which had immediately and positively impacted the students’ professionalism, inter-personal skills and team playing capability. Creativity, hilarity and some serious project management skills that went hand in hand as the participants took on their task of creating their own top fashion show. The participants were all placed into different teams and challenged to utilize their limited resources at hand to create, design and then manufacture their own real projects. They worked on their scripts, choreographed the performance, and staged their own fashion show through dramatization with music, commentary, and their own hand-picked models. Bringing out team creativity in a real time project was one of the sole requirements for the diversity of good team roles to get the job well-done.
The core objective that lied within was to groom up the participants and make them adaptable to a more professional environment. JIPL believes that this way of learning is effective, fun and attracts more students as they learn solely on hands-on approach.

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.

Like most other fairs, the National Career Fair provided the opportunity to the participating companies to promote and brand their products and services. But what distinguished the 2- day long event from others was the face to face interaction with the job-seekers that helped companies determine the existing demand present in the market. Thus, this stood as the platform to assess the current market changes and trends.

The National Career Fair 2008 held at Bangladesh China Friendship Hall took place on the 25th and 26th of October 2008 and was the gathering of 66 companies, both large and expanding ones. Among all other 65 stalls, JOBS-ICT booth was one of the catchiest and well organized. The strategic position of the stall with the colorful banners and stickers attracted hundreds of young, enthusiastic job-seekers. Hundreds of resumes were collected and numerous questions were coined by the audience that interprets their need and enthusiasm in finding a suitable job.

The core objective of JOBS-ICT was to establish its brand name and market the services that are provided. After the two day long event, the aim was well-achieved. To conclude, the participation in the fair was fruitful for JIPL and at the same time exciting since it could be a part of a nation wide program.

A glimpse into the discussions

JOBS-ICT Private Limited (JIPL) organized a Call Center Seminar on the 14th of August, 2008 at the JIPL Office in Baridhara. The seminar titled “Call Centers: A Streamline of Opportunities” was aimed to create a stand to discuss the various issues of call center business in Bangladesh, starting from the planning process to the implementation stage.

Mr. Ali Kamal and Mr. Samuel Bretzfield were the key speakers for this event.  Both gentleman have years of experience in the call center business in the US, Philippines, Pakistan and the Middle East.

Ali is a certified Project Management Trainer (PMP) from Pakistan.  He has years of experience in managing call centers offshore, particularly in Dubai. He was in charge of the call center of Halliburton, one of the largest ventures in Dubai.  He is also affiliated with Tech-Access in Pakistan, a predominant hardware/software support company for call centers. 

Samuel brings with him over 10 years of experience in the call center and BPO industries.  Starting out as an agent working he worked his way through the company as a trainer, manager and onto general manager. He successfully launched call centers in the US and the Philippines. Not only did he manage call centers, he knows what businesses look for when hiring an offshore outsource companies.  Sam was responsible for selecting and deciding the criteria companies need to meet to attain call center business form the US.  With this wide area of expertise Sam sees the call center industry as a wonderful opportunity for Bangladesh and is jointly training future Bangladeshi agents here at JIPL.  His keen knowledge and insight into the outsourcing community is a priceless asset.

The seminar started off at 10:30 am with the introductory speech by Ms. Elli Takagaki, CEO of JOBS-ICT Private Limited and commented on the dire need of the solutions to the problems that the call center industries in Bangladesh have. The floor was then given to Mr. Ali Kamal who gave an overview of the call center industry and shared his valuable experiences during his venture in this industry. Starting from his own introduction and where he worked, he explained the concept of call centers and its traditional form to the new technologies that are used now in this industry. He talked about how to improve the environment of a call center so agents feel comfortable working there. Students are the main employees attracted to this part-time line of work. Mr. Kamal explained that it is necessary to invest in your workers.  In order to keep workers satisfied and deter them from leaving the company, it is important to have flexible hours of work, good working environment and attractive incentives.    

One of the few ideas he came across during his presentation was the “Buddy System”.  It mainly focuses on call center agents who are students and attract their other friends to work with them. This, in turn helps create a friendly working environment with an added bonus that female agents and their families feel comfortable with the late night working system.  The call center job is a 24-hour job. Agents have to work nights. From the perspective of Bangladesh, Pakistan and some other Asian countries, it is difficult for women to work at night, especially if the working environment is not positive. Thus female students find it difficult to have consent from their parents. The Buddy System helps improve this situation.  This system was successful in Pakistan, Mr. Ali Kamal stated, and is one of the main reasons many University age female students continue to be dedicated employees to the call center industry.  This is just one of many attention strategies that can be provided.   

Mr. Kamal stressed the need of proper agent training, since it is the core area factor and the hidden tool behind the success of the business. He then categorized the implementation stage of a call center into five phases starting from the business analysis to the hardware and network applications.  

Next was Samuel Bretzfield as the key presenter at the event.  The presentation began with the discussion of his personal experience in this industry and then shifted to industry facts. He did a case study comparison between the Philippines and Bangladesh.  From the facts of the Philippines he showed how the Bangladesh can equally be successful and competitive in the call center industry.  “Philippines did it and so can we!” Sam explained the competitive edges Bangladesh has in the field. He stated that although English is the language that is widely used in Philippines, training is still essential for call center agents to develop their accents and then move on to the next step. Sam also stressed that it is widely necessary for owners and agents of call centers to understand all the key terms of this industry.  

He said that Bangladesh has ample opportunities in this market in spite of being a new player. He encouraged the participants to define a solid business strategy and start off with a world class set up if capital investment is available. The “if you build it they will come theory.”  If the capital is not available he advises to instead prove their quality of work. 

Once the call centers start proving their worth, clients will see the hard work and automatically be reliable and attracted to this area.  “Hard work always pays off” Sam explained that investing on recruitment and training is the core criteria to achieve success in this industry. Human resource is the utmost priority in this line of business.    

Many of the call center licensees only have a short period of time to begin operation since they already have issued licenses from 3-4 months back.  They are left with the dilemma on how to begin and what is the process. Some of them already have a set up, but lack either call center agents to run their operation or proper clients.

Key questions brought up by the participants in the Q & A session were:
• How to hire clients for call centers?
• What is the startup process?
• How do we get accounts, what comes first the chicken or the egg?
• How do we manage the call center agents? 
• How do we access the hardware and software for the call center?

JIPL a consultancy and a recruitment agency has the skills, knowledge and resources to provide solutions to all of these problems.

JOBS-ICT Private Limited (JIPL) participated in the North South IT Fair on the 27th and 28th of June in the city’s Bashundhara City. This fair allowed JIPL to further promote its brand name in the market since students as well as corporates of various companies visited the two days event.

It was a fair opportunity for JIPL to collect CVs and conduct survey on call center training and various workshops that the organization holds each year. With the strategic positioning in the floor and among 54 other stalls, JIPL received quite an attention from the visitors of the fair and was one of the busiest stalls.

•      “It is one of the best platforms we could have organized and this is our job, but fortunately JIPL did this to all of us”.
—– Mr. Habibullah N. Karim
       President, BASIS

•       “The congress of HR personnel was really a worthy one. By exchanging views and ideas with other HR personnel I could developed my knowledge and got some ways to solution of HR problems”.
—– Md. Qamrul H. Khan 
        Manager, Human Resources Development, FLORA LIMITED

•       “Forum, for me is a discussion session, where problems are discussed from different  perspectives, and also their probable solutions. The first session may not have given us the solutions, but definitely the problems were tagged. This will give the concerned ones  something to think about, and that I believe is the first step of the success story. The continuation of the efforts is the key to go further.”
—– Mr. Minarul Islam
       HR Manager, BIPL
 
•      “I was looking for this type of events where I can share my company practices and also I can get to know other ideas. This is different than traditional seminars and a huge congrats for keeping your promise of making it different”.
—– Mr. Shohorab Ahmed Chowdhury
       Chief Operating Officer, Synesis IT 

•      “I like the idea of private sector, neither the government nor donor community,  taking this sort of initiative for the growing sector of Bangladesh.”
—– Mr. Takeshi Ueda
       Project Formulation Advisor, JICA

In the process of further development of the IT sector of Bangladesh, all industry players should collectively work towards developing a technologically advanced and professionally competent human resource base to match the global standards. Thus, the initiative of a Human Resource Forum is the opportunity JOBS-ICT took as the pioneer to provide a prime platform for industry-wide discussion of common challenges and opportunities in securing qualified, skilled human resources. The program took place on the 5th of June, 2008 in the city’s Atrium Restaurant where HR Managers, IT business owners and Operation Managers of various IT companies were in attendance.

The Human Resource (HR) Forum was a distinguished one among other events of all encompassing nature by focusing only on HR issues since this industry itself is highly HR intensive. Various collaborative initiatives were coined and their feasibilities were discussed. Among other points, few were the topic of main discussion initiating from industry wide employee awareness development programs to discouraging frequent job-hopping; developing management awareness to forming joint resource pool for group of companies with common interest, etc.

JOBS-ICT Proposes Common Human Resources Vision for IT Industry

IT industry leaders met at Atrium Restaurant on 5 June 2008 at a Human Resources (HR) Forum organized by JOBS-ICT Private Limited.  The Forum acted as a platform for industry-wide discussion of common challenges and opportunities in securing qualified, skilled human resources.  Elli Takagaki, CEO of JOBS-ICT gave the inaugural speech while Mr. Syed Mamnum Quader, Senior Vice President of Bangladesh Association of Software & Information Services (BASIS) and Director, JOBS-ICT, hosted the program.  Mr. Habibullah N. Karim, President of BASIS attended as chief guest. HR Managers, IT business owners and Operations Managers were also in attendance on the occasion.

HR in the IT sector was the core theme of the Forum and various topics were presented, related to investment in HR, reducing the industry-wide salary gap to increase employee retention and increase return on investment, the quality of knowledge and skills among graduates and training centers, and the industry – academia communications gap.  Beyond discussions at the 5 June Forum itself, an online version of the Forum will be available to attendees to allow for ongoing interaction.  The main goal of the Forum and associated activities is to provide an opportunity for industry players to share their HR experiences and develop a common HR vision for the IT Industry in Bangladesh.

This is the article that appeared on The Daily Star on Sunday, 17th February, 2008.

The University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) in collaboration with Jobs-ICT launched a programme titled ‘Career Vision’ yesterday to train and prepare its graduates to face the challenges in the present competitive job markets, says a press release.

The university signed a MoU with Jobs-ICT, an organisation to train students.

The first session of the new batch was held on the ULAB campus at Dhanmondi Satmasjid Road. Some 170 students, divided into two groups, took part in the plenary sessions.

Tatiana Pavlovky, an industrial psychologist, is conducting the sessions in which students are given hand-on training and tips on how to face an interview, writing a CV, setting career goal and skill development for cherished profession.

The training begins at the very first term of the four-year academic period.

Besides their academic programme, the students are required to complete a full career-training module during the four-year of their stay at ULAB.