The country earned US$300 million by outsourcing online in the just concluded fiscal 2015-16. IT experts say that Bangladesh has a lot of potentialities to earn more foreign exchange from the sector.
They hope to achieve $1 billion export earnings from IT outsourcing within 2020.
As Bangladesh has a large number of young populations the country is the next outsourcing destination, if it creates efficient workforce on online outsourcing, officials and IT experts told the Daily Observer recently.
Bangladesh has already been recognized as one of the leading outsourcing destinations by various world renowned IT organizations and it should take necessary initiatives to turn the large number of young population into skilled manpower on online outsourcing, said Mustafa Jabbar, Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS).
A young population base, coupled with advances in technology and good pay, is said to be the reason for more and more Bangladeshis taking the freelance route, and the flexible working hours is a bonus.
"Many people are interested in freelance work in the country due to high income and flexible working hours," Mustafa said.
Inadequate opportunity for quality jobs, especially for young graduates, is another reason for the increasing popularity of freelance jobs, he said, adding that around 200,000 graduates enter the job market every year, said Sameen Ahmed, former present of BASIS.
The government cannot resolve the employment issue of these young graduates, so outsourcing income may be an alternative income sources for them," he said.
In terms of earnings, Bangladesh is ranked seventh among 186 countries where online jobs are exercised.
Currently, the country has around 550,000 freelancers registered with different freelance marketplaces.
Sameen stressed the need for improved Internet bandwidth for grabbing more job orders.
The vision 'Digital Bangladesh' encompasses the whole arena of a knowledge based digital Economy. It is an integral part of the government's Vision 2021, which has a promise to make a prosperous and equitable middle-income Bangladesh, he also said.
Bangladesh, which has more than 100 universities and 2,000 higher colleges, produces 350,000 graduates every year. More than 1.3 million students are currently pursuing higher studies in Bangladesh, which has 250,000 active IT professionals contributing to the growth of the IT sector, which has been declared as a thrust economic sector, said the former BASIS president.
Talking to Md Anwar Hossain who has completed his graduation from a Public University is now engaged in the online outsourcing business.
"I earn at least Tk 100,000 monthly," he said adding that many global companies are placing orders to us due to cost competitiveness and good quality.
