The role of ICT in economical growth of Bangladesh : Tamima Binte Mannan

Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing economies in South Asia. According to the World Bank 2019 report, Bangladesh is among the five fastest-growing economies in the world. Being the most attractive investment destination in South Asia, Bangladesh experienced a record level of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow in the country last year, topping the list in South Asia. Since “Digital Bangladesh” is an integral part of the present government’s Vision 2021, the country is committed to achieving substantial progress in the ICT sector, making “Digital Bangladesh” a reality.

Acknowledging the economic advantages of the expansion of the ICT sector, the government has taken several growth-oriented policies to utilize the abundant human resources of the country, resulting in numerous IT innovations and digital entrepreneurship. As a result, the ICT sector of Bangladesh has achieved tremendous success under the present government. Bangladesh is now exporting software and IT related products to more than 50 countries across the globe. Moreover, the number of countries availing IT services from Bangladesh is increasing gradually. According to BASIS report, Bangladesh has earned $800 million in the year of 2017 by exporting ICT products and services.

With burgeoning export revenues from the ICT sector, Bangladesh has become a great home for IT outsourcing. The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in Bangladesh is rising at a breakneck speed. The rapid digitalization of Bangladesh, including easy internet access in the urban areas and some inclusive government and non-government initiatives to promote freelancing, have contributed to the recent growth of freelancing activities in the country. As a result, Bangladesh has already become the second-largest country in supplying online labour, according to the Oxford Internet Institute (OII). About 500,000 active freelancers are regularly working out of 650,000 registered freelancers in the country, making $100 million annually, according to the ICT Division of Bangladesh.

With the availability of cheaper smart phones, the rapid rise in social networking (23 million-plus Facebook users), and the increasing emergence of digitally-savvy consumers in the country, Bangladesh is experiencing tremendous growth in the ICT sector. This can be attributed to the country’s immense progress in internet connectivity, mobile phone usage, and ICT education. Like other emerging Asian countries, including India, China, and Malaysia, Bangladesh is ready to exploit opportunities offered by the Digital Age and catch up with technologically advanced countries.

Bangladesh is now heavily investing in IT sectors and should continue its endeavour, reaping considerable benefits in higher employment/income, and accelerating growth. With the continuous growth of the ICT sector and numerous new IT companies, the Bangladesh government is creating thousands of jobs for Bangladeshi youth, eradicating the unemployment problem in the country. By investing in IT parks, the government is also attracting foreign companies to set up their companies in Bangladesh, bringing billions of dollars in investment and generating many new jobs. The recent boom in the sector, therefore, indicates that Bangladesh is going to harness the full growth opportunities of digital technologies and catch up faster with high-income countries.

In Bangladesh, now almost all sorts of organizations have their own website to ensure online presence. There are many online business directories too. Thousands of people use online business directories every day to find their desired business houses, manufacturers, suppliers, exporters, importers or service providers. It is very important to get targeted customers if you are a local business owner. To get a local visitor, local business directories play very vital role to promote local business online. We can get our own business listed in the local business portals in one hand and in the other hand we can also search millions of businesses on the net and quickly connect with them from anywhere. Among many business portals in Bangladesh BD Trade Info is remarkable because of it's authenticity, simplicity and of course for enough & accurate information. BD Trade Info is the largest Business Directory in Bangladesh. It can be called as an online Yellow pages or online business directory too. It is a digital version of Yellow pages. It is now also a platform to find potential customers. For almost 2 decades bdtradeinfo.com has been serving Bangladesh Business sectors.