Private sector and the countrys economy
Growth above six percent annually over the last few years with further enhanced growth projected in the coming years has made Bangladesh as one of the exciting destinations for investments in the world
Masihul Huq Chowdhury
Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Dhaka University the premier business school in the country is celebrating the golden jubilee. IBA was founded in 1966 in collaboration with Indiana University, Bloomington USA, under a Ford Foundation Financial Assistance Program with the objective of providing professional training to create future business leaders. IBA has its own premises within the campus of the University of Dhaka.
The four storied main building contains 65,000 square feet (6,000 m2) of floor space. The alumni from this institute are leading major private sector organisations including banks, financial institutions, corporate, non government organisations in the country. Many of the alumni from this institution are placed in coveted positions in the corporates globally. What makes this institute stand out among the rest of the business schools in the country is the system which matches the theoretical studies with practical and applied oriented approach through the curricula, case study based teaching, the examination method, presentation keeping the time bound targets. Bangladesh has celebrated the forty fifth anniversary of independence this year. The achievement of millennium development goals in terms of various social and economic indicators have put us as a role model among the developing countries. The worlds Middle Income Countries (MICs), which are defined as having a per capita gross national income of US$1,026 to $12,475 are a diverse group by size, population, and income level. Middle income countries are home to five of the worlds seven billion people and 73 percent of the worlds poor people. At the same time, middle income countries represent about one third of global GDP and are major engines of global growth. In 2016, per-capita income was estimated as per IMF. According to IMF, Bangladesh was the second fastest growing economy in 2016 with GDP growing by 7.1 percent during the year.
The role played by the private sector in this economic growth is of immense importance. Be it in agriculture, non government organisation, remittance from the expatriate Bangladeshi along with growth in the overall business sector are very notable. Growth in excess of six percent annually over last couple of years with further enhanced growth projected in the coming years has put Bangladesh as one of the exciting destination for investments across various sectors. The demand for business and technology professionals have therefore increased manifold, the lack of which may result in slow down in achieving the desired growth. Export of Ready Made Garments sector can be singled out as the major contributor in terms of employment in manufacturing sector with the foreign exchanges income being earned. Approximately 4.4 million workers are employed in this sector with eighty percent of this employment being female. About 20,000 expatriate from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other countries are employed in the managerial roles in this sector alone. Bangladesh has put up an ambitious plan to increase exports volume of US Dollar fifty billion mark by 2021. This puts up the challenge further to fill in with highly qualified professionals in order to bolster this massive growth. The other sector which has the very potential to experience exponential growth is IT sector.
Human resource is the most important component for IT industry. Bangladesh has a huge educated, unemployed youth force with the ability to read and write English. The country can take advantage of its immense manpower to train and prepare programmers and IT professionals. The new economic order where the largest online store Amazon does not own any inventory on its own, the largest taxi service Uber does not own any transport on its own or Alibaba the largest business trader does not own any inventory are destined to shape up the future of businesses across the industries. The local requirement for skilled professionals is destined to grow manifold in the comingyears.
In 2007, BUET celebrated 60 years of engineering education in Bangladesh by arranging a 6 month long series of programs and events. The Engineering education in Bangladesh dates back to British Raj when The Dacca Survey School was established in 1876 as a survey school at Nalgola, west of the current Sir Salimullah Medical College campus. Khwaja Ahsanullah, a philanthropist and member of the Dhaka Nawab College, endowed donations for developing the survey school. Following the successful implementation of producing graduates of international standard, a number of Universities both in Public and Private sector have rolled out various departments including producing quality graduates. Asian Development Bank will assist the proposed project involving 250 million US dollars. The project will end in 2022.
The project will be implemented in Dhaka University, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Jahangir Nagar University, Jessore University of Science and Technology, Islamic University of Technology, East West University, Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, BRAC University and Daffodil International University under the supervision of the UGC.
At the same time, UGC along with High Tech Park authority will supervise the IT sector.Our neighbouring country India has adopted a plan of massive scale through Skill India program. The campaign was launched by Prime Minister of India on 15 July 2015 with an aim to train over 400 million people in India in various skills by 2022.
It includes various initiatives of the government like National Skill Development Mission, National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, 2015, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) and the Skill Loan scheme. Oracle on 12 February 2016 announced that it will build a new 2.8 million sq. ft. campus in Bengaluru will be Oracles largest outside of its headquarters in California. Oracle Academy will launch an initiative to train more than half-a-million students each year to develop computer science skills by expanding its partnerships to 2,700 institutions in India from 1,700 at present. As of 15 February 2016, the Indian Leather Development Programme trained 51,216 youth in a span of 100 days and it plans to train 1,44,000 young persons annually. Four new
branches of Footwear Design Development Institute beingset up to improve traininginfrastructure.
The industry is undergoing acute skill shortage and most of the people trained are being absorbed by the industry. Our governments plan for Digital Bangladesh is progressing in line. The various projects in the areas of E Governance, E Commerce etc are few to mention. The domestic requirement for IT literate professionals will be growing manifold with the implementation of these projects. The retailing sector is experiencing a healthy growth showing that the middle income society is expanding in line with the elevation of our country to a middle income country.
The Non Government Agencies are playing the very important role in the areas of development. We need highly skilled manpower not only in order to achieve the trajectory but to maintain the present status of normal growth.
The writer, a banker by profession has worked both in local and overseas market with various foreign and local banks in different positions
