ICT Journey of Bangladesh

Presented by

Mostafizur Rahman Sohel

Joint Secretary General

Brief History of ICT in Bangladesh

• Year 1964 IBM mainframe 1620 series- the first computer in Bangladesh

• In 1979, a computer center was established at BUET

• In the late 1980s, The use of personal computers witnessed a rapid

increase

• In 1983, the Ministry of Science and Technology established a National

Computer Committee to create the required policies.

• In 1985, the first Bengali script in computers was invented

• In 1988, the committee was replaced by the National Computer Board.

• In 1990, the ministry reformed the board and reconstituted it as the

Bangladesh Computer Council to monitor computer- and IT-related

works in the country.

• In 1995, use of the Internet began and locally made software started to

be exported

• In 1997 BASIS as the national trade body for software and IT service

industry.

3

Story of Transformation: Technology Adoption RateYear 2016

134 million

Mobile subscribers84% Penetration

56 million

Internet subscribers35% Penetration

98% Geographic &

99% Population

GSM Coverage

A staggering 400%

growth in power sector since 2009: 14,000 MW

Capacity

Major Investment from

The Industry is composed of

over 1500+ firms of which

1053 are BASIS

members

Market size

US$ 650 million last year (excluding the telecom sector)

40+ ODC(Offshore Development Centers) &

Joint Ventures started working

Software export is about

300 million in 2014-15

Export grew at a

CAGR of 25%in the last 6 years

Cu

rren

t Ind

us

try Da

ta

Endorsement by International Think Tanks

GartnerBangladesh among top 30Outsourcing destinations

Boston Consulting Group (BCG)Fastest Growing Consumer Market

JP Morgan 1 of the Frontier 5

Elance–Odesk(October 2013) – 3rd most popular for outsourcing from the OECD countries

Goldman Sachs Next 11

after BRIC

AT Kearney GSLI 2016: 22nd rank among Top 50

(Ranked 2nd in financial attractiveness category)

Broad Objectives of BASIS

Domestic Market

Development

International

Market

Development

Capacity

Building

01

02

03

Member service

development and

delivery

Advocacy

Social

Contribution

04

05

06

Early successes of BASIS

• Policy reforms

• Skilled HR development and Job creation

• Capacity building of member companies

• Industry growth

• Improving governance and facilitating

inclusion

• Industry branding

NTF III in Bangladesh2014-2017

OUTPUT 1: Capacity of partner TSIs (BASIS and DCCI) inproviding services to SMEs in the IT and ITES sector improved

OUTPUT 2: Export capacities of SMEs (40 companies) in the ITand ITES sector improved

OUTPUT 3: Business linkages and technical partnerships created

and/or expanded

Challenges

• Lack Of Affordable IT Infrastructure

• Access To Finance

• Language Barriers

• Enforcement Of Policy

• Gap Between Industry-academia

• Industry Branding

Wait, why do I need to pay for Software? The computer seems to work fine without it!

Wait, why do I need to pay for Software? The computer seems to work fine without it!

Is it worth the money spent for automation? Annual turnover of my company doubled this year without going automated.

Applications Using

Basic Smart

phonesSocial

Media

mCommerce

Search

engine

Vehicle

tracking

Mobile

banking

Communication

eLearning

eCommerce

And many more…

As per a 2009 study by Boston Consulting Group and

Telenor, by 2020, there will be 18.3 million internet

subscribers in Bangladesh, equaling approximately 10

subscribers per 100 inhabitants.

As of February 2016, number of internet subscribers in

Bangladesh stand at 61.288 million.

Businesses based on Mobile and internet

mCommerce

13 million mobile finance accounts

bKash world’s second biggest mobile phone payment company

after Kenya’s M-Pesa

Handles over USD 1 billion transactions per month

With up to 20 million people

fCommerce

In Bangladesh, 1 subscriber is added to Facebook every 3.72 seconds

Rise of young entrepreneurs

Growing participation of women

Doing business in the comfort of home

Less or no investment needed

Market scenario

Annual Value of

Ecommerce 200 Crore

Monthly Growth

in e-transaction 30 %

500+ E-commerce

sites

2000+ F-commerce

platforms

Target Group

55% Female

45% Male

85% user

<30 Years

15% user

30 Years+

90%Lives in

Dhaka*The Daily Star E-commerce Report: March 2015*Pi Strategy Research

Support to SMEs and Micro Businesses

8 million registered SMEs

Countless unregistered SMEs are still untouched

80% of the population have mobile connections

Rooms of development• Integrate internet and mobile apps to make better decisions

about timing, marketing and management

• Apply and adapt IT to the SMEs in rural areas using mobile

• Induce automation using mobile

Bangladesh in Digital ChannelsCall to Action…

• Rural development with internet penetration

• Country wide IT training

• Promote internet income

• Language skills training centers across the country

Thank You!