Many youngsters aim to build a career that gives them diverse opportunities, the freedom to build innovative solutions, and scopes to generate positive impacts at large. These facets are innate to the field of consulting which is why resourceful, proactive, and adaptive individuals excel in this field nationally and internationally. So, what exactly does international consulting entail? What is the nature of this field and what is expected from consultants?
Simply put, consultancy involves undertaking projects to solve problems clients face. Consultants probe into issues clients encounter, design detailed methodologies and work plans to arrive at customised solutions, and then enable their execution following best practices. When this is done for clients beyond borders - who could be corporates, development sector agencies, or government ministries - it is called international consultancy. To get a clearer idea about this field, let us delve into the journeys of two talented international consultants, Avirup Sarkar and Ahmed Mostafa.
Avirup Sarkar's ventures across Bangladesh, Myanmar, Philippines, India, and more: Wanting to be in a growing industry while impacting policies, Avirup Sarkar became interested in consulting when he was studying at the Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka. After graduation, he joined a leading Dhaka-based consulting firm and began working on government-level projects. "An experience I acquired early in my career was designing an insurance literacy programme for Bangladesh. The end goal was to bring more people under insurance schemes," says Avirup Sarkar recalling his favourite experiences. "Despite the existing notion that people hesitate to get insured owing to their lack of trust in the product, our rigorous analysis hinted otherwise. The data revealed that the bigger barrier was lack of knowledge about insurance as opposed to lack of trust," he posits. Now that their problem exploration uncovered the real issue, they designed their solutions accordingly.
Having acquired experiences locally, Avirup Sarkar undertook various projects internationally including an education sector project in Myanmar. At that time, Myanmar lacked a definitive structure in its primary and secondary education system so each school followed its own syllabus/examination pattern. "We had to standardise the curriculum and introduce centralised certifications for students. It was very enlightening as we studied the status quo, interacted with local experts, and formalised the structure step-by-step," he says. Myanmar did not have a board of education, so the consultants had to tailor their recommendations accordingly which was challenging. "It was indeed humbling to witness the gradual implementation of our recommendations on the field; the satisfaction is unparalleled since there are so many beneficiaries," he adds.
He feels the same about other projects he delivered in various other places including Cambodia where he undertook a financial management project, Nepal where he collaborated with the central bank and Ministry of Finance, and India and the Philippines where he worked for confidential clients. "Of course, no two projects were similar yet our team needed some common qualities to accomplish every project: adopting customised approaches to problem-solving, being data-driven, and constantly innovating, which I find very exciting," he explains.
Acquiring these qualities, Avirup Sarkar never had to look back as he relied on these exact traits to excel at his previous job at PwC and current job at World Bank. As of December 2021, his project delivery portfolio was valued at $6.0 million and his contribution to developing various proposals and concept notes led to the development of over $23 million worth of business for his employers. He emphasises that developing effective solutions becomes easier when one steps into the shoes of the end user/beneficiary, thinks out of the box, and prioritises effectiveness (for instance, if a problem can be addressed by rudimentary automation, there is hardly any need to bring in advanced technologies like blockchain or artificial intelligence as those may not be suitable for certain end users).
Ahmed Mostafa's quest in sectoral development of Timor-Leste, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka: Opting for consultancy at the mere age of 23, Ahmed Mostafa had to circumvent the challenge of convincing international clients that he was up to the task. Eventually, his diligence earned him the roles of frontline consultant and project manager in assignments across Timor-Leste, Cambodia, Nepal, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka.
When asked about his memorable experiences, Ahmed Mostafa recounts "A project I was involved in aimed to revamp the Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) industry in Timor-Leste. The end goal was to equip their human capital with requisite skills/resources." As the project and deliverable manager, he redistributed risks, managed professionals from different cultural backgrounds, and ensured the availability of working capital. "I went to Timor-Leste in 2018, but it felt as though I had somehow landed in Bangladesh fifteen years ago as the place had a lot to improve in terms of infrastructural development, modern facilities, and even mobile network. As such, TVET was a sector the country crucially relied on -- so contributing to revamping this sector and positively impacting so many beneficiaries was very gratifying," he says. Ahmed also has extensive experience working for the education, agriculture, and TVET sectors in Cambodia and Myanmar where he helped bring policy reforms. "Working tirelessly to develop roadmaps for these projects and seeing them come to fruition was indeed rewarding," he adds.
Despite his job being so rewarding, Ahmed Mostafa acknowledges the intrinsic challenges. As each project is associated with a different sector, designing customised solutions that actually work would not be possible without going the extra mile to understand key facets governing the sector first. "Additionally, taking the country context into account is essential - a roadmap that worked wonders in Cambodia might not bring the best results in say, Bangladesh," he explains.
For youngsters interested to enter this field, he recommends acquiring core hard and soft skills every consultant needs to perform their job. The hard skills needed are the basics of data visualisation and analytics to generate impact-driven solutions, report writing skills to communicate findings to stakeholders, and acquiring industry expertise by building specialised knowledge. The top soft skills are maintaining professionalism, clear formal communication, teamwork, and punctuality. Avirup Sarkar suggests the same for youngsters opting for this domain.
At present, Ahmed is working as a consultant for the Global Education Practice team at World Bank and he believes that his experiences in various countries have brought him the core competencies needed for his current role. Till now, he has worked as a consultant and project manager for assignments worth more than $35 million.
The two professionals' journeys elucidate the diversity of opportunities international consulting has to offer and how youngsters can immerse themselves in building impact-oriented solutions for multi-faceted problems. If one would love to engage in meaningful projects and positively impact different target groups while building a portfolio of satisfying experiences, international consultancy might just be the right fit for one!
The writer is a fourth-year BBA student at IBA, Dhaka University.
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