The central bank is learnt to have created a Tk.5 billion fund to provide financial support to the start-ups in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), in short IT, sector. Undoubtedly, it is a commendable move on the part of the Bangladesh Bank (BB). But such a decision from the BB, or from the government, for that matter, should have come much earlier. Considering that computer came in this part of the world in the mid-sixties, personal computer (PC) in the eighties and internet in the mid-nineties of the last century, the necessary ecosystem of infrastructure, research and talent for the IT sector did not develop as fast as it was initially thought. As a result, Bangladesh missed the first opportunity to become an IT outsourcing hub. But India in South Asia and the Philippines in the Southeast Asia grabbed the opportunity early as they had meanwhile created a sizeable pool of computer programmers in their countries. But in Bangladesh except for lofty projections of growth, there was little progress on the ground. Small wonder that Bangladesh is lagging two decades behind India and three decades behind the Philippines in the IT sector, especially in becoming an offshore destination for international investors in the IT sector. As such, IT is yet to grow into a potential growth sector in Bangladesh. Though our IT graduates have many success stories at the individual level at home and abroad, we have not seen many entrepreneurs in the sector from among those talented people. And it is also not their fault that they could not turn into great entrepreneurs on their own. Barring a few exceptional individuals, most of them who went abroad for higher degrees did not return home, while others after having their graduation from local universities and other institutions of higher learning have gone abroad in search of work. The same old tale of migration of talented and skilled people to the advanced economies in pursuit of a career or a job.
So, even if it has been a long time coming, yet the government's move to provide potential IT entrepreneurs or those already in business but facing liquidity crisis with the critical credit support is welcome. And as the adage goes, it is better late than never. It is believed that availability of this IT-focussed low interest credit facility for entrepreneurship development will help encourage others to join this fast-growing industry. In fact, the pandemic has forced many social activities and businesses to go online. Similarly, unable to go out of their homes for shopping, many during the lockdowns, in the urban areas in particular, had to look for the alternative online service providers; and they found it very efficient and advantageous. The phenomenal success of some of IT-based financial services during the last one decade and a half have created a congenial atmosphere for IT-based marketing, education, telemedicine, online office work and a whole host of other business ventures to flourish.
The speed at which the IT sector is expanding its horizon globally and the way it is taking control of every conceivable arena of human endeavour -- from manufacturing to agriculture to service to entertainment, like any other country on earth, Bangladesh cannot help jumping on the universal IT bandwagon, even if it wanted to. So, to keep pace with the world at large, we have to be IT savvy.
In this context, the government will be required to instruct the banks and other financial institutions to change some of their complicated procedures they follow and the outmoded conditions they impose on a prospective entrepreneur and which the latter is obliged to meet to qualify for a loan. One such condition is the collateral in the form of a landed or other form of asset that a borrower must mortgage out to the bank before s/he can get a loan. It may be recalled that such complicated banking procedures and conditions came in the way of a majority of the cottage, micro and small enterprises' accessing the stimulus funds that the government allocated for them from the disbursing banks. The same should not happen in the case of the financial assistance meant for the smaller IT entrepreneurs. Hopefully, the start-ups would get the money hassle-free.
sfalim.ds@gmail.com