Bangladesh tech firms eye Chinese funding, expertise for future growth

DHAKA - Bangladeshi technology firms, which are facing challenges in accessing funding to upgrade their technologies, are now looking towards China to boost their future productivity and competitiveness.

Young but promising Bangladeshi IT entrepreneurs have said they are keenly interested to team up with Chinese companies.

Shameem Ahsan, chairman of e-Generation, told Xinhua recently that in the technology sector, China and Chinese companies are now leading globally.

"Bangladeshi companies and the government are very keen to access services from Chinese companies. Now, such Chinese companies are competing at the highest global level," he said.

"The technological solutions that Chinese companies can provide to Bangladeshi firms will not only help the local industry grow, but will also benefit the global IT market as well."

Ahsan, former president of the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), the largest IT association of Bangladesh, also said that in terms of cost attractiveness, Bangladesh is the second best IT destination in the world.

"At the same time, there are huge opportunities to build new infrastructure. There is a huge population and they have increasing purchasing power. Therefore, the infrastructure needs to continually evolve to meet demands."

"And, of course, there is great friendship between Bangladesh and China."

Ahsan said more investors from China can invest and create new and dynamic opportunities in Bangladesh.

Chinese companies like Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent are coming to Bangladesh, he added.

"We are focusing on artificial intelligence, data size and cyber-security to help the government to realize their vision of a digital Bangladesh. And we are partnering with Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE to make this happen."

"We also welcome other Chinese companies to partner with firms like e-generation to tap the multi-billion-U.S. dollar funds, which the Chinese and Bangladeshi governments pledged together to develop digital Bangladesh," said Ahsan.

Another promising young IT entrepreneur Mushfiqur Rahman, the co-founder & Chief Operating Officer of ISAS Consultancy Services, said they provide security and risk assessment services to their clients, which are mostly banks, financial institutions and manufacturing companies in Bangladesh.

"To enhance our business as well as to enhance the governance environment of Bangladesh's IT sector, we need more technological partnership with China as well as financial support," he said.

"Currently our government and universities are producing a lot of management-level people for the IT industry as well as technical people with specific technological capabilities when it comes to working on networking systems, data base administration and software development," Rahman added.

He said Bangladesh now has a number of low cost software developers as well.

"We are also looking for Chinese appliances and solutions, Chinese network devices, core banking system devises, software as well as Chinese solutions for ATM machines and online banking."

"These kinds of technologies will help to develop our banking system as well as to provide better services to our clients," said Rahman.

Chinese companies and Bangladeshi companies can form joint ventures and promote their products like the United States, Britain and Russia, Rahman believed.

"We welcome Chinese companies entering the Bangladeshi market," he added.

Like Rahman, ANM Shakawath Hossain, Director of ASPIRE Technologies & Solution, is also looking towards China for further growth.

"To help this business evolve, we are looking for technological solutions and financial help from China."

He said if they were to receive the solutions and finance from China they could grow and provide bigger and better services in Bangladesh and other countries.

"We can exchange our expertise with Chinese people. China is a huge market and it has the latest technologies. I think it will be helpful for both our countries," Hossain said.