BASIS honours top performers in ICT industry

Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services yesterday awarded 100 companies and individuals, in recognition of their outstanding performance in outsourcing of software and IT services.
“We believe this award will inspire existing entrepreneurs and professionals to excel in the field of outsourcing as well as encourage more people to join the ICT industry,” said AFM Fahim Mashroor, president of BASIS.
“IT and IT-enabled services can take the mantle from the garment sector as the country’s largest exporting sector. I hope the award encourages many to join the industry,” said Nazrul Islam Khan, ICT secretary.
The country will soon follow the lead of Philippines, where facilities exist right down to the union level to encourage outsourcing, he said.
The ICT secretary said his ministry is working to train young people for freelancing business, especially in the local level, and IT graduates for highly-skilled roles.
“I want to train up primary and secondary school and madrasa teachers for freelancing so that they can work at their leisure time and earn some money.”
Meanwhile, Russel T Ahmed, secretary general of BASIS, tipped IT and ITES exports to hit the $1 billion-mark before 2021, which stands at $100 million at present.
A total of 100 awards were handed out in four categories. In order to encourage more people from different social and economic background to get engaged in outsourcing, district-wise outsourcing award (one award for each of the 64 districts) was been introduced this year.
Also, to encourage female professionals and entrepreneurs in the outsourcing field, a special category for female freelancer has been introduced.
M Sabur Khan, president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, suggested the individual award winners to team up and form companies among themselves for greater profitability.

Source: The Daily Star