Bangladesh teens spur Outsourcing business

Like many teenagers, Abdullah Al Zahid spends most of his time holed up in his bedroom in his family's modest Dhaka apartment glued to his computer. But Zahid, 16, is not checking Facebook or chatting to friends - he's working as a freelance web developer, part of a new wave of young, tech-savvy Bangladeshis who are transforming their country's nascent outsourcing sector. 

"There is so much demand for outsourcing, I am struggling to cope. I have to turn down many, many job offers," said Zahid, who earns around $1,000 a month from several outsourcing contracts and is his family's main breadwinner. "Many of my friends are interested in this work. I hope to set up my own office one day and hire other people like me to do more out-sourcing," said Zahid, who is still at school and wants to go on to university. The Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) estimates there are some 15,000 freelancers like Zahid in Bangladesh doing outsourced work for technology companies from across the globe. The country also has some 500 registered IT outsourcing companies which collectively employ an additional 20,000 workers. Compared to neighboring India , which accounts for around 55% of the $3.4 trillion global market and employs 2.54 million people directly in the sector, Bangladesh is an outsourcing minnow. But as outsourcing costs rise in other countries like India, China and the Philippines , impoverished Bangladesh, currently better known for cheap garment exports for top Western brands, may be able to cash in. "New companies are approaching with new orders now and that's what we need to boost the industry as global IT spending is expected to rise," BASIS president Mahboob Zaman said. "We are just getting entry into the global industry," he said adding that Bangladesh's low cost labor pool is aan advantage.