Home ›› 26 Sep 2021 ›› Biztech
Back in 2006, Shohorab Ahmed Chowdhury co-founded a new company name ‘Synesis IT Ltd’. Now it is one of the leading information technology companies of Bangladesh, having a broad spectrum of service portfolio in the domain of IT consultancy, enterprise applications, software development, infrastructure management, IT-enabled services and outsourcing to help its clients worldwide. The Business Post’s Rifat Islam talked to the Managing Director and Co-Founder of Synesis IT Ltd for a glance at the current situation of the country’s IT industry
The Business Post: Who lit the spark that made you an IT and software businessman?
Shohorab Ahmed Chowdhury: Before the beginning of my entrepreneurship journey, I had an opportunity to work closely with some important government projects after my graduation from BUET. At that time, when a lot of friends were moving overseas in quest of better careers, I decided to contribute to the country in the field of ICT. I rendered some big projects especially in the field of education and health. I wanted to do something more but I couldn’t as I had less freedom.
It took 4/5 years to prepare myself and one day the dream came into reality. And two of my university fellows partnered together and started a start-up in 2006 dubbed as ‘Synesis IT Ltd’.
Through our noble journey, we rendered a lot of G2C projects that bagged a lot of national and international awards like WITSA, WSIS, ITU Telecom Award, Daily Star ICT Awards, BASIS National ICT Awards, and Digital Bangladesh Award 2020 etc.
TBP: Could you let us know about products and their usefulness?
Shohorab: We have rendered more than 150 national projects in the diverse field of public sectors that have been helping a lot to the common people. As we mostly work with the government, our products are Bangladeshi citizen-centric.
We segment our services into three groups: E-governance, E-health and Contact Center Solutions.
Our e-governance section mainly caters to the government of Bangladesh. We currently have 30+ projects running with the Bangladesh government. Projects like National Equipment Identification Register (NEIR), Online GD, PrisonLink, Central Biometric Verification Monitoring Platform (CBVMP), Ekpay, Ekdesh, eTIN, e-Stipend, GRP, MPO Automation are some of landmark projects in the governance sector.
Our eHealth sector is the best healthcare solution in Bangladesh right now. We provide comprehensive healthcare solutions through various platforms. Our flagship healthcare solution is Shastho Batayon 16263 of DGHS.
Through the centre, we have already served more than 1.5 crore people of Bangladesh during this pandemic. Our other mentionable projects are Mind Tale, Shukhi Poribar Call Centre of DGFP, Shena Shastho Sheba of Bangladesh Army, BSMMU telemedicine centre, Tottho Apa, Aponjon, Probash-Bondhu Call Centre etc.
We currently have various call centre solutions at our end. Call centres like an e-TIN call centre, Vokta Batayon, WASA helpline, NESCO helpline etc. are some of the mentionable call centre solutions.
Tenderbazar.com is also one of our core services that had been serving both procurement entities and bidders since 2011. It is a procurement hub of Bangladesh.
TBP : What was your initial capital and what is the current turnover and manpower?
Shohorab: It was in 2006 when we started our journey in collaboration with a US-based IT company. At that time our paid-up capital was Tk 1 crore. Now our turnover is around Tk 50 crore.
There are more than 500 professionals who are on our payroll.
TBP: What are the weaknesses and strengths of the software industry in Bangladesh?
Shohorab: I would say the lack of global trust in the ICT sector of Bangladesh is one of the current crises, calling for image advertising or institutional advertising campaigns. Many companies still use foreign products whereas some Bangladeshi IT companies are providing the same or better solutions.
But the good thing is dynamics of the country are changing. People are moving towards digitalisation and cashless transactions. This is the high time we made an impact on the lives of the people by equipping the country with IT solutions.
TBP: What are your tips for the new generation who are inspired to step into the IT and software sector?
Shohorab: Make sure you know what you are doing and how you are doing it. Read a lot of books on entrepreneurship, work hard, and most importantly know every bit of the technology. Proper knowledge and persistence may open up huge opportunities for the industry insiders.
TBP: What is the overall state of the software industry in the country?
Shohorab: We started our software industry when we had a ragtag and bobtail bunch of IT guys. People didn’t have much trust in our worth. Now it’s better than before. Our local experts have grown stronger to uplift the country technologically, leaving their footprint in both the national and international arenas.
TBP : Where do you want to take your company in a decade?
Shohorab: With the standardisation and upgradation, Synesis IT has proved its worth throughout the years, now we want to take our solutions to other developing countries. With a vision to uphold Bangladesh as a technologically advanced country, we are planning to contribute to our economy through increasing our foreign exchange reserve.
