Home ›› 27 Nov 2022 ›› Business Connect

‘Brain Station 23’ leading int’l software outsourcing market

Shamim Ahmed
27 Nov 2022 00:00:00 | Update: 28 Nov 2022 15:29:47
‘Brain Station 23’ leading int’l software outsourcing market

In the early years of 21st century foreign exchange earnings from software and IT-enabled services was not as much talked about as it is today. Very few Bangladeshis foresaw the future and knew about the software industry where a career or business can be built based on it.

An Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) graduate from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) dreamt of doing something great based on software and subsequently built a world-class technology outsourcing company in Bangladesh.

The man is none other than Raisul Kabir, Co-Founder and CEO of Bangladesh’s leading and most fascinating technology company ‘Brain Station 23’.

The man envisioned generating huge employment locally to prevent brain-draining of IT professionals and graduates as was done in India and thus contributing to the country’s economy by foreign exchange earnings.

Starting small with a four-person team in 2006, the company has expanded to over 25 markets globally over about the last one and a half decades on the back of an excellent talent pool through strategic partnerships.

It has employed over 700 local people with its IT ecosystem and has accomplished more than 2,000 national and international projects while prescribing flexible and unconventional work policies.

The company has more than 30 ISTQB-certified developers for quality assurance.

About the CEO and his IT training

Raisul Kabir was born and brought up at Mohakhali in 1983. His father hailing from Barishal had been involved in teaching in Dhaka.

Raisul got a first class with star marks in SSC from the Government Laboratory School in 1998 and passed his (HSC) from Notredame College in 2000.

Raisul was admitted to the EEE Department at BUET in 2000 thinking it an interesting subject. But he found his inner interest lay in computers.

“I had a friend Omar Al Zabir who used to do programming from class five. He did programming by writing on paper as he learned it from his friend’s computer. I felt interested in computer and have tried to learn about coding since then.”

He used to do a part-time job just before his admission into BUET. Zabir afterward launched a company named D-path at Dhanmondi where he worked for a while.

The first website was built named Bangladesh.net in 2000. “We were trying to develop another portal at D-path. All of them I learned from him without salary or any return.”

He then went on to work for a Japanese software company for a year for free. But he left after a year as his classes started after a session jam, he said.

Later, he joined another software company named Western Network for several months in website design.

In between, he got an offer from Sonar Courier to develop courier tracking software. This was his first paid work amounting to around Tk12, 000. He made it with ASP 3.0.

“Later, I continued working with Sonar Courier on a monthly salary basis. I built their website.”

In 2002, he started working for a company named ‘Paradigm’ at Maghbazar and built their website and their presentation.

He worked there in the revenue share model. Paradigm would design and he would build a website. He had a chance to work with the architect named Tanvir who was incredibly talented person and a graduate from BUET.

It was really exciting to work with Tanveer. He could design well. “I would give engineering solutions to his design. We together built Citycell website. There I, on average, would earn Tk20-30,000 per month.”

He bought a laptop and digital camera from the earnings at Paradigm in 2003. After working for about a year he was thinking of launching a company with the money he would get from Paradigm.

Then he started a company ‘Paradigm Neo Media’ with a partnership with ‘Paradigm’ in 2003. He had a 30 percent share and other two designers - Moin and Anwar - at Paradigm held 30 per cent and 40 per cent of the shares respectively.

As the company was not expanding he sold out the company. Then he started freelancing in 2005 being in his comfort zones working with PHP and Flash, website design and animation.

“I could work better with Flash and I utilized the maximum quality it can provide. Generally, computer science graduates would not want to code in flash. Very few people know it and love to work with it. I could do it very well having a blank field.”

At that time his position was 11th compared to India and in Bangladesh he was number one. The website exam shows the position.

He began to get huge work orders of Flash that he could earn 3000 dollar per month in 2005. Then he dreamt of establishing a full-fledged company.

Google advertisement which is now freelancer.com sought a freelancer. It offered work from home. He applied and got huge work orders.

From freelancer to CEO of largest tech company

During 2003-2004 Raisul Kabir started working to solve software-related problems like 3D visualization at Latitude 23, a renowned Dhaka-based architecture firm. The digit ‘23’ in the name of the company denotes the latitude of Bangladesh.

“I would take lesson during my student life from Golam Moinuddin Bhai who was the owner of Latitude 23. He taught me for three to four months during my HSC.”

He also gave his works and he did them. In 2003-2004 he then built their office management software for Latitude 23.

Then in 2005 Mohiuddin gave him a project from Canada for three months. He worked for a Canadian company with 10 people as a project manager while working for Latitude. After the work Latitude offered to launch another company named Brain Station 23.

“I agreed and in 2006 I along with three other people launched Brain Station 23. I had a 50 percent share of that company while the other three got another 50 percent.

A question was raised if an EEE graduate could go for computer-related freelancing jobs like software. “I did not know whether the software industry would flourish or not and what was happening worldwide,” he said.

He said he was confused about doing EEE-related jobs but his friend who had done programming since class five was his inspiration. He said he asked him to join his start-up Pageflakes.

“I would work both for Brain Station and Pageflakes. I drew salary from Pageflakes and work for Brain Station without any salary,” he said.

Infosys story inspires

India’s top software had a good humane story. They care about people. He said he wished his one were the one like that. If it can produce employment of 56, 000 people why can’t Brain Station provide employment for 5000 people in Bangladesh?

If it is done brain drain would not be a concern anymore. Meritorious students would stay here. For that vision to come true he hired more people.

“I would take only Tk10, 000 as salary. Whatever the company earned was reinvested in my company. I would bid against international platforms and companies with my own profile or my company,” he said confidently.

From the beginning, the key challenge was to hunt the top talent in the country. The majority of web designers and developers preferred moving abroad for better opportunities, he observed.

“Being an average man I went everywhere and I was fascinated by talented individuals, loved to be with them and worked with them what eventually drove me to where I am today, said curious Raisul.

It was possible as a software company needs not huge investment other than skill, he said.  

Turning point

When formed, the company initially focused on the international market and added the local market to its portfolio four years later to expand the market and work areas. But it was not being possible for Brain Station.

“At a time around 2010, I observed that the company was not growing that much. Most of the software entrepreneurs thought that India had done well and our possibility was not as much as that,” said Raisul.

Given the idea he started thinking otherwise and launched an e-commerce company named Biponi. They worked on the Facebook page and got orders from people.

Then in 2013, they launched a full-fledged e-commerce site. They invested Tk2-3 lakh but during 2015-2016 they observed that the e-commerce company required a huge investment which they couldn’t afford. They sold out the e-commerce site in 2015 but by the time they had had thorough knowledge thanks to working with portals.

Friendship a key to success

Raisul said it wasn’t he for who the company bounced back but it was his friend Mizanur Rahman from North South University. To him his friend had considerable expertise in IT-related issues. It was his friend who invented the first Bangla Type in Mobile and Bangla 3D mobile game.

The CEO said that it was a great privilege for Brain Station that Mizan could do many things as he was talented but being average he would do only one thing and that is Outsourcing.

So, Raisul offered to merge his company with Mizan's for partnership.

After Mizan came in 2014, the company began to rise by 30-40 percent every year after 2015-2016. He knew tech, sales opportunities and the global market very well. He always wanted a masterpiece and perfection that the global community expects.

An individual must have to have 360-degree knowledge and feeling what he perfectly possessed. Mizan was doing very well in this regard. He pushed for excellence, said Raisul.

In 2018, MJ Ferdous, another partner, joined Brain Station leaving his job at Microsoft. He used to work at Brain Station till 2013. He was brought in to grow in the domestic market. Local demand was also high.

He became the COO of Brain Station and also the shareholder. “We were incurring losses in the domestic market but we managed to gain profit and work with City Bank, AB Bank, UCB Bank, and Madhumati Bank.”

The entire work was going on from two towers. As the company started getting bigger, ‘we built 12 units headed by 12 individual heads and started reorganizing the company’.

They later launched an international process EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System). For that, they hired an expert from the Philippines.

He decided on organizational culture depicting a style. And every employee had to understand the culture. As this is not profit-oriented organization, it was run under five core values — Ownership, Agility & Excellence, Passion & Commitment, Team spirit and honesty. Decisions ranging from recruitment and ownership are made based on those values.

Its motto is always depending on sustainability rather than immediate profit.

Brain Station over the years has cultivated a distinct culture. People are empowered. There is a feeling in the company that ‘we are working towards a goal and let’s build the company’. The organization is horizontal, he said.

‘Brain Station 23’ has recently partnered with ‘Ernst & Young Global Limited’ to establish an international model, where the best 80 employees will receive a share of the company.

Brain Station 23 now

It currently has footprints in 25 markets including the US, Great Britain, Japan Canada, Caribbean countries, the Middle East and many more are being added to the list regularly.

It reached the number of 100 employees in 2015. Brain Station 23 has been one of the largest and fastest-growing employers of IT talents in Bangladesh, having the best talents in block chain, artificial intelligence, machine learning, reality technologies, BI solution, project management, software and other emerging technologies in Bangladesh.

The company has built partnerships with all major technology solution providers including AWS, Microsoft, Google Cloud Platform, Oracle, Adobe, Salesforce, Atlassian and nopCommerce, among others.

BASIS regarded it as the best outsourcing organization from 2013 to 2021. It received the Daily Star ICT Award – 2017 and won the Code Warrior Challenge Championship in 2014.

HSBC Bank ranked it as the top SME exporter in 2013. In 2019 it was the bronze winner in the Google Artificial Intelligence Competition (Kaggle).

Industry prospects and vision

The company has created a positive impact and become the fastest digital transformation and innovation partner by engaging global talents.

The outlook for the tech industry remains bright globally. The pandemic has accelerated the growth of the industry.

The country has both talent and a market. Accordingly, the Bangladesh Government has set an ambitious target of $5 billion in technology exports by 2025. ‘Brain Station 23’ seeks to take advantage of the momentum and orchestrate its next round of growth.

The software market both locally and globally is expanding. Employment is also growing. But with time, more complex software is coming in. “If we cannot remain dynamic and smart with time, the potential may remain untapped.”

Our local market has opportunities but local companies are reframing from spending much on their IT solutions.

Hence, ‘Brain Station 23’ has branches in different countries including Germany and Netherlands.

×