Bangladesh teeming with IT potentials

Syed Mamnun Quader started his 13-year-long banking career in 1983. During this time, he worked for Banque Nationale de Paris PLC in London, Banque Paribas in London and Investcorp Bank EC in Bahrain. His real-time experience with technology eventually led to formation of a company titled ‘Southtech Limited’ in 1996 in Bangladesh.

The Business Post interviewed Syed Mamnun Quader, a founding member and a former Senior Vice President of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) and the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Southtech Group.

The Business Post: What sparked your imagination to initiate businesses in the IT and software sector?

Syed Mamnun Quader: When I was 14, I found that I could buy cricket balls from a shop at a certain price and sell them at a higher price to a local cricket club. I was making almost 50 per cent profit but this business did not go very far when my father came to discover my business.  He thought that business would distract me from my studies and doing business was “for those who did not manage to get a job!” 

I, therefore, had to concentrate on my studies up to my master’s degree from a British business school. 

Soon after graduation, I tried again to start a business with a classmate in the UK. However, neither of us had that much capital. So, we ran to Barclays bank with a well-prepared business plan and asked the branch manager to help us start an export-import business involving back-to-back LCs.

He refused outright but suggested that as I was of Bangladeshi origin, he would finance us only if we started an Indian tandoori restaurant! For me, that was not possible because selling alcoholic beverages along with the food was not how I wanted to earn my living.

As my patience was running out and pressure from the family was piling up, the next best thing I could do was to look for a job. I joined a bank in the UK as a trainee officer and soon I was travelling to many parts of the UK. I worked for a couple of large multinational banks later that allowed me to understand many aspects of retail, corporate and investment banking along with the technology needed to function efficiently. For my first degree, I had to study a large number of technology subjects and thus became tech-savvy naturally.

After working in the banking industry for just over 13 years and making several trips to India on behalf of my employer, I thought the technology business was a great idea.  

In the meantime, I amassed sufficient funds to try again even though it was risky because by then I had a family with two young children.  

TBP: Could you please tell us about your products and their usefulness?

Syed Mamnun: We have been in business for the last 25 years as a software house and a large-scale system integrator.

We also have a wing that deals with building data centres, LAN and WAN with advanced security systems. 

We have several primary software products but at the same time, we also provide customised solutions to meet the existing needs of medium-to-large clients.

Our main software products are a core banking solution called Ascend Financials. We have also partnered up with several foreign solution providers in the areas of healthcare and insurance where they have world-class offerings.  

TBP: With how much capital did you start your business?

Syed Mamnun: I pumped a little over $200,000 into business but not all of it was used as capital. This was an amount that was to take care of the business as well as my family.  My eldest brother allowed his one-storied house in Uttara to house our first office. 

Soon after, however, I sold an apartment in the UK for 130,000 pound and invested in the business. 

TBP: How many people currently work in your company?

Syed Mamnun: Currently, we have more than 140 full-time employees; however, from time to time we also partnered up with other companies and jointly delivered large projects where the workforce reached over 250. 

TBP: What are the problems and potentials of the software industry in Bangladesh?

Syed Mamnun: Firstly, there are opportunities to improve our education system.  A tech-focussed education will allow Bangladesh to be more competitive both in the local as well as in the international market. 

Secondly, our legal system could be improved so that parties to a contract could be given judgement expeditiously without incurring any extraordinary cost and delay. 

Thirdly, although our current government and private sector have done a wonderful job in spreading the reach of the internet, it needs to be made more reliable and fault-tolerant if we are to harness the power of our human resources from all corners of the country. This is especially felt during this pandemic period.

Despite many obstacles, great initiatives are being taken to digitise government offices up and down the country and to train young men and women for ICT related work.  I expect that the face of Bangladesh will change for the better in the next five years if we continue with this momentum.

TBP: What is your advice for the new generation software entrepreneurs?

Syed Mamnun: If you wish to be an entrepreneur, follow your passion to do anything that will be good for the world. 

If the business plan with a good financial framework is executed properly, you are most likely going to succeed. So long as the service or product you sell is competitive, money will come along.  

If you wish to work in the ICT industry, be prepared for a life-long learning and working in teams.       

TBP: What is the overall state of the software industry in the country?

Syed Mamnun: I have seen tremendous growth in the ICT industry and the overall economy of Bangladesh in the last 25 years. We are progressing fast and I truly believe that the new generation is a lot smarter and faster than my generation. 

TBP: How are you preparing to compete in the market in the next 10 years?

Syed Mamnun: In the next 10 years, I only see an accelerating growth of the ICT industry spurring greater economic activity. Ten years is a long time in the field of ICT as things move very fast here. With faster globalisation and the use of cloud computing, competition is intense. We are shifting everything to the cloud. These technologies are allowing us to make better value-for-money propositions for our clients. We also intend to delve into robotics.