Home ›› 03 Sep 2021 ›› Opinion
Last year just before the pandemic started, good news like freelancers will be eligible for 10 per cent cash incentive from the government was widely reported by different media outlets. Nevertheless, after more than a year that plan is yet to be implemented. Many freelancers are facing various types of problems when they go to withdraw their hard-earned money from the banks. However, against all odds the freelancing sector is growing gradually.
Nowadays freelancing has turned out to be a respectable source of income for many youths and even middle-aged people. Through freelancing they are earning foreign currency for the country but despite that they are not receiving the public acknowledgement that they deserve. Even today whenever people talk about freelancing, many think freelancing is solitarily allied with creating software and coding. The reality is freelancing allows people to work in different sectors and interestingly these sectors have different segments.
According to Dr Tanjiba Rahman, Chairman of Bangladesh Freelancer Development Society: ‘’Due to the pandemic some activities regarding freelancing came to a stand-still. For example, we were working to make sure the freelancers start receiving 10 per cent cash incentive, which should have been ensured by March 2020 last year. Regardless of the setback, we are making a strong come back.”
“Nevertheless, the good news is that at the moment SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for the payment of the cash incentives has been sent to the Finance Ministry. We are hopeful that by September we will get the clearance that we are looking for. And then the freelancers will start receiving the 10 per cent cash incentive that they so rightly deserve. During this Covid-19, we can see that there has been a rise in the demand especially from the EU and USA based clients. Accounting, mobile games, customers service and content writing freelancing work witnessed a huge demand. The app Freelancer ID has been successfully launched and already more than 1 lakh freelancers have subscribed to that app. This app is available in the Appstore. The basic purpose of this app is to collect all the data of the freelancers which will eventually help to make the process of collecting the 10 per cent incentive easier.”
“At the moment we have 2.5 lakh skilled freelancers, we are working to increase this number. There are more 5.5 lakh active freelancers in our country. By 2022 we want to transform 50,000 freelancers from basic level to advance level. To understand our lackings in this sector we have to look at our education system. Our education has less global adaptability. Now we need more campaigns to promote freelancing. It will be unwise to start them from the school level. We should focus on the university students who will develop a quick taste for easy freelancing work like content writing and customer services. Through freelancing, we will be able to engage people who normally remain outside the workforce. For example, the people with physical disabilities and madrasa students.” She added.
While doing a story about a decade ago, this writer interviewed the then Head of BACCO, Bangladesh Association of Call Center and outsourcing. From him this writer learned that only from the USA more than 10 trillion USD worth of freelancing work available. Naturally, it can be assumed that today that market has only expanded. The presently available data also point to that direction. However, we were in the second position in terms of countries in freelancing and ten years down the line we are still holding the second position. It should be mentioned that a lot of developments have taken place in this sector. Some steps like preparing for cash incentives, training opportunities from the government and the private bodies working in the field deserve credit. The organisations and associations working with freelancing are more active than before, which has encouraged the youth to try their career in freelancing. Today there is a huge competition in the job market, as everyone cannot find a job of their dream. That is why the popularity of freelancing has grown significantly. Today many youths can create jobs not only for themselves but for others as well. During the pandemic, although many sectors experienced slow or no growth, some segments of the freelancing sector witnessed the complete opposite. At present, there are nearly a million freelancers in Bangladesh. There are very promising figures for the freelancing industry. That been said we need a proper system that will allow upgrading the skills level of the freelancers.
Through freelancing, we can earn foreign currency. Many do not understand but that is a big achievement for our country, where to earn foreign currency we have to export different comedies and that requires a good amount of investment and manpower. From that perspective, freelancing requires less investment and work power and it allows us to earn a handsome amount of foreign revenue.
Now some factors authorities concerned must pay attention to if they want the freelancing industry to grow and become the number one freelancing country in the world. For example, good internet speed, social recognition from the political figures and the common mass, investment, the opening of more professional institutions in this field, free skill building courses etc. If one analyses why India is able to continue to be a leader in this sector and why we cannot beat them, the above-mentioned issues come to play. It is a wrong idea that Bangladeshi freelancers are not that skilled or capable enough compared to Indians or freelancers from other counties.
Of course, there is always scope for more improvements, the real issue is Indian freelancers have better facilities so naturally they have more freelancers. For example, for one video editing work, Hira used to charge 25USD depending on the length and quality of the video, now some Indian freelancers would charge less than 22USD for that same kind of service. They are getting the work because they are more in numbers and they are better than us in terms of communication.
We need better establishments which will directly work with building freelancing skills set. The global digital economy has huge potential, we just have to be more professional and skilled to capture more market space in this industry. The bottom line is with proper motivation and facilities we should be able to do much better in this field.
The writer is Editorial Assistant of The Business Post
