Carpe diem!

Bangladesh right now has a large number of young, working-age population, filled with the energy to carry the country towards greatness. According to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) 2015-16 of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the youth labour force of the country aged 15 to 29 numbers at 20.8 million. The UNFPA states that young people aged 15 to 24 make up nearly 20% of the population. How should the country use this opportunity and utilize the youth to drive economic growth within the next couple of decades, before this demographic advantage wanes? Two of the best answers lie in skill development of and employment creation for the youth. It is challenging to create enough jobs, however, for the huge population (7^th most populous country in the world, averaging 1000 people per square kilometer, according to UNFP) in the aspiring middle income nation. The Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector has a potential solution to the conundrum. Talking to members of a national daily last year, eminent scholar Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), mentioned that ‘the SME sector has the highest opportunity to create employment’ in Bangladesh. However, he also mentioned the limited access of SMEs to the global market, and the need for technological support to enhance productivity. Over 90% of Bangladesh’s geographic area has 3G internet coverage, and according to BTRC, Bangladesh had 80.166 million internet subscribers at the end of November, 2017. 4G internet services are expected to be available during the first quarter of this year. SME owners can very well use this increasing access to high speed internet and maximize their chances of success by increasing their online presence, not only reaching more people with their products and services, but also by using the internet to enhance their knowledge and skills to sustain their businesses. The government’s initiatives to support the SME sector include the establishment of the SME Foundation. However, the government’s singular involvement is not enough, and contributions from the private sector are essential, too. This is where GBG (Google Business Group) comes in. Running in Bangladesh since 2012, the GBG program has been contributing to the growth of the SME sector in the country. “In Bangladesh, GBGs mainly focus on accelerating the growth of the SME sector by helping them to be more visible and effectively grow through technological opportunities,” says Khan Tanjeel Ahmed, Co-Manager at GBG Khulna Chapter and Co-Founder of Techsetra, a startup. Google Business Groups are independent, non-profit community-led groups who share knowledge about Google products and web technologies for local business success. Supported and recognized but not owned by Google, they are run by passionate business professionals and company owners. In Bangladesh, the program runs in three chapters: GBG Dhaka, GBG Khulna, and GBG Sonargaon. GBG in Bangladesh has two main focuses: Help currently running SMEs to grow, and motivate university-going students towards entrepreneurship. The campus representatives help the communities to get connected with the universities. Through various workshops, social gatherings, online hangouts, etc., the participants are taught about growth hacking (identifying most efficient ways to grow) and how to utilize both free and paid marketing services online for small businesses. “The main idea is to remove confusion, provide information and facilitate skill development of current and future entrepreneurs through knowledge sharing. Reaching out to SMEs and empowering them through knowledge and skills about the digital sphere dramatically enhances their chances of being successful for the long run, potentially contributing to further employment creation along with other significant value additions to the economy.” adds Tanjeel. Direct Fresh, a popular Bangladeshi online premium grocery store, which has its roots in the Google Business Groups, is an example of the success stories GBG has around the world. Last year, representatives from Bangladesh and other local chapters around the world were taken to the Global GBG Summit 2017 in Singapore. In the three-day event, the skills of the representatives were enhanced through a workshop and demonstrations of current tech trends. In addition, they were shown the remarkable success stories from around the world. “The experience was highly motivating for aspiring business enthusiasts like us. It helped us understand the significance of our work even better, and equipped us better to help the growth of small local businesses using digital technology,” says Tanjeel. Md. Tausif Rahman, who was closely associated with ScreenShot, a local startup, and is currently serving a managerial role in a reputed bank, understands the importance of digital technology as an accelerator of business growth. ‘We are operating in a rapidly digitizing economy and society. Large organizations are using digital technology and mediums to reach the maximum possible number of customers which is helping them to maximize revenues, hence growth. It is essential for small and medium enterprises and startups to stay on top of digital technology developments too so that they may be able to not only continuously improve their products and services, but also so that they may reach the maximum number of people with what they have to offer.’ Other prominent local chapters of Google Business Groups include Mumbai, Bangalore, Peshawar, Curitiba, São Paulo, Lagos and Mexico City. To know more about GBGs, visit https://developers.google.com/programs/gbg/, or the Facebook Pages/groups of the local chapters of GBGs (Dhaka, Sonargaon, and Khulna) in Bangladesh.