Bangladesh has amazing demographic on its side, but can the country’s largest industry, garment export, take advantage of it? Consider this: UN figures indicate that Bangladesh now sits on the brink of a major demographic window.
What does this mean? Well, it suggests that we have as a country a set of favourable age structures which historically are associated with an increase in the pace of economic development and a more stabilized economic and political future.
There is a strong link between demographics and economic growth, and Bangladesh is already an established member of the World Bank’s lower middle-income class. Some estimates suggest that by 2030, Bangladesh may even have a chance of reaching the bank’s upper middle-income class (roughly US$4,000 to $12,000 per capita annually).
Key to all this is our young demographic, and we need to harness this. Bangladesh has a median age of just 26 years old, an amazing demographic window which sees millions of our inhabitants at their prime working age. To offer some perspective, the median age in China is 37, across the whole of the European Union it is 43, and in the US it is 38.
In short, this is our time.
What this means is that many decades ahead may provide the opportunity for capacity building, economic growth, greater political stability, and even political liberalization. These are all huge positives which bode well for the broader economic outlook of Bangladesh.
Now let us consider our largest export industry, and the one which brings most economic value to Bangladesh -- ready-made garment industry. This is a highly labour-intensive industry with opportunities for work at a great many grades and disciplines.
A young graduate leaving university could forge an amazing career in this industry with the correct training, guidance, and industry mentoring. We need young people in this sector, as they are the captains of industry of tomorrow who will ensure Bangladesh RMG can continue to out-compete our key competitors such as Vietnam and Cambodia. Most importantly, this is a global industry where we are competing primarily against other countries -- it is our talent versus theirs. So we have to ensure we have the best.
Young people are vital to the RMG industry for many reasons. They provide energy, they are at their creative peak, they have new ideas and they offer different ways of thinking -- which is crucial if our industry is to think outside the box moving forwards, as surely it needs to. The RMG industry is changing fast, and young people are best placed to drive and be at the forefront of that change.
This is a young persons’ game. New technologies are increasingly being deployed in the RMG industry. For instance, we are seeing digitization providing stronger connectivity right through the textile value chain. Blockchain technology, meanwhile, is underpinning new, sustainable solutions while bolstering efforts towards transparency.
Who is best to work with these new technologies?
Of course, it is young people, for many of them entering the industry have known nothing else. Heard of the internet of things? You may or you may not have, depending on your age. Yet this connectivity mechanism is the norm for today’s youth, which is why they are so vital to the RMG industry which will be increasingly technology-dependent moving forwards. Industry 4.0 will be driven forward by the young, not the old.
All that said, our universities, as well as our manufacturers, have to play their part in training and educating the industrial leaders and managers of tomorrow. The good news is that there is work being done and there are promising signs. The Skills for Employment and Investment Program (SEIP) is taking a long-term and comprehensive approach to improving skills development in Bangladesh.
The program will contribute to the country’s economic growth by improving the skills level of a large number of the working population for priority industry sectors. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation is co-financing the program, which supports skills development from 2014 to 2024.
But this will not suffice. More programs are needed to boost graduate entry numbers and ensure that the teaching at our universities is more in tune with the requirements of the RMG industry.
That could be only possible by closer cooperation between business and academia.
Mostafiz Uddin is the Founder and CEO of Bangladesh Denim Expo and Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE). He can be reached at [email protected].
