‘ACCESS TO FINANCE IS STILL A MAJOR IMPEDIMENT TO DO ANY KIND OF BUSINESS IN BANGLADESH’ An animated interview with Shofiul Alam, founder and CEO of Belancer

1. here is a distinction of
being a pioneer that
Shofiul Alam, an
amiable individual in his
early 30’s, can always
attest to.
He is the founder and CEO of the first
online marketplace for freelancers in
Bangladesh. His initiative has
allowed thousands of freelancers
including designers, writers or IT
professionals the platform to work
and serve international clients with
expediency.
Shofiul wants skilled and talented
people from Bangladesh to play a
productive part in the 18 billion dollar
global freelancer market. To this end,
Belancer has been able to attained
considerable success within a
seemingly short period of time.
Fintech team recently went to his
office and had a candid conversation.
During the hour long session, the
young turk sheded light on various
issues like his online market place,
leadership of BASIS, problems IT
entrepreneurs face, venture capital in
Bangladesh as well as the IT export
target of 5 billion dollars. Here is an
excerpt from the conversation.
FINTECH: Can you tell us
something about your background?
I sat for my SSC examination from
Mymensingh Zila School in 1999 and
then completed HSC from
Mymensingh Cantonment Public
College. I graduated in computer
science from Daffodil International
University. Afterwards, I enrolled at
University of Dhaka for the MBA
program but had to drop out. In the
meanwhile I was doing jobs in
Bangladesh and abroad. I went to
Bahrain and worked there as a
business development professional.
I didn’t stay in Bahrain for a long
period. When I was there, I once
prepared a presentation for a Bahraini
company. Since the company was
working in the mobile financial
service sector and remittance, I tried
to convince them to invest in
Bangladesh. It was back in 2010, my
plan was to introduce automation in
country’s banks.
It was at that time when bKash was
about to launch and they formally
entered the market in 2011. The
Bahraini company agreed to come to
Bangladesh and they signed an
agreement with the Postal Service.
But unfortunately, the plan got caught
up in the bureaucratic tangle and the
venture wasn’t successful.
Then I was part of the first company
to introduce the e-traffic solution to
the Dhaka Metropolitan Police. I was
also involved with a business that
provided SMS and IVR services
working with Channel 24 and ATN
News. I also did a project with RPCF,
Remittances & Payments Challenges
Fund and used to write extensively
for financial services like Paypal.
Later I became the country head for
one of the public limited companies
based in Canada called First Global
Data. The company’s remittance
service is known as First Global
Money. We launched a trans-border
product of mobile remittance in
collaboration with Bangladesh
Commerce Bank. Our target was to
connect all the exchange houses in
Bangladesh, all 350 of them with all
the banks that operate in the country.
Our idea of was to assimilate the
remittance exchange houses with all
the financial institutions in order to
create a network. That network would
facilitate door step disbursement at
the end-point like bKash or some
other financial services. The venture
was partially successful.
So you can say it was quite a diverse
journey. I must admit that I am yet to
become an entrepreneur, and still
learning after eight years but I have
settled down with Belancer.
F: You have become a CEO at such
a tender age. How you have made
that possible?
There is a motivation to do something
in everyone, especially in someone
who wants to become an entrepreneur
after quitting a lucrative job. I
-Saqib Sarker
‘ACCESS TO FINANCE IS
STILL A MAJOR
IMPEDIMENT TO DO
ANY KIND OF BUSINESS
IN BANGLADESH’
An animated interview with Shofiul Alam,
founder and CEO of Belancer
T

2. consider myself as an entrepreneur
because I realize the hazards of taking
risks and the need of sustaining
through the struggling time. By
keeping all those in mind, I started
Belancer.
Belancer is the first online sourcing
marketplace and currently has 35,000
workers and 4,800 plus clients. It is
like a portal that connects employers
with professionals. Say you are good
in article writing and set up a profile
in Belancer. Now suppose I need a
writer and place an ad in Belancer for
hiring a writer. Your profile will pop
up in my window. I will place a bid to
hire you and if that matches your
price, you will get the job.
Belancer is a hundred percent
pre-fund system, and we provide the
escrow fund protection. When people
who are not known to each other want
to work in this field, there will always
be trust and professional issues to
deal with. A worker will not get paid
until the work is not properly
delivered to the client and the client is
satisfied with it. There is a rating and
review system in place that compels
everyone to be professional, the
worker as well as the client.
We have over 30 offices for Belancer
and over 7000 trainees have
completed our franchisee training
program. The training is designed for
the local context. For the freelancing
marketplace, we operate an offshore
office in USA from where we collect
all the work. Those who work get
paid through Paypal. So this is how
Belancer functions.
F:You have worked very closely
with BASIS. Do you think as an
organization, BASIS has been able
to show strong leadership?
The answer is quite complicated. As a
member of BASIS, I have an
understanding of the industry, the
objectives of BASIS, their manifesto
and what they intend to do. But I feel
that my personal vision is not really
aligned with the requirements of a
BASIS member. It could be that my
vision is not clear. Or BASIS’s vision
is not clear for the industry as a
whole. The first question I ask: can
BASIS solve my problem as a
business and trade association?
I have to put up with stiff and
sometimes unfair competition from
international players to get work in
large projects for software
development with government
agencies. I had a bitter experience to
deliver this asset management
software where I had to face
unrealistic demands from the client.
In the end it became nearly
impossible to meet their
requirements.
Since BASIS cannot even provide a
single representative for any
committee, for any software project
committee with the government, I
would say they have failed to show
leadership from their position. The
government is the biggest client, not
just in Bangladesh but all over the
world. When we are dealing with big
and powerful clients like the
government, BASIS can demonstrate
their leadership qualities by
bargaining for us.
The fact is, you can show the
leadership qualities when you think
something inclusive for the entire
industry, not when you exploit your
position for personal gain.
Unfortunately, the situation is like
this but I must thank you for raising
this critical question. BASIS has a
vital role to play in achieving that one
billion dollar target from software
export and in the process develop the
entire industry. But somehow BASIS
acts like a smart PR firm and is
engaged with event management.
Instead of seminars and workshops, I
need a level playing field to secure
work from the government. I need a
sound policy for the access to finance.
Access to finance is still a major
impediment to do any kind of
business in Bangladesh. The EF
meant for four to five years opened
couple of months ago and their
conditions are just like a simple loan
scheme. There is a huge lack of
investment in technology. As a
general member, I want BASIS to
change their focus from events and
workshops to properly contribute to
the industry.
F:What are the main problems that
IT entrepreneurs face?
There are many problems in
establishing an IT startup for an
aspiring entrepreneur in Bangladesh.
Idea is not the issue because you can
get many ideas from the open
information stream in this world now.
For the local IT entrepreneur, finding
a good co-founder and building up a
team is the main issue. The IT sector
is moving at a really quick pace and
you cannot afford to be slow. You
have to take decisions, develop and
adapt very quickly. But in comparison
THERE IS A MOTIVATION TO DO
SOMETHING IN EVERYONE, ESPECIALLY
FOR SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO BECOME
AN ENTREPRENEUR AFTER
RELINQUISHING A LUCRATIVE JOB.

3. with other traditional businesses, the
cost is very high.
We don’t have co-founder model yet
in Bangladesh. I can’t talk about other
industry types; but I can certainly tell
you for the IT industry why there are
not many successful companies. It is
because we do not have that trust, that
professionalism and the co-founder
model. You must have a co-founder
especially for a startup company.
Without one, you can grow to an
extent but not become really big. You
need a very good team if you want to
excel in the IT sector.
Secondly, there are two kinds of IT
business, product and service. For
service, there is limited scope if I
have to be honest with you. You can’t
become a huge company by just
developing websites. The reality in
2008 or 2010 is totally different to
what it is now in 2018. To develop a
website, you cannot charge a
customer more than hundred or fifty
dollars. People were laughing at that
time because you don’t even need to
pay for it. Sites like web.com have
thousands of templates, provide
domain and hosting support and you
only have to change you logo. I am
not talking about enterprise
webportal, because that’s a different
ball game.
The third problem deals with graphic
and multimedia. Most of the training
institutes of Bangladesh teach us
tools. Tools are like pen and paper. If
I want to become a poet, I should
have intellectual and emotional ability
to write something. But if you
provide a pen and paper and tell me
that I am a poet, just because I can
write something, it does not make me
a poet.
Just because you understand
Photoshop and Illustrator, you will
not become a graphic designer. You
have to nurture the creativity and
study the logic behind a design.
Learning some tools in five to seven
days will not really help you. For the
IT entrepreneurship in general, you
should have good resources, find a
niche and be an expert.
The fourth problem is access to
finance for the IT entrepreneurs.
Apart from Pathao, which is an
exceptional case, you will hardly see
any investment in IT startups
especially for the long-run. While our
neighboring country is receiving
billions of dollars of investment every
year, we are hardly getting 10, 20 or
50 million dollars. It is extremely low
and insignificant. The government
has created the startup ecosystem but
practically it is not that useful. They
are yet to start the venture capital
firm. From the user’s point of view,
our mindset is such that we are not
willing to pay for IT services.
F: Why hasn’t the venture capital
culture grown in Bangladesh?
We have not created the basic IT
platform, so it’s not surprising that
venture capital culture hasn’t grown
in Bangladesh. Take for instance, the
example of Paypal. You may ask why
Paypal doesn’t come to Bangladesh.
It is because we have very low card
penetration. In relation to the
population, the number of card users
is negligible. We need the
infrastructure first.
For venture capital, we need to create
an ecosystem. Certain initiatives
taken by the government simply
ignored the ground realities that exist.
For example the government has
invested 5 to 10 thousand crore to
create hi-tech parks in the entire
country but there are only a handful
of IT companies outside Dhaka.
There are thousands of companies in
Dhaka but the only hi-tech park in the
city can serve 15 companies at best.
We have built a large infrastructure in
Jessore but you can hardly find 10-12
entrepreneurs in that region. So the
infrastructure needed for Bangladesh
should permit thousands of
companies to work in a single
location, like the Silicon Valley or
Bangalore. The IT city can be built
anywhere but you need the
infrastructure first. Foreign investors
will be interested when they see 10 to
20 thousand people working in a
single location.
Most of our startup companies are
struggling to get even the basic funds.
They cannot even convince their
family to invest as the family
members don’t understand most of
the concepts. Without affluent
benefactors, many startups die in the
fetus. On top of that there is hardly
any research on the IT sector. You
will be frustrated if you search for
any IT content for Bangladesh on
Google. How many research papers
have actually been published by
BASIS and the ICT division? It is a
disappointment.
People talk big about five billion
dollars of export, creating two million
jobs but realistically speaking, there is
no proper road map. Workshops and
training sessions will not attract
YOU CAN SHOW THE LEADERSHIP
QUALITIES WHEN YOU THINK
SOMETHING INCLUSIVE FOR THE ENTIRE
INDUSTRY, NOT WHEN YOU EXPLOIT
YOUR POSITION FOR PERSONAL GAIN.

4. venture capital into the market. For this end, there is no
substitute for strong and effective leadership.
F: How do you think the five billion dollars of IT export
is achievable?
If you go to academia.edu, you’ll find that I wrote a small
research paper on how the five billion dollar target can be
achieved. Our government is very proactive and they are
determined to achieve that dream but somehow there is a
serious lack of our leadership. If we want to achieve that
five billion dollar target, then we have to start with “one
Bangladesh”, it means all the relevant associations have to
work together very closely.
We have to create a road map for 5 to 10 years then break
it down quarter wise. We must think about what
infrastructures and logistics we need, what would be the
capacity indicator and what are the realistic components
required to achieve that goal. We must be aware of the
challenges we will be facing and how to strategically
mitigate them.
Extensive research will be necessary. We are highly
depended on secondary data and we have very few
sources of primary data which we can take from the
market. In terms of infrastructure, we must have
uninterrupted internet availability in Bangladesh.
Thankfully, the government is seriously looking into this
matter. You have free unlimited package of internet in
India and similar facilities around the world as well.
Next you have to brand Bangladesh properly. Sri Lanka is
a small country but they have achieved one billion dollars
of export while we are struggling to reach that amount.
Do you know why? They are extremely proficient in back
office accounting management and accounting BPO.
Their population is around 1-2 crore people but they are
performing far better than us because they have focused in
building their brand. We are lagging behind countries like
Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and even Pakistan
because we don’t have a strong brand.
We are also not tapping into our resources properly. There
are thousands of madrasas in our country where the

5. students can speak Arabic. If we
provide IT training to these madrasa
students, they can serve the Middle
East market. The language barrier
does not exist for them yet we are not
doing anything about it.
India became an economic
powerhouse due to the contribution of
the non-resident Indians. The NRIs
could play a constructive role because
they were given opportunities and
lucrative jobs by the renowned
companies. We need our non-resident
Bangladeshis to play a similar role.
Has BASIS or ICT division taken any
step to attract the NRBs who are
working in USA and Europe? We are
not reaching out to those who hold
white collar jobs abroad. It will be a
win-win situation.
To achieve that export target, we need
to set up the national skill database. It
is very important to create a national
skill database and national capacity.
We have to engage local software
companies into government jobs, so
they can build a pool of resource. And
in terms of product dependency, we
have to target the low-skill jobs.
Soft-skill training is mandatory for us
since it hardly exists in Bangladesh.
We can’t even speak properly; we
don’t have the manners, the ideology
or the ethics.
Building language capacity is crucial
for us because we have to
communicate with foreign clients. We
have to learn English because there is
no other way. For countries like
Japan, China and Germany, they are
not depended on English since they
have raised their infrastructure to that
level. However for countries like
Bangladesh, India, Philippines,
Vietnam, and Nigeria the scenario is
such that they are highly depended on
the Western economy. Most of our
exports are to Europe and America.
Lastly, I would stress on the quality
of education. When I researched the
CSE syllabus of BUET, NSU, BRAC
and Daffodil University, I found they
were at least 20 years behind in
comparison with other countries.
What they are teaching them is
garbage and the institutions are
creating garbage for this country.
F: What is your opinion of Mobile
Financial Services (MFS) in our
country?
I don’t entirely support the idea that
bKash is an out-and-out mobile
financial service; they are a domestic
money transfer company. They
replaced SA Poribohon. Since there is
a market, they are focusing on
payment services, utility bills etc. But
there is this winner-takes-all tendency
in the market. I am afraid that bKash
could capture the whole market,
which is very risky.
F: What will be your advice to new
entrepreneurs?
There was a time when I was always
inspired by young people; I went to
thousands of workshops and seminars
in my life. Most of the time, I was
seriously inspired by people like
Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark
Zuckerburg. They have the same
access of knowledge like we do so
why can’t we make it happen?
Theoretically and logically speaking,
we have the same access to
information. If you take a close look
at the US and Bangladeshi cultures,
you will realize that education and
knowledge are not enough to become
a successful entrepreneur.
If you want to become an IT
entrepreneur in Bangladesh, I would
say you have to think twice, thrice or
ten times. Whereas there are huge
opportunities in other sectors since
the consumer market in Bangladesh is
constantly growing. My true advice
is: if you want start as an entrepreneur
in any sector, you have to understand
that business. I welcome all
entrepreneurs but they must not fall
into the trap of showing off. If you
want to show off, then you should
work on your mindset first. And
secondly you must find likeminded
people, not that they should be your
friend. It can be anyone from
anywhere but make sure they are
likeminded to work as partners.
Thirdly, you must be prepared to
struggle for at least three years and
you have to manage funds for one
year upfront to start any company.
You should have the full picture of
marketing. Marketing is the main
thing; you can sell anything by
marketing.
F: Lastly, where do you see your
company in the next five years?
Since we do not have any
competition yet, we are the only
company in Bangladesh, we are
competing with ourselves. Initially,
our plan was to bring millions of
freelancers but we realized we don’t
need that. If we can bring 100,000
active and talented people into our
marketplace, we will succeed. We
need as much clients as we can so
they can provide the jobs for the
freelancers. ■
WE ARE HIGHLY DEPENDED ON
SECONDARY DATA; WE HAVE VERY FEW
SOURCES OF PRIMARY DATA WHICH WE
CAN TAKE FROM THE MARKET.