Opportunities, Challenges, and Prospects for Bangladeshi Freelancers

Opportunities, Challenges, and Prospects for Bangladeshi Freelancers

Jatish Chandra Biswas

 Introduction

Freelancing is popular around the globe, but its opportunities are not uniform for everyone. People from developing countries face multiple challenges like language barriers and lack of infrastructure among many others. Nonetheless, some opportunities set them apart from their developed counterparts. This post will explore the scope, prospects, and problems of freelancing in Bangladesh compared to other countries.

Global Scenarios of Freelances

Globally about 1570 million people are involved with freelancing. In general, the highest number of freelancers were from the USA (76.4 million), followed by Russia (18 million), India (15 million), Australia (4 million), and Japan (3.4 million). Among 23 countries, 1 £ 2 million freelancers per country belong to Bangladesh, Brazil, France, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Spain. On the other hand, 2-2.5 million freelancers per country belong to Canada, China, and Germany. Considering the continental scenarios, the highest number of freelancers belong to the USA (76.4 million), followed by Europe (13.5 million), Asia (11.0 million), and the least in Africa (1.4 million) continent (Fig. 1). Based on annual per capita income, freelancers from America earn the most ($16623) followed by Oceania ($4529), Europe ($3778) and in other continents, it was $2642-2882 (Fig. 2).

Freelancers in South Asia and Their Contribution

Among the eight South Asian countries, freelancing-related data were found for five countries. India is playing a dominant role either in the number of freelancers (~15 million) or in contributing to the national GDP ($49.4 billion/year). The position of Pakistan is second followed by Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, respectively in terms of the number of freelancers and almost similar contribution towards GDP.

Challenges and Problems

Despite the opportunities offered by freelancing, developing countries including Bangladesh face several challenges and thus make it difficult for individuals to succeed. Among many problems, irregular and late payments, excess taxation, lack of knowledge on GST, inability to establish a brand, and absence of seamless digital payments are important. A few examples are provided herewith Bangladesh situations:

Limited access to infrastructure: In many developing countries, infrastructure is limited or unreliable. This can make it difficult for freelancers to access reliable internet connectivity, electricity, or other essential resources. Although there are quite a good number of freelancing training institutes available in Bangladesh (Table 1), most of them are in Dhaka and many of them are not fully equipped with skilled manpower. Moreover, internet connectivity, speed, and availability of electricity greatly impair online activities in Bangladesh and many other developing countries.

Table 1. Freelancing Training Centers and vocational training institute in Bangladesh

Limited understanding of freelance opportunities: In Bangladesh, many young educated people are unaware of freelancing opportunities and thus unable to earn from the global market. Their parents also laugh at the people who try to advocate freelancing jobs from home, especially at the grassroots level. This scenario is most common in many developing countries. Many, if not all, don’t know how to access freelancing job opportunities thus making it difficult for individuals to find work or market themselves effectively.

Limited language proficiency: There are multi-lingual people in developing countries, but English is not widely spoken or understood. In Bangladesh, English proficiency score is 504 and is termed moderate (See https://www.ef.com/saen/epi for details). However, at individual levels, the scenario is not praiseworthy. Many undergraduate, graduate, and even master's degree holders can’t express themselves for five minutes only. English proficiency scores were almost similar for India (504) and Nepal (507), although slightly better than Afghanistan (456), Sri Lanka (491), and Pakistan (497). This makes it difficult for freelancers to communicate with clients or market themselves effectively compared to very high or high English-speaking counterparts in the global market.

Limited financial resources: Freelancers in developing countries may not have the financial resources to invest in marketing, business development, or other essential activities that can help them succeed. Nowadays, most freelancing markets charge either for account verification or application in client hunting. Besides, learning a specific freelancing skill is also costly especially if a learner wants to choose a quality learning platform.

Limited social support networks: Freelancing can be isolating, and individuals in developing countries may not have access to social support networks to help them navigate freelancing challenges. In Bangladesh, not many people are connected to internet facilities. For example, about 37% of people in Bangladesh use the Internet. Although different social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Behance, Reddit, Dribble, Tumblr, and Vimeo are popular, many of us are unaware of the uses of these social media for freelancing.

Scope and Prospects

Freelancing in developing countries including Bangladesh offers a range of benefits that can be transformative for individuals and communities. Examples are as follows:

Increased income and economic empowerment: Freelancing can provide a higher income than traditional employment. In Bangladesh, about 1 million people are engaged in freelancing. There is scope to increase freelancers’ numbers if young generations are trained properly. From the literature, it was found that about 1.74 and 0.69 million students failed to complete secondary and higher secondary education in 2021. Almost similar patterns happen each year. So, if these young kids can be trained with globally demanding freelancing skills, they will be assets for the nation.

Flexibility and autonomy: Freelancing offers the flexibility to work on one's schedule, which can be particularly appealing in Bangladesh where traditional employment doesn’t provide the same level of flexibility. Besides, Unemployment is a big issue not only in Bangladesh but also in many developing countries. About 54.22 million people belong to the 20-39 age group. Considering unemployment rates of about 5% (https://www.macrotrends.net), an estimated 2.711 million people are jobless in Bangladesh. They are the burden of the family and ultimately for society. If they are trained with freelancing skills, they will be economically solvent.

Access to global markets and clients: Freelancing platforms and online marketplaces provide individuals from developing countries to sell service(s) in the world markets. Freelancers from Bangladesh are also engaged and earning from different freelancing platforms. However, their contribution is less than that of freelancers from developed countries like America, mostly because of inadequate freelancing skills and English language barrier. Language is a great barrier for Bangladeshi freelancers even though the national English proficiency score is moderate (504). They have to compete with very high and high English-proficient freelancers around the globe (See https://www.ef.com/saen/epi for details). Such situations need to be improved through extensive and intensive training.

Development of New Skills and Expertise: Freelancing requires up-to-date skills and expertise to remain competitive. This can lead to personal and professional growth and increased earning potential. Nowadays, the demand for public relations managers, media buyers, Cyber security developers, financial consultants, blockchain developers, and business consultants are high-paid freelancers (Fig. 3). Unfortunately, only a few of these demanding courses are included in different IT training centers in Bangladesh (See Table 3 for details). Establishing government-funded IT institutes and furnishing them with adequate infrastructures and trained manpower in 64 districts can play a vital role.

                        Fig. 3. Cost of high demanding skills

                        Source: https://www.upwork.com (Upwork 2024)

Efficient Use of Social Media Features

Learning new skills is not enough to be a successful freelancer. It requires utilizing different features offered by popular social media platforms to establish oneself as a brand for marketing purposes.

Conclusion

Freelancing in Bangladesh can play an important role in minimizing unemployment and earning from global markets. However, there are multiple challenges like inadequate infrastructure and trained manpower, lack of awareness about freelancing, poor English language proficiency, and lack of easy money transfer in achieving such targets. Policymakers, entrepreneurs, and international donors can play a critical role in supporting freelances in Bangladesh by:

·       Providing access to infrastructure and resources

o   Establishment of quality IT institutes

o   Establishment of vocational training institutes

o   High salary for quality teachers/demonstrators

·       Promoting awareness of freelancing opportunities at grassroots levels

·       Improvement in English language proficiency

·       Developing communication skills

·       Providing financial support

·       Tax-free easy money transfer for freelancers

·       Building social support networks