Bangladesh’s reputation as a freelancing powerhouse is on the line
Bangladesh has almost always been hailed as a top player in the global freelancing market, and rightfully so as evident from the numerous recognitions the country has earned over the years.
In 2017, according to a study by the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), Bangladesh ranked the second most popular country for supplying online labour. Forbes, in 2019, listed Bangladesh as one of the top 10 countries in the world in terms of income from freelancing.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Our ICT Division estimates the local freelancing sector to be worth nearly $1 billion. According to the "Digital Economy Report-2019" by UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Bangladesh is emerging as a significant player in the global freelancing market, with around 650,000 freelancers contributing over $100 million in annual foreign remittances. And just last year, Payoneer ranked Bangladesh eighth amongst the top 10 freelancing countries in the world.
All these data and statistics paint a very optimistic and inspiring picture of the country's freelancing scene. However, given the nature of this profession and the lucrative opportunities it provides, the freelance market is becoming saturated, which would have been somewhat manageable had we the right skills and mindset. Unfortunately, that is not the case. This situation, if it worsens, might slowly impact the country's reputation as a global freelancing powerhouse.
Let us start with the way freelancing is marketed to our common populace. Across Bangladesh, you will find numerous organisations offering skill development and freelancing training. For a certain fee, these organisations promise to turn you into freelancing experts. And to lure you into joining these institutions as students or trainees, they will tell you about the two most lucrative aspects of freelancing—earning from the comfort of your home and earning in foreign currencies.
Every now and then, you will see news articles or social media posts about young men and women from far-flung regions of Bangladesh making four or five times more money than the country's average monthly income through freelancing. These stories are packaged and fed to aspiring freelancers to "motivate" them. This, coupled with the fact that Bangladesh still has an unemployment problem, makes for a very convincing case in support of freelancing to those looking for job opportunities.
To add to that, our inflation woes continue to devalue the taka. Thus, through freelancing, if one can earn in dollars or any other foreign currency, Bangladesh's inflation woes should not be a concern for them, at least for the time being.
These details, when presented or marketed to people looking to try freelancing, are more than enough to convince them. But it does not paint a full picture.
Now we come to the second and arguably the most important issue with our online labour force—skill gap.
Globally, the freelancing market is very competitive, and entering this market or profession without the necessary skills can end your freelancing journey before it even begins. All these organisations that train freelancers will tell you the same. However, between the idea that freelancing is easy money and the fact that people can earn in foreign currencies, the thought of honing one's skills gets lost. As a result, many end up starting their freelancing journey with little to no expertise.
Having attended such freelancing training myself, I witnessed this first-hand. The institution I went to was clear about the fact that a lack of skills can jeopardise any prospects of landing or retaining clients. Unfortunately, within the first few weeks of the training, many trainees dropped out. For them, working on specific skills, that too for at least four or five months, was not part of the freelancing plan. This would not have been that big of an issue had these dropouts stopped there. Instead, many of them went on to open up accounts on freelance marketplaces like Fiverr and UpWork and began offering services in areas they had little to no knowledge of. This, in turn, branches into another problem, one that has the potential to impact the entire Bangladeshi freelance sector.
As an unskilled workforce enters these freelance marketplaces, they struggle to meet client demands. That, in turn, results in clients complaining to the marketplaces about the lack of professionalism, improper communication, and an overall unpleasant experience when working with these unskilled freelancers.
The freelance marketplaces take these complaints very seriously, so much so that they do not hesitate to limit the number of new freelancer accounts from countries whose sellers or freelancers have a bad reputation amongst clients or buyers. That means even if a skilled freelancer were to try their luck on one of these marketplaces they cannot, simply because their country people have garnered a bad reputation over there.
During the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, that is sometime between late 2020 and early 2021, the number of new freelancers on platforms like Fiverr and UpWork shot up. With the pandemic limiting the earning capacity of millions across the world, many people turned to freelancing as a means to earn a living. Many in Bangladesh did the same, but again, there was an influx of unskilled freelancers from this country. In many freelancing forums, it was discussed that UpWork may have been limiting the acceptance of new Bangladeshi accounts for a few weeks during this time. Indian and Pakistani users also reported facing similar restrictions.
Having said all that, it is clear that our local freelancing industry needs a change, but how can this change be introduced? The government is taking the initiative of training freelancers across the country, but they cannot regulate freelancing. In fact, they should not be regulating freelancing, which is a form of self-employment.
Then should skill development institutions change their approach in training freelancers? To some extent, they can. But even they have a very limited grasp over who hones their skills before entering the market and who does not.
Therefore, the only ones who can save our local freelancing industry are our freelancers. Before entering the market, they need to be skilled, have a decent portfolio of their previous projects or samples, and learn how to communicate clearly with foreign clients. It is a mammoth undertaking for many, but if they want to make a living from their freelancing careers, they must do all these things.
Faisal Bin Iqbal is the In-Charge of Campus, Rising Stars, and Star Youth
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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