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CREATING SUSTAINABLE EXPORTER

COMPETITIVENESS IN THE IT & ITES

SECTOR IN BANGLADESHNetherlands Trust Fund II

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Creating Sustainable Exporter Competitiveness in the

IT & ITES Sector in Bangladesh 

Funded by the Dutch Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI) in the

framework of the Netherlands Trust Fund II (NTF II), the project focuses on the enhancement of the

Bangladeshi IT & ITES sector’s brand and marketing capacities. It also aims to establish market

linkages with targeted European countries.

Establishing business links with potential European clients in selected

markets and segments, to the benefit of Bangladeshi IT & ITES companies

40 Bangladeshi companies, which are already exporting or have the potential to do so, are

benefiting from the project’s business-linkage activities in Denmark, the Netherlands and United-

Kingdom. These companies have been assessed by European business-linkage experts, who are also

coaching them on export marketing.Vendor profiles have been established in coordination with the experts and partner trade support

institutions (TSI) in Europe. They are gathered in a catalog and an online directory, which are both

used to market the IT & ITES offering of Bangladesh in the target markets. Yearly matchmaking

events are organized in Europe, as well as in Dhaka during the SOFTEXPO trade fair.

Strengthening the competencies of BASIS and DCCI in order to identify,

target and enter EU markets for outsourcing services

Partner TSIs Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) and Dhaka

Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) are being supported to set up a commercial service of 

business linkage to the benefit of Bangladeshi businesses. More specifically, related competencies of the partner TSIs are being strengthened through the following activities:

  Engaging Business-linkage experts and partner TSIs in Denmark, Netherlands and UK to

coach TSI staff in replicating their methodology

  Undertaking yearly demand-side studies (Target Market Overview looking at relevant

segments and Marketing Plan) and transferring methodology to partner TSIs

  Building strong links between partner TSIs and TSIs in target markets

Enhancing branding capacity of BASIS and DCCI to improve Bangladesh’s

country image

IT & ITES industry branding activities have been so far limited, with BASIS undertaking a small-scale

launch of the BangladeshNEXT brand in October 2010. The TSI also organizes the SOFTEXPO fair on

an annual basis for the promotion and branding of Bangladesh, with few foreign delegations visiting

the event. DCCI is also involved in country branding activities and has shown a renewed interest in

promoting the IT & ITES sector by designating a Director in charge of the industry.

NTF II Bangladesh is supporting these efforts by backing up the business-linkage with PR activities

and mobilizing industry analysts (AT Kearney, McKinsey, Everest Research…), together with the

active support of the project partners.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Lilia Naas NFT II Programme Manager, naas@intracen.org 

Martin Labbé, NTF II Bangladesh Project Manager, labbe@intracen.org