Exporting Bangladeshi talent

I have worked for over a decade as a regional business head of a global bank based in Singapore. From my experience, if you walk the floors of any global bank’s regional offices in Hong Kong or Singapore, you will find many staff from India, a few from Australia, but hardly any from Bangladesh.

India has a long tradition of exporting talent globally across industries, not just in banking. CEOs of some of the world’s top companies, including Google, YouTube, Microsoft and Novartis, are all of Indian origin. Indra Nooyi led PepsiCo globally and transformed the company. In banking, Vikram Pandit, who moved to the US from India at 16, led Citigroup as CEO during the global financial crisis. 

Former Pakistani prime minister Shaukat Aziz held a senior role with Citigroup in New York before returning home. The late Anshu Jain, a British-Indian, served as global co-CEO of Deutsche Bank.

Among the reasons for the limited global mobility of Bangladeshi talent, education is a primary factor. It would be an understatement to say our education system falls short compared with neighbouring countries. The written and spoken English of our graduates often lacks a strong command of vocabulary and grammar. This can undermine confidence when presenting key topics to international colleagues. Our business schools also do not emphasise essential skills such as storytelling or navigating corporate politics with skill.

Another factor is the limited culture of professionalism in workplaces. Many offices in Bangladesh operate informally, which can hinder professional development. Boundaries between personal and professional life are often blurred. Simple professional behaviours such as punctuality, completing meetings on time, and starting discussions with a clear agenda are sometimes neglected.

Along with developing professionalism, we have to focus on building the essential skills required to succeed in a global workplace. One such skill is the ability to write professional emails that clearly articulate key points, while also responding to messages on time and acting on them promptly. Navigating different cultures across Asia can be challenging, but it can be achieved by understanding and respecting the diverse cultural practices in the region.

Some meritorious students from Bangladesh go overseas for higher education, which opens a window of opportunity to find employment in those countries after graduation. This window, however, is narrowing in many countries as emerging nativism limits employment and immigration opportunities for foreigners. For top talent working in multinational companies and the banking sector in Bangladesh, the best chance for overseas mobility is to go abroad, leveraging their global networks. 

Bangladeshi leaders in these firms need to do much more than their counterparts in neighbouring countries to promote their best talent for overseas postings, whether on short-term or long-term assignments. This approach would allow Bangladesh to export its talent and broaden their exposure in the global marketplace. If these professionals choose to return after their overseas stint, they will bring back global best practices, enriching local workplaces through a reverse brain drain. Our country should be ready to welcome them.

The writer worked as a senior executive at global banks in Bangladesh and Singapore