Driving sustainable growth in Bangladesh's garment sector through local service providers

The RMG sector remains one of the most significant sectors in the economy of Bangladesh, employing millions and contributing substantially to GDP. Industry leaders have been increasingly aware of the need for improvement in workforce skills, productivity, and inclusion, particularly at the entry and semiskilled levels. This realisation has driven collaboration with international agencies, local consultancy firms, and garment factories themselves to explore customised training programs that address the same with sustainability.

Historically, factories in Bangladesh have depended on international consultancy firms to deliver customised, workplace-based training programs, which, although effective, came at a high operational cost. The high cost of training services has often deterred smaller factories from providing training to upskill their workforce. One might ask, if there is demand for such services, why haven't local firms ramped up efforts to offer them? The answer lies in the significant risk and investment required to launch such services, which many local consultancy firms lack the capacity to undertake. To address this challenge, the Building Youth Employability Through Skills (BYETS) project by Swisscontact began collaborating with local consultancy firms, first by building their capacity to deliver high-quality training and sharing financial risk as they reach out to various factories to market their services. 

The initiative has a twofold objective: first, to foster an environment where local firms can build stronger reputations, networks, and service sales with factories; and second, to increase factories' awareness of the service packages offered by local providers, ultimately reducing the industry's reliance on foreign consultants and lowering operational costs. Local consultancies are also seeing their business expand dramatically through these programmes, earning the trust of factories and building networks that facilitate further development opportunities. 

Jamshed Al Zubaidi, Project Manager at Triangulum, a local firm that partnered with the project, says, "Collaborating with the BYETS project has allowed us to share risks and establish a dedicated training services wing within the RMG sector. By expanding our outreach to Tier 1 and Tier 2 RMG factories, we have gained valuable exposure within the industry."

For workers, it is transformative, too. Belal Hossin, a master trainer at Karim Textiles Limited, spoke about how the moment he went through this training programme was a turning point in his career. "I started off as a senior operator only a year ago," he said, "but after the training, everything changed." Hossin and five colleagues from the company underwent intensive training that equipped them to train ten batches of factory employees to become master trainers. "Eight of these batches were related to technical skills, while two offered a multiskilled approach," he explained. 

Currently, seven local consultancy service providers are delivering training on Sewing Methodology Training (SMT), Low Performance Improvement (LPI), and Productivity Improvement in 22 factories across the Dhaka and Chittagong divisions, with a target to reach 40 factories by the end of 2026. Several providers have already reported developing new service packages for these factories since they began collaborating with BYETS.

The demand for consultancy-led, workforce-oriented training mirrors a bigger industry movement toward greater inclusion and sustainability. Factories that have adopted these training models talk of measurable improvements in productivity, product quality, and overall worker morale. Industry leaders believe that such initiatives not only address the immediate operational needs but also lay the foundation for a much more resilient and adaptive workforce moving forward as the sector evolves.

With the prospect of continued development and the implantation of digital learning solutions, these local service providers are expected to extend their reach and ensure training access, even in the most remote regions. This model shows how industry-wide collaborations can strengthen local consultancies, advance the workforce, and place Bangladesh's RMG sector at the forefront of sustainable and inclusive growth.