Referring to a recent World Trade Organization report, speakers at an event mentioned that 14 percent of the world’s total freelancer population reside in Bangladesh.
If we can equip this population with the right tools and timely solutions, our economy is sure to find an added momentum in no time, they said adding that our Prime Minister has been emphasizing on building a smart nation through a digital economy.
Mobile financial service provider upay recently organized the meetup event with local freelancers and industry experts in order to explore the potentials and to support to meet the challenges faced by the freelancers.
The event, held at United Commercial Bank PLC Head Office in Gulshan, Dhaka, elaborated on the theme of “Freelancers’ Contribution to Building Smart Bangladesh and MFS as Growth Facilitator”, was attended by UCB and upay top officials, including ATM Tahmiduzzaman, AMD of UCB, and Member of the Board of Directors, upay and Syed Enamul Kabir, CFO, Md. Moulude Hossain, Deputy General Manager, Strategy and Product from upay.
Munir Hasan, Chief Coordinator, Digital Transformation and Youth Programme, Prothom Alo, conducted the session at the event with over 30 freelancers from different backgrounds, professions and age groups.
Discussions at the event primarily focused on the growing freelance industry in Bangladesh, the underlying potentials, and how to create the ground to extract the maximum out of the industry through similar partnerships.
Munir Hasan, said, “Our freelancers face many obstacles, including insufficient daily and monthly transaction limits, currency conversion, and incentives-related issues.
However, the situation is improving, and new channels are being introduced. However, we have to expedite this journey.
To do this, the government should take time-befitting initiatives.”
Present freelancers also shared their views, expressed satisfaction with the easy functionality of upay wallet, and appreciated upay and UCB’s efforts thoroughly. They also appreciated the unique features of UCB – upay Prepaid Card that allows them to easily utilize the fund for foreign currency transactions, which includes digital media marketing payment, merchant payments (online and offline) and global ATM cash withdrawal.