The outsourcing of graphic designing and image editing holds great promise for Bangladesh as many are already earning foreign currencies riding on the boom in digital businesses worldwide. 

India, the Philippines and Vietnam have long been among the major markets for outsourcing for global clients, but Bangladesh has also become a favourite destination owing to lower prices and the ability to deliver large-scale work.

Currently, 7,000 people are working at more than 100 small and medium companies in the graphic designing and image editing segment of the country. Another 50,000 are working as freelancers, according to an estimate by industry people.

The growing demand for digital designs for e-commerce, catalogues, brochures, magazines, printings, newspapers, signboards, and business cards has created plenty of opportunities for local freelancers and firms.

"Worldwide, the e-commerce boom has played a significant role in raising orders for graphic design and image processing," said Nazim Farhan Choudhury, chief executive officer of GraphicPeople.

India, the Philippines and Vietnam have long been among the major markets for outsourcing for global clients, but Bangladesh has also become a favourite destination owing to lower prices and the ability to deliver large-scale work

Located in Dhaka, GraphicPeople is an offshore studio providing digital print and production support services to advertising agencies and brands, and counts Dell and Microsoft among its customers. It employs about 250 people.

With e-commerce and digital business thriving, the need for pictures and video has gone up. Large studios are flourishing in the global market.

The segment even has the potential to diversify the export basket as basic skills are needed to get jobs in graphic design and image processing, said industry people.

"What we are doing now is that we are providing backend editing and corrections. But we can be as large as the garment industry," Choudhury said.

He said the garment sector, which accounts for about 85 per cent of Bangladesh's over $52 billion export earnings in the last fiscal year, has done a remarkable job. But, average salaries and export earnings per worker in the graphic designing and image editing segment are much higher than that of the apparel industry.

"The value-edition is about 20 per cent in the garment sector whereas it is close to 100 per cent in the graphic designing and image editing segment."

The outsourcing of graphic designing and image editing is part of the business process outsourcing sector and the broader IT-enabled services industry.

Bangladesh earned less than $500 million from the exports of IT-enabled services in the last fiscal year, data from the Export Promotion Bureau showed.

However, the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), the national trade body for software and IT-enabled services, put the figure at $1.3 billion since a significant portion of the overseas income is either brought into the country through unofficial channels or is not fetched at all.

The global business process outsourcing market size was valued at $251 billion in 2021 and expected to reach $492 billion by 2028, said California-based newswire distribution network GlobeNewswire, citing data from SkyQuest Technology Consulting Pvt Ltd, an Indian firm.

Skill-based training with an emphasis on student loans and certification, recognising companies with more than 500 employees as economic zones, and treating IT-enabled services as emergency services could propel the industry to a higher level and consistently support clients, said Choudhury.

Mainly two groups of people work in the segment: individual freelancers working with marketplaces such as Upwork and Fiverr, and the other group that is employed by small and medium-sized firms.

Kamruzzaman Sishir, a top-rated character illustrator at Fiverr, a global online marketplace for freelance services, said: "It's a market with a huge potential."

But earnings depend on skills and there is stiff competition for the designing tasks that need basic skills.

"Creativity matters. Some people with a six-month training might not land a job in designing whereas someone can win many orders with the same amount of training thanks to creativity," Sishir added.

A skilled graphic designer and image editor can command six-figure salaries easily whereas someone with a lower level of skills struggles to earn Tk 15,000, according to the freelancer.

The KOW Company, a content post-production management company with a focus on image and image editing, began its journey in 2014 with a three-member team and a one-room office in Dhaka's Bangla Motor. Today, it has grown into a family of more than 500 individuals working with 25 studios globally and processing around 25,000 photos every day.

Kowser Ahmed Nirob, CEO and founder of The KOW Company, thinks image editing, computer-generated imagery, 3D, and content post-production segments have a big potential to fetch foreign currencies.

From Bangladesh, many people go to the Middle East spending Tk 5 lakh to Tk 6 lakh. Many of them have to sell land to manage the fund. But the return is very low.

"If they get proper training, they can earn foreign currencies sitting at home within a few months. Besides, graphic design and related verticals require basic skills to land jobs," said Nirob.

According to the entrepreneur, it takes more than two years to become a skilled software developer.

"But for image processing, if you train someone for six months, you will get a skilled worker to get your job done."

Wahid Sharif, president of the Bangladesh Association of Contact Center and Outsourcing, said as e-commerce and digital needs are thriving globally, the demand for image processing and related segments is growing fast.

"It is one of the most promising areas in the business process outsourcing."

Russell T Ahmed, president of the BASIS, said creativity and basic skills are needed to flourish in the world of graphic designing and image editing.

"For a graphic design or image editing job, you don't need a graduate in computer science and engineering. A graduate in the humanities and other areas can do it with training," he said.

Ahmed underscores branding for the industry as well.

"We are lagging when it comes to branding. If we can brand well, our firms will get smooth access to the global market," he said.