How a locally-groomed tech team is spearheading a paradigm shift in people's daily financial transactions

Imagine a man has just received a call from his wife living in the countryside, asking for money to take their child to the doctor. With bated breath, he mulls the options in hand to send cash in the quickest possible time. Right then, he picks up his phone, opens the bKash app and anxiously fidgets his fingers to insert the PIN and sends money. 

Within nanoseconds, his wife gets the money and he feels a sigh of relief.

This is how bKash rises to every occasion when a safe, secure and quick mobile transaction is required. To make this possible, bKash relies on the robust technological infrastructure it created and relentlessly invested in to bring local tech experts and their skills together.

Winnowed down from a local pool of talents and groomed within the organisation, bKash now has a large team of tech experts, led by bKash's Chief Product and Technology Officer Mohammad Azmal Huda, whose primary focus lies in innovation and offering the most simplified solutions for the growing customer base by considering the present and future fintech trends.

Embarking on a journey on 21 July 2011 to expedite the financial inclusion of people from all rungs of the social ladder, especially those from the rural backwater, bKash has walked a long way and spearheaded the revolution in the Mobile Financial Services (MFS) arena. 

It was indeed a topsy-turvy journey, made easier by the company's determination to put its trust in the local talents. 

bKash has not only been making the process of availing MFS services easier but also disintegrated the stereotypical idea that a fintech company needs experts hired from foreign countries to grow and thrive. And this was made possible, essentially, by Azmal Huda's grit. 

The Chief Product and Technology Officer steered the company's journey from a pioneering MFS to being the largest MFS provider in the country. 

After completing Honours and Master's in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Dhaka, Azmal started his career as a lecturer. He felt a lack of excitement and an inadequate scope for innovation there. 

In 2003, he joined one of the country's leading telco operators to pursue something more exhilarating, mainly to cater to his desire to positively contribute to the common man's lifestyle. 

Subsequently, Azmal branched out from the telco sector to a relatively new sector, Mobile Financial Service, which was something he was interested in. And in the meantime, he managed to earn his MBA from the University of Dhaka.

Azmal was ready for a new feat. 

So, he joined bKash at a time when it did not have the brand value it has today. And the rest was history. 

"One of the objectives of Bangladesh Bank was to enhance financial inclusion. That was our goal as well. Initially, opening a wallet, having funds in the wallet, P2P fund transfers were our fundamental services. Then we started thinking about advanced services and creating a positive impact being aligned with the vision of Digital Bangladesh. Now, after all these years, if I sum up my journey in brief, it would be: exciting and rewarding." Azmal told The Business Standard.  

As a technology-driven and customer-centric company where masses' money is involved, bKash needed to face new challenges every day. To overcome those, it needed to evolve and innovate. 

Driven by an afflatus to yield positive impacts, Azmal and his team had to keep innovating. He had a good nose for people and a vision to create a culture where local talents can be accommodated, groomed and given the proper chance to show their calibre.

Azmal shared, "When fresh graduates join bKash, they go through an induction programme. Particularly, if someone joins the Product and Technology department, he/she goes through another detailed induction." 

In fact, the new recruits get to know about basic infrastructure setup and intercommunication methods and models, the projects, processes and policies that are managing and governing the micro to macro level activities, the researches and developments that are being performed regularly to decide the next set of products, the security and standardisation activities that are embedded in daily life, the effective utilization of Artificial intelligence and deep learning in business etc. during induction programme.  

"bKash is one of the very rare organisations today that is dealing with a massive base, a substantial volume of transactions, a ground of innovations under strict adherence of compliance," said Azmal, adding, "teams are involved with all the relevant processes from product design to development to deployment to maintenance. At bKash, the employee gets an idea of how a top brand creates a product for millions of customers within a 24/7 business critical service environment. These are the differentiating factors." 

Despite some external challenges such as the unavailability of local manufacturing units in Bangladesh, lengthy supply chain process and lack of the right resources with the right skills, the team has been relentlessly working to bridge the gap at bKash and keep serving customers with the most advanced technological amenities. This endeavour of talent management helps the hired talents bloom. 

"We would like to state with due humility that bKash has the most in-depth experience working with cloud-based technology. Our app has the biggest user base. The robust yet smooth app has been created and maintained by our local talents. From our data centre to our security - everything is world-class. 

It's because we are managing our talents in a way that gives them the necessary exposure to understand what they are actually doing and how their actions will have positive impacts on our customers", said Azmal. 

The outcome is known to all. It seems like Azmal and bKash's success goes hand in hand. 

Recently, Azmal has been awarded the 'Chief Technology Officer of the Year' for his significant contribution to enabling people in their digital transactions through Fintech innovations at the "Bangladesh C-SUITE Awards 2022" by Bangladesh Brand Forum. 

However, Azmal is not someone who will be resting on his laurels; rather, as you are reading this piece, he is onto something for maneuvering through the complex world of technology to offer yet something more vibrant and convenient for the customers. 

For those aspiring to kick start their career, he suggests, "No way Tendulkar should be given a guitar. When someone is entering their professional life, they must ask themselves what their area of interest or motivation is. So, if someone already working in the industry wants to join bKash, they must know their appetite and should have basic skills but more importantly, they should have a positive attitude to go through a learning and sharing journey. 

Advanced skills can always be plotted on top of a positive and fertile attitude." 

Right now, bKash is looking for the right person with a proper attitude, curiosity and motivation to learn every day and a proactive problem solver who will be taking this legacy of serving millions of MFS customers and making their lives easier.