The student quota movement of 2024 demonstrated that an establishment so out of touch with the rest of the population and seemingly with little empathy for their predicaments could not continue to govern. Evidently, a system where commotion reigned supreme drove out Bangladesh's talented youth population with no incentive to return.
Preserving a country's assets is of the utmost importance in ensuring long-term success. While we ask our brightest minds overseas to return home and contribute, do we give them the necessary opportunities to serve our country directly? While many decide to serve the motherland later in life, our brilliant young minds often rarely return, especially sacrificing work opportunities overseas and contributing to the Bangladeshi public sector.
The tale of Umran Mustafa goes against the norm; born and raised in Bangladesh, Umran attended Cornell University on a full scholarship, graduated at the top of his class, earning him a feature in Giving To Cornell's publishing, and was the first in his family to go abroad. Immediately after graduating from the Ivy League university, Umran deliberately returned to Bangladesh, sacrificing his work permit and job opportunities in America. He began raising funds for the startup, "Shombhob," which allows women in lower-income regions upward mobility by connecting them to job opportunities. He then went on to serve as a financial analyst at BEZA (Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority), partaking in projects that directly benefit the public infrastructure development field. Umran candidly told this writer, "I wouldn't learn the art of profound connection and realise my life's purpose. These were gifted to me by my home. I must give back."
This is only a glimpse into his contributions. Bangladesh is filled with brilliant minds like Umran Mustafa. The question remains: Why is merit underutilised and thus undervalued? More importantly, how can we collectively provide a platform where people like Mustafa can showcase their visions as active works in progress? These questions speak to all of Bangladesh's youth.
Looking at a country similar to Bangladesh in age and geographic limitations, Singapore can be seen as a prime example. Extracted from Singapore's former Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's speech at the National Day Rally 2019, "We are giving our young the best possible platform to ensure we hear and meet their needs. So that anyone who works hard will have a chance to succeed, regardless of starting point or family background. Because this is what meritocracy in Singapore is about."
This concept remains an essential tenet in Singapore's society, with most people accepting the basic idea that everyone should have a fair chance at life, that society should remain open with opportunities for all, and that the best person at their jobs should be rightfully rewarded, that competent people should be heads of organisations and high rewards should be accompanied by high accountability. While the people of Bangladesh generally agree, our refusal to practise what we preach has cost us our brightest minds over time. As we turn over a new leaf, a meritocratic framework proves to be an essential concept to provide a space for people to come together and participate without favouring any particular ethnicity, religion, or class.
This shines a brighter light on the fact that this new Bangladesh needs to create and invest in a platform that will help encourage the country's best young talents to contribute to statecraft. Umran further emphasises, "My contributions to Bangladesh are still a work in progress. We now have the opportunity to play an active role in building the country our youth has envisioned." His story inspires us to come together and celebrate youths who bring back their expertise from abroad. Also we should allow them room to utilise their experiences. Umran Mustafa is currently attending Harvard Kennedy School to obtain a master's degreein Public Policy this fall of 2024 and has been awarded the HKS scholarship.
The writer is working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh. She can be reached at tazrianiqbal@gmail.com