Are entrepreneurs second class citizens?

Habibullah N Karim Bengali literature of the last century certainly lionized high academic achievements and all professions that required good academic standing such as civil service, engineering, law, medicine and teaching. It's no wonder entrepreneurship was thrown to the gutters of the social hierarchy. In the old days, calling someone a Marwari businessman (referring to Indians from a certain district of Gujrat who are known for their entrepreneurial flair) was just as derogatory as equating someone with an uneducated and impoverished street sweeper ('Methor'). Against this social psyche that recognised academic pursuits but downplayed pecuniary pursuits, Bangalees of East Bengal in British India and later East Pakistan religiously avoided anything having to do with business. During the East Pakistan days social deification was reserved for the top-flight civil servants, namely, members of the civil service of Pakistan (CSP). Businesspeople were meant to be supplicants to these servants of the republic many of whom could be seen aping around for currying favours from the military masters of the day. In the aftermath of the independence of Bangladesh, the nation found itself seriously in need of a business class that could take charge of the country's market-driven economy. To make matters worse, the economic planners of the day found the absence of a strong entrepreneurial class quite convenient to experiment with a command economy of the socialistic model. The inefficiency and corruption bred out this policy paradigm caused the nation to lurch towards stagflation and widespread deprivations. The situation was so hopelessly out of control that most developed nations thought of Bangladesh as a perennial charity case. Fast forward to 2011 and we see a nation full of entrepreneurs that have taken control of more than four-fifths of the economy. Bangladesh today is one of the top 10 growth economies of the world, the second largest exporter of apparels and third highest recipient of migrant worker remittances. It is the entrepreneurs who have found ways to keep the economy chugging along at more than 6.0 per cent growth annually despite serious governance shortcomings, it is them that are risking their capital, labour and intellect to create 9.0 out of 10 jobs on offer in a job-hungry market and it is their taxes that fund the bulk of governmental expenses and national development agenda. Despite all these the entrepreneurial class is still perceived as greedy, amoral and subservient to the political and bureaucratic masters of the day. It is natural then to ask why the entrepreneurs are second-class citizens in their own country. It is also pertinent to ask why successive governments have not given more credence to the business environment improvement needs voiced by entrepreneurs. It so happens that the World Bank through IFC, its private sector financing arm, comes out with an annual ranking on ease of doing business in most countries of the world. The latest ranking announced in October this year for 2012 ranks 183 countries. Bangladesh ranks an unflattering 122nd in the report. What is even more alarming is that Bangladesh slid back four places compared to last year's rankings. In the South Asia region, we come in at the fifth place out of eight countries, i.e., below average. The ranking is based on a number of doing business parameters and the worst rankings for Bangladesh predictably were assessed in the areas of getting electricity (182 out of 183), enforcing contracts (180 out of 183) and registering property (173 out of 183). In the probing eyes of the IFC assessors, we seemed to have slipped in all doing business benchmarks during the last year. The IFC report is based on extensive surveys of businesses and, if anything, it indicates a worsening of the business confidence of entrepreneurs. Coupled with a sharp decline in credits extended to trade and industry, the deteriorating business confidence cannot be a good thing for the country. It must be especially painful for the economic planners who are pitching for boosting the economic growth rate past 7.0 per cent this year and the year next. Many still believe that the centuries-old anti-business Bangalee psyche is still writ large on the government machinery and the so-called servants of the republic are merely cogs in that system perpetuating the unhealthy culture of business bashing. Nothing short of a complete overhaul of the mindset of the functioning bureaucracy and the political policy-planners can reverse this vicious trend. Readers are requested to watch today's (Sunday, November 20) episode of Orthonitir Chaka at 5:30pm on Boishakhi Television for an engaging discussion on the business climate of the country with Asif Ibrahim, President, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries, and Mamun Rashid, Director, Business School, BRAC University. The programme will be repeated at night at 12:30am and will also be available online from Thursday at BDeshTV.com. The Financial Express is the media partner and American International University of Bangladesh (AIUB) is the technical collaboration partner of Orhonitir Chaka. Habibullah N Karim is an IT entrepreneur, policy activist and the anchor of Orthonitir Chaka. He can be reached at email: hnkarim@gmail.com