Engaging locally certified management consultants for major public and private sector projects can significantly conserve foreign exchange, said the leaders of the Institute of Management Consultants Bangladesh (IMCB) on Sunday.
Speaking at a ‘Meet the Press’ held at a hotel in Dhaka, the IMCB leadership highlighted that a substantial number of Bangladeshi consultants are already working on overseas assignments and pulling in foreign currency, proving their global competitiveness.
IMCB President Nadeem A. Chaudhury, Chairman M Zakir Hossain, and Head of the Advisory Committee Prof. Dr. Abdur Rab addressed the media ahead of the institute's upcoming Annual Convention.
Responding to queries regarding fee disparities, the panel strongly criticized the ongoing practice where domestic recruiters and clients pay foreign consultants substantially higher fees than local professionals for assignments requiring equivalent qualifications.
The leaders announced that IMCB will actively lobby both public and private sector recruiters to eradicate this payment discrimination, urging policy changes that prioritize and fairly compensate domestic talent to reduce unnecessary reliance on expensive foreign firms.
Detailing the institute's milestones since its inception in 1997 under a Ministry of Commerce license, President Nadeem A. Chaudhury stated that IMCB holds permanent membership in the Switzerland-based International Council of Management Consulting Institutes (ICMCI), which spans 52 nations.
"This global affiliation empowers IMCB to award the prestigious Certified Management Consultant (CMC) designation in Bangladesh, ensuring our local experts strictly meet identical professional, ethical, and competency benchmarks applied internationally," Chaudhury said.
Outlining future priorities, IMCB Chairman M Zakir Hossain noted that the country's management consulting market has become increasingly crowded and fragmented, making it difficult for clients to distinguish unqualified practitioners from certified experts.
"IMCB is upgrading its by-laws and enforcement of its Code of Professional Conduct to ensure strict ethical governance, transparency, and independent objectivity among our members," Hossain added.
The institute plans to utilize its forthcoming Annual Convention as a strategic launchpad to build wider institutional awareness of the Post Graduate Diploma in Management Consulting (PGDMC) and the CMC designation, while driving structural solutions to scale up the country's professional consultancy sector across energy, infrastructure, finance, and regulatory fields.