BGL Overseas, a recruiting agency based in Dhaka, has reported a "big growth in its engagement with the job seekers" after joining "Channel," a free broadcast platform for service and information introduced by popular instant messaging app imo. The agency is involved in the recruitment and supply of workers from Bangladesh to different companies based in the Middle East and Asia. Abdullah Al Mamun, marketing manager of BGL, decided to connect with imo Channel to help the agency perform better. BGL joined Channel this May to try it and tap into more potential candidates. After the agency was officially verified by the imo team, its account got customised menus, enabling potential clients to contact it conveniently. More importantly, BGL services got a huge traffic boost from imo. Within only two months, the number of closed deals of Mamun increased by around 50 percent as there was a huge boost in the number of BGL's followers, which reached nearly 13,000. Read: Grooming Tips for Professionals: Show up gracefully at the workplace On average, the number of migrant workers who reach out to BGL through Channel every day is around 50, much more efficient than other digital platforms, according to a media statement. Mamun said: "We were looking for a good platform to connect to our target clients directly. Ever since we connected with imo Channel, we witnessed a significant rise in our engagement with the job seekers, because our target clients are already on the platform and could call us directly on imo without fees and not through other agents, which has helped us experience meteoric growth in terms of business." Currently, there are huge opportunities for Bangladeshis to work overseas, but it often remains unexplored owing to a lack of proper information. Channel has "proved to be a powerful tool in this regard." Currently, on imo, there are around 10 million Bangladeshi users who work in the Middle East. Migrant workers can get relevant and authorised information about overseas job opportunities, salary, employers, companies, job requirements and other necessary details through imo Channel.

A Bangladeshi woman who went to the African nation Mauritius last year through a recruiting agency has filed a case  accusing the company of human trafficking. According to the case statement, the woman was taken to Fire Mount Textile Company in Mauritius after she reached there on February 5, 2020.  From then she started working as a helper there although the company didn’t pay her wages regularly. Md Shah Alam,43, a Bangladeshi man who used to run the worker’s canteen and his assistants Furkan, Siddique and Aslam used to threaten her as she refused the indecent proposal of the company’s owner through them. One day they took her to the owner Anil Kohli’s house saying he had complained against her. She was raped there by Anil Kohli and they captured footage of her. Later they raped her many times and forced her to have physical relationships with others, threatening to spread the video footage on social media. Also read: Trafficking Report: Bangladesh still on Tier 2 They even made her abort a child as she became pregnant at one point, she claimed in her statement. On December 28, 2020, the woman was sent back to Bangladesh with the condition of not filing any complaint against them and before that in November they recruited her father in her  place. Since she filed the complaint her father is being threatened by the perpetrators now, she said. According to her more than 600 Bangladeshi women work in that factory where Shah Alam, Furkan, Siddique, Aslam forcefully engage them in prostitution and the owner Anil Kohli oppresses them. After the news was broadcast in Bangladeshi and Mauritius news media the culprits are trying to convince her to solve the matter outside the court through different ways. Also read: Trafficking of 26 Bangladeshis killed in Libya: Bail of 4 accused suspended The woman filed the case with the help of the BRAC Migration program that helped her to recover from the traumatizing incident that happened with her. Head of the BRAC Migration program Shariful Hasan said the description the victim gave was grim. Sexually oppressing and engaging in forceful prostitution in the name of recruitment in a foreign country falls under human trafficking, he said. The Government of Mauritius and Bangladesh should jointly investigate the matter, if any other Bangladeshi immigrant worker is being oppressed like this, said Shariful Hasan.