Bangladesh Association of Contact Center and Outsourcing (BACCO)
Definition
Bangladesh Association of Contact Center & Outsourcing
The Bangladesh Association of Contact Center and Outsourcing (BACCO) is the country’s apex trade body for business process outsourcing, call center, and IT-enabled service providers. Founded in 2011, it represents licensed operators before government, sets industry standards, and positions Bangladesh as a low-cost offshore destination for English-capable voice and back-office work.
BACCO is recognised by the Bangladesh ICT Division as the official industry voice for outsourcing. It groups firms holding a Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) call center licence with BPO operators, support vendors, and foreign affiliates under one negotiating umbrella.
The body sits inside a wider government push to grow IT and IT-enabled services exports. The World Bank, in its 2022 “Digital Bangladesh” review, flagged the sector as one of the country’s fastest-growing export categories, with BACCO members supplying most of the formally licensed capacity.
That positioning matters because Bangladesh competes for the same English-speaking voice and back-office work serviced from the Philippines, India, and Kenya. BACCO’s pitch leans on cost, a young workforce, and rising digital literacy rather than scale.
How it works
BACCO operates through an Executive Council of 12 members — 11 from General Members and one from Associate Members — elected to two-year terms with a six-year cumulative cap. Operations span policy advocacy, member services, summit and trade-mission organizing, and capacity-building partnerships with the ICT Division and the a2i programme.
Funding derives from admission fees, annual dues, summit sponsorships, and project grants tied to government workforce schemes, with tiered fee models for different membership categories. Sponsorship from telecom carriers and banking partners covers the larger overseas missions.
Day-to-day the secretariat handles licence-related queries with the BTRC, briefs the National Board of Revenue on tax exemptions for IT-enabled services exporters, and coordinates with the offshoring buyer market through embassies and trade attachés.
Membership structure
| Membership tier | Voting rights | Eligibility | Council seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Member | Yes | Holds a BTRC call center licence or operates a BPO unit | 11 of 12 |
| Associate Member | No | Provides support services to licensed operators | 1 of 12 |
| International Affiliate | Limited | Foreign BPO firm with Bangladesh interest | None |
Members in good standing access trade-mission delegations, policy consultations with the ICT Division, and inclusion in the official directory promoted to overseas buyers. The directory feeds into procurement shortlists for buyers exploring nearshore and offshore alternatives to saturated markets.
Examples
BPO Summit Bangladesh: BACCO’s flagship event, co-hosted with the ICT Division across 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019, drew international buyers and coincided with sector revenue growth from roughly USD 160 million to USD 300 million by 2018, per figures the association published with the Bangladesh ICT Division.
Genex Infosys Limited: One of the largest BACCO General Members and a publicly listed Dhaka-based contact center operator serving telecom and financial-services clients across South Asia. It remains one of the few Bangladeshi BPO firms listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange.
Fifotech: A long-standing BACCO member providing IT and BPO services to North America and Europe, frequently cited in trade-mission materials and a regular fixture at the BPO Summit panel sessions.
a2i workforce partnership: BACCO collaborated with the government’s Aspire to Innovate (a2i) programme on outsourcing-skills training pipelines feeding certified agents into member firms — aligning with the Digital Bangladesh employment targets the United Nations Development Programme co-funded through a2i.
ITU recognition: In 2018, BACCO members were profiled in International Telecommunication Union materials covering South Asian digital-economy growth, citing Bangladesh’s call center workforce expansion as a regional benchmark.
Related terms
- Business Process Outsourcing (BPO): the umbrella service category BACCO members deliver
- Contact Center: the dominant operating model among General Members
- Call Center: voice-led subset of contact center work
- Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO): adjacent segment overlapping with BACCO’s IT-enabled service members
- Offshoring: the cross-border delivery model BACCO promotes for Bangladesh
- Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO): higher-value services some BACCO members are moving into
- Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): a core outcome BACCO lobbies for through trade missions
FAQ
When was BACCO founded and who recognises it? BACCO was founded in 2011 and is recognised by the Bangladesh ICT Division as the official trade body for the contact center and outsourcing industry, working closely with government on policy and export promotion.
Who can join BACCO? Membership is open to firms holding a BTRC call center licence or BPO operators (General Members), vendors providing support services to those firms (Associate Members), and foreign firms with a Bangladesh interest (International Affiliates).
What does BACCO actually do for members? The association lobbies on regulation and tax, organizes overseas trade missions and the BPO Summit, runs training partnerships with the a2i programme, and lists members in directories shown to global buyers.
How is BACCO different from a chamber of commerce? A chamber represents general business interests across many sectors. BACCO is sector-specific to contact center and outsourcing operators and acts as the single negotiating voice between those firms and the Bangladesh ICT Division.
What is the BPO Summit Bangladesh? It is BACCO’s flagship industry conference, run jointly with the ICT Division, bringing together members, government officials, and international buyers, with editions held in 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019.
How does BACCO support Digital Bangladesh goals? BACCO aligns its workforce, export, and policy targets with the Digital Bangladesh agenda, including the country’s broader goal of building a globally competitive IT-enabled services sector outlined by the World Bank.
How does BACCO compare to India’s NASSCOM? NASSCOM represents a far larger Indian IT and BPO industry, but BACCO plays an equivalent role for Bangladesh — single sector voice, government counterpart on policy, and lead organiser of the national outsourcing summit.
Independent
