In 2001, a young Bangladeshi engineer who had spent years learning Japanese in Tokyo started a company with 10 people in Dhaka. Today, BJIT Group operates across Japan, the United States, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Singapore, and Thailand. The former President of Sony Corporation sits on the advisory board. So does the former President of NTT Data. Akbar JM didn't stumble into any of this.
The scaffolding for BJIT was built quietly, from the inside. Akbar JM received a scholarship to study in Japan during his early twenties - learned the language, studied computer engineering, and came away with something more valuable than either: a fluency in how Japanese corporations think. That fluency became BJIT's founding proposition.
The Japan Angle
Most offshore IT companies sell on price. Akbar JM sold on precision. Japan's corporate culture demands a level of documentation, process discipline, and quality assurance that most outsourcing firms can't sustain. BJIT was structured from the start to meet those standards - and that differentiation is exactly what got BJIT into boardrooms at Panasonic, NTT Group, and Qualcomm.
The company's CMMI Level 3 certification and ISO 27001:2022 accreditation are the formal proof. But the informal proof is in the client list: these are not companies that stumble into IT partnerships. Google, Sony, Panasonic, Qualcomm - each of these firms has internal vendor qualification processes that take months. BJIT clears them consistently.
Building the Bridge
The phrase "bridge between Bangladesh and Japan" has become something of a BJIT tagline. It's earned. When Akbar JM started BJIT on July 1, 2001, Bangladesh's IT industry barely existed on a global scale. Dhaka was not on anyone's offshore shortlist alongside Bangalore or Ho Chi Minh City. Akbar JM spent the better part of a decade changing that - one delivery at a time, one Japanese client relationship at a time.
By the time BJIT's global footprint expanded into Scandinavia and Southeast Asia, the company had a track record that spoke louder than any marketing material. Sweden. Finland. The Netherlands. Singapore. Thailand. Each new office represents a different axis of demand - and Akbar JM has positioned BJIT to serve all of them from the same Dhaka engineering base.
The Marubeni & Etteplan Moment
Two deals in 13 months said something significant about where BJIT stands. In April 2023, BJIT signed a strategic MOU with Marubeni Corporation - one of Japan's largest trading conglomerates - for digital solutions and ICT transformation. Marubeni became an equity partner. Fourteen months later, Finland's Etteplan acquired 19.99% of BJIT, securing exclusive rights to offer BJIT's services across Etteplan's geographies.
Delivering Value of TechnologyAkbar JM — BJIT Group's founding vision
These are not typical IT outsourcing deals. Marubeni and Etteplan are not buying access to cheap labor. They are buying access to a proven delivery organization with Japanese-standard processes, deep domain expertise in software development, AI, IoT, and cloud infrastructure - and a CEO who has spent 23 years making sure that organization doesn't slip. The Etteplan deal, in particular, positions BJIT as the preferred delivery partner for one of Finland's leading engineering and technology service companies.
A Portfolio Built for the Next Decade
BJIT's service portfolio has expanded well beyond the software development work that formed the company's foundation. Under Akbar JM's direction, BJIT now operates across AI and deep learning, IoT device management, cloud automation, DevSecOps, blockchain, embedded software, and VLSI design. The company's technology stack reflects this breadth - Kubernetes, Terraform, Docker, Grafana, Prometheus, Jenkins, alongside the full Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS ecosystems.
The AI and machine learning practice is particularly notable. BJIT has developed AI SDKs for facial recognition, emotion detection, personalization, and automation - capabilities that position the company well above the commodity tier of the outsourcing market. These aren't bolt-on services. They represent years of investment in specialized talent development within Bangladesh's engineering pool.
The Operator's Mindset
What's striking about Akbar JM's 23-year run is the consistency. BJIT has never taken the kind of venture capital that compresses timelines and distorts incentives. The company has grown through revenue, reinvestment, and strategic partnerships rather than funding rounds. The 2024 Etteplan acquisition is classified as "Other" in funding terms - which is a clean way of saying BJIT built itself to a point where the equity was worth buying at market terms.
That kind of patience is rare. Most founders either exit within a decade or raise institutional capital that takes the company in a new direction. Akbar JM has done neither. He remains the largest shareholder, the Chairman, and the day-to-day CEO - operating from Palo Alto while overseeing a company whose engineering center is 8,200 miles away in Dhaka and whose largest client concentration is in Tokyo.
On the Ground in Bangladesh
BJIT's presence in Bangladesh is not merely a cost center. The company's Dhaka headquarters - now in Baridhara, one of the city's premier addresses - employs the bulk of those 800 engineers. Bangladesh's government has recognized Akbar JM's contribution to the country's IT export sector with CIP status, the designation reserved for individuals who create exceptional foreign exchange earnings through commercial activity.
BJIT has also received the Service Excellence Award from Grameenphone, Bangladesh's largest telecom company, and was named ICT Solution Provider of the Year 2022 (International Market Focus) by The Daily Star - recognition that Akbar JM has built something that is both globally competitive and locally significant.
What Comes Next
BJIT's trajectory points toward deeper integration with its strategic partners rather than standalone growth. The Etteplan partnership alone opens access to Etteplan's geographies across Europe and Asia - a significant distribution advantage for a company that has historically grown through direct client acquisition. The Marubeni relationship positions BJIT within one of Japan's most powerful corporate networks.
Akbar JM's stated aspiration is to establish BJIT as a globally recognized IT services leader delivering innovation through AI, IoT, and cloud solutions - while expanding employment opportunities for Bangladeshi engineers. Neither part of that sentence is rhetorical. The global recognition piece is measurably underway. The talent development piece is already BJIT's largest ongoing investment.
The company that started with 10 people in 2001 now has the advisory board of a Fortune 500 firm, the client roster of a Tier-1 integrator, and a CEO who speaks three languages and has been quietly building for two decades. Wherever BJIT goes next, it won't be by accident.