Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)

After receiving requests from entrepreneurs, the deadline has been extended and applications will now be accepted till Monday, March 25, according to a statement.

For the first time this year, one Bangladeshi technology startup will be getting the opportunity to represent Bangladesh and compete in Startup World Cup Grand Finale, the global technology startup pitch competition with an investment prize of $1,000,000.

To select the startup, a regional competition will be held in Bangladesh. Fenox Venture Capital, one of top venture capital firms based in Silicon Valley, ranked 16th in the latest global ranking of Mattermark Seed Stage. eGeneration Ltd., on the other hand, works on cutting-edge technologies like blockchain, data analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing and has a diversified portfolio of clients all over the world, including nations such as USA, UK, UAE, Russia, Uganda, Japan, Canada, Denmark, Philippines, Saudi Arabia and India.

The regional competition in Bangladesh titled “eGeneration presents Startup World Cup 2019, Bangladesh” will be co-organized by Bangladesh Innovation Forum (BIF) and partnered by Venture Capital and Private Equity Association of Bangladesh (VCPEAB), TiE Dhaka and EO Bangladesh.

UNDP is the Knowledge Partner and RTV is the Media Partner.

Ten of the best startups in Bangladesh will be invited to pitch for the opportunity to compete at the Startup World Cup 2019, Bangladesh Finale, happening on April 6th, 2019.

Some of the judges include Dr. Anis Uzzaman, Co-founder and CEO, Fenox Venture Capital; Shameem Ahsan, General Partner, Fenox Venture Capital, Sonia Bashir Kabir, Managing Director for Microsoft Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and Laos; Mustafizur R Khan, Founder and CEO, Startup Dhaka; and Minhaz Anwar, Head of Accelerator, GP Accelerator. Interested participants can apply through www.egeneration.co/fenoxswc.

The global mega competition returns for a third year searching for the next world champion amongst the top startups from around the globe. There are over 40 different regional startup competitions being held in over 40 different countries including Bangladesh, across 6 continents. Fenox will bring all regional winners to the Grand Finale for the Championship competition, where they will battle for the investment prize.

In previous years, Startup World Cup Grand Finale featured prominent figures from the entrepreneurship community, including Steve Wozniak (Co-Founder of Apple), Daymond John (Star of ABC’s SharkTank & Founder of FUBU), Alexis Ohanian (Co-Founder of Reddit) and Guy Kawasaki (former Chief Evangelist of Apple). Grand finale speakers for this year include Marissa Mayer, former CEO of Yahoo and Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, among others.

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Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)

“BIDA has taken multidimensional plans to create entrepreneurs at the grassroots level. As per the plans, we have set a target for two years to create 24,000 skilled entrepreneurs across the country,” BIDA Executive Chairman Kazi M Aminul Islam told BSS.

To achieve the target, he said, BIDA has already taken a project titled ‘Entrepreneurship Creation and Skill Development’.

“Under the project, each entrepreneur will take one-month training from the district level training centre. We have a plan to start the training programme from July 1,” he added.

Through the training programme, the BIDA chief said, trainees can gather necessary knowledge about how to start a business and its challenges, market analysis, capital collection process and other related issues.

“In the training, BIDA will also motivate the youth about business through removing their wrong perception so they can make them self-reliant,” he added.

Project Director of the ‘Entrepreneurship Creation and Skill Development’ project Abul Khair Mohammad Hafizullah Khan informed that the process of opening training centres and appointing master trainers for districts is underway.

“Appointment of necessary human resources is also under process. We will select our trainees in every district within June 30. We will start our training activities from July 1,” he added.

Under the project, he said, BIDA will provide training to 25 entrepreneurs every month in each district and the training programme will run for 15 months.

“After 15 months, a total of 375 entrepreneurs in every district will complete their training. The project will also run for more three months for monitoring the entrepreneurs,” he added.

In every district, he said, a support centre will be established for providing necessary supports to the trainees.
Elaborating the training process, Hafizullah Khan, also a deputy secretary, said, “We will select resource persons and trainees taking the help of the district administration in every district. The resource persons will provide training and the appointed master trainer will coordinate the training programme.”

In the first 15 working days of the month-long training, he said, a trainee will gather the knowledge of starting a business and its running process. Later, they will gather knowledge in the areas of their interest from the successful businessmen.

He mentioned that BIDA has already selected district-wise potential sectors so the trainees can gather knowledge as per their requirement.

“After taking training, every trainee will be the BIDA’s registered entrepreneurs. We will introduce them to different financial institutions, including Bangladesh Bank and SME Foundation, to solve their capital problem,” he informed.

Hafizullah Khan said BIDA will also make a database comprising the information of national and international entrepreneurs and investment to create an interaction among the investors.

“Suppose, someone has huge land, but he has no capital. Another one has capital, but no land. We will act as mediator between them to start a business,” he added.

He informed that BIDA will also develop an online learning platform so anyone from home and abroad, who wants to invest in Bangladesh, gets all information online with a click.

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Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)

The agreement was signed by Monowar Ahmed, Secretary, Economic Relations Division of Bangladesh and Qimiao Fan, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, on behalf of the government of Bangladesh and the World Bank (WB), respectively on Wednesday. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal was present as chief guest.

The credit is from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), has a 30-year term, including a five-year grace period, and carries a service charge of 0.75 per cent and an interest of 1.25 per cent.

The Programmatic Jobs Development Policy Credit—the first of a series of three planned operations—will help Bangladesh build a stronger policy and institutional framework to create faster and more inclusive jobs for citizens, including women, youth, overseas migrants and vulnerable members of the population.

“Jobs are cornerstone for development. Bangladesh needs to create more and better jobs, particularly in the manufacturing sector to achieve its growth aspirations,” said Qimiao Fan.

“This program will support reforms that will address key challenges in creating inclusive and quality jobs. This will help the Government implement policies to modernize trade, stimulate investment, strengthen social protection systems for workers and help vulnerable people access jobs.”

The programme takes a comprehensive approach to overcome the barriers to job creation. It aims to help leverage Bangladesh’s comparative advantage in the manufacturing sector while stimulating investment, making doing business easier, and modernizing customs and trade facilitation. To ensure workers’ protection, it will also help implement amendments to the labor law and reform the pensions program.

In recent years, the pace of job creation has slowed, especially for women and youth.

They are often engaged in low quality informal jobs with weak protection for workers.

Besides, Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change.

A recent study shows that a 15 per cent increase in the share of non‐agricultural employment would significantly reduce the impacts of climate change on living standards.

The programme will support reforms to help Bangladesh create jobs sustainably by adapting to the rapidly changing environment as well as managing the risks related to climate change, the WB  added.

“The Seventh Five Year Plan, Vision 2021 and the electoral pledge ‘Bangladesh on the March to Prosperity’ have identified creating quality and inclusive jobs as a priority for the country,” said Monowar Ahmed.

“The programme will help the government’s ongoing initiatives to create labor intensive quality jobs while laying the foundation for a more resilient economy and stronger social protection.”

With 36 per cent of women in the labor force versus around 82 per cent of men, women face more challenges in accessing quality jobs.

The programme will help increase female labour force participation by making childcare more available for working mothers and targeting women and youth with training and employment services.

The World Bank was among the first development partners to support Bangladesh following its independence.
Since then the World Bank has committed more than $30 billion, mostly in grants and interest-free credits to Bangladesh. Bangladesh currently has the largest IDA program totaling $12.4 billion.

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Master of Economics (Entrepreneurship Economics) Programme starts at the DScE in Dhaka on April 07, 2018. Photo: DScE.

Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - Dhaka School of Economics (DScE),which is constituent Institution of University of Dhaka, has started class of Master of Economics(Entrepreneurship Economics) Programme.

“This program will motivate to entrepreneurial ability and visionary leadership to develop the economy,” Chairman of the Governing Council of DScE Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad said while inaugurating the programme on Saturday.

The senior economist hoped that business incubator will be established in due course of time.

Coordinator of the programme Professor Muhammad Mahboob Ali Post Doctorate(Entrepreneurship) commented that this program is designed to putting emphasis on developing industry need based and pro people centric development of the economy of Bangladesh with bench marking of global exposure.

In future at undergraduate level the program may start for youth entrepreneurs, employment opportunity and giving soft skill emphasis, Dr. Ali also added.

The duration of the programme is 1.6 years and total 13 courses related to entrepreneurial economics.
Among others, faculty member Rehena Parvin also attended the programme.

The DScE earlier introduced Post Graduate Diploma in Enterprise Development programme aiming to develop new entrepreneurs in Bangladesh.

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