State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak has declared young entrepreneurs and innovators as pioneers of Digital Bangladesh. He said, they will build an innovative Bangladesh through High-tech parks only after passing higher secondary without going to higher education. And these entrepreneurs will give the necessary services to the country and the world through Bangabandhu Innovation Grant (BIG).
The state minister said this at the Bangabandhu Innovation Grant (BIG) 2021 virtual press conference on Wednesday.
He said, in today’s Corona pandemic situations, entrepreneurs are delivering services to people’s homes. Startups like E-valy have set a precedent for success. They have now promised to invest Taka 5 crore for startups. Walton has also crossed the country’s border and is now registering in Silicon Valley.
Large groups are now interested in angel investments, he said, adding that free co-working space is being provided for six months in every High-tech park in the country to enable entrepreneurs to grow. Startup Bangladesh is building an entrepreneurial campus to develop young people across the country as entrepreneurs. He added, “We have seen in recent times that new innovations are playing an important role in establishing a self-reliant Bangladesh.”
Addressing the young entrepreneurs, the state minister also said that instead of telling ‘highly educated people takes a car, rather we should tell now that the entrepreneurs build cars.’
At the beginning of the press conference, the state minister introduced the sponsors. E-Valley CEO Mohammad Russell, Walton Digitech DMD Engineer Md Liakat Ali and Startup Bangladesh Managing Director Tina F. Jabin spoke on the occasion.
The iDEA Project Director Abdur Rakib gave a welcome speech on this press meet while NM Zeaul Alam, senior Secretory of ICT department was also present at that time.
BIG Coordinator Siddhartha Goswami presented details of the competition at the event presided over by Perth Pratim Dev, Executive Director, Bangladesh Computer Council.
He said the boot camp will start from June 12 to June 17 and the reality show will start with 65 startups announced today from June 20. And the gala event will be held in September.
It was informed at the event that after the campaign in 142 countries including Bangladesh in the BIG-2021 competition, more than 7,000 startups applied from home and abroad at the initial stage from where a total of 255 projects from 56 countries were selected at the international level. From there, the top 10 international startups have already been selected after two rounds of selection, who will go straight to the grand finale. On the other hand, startup selection at the domestic level is initially in two stages. In the first phase, 28 judges selected 286 local start-ups through 5 screening boards. 35 experienced public-private judges were divided into 6 panels and selected the best 75 startups from these startups.
And the portfolio of start-ups covered by the Idea project will be in the “BIG 2021 Grand Finale” with the top 10 start-ups, a total of 48 start-ups. In the end, the best start-up will receive a special award and a cash prize of one million US dollars. At the same time, 26 start-ups selected through this reality show and 10 winning start-ups selected from the international level will each get a grant of Taka 10 lakh under the Idea project.
