Team Empower, the Women in Tech Champion
Team Empower won this year's Women in Tech award with their business idea of providing safe and healthy drinking water to city dwellers by installing rooftop solar panels. The first runner-up was Terra Bin and the second runner-up was Solnet.
Led by IUT-BTM student Mahmuda Naeem with project 'Dhara' in the competition, the five-member champion team members are Pushpita Khan (IUT- EEE), Prima Sarkar (BRAC University, CSE), Bushra Hasan (East West University EEE) and Labiba Tariq (BRAC University, EEE).
Project member Pushpita Khan said that if solar panels are installed on the roof of a four-storey house and this project is started, it will cost 2 lakhs in the beginning. Besides, if there are four units in that house, then a service charge of Tk 400 will be collected from each unit. Through this safe and healthy drinking water can be provided in Dhaka city. This project is a cost-effective solution of eco-friendly technology for high-rise buildings under construction in cities and suburbs.
State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak handed over the prizes to the winners at the grand finale held at a hotel in the capital on Tuesday night. While speaking as the chief guest, the state minister said that those who did not win today may be somewhat saddened. But I can also get innovation grant as a startup for all participants. Ideas should be presented to the Innovation Design and Entrepreneurship Academy. According to the Prime Minister's new vision, we plan to make our government faceless, corruption-free, automated, inter-operable, paperless to build a problem-solving generation. Half of women have the opportunity to participate in our smart society.
Palak also said, we hope that next year Huawei will manufacture their brand laptops in Bangladesh. At the same time, I would be more than happy if Huawei introduces a Research and Development (R&D) center in Bangladesh where our women engineers will make a special contribution. Similarly, for the next 17 years, the Chinese government will support and stand by Bangladesh in the implementation of the Smart Bangladesh vision.
Among others, BTRC Chairman Engineer Mohiuddin Ahmed, Member of Parliament Zara Jabin Mahbub, UNESCO Bangladesh Representative Sujan Vaiz, IUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Mohammad Rafiqul Islam and Huawei South Asia CEO Pan Jun Feng spoke on the occasion.
Mr. Yao Wen, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Bangladesh, said, “I would like to thank Huawei for its contribution to the development of women and the strengthening of bilateral cooperation between China and Bangladesh using digital and communication technologies. Through today's program, we have seen how much potential women have in the ICT sector in Bangladesh."
Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Zara Jabeen Mahbub, MP, said. “Programs like Huawei's 'Women in Tech' are very important for our country. They encourage the current generation of talented female students to showcase their skills and prepare themselves to become qualified professionals in the future. I am particularly happy to see that more than 750 women students participated in this competition. The success of this first edition will undoubtedly attract more female students in the years to come.”
BTRC Chairman Engineer Md. Mohiuddin Ahmed said, “The two main agendas of the present government are digital progress and women empowerment. Under the leadership of our Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, we have achieved unprecedented progress in both areas in the past years. We want to ensure 25 percent female participation in the ICT sector by 2026 and 50 percent by 2041. A program like Huawei's 'Women in Tech' is particularly significant because of its close association with the initiative.”
Head of UNESCO office and representative in Bangladesh Dr. Suzanne Vaiz said, “The young women who participated in this year's Women in Tech show that they have great potential in Bangladesh's technology industry, which will also serve to achieve the goals of Smart Bangladesh. Such programs strengthen the future leadership potential of women in the ICT sector as well as create a role model for newcomers. Huawei's commitment to advancing women is what creates this wonderful opportunity.”
IUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Mohammad Rafiqul Islam said, “This program is a reflection of women empowerment. The competition will help create a future where women lead the development of technological innovation as well as foster collaboration between women in this field. This initiative is really commendable. I extend my heartiest congratulations to all the winners.”
Pan Junfeng, President of Huawei South Asia and CEO of Huawei Bangladesh said, “The Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has emphasized on increasing the participation of women in the ICT sector to 25% by 2026 and has set a target of 50% participation of women professionals in the sector by 2041. As a technology company, we focus on talent and skill development, internships and jobs for women in Bangladesh. We give special importance to the fact that women can advance in the professional field by increasing their talent and skills. Our 'Women in Tech' competition provides business and technical training to women students and staff to enhance their knowledge and skills. We will continue our efforts to develop the ICT talent of women.”
For the first time as a strategic partner of Huawei, UNESCO Bangladesh was the partner of this competition under the motto 'Take for Her, Take by Her, Take with Her'. Out of 750 participants in the competition, 18 finalists were selected. At this stage there were two types of competition – single and team. Team-based ideas are selected based on how new solutions are possible using ICT and their potential for business success. The business idea of 'Terra Bin', which won the competition as the first runner-up without a champion team, was how to turn waste into resources using solar composters and other technologies. The second runner-up team 'Solnet' worked on how to easily and cost-effectively build and operate solar plants using cloud technology and apps.
The champion, 1st and 2nd runner-up teams received prize money worth Tk 3 lakh, Tk 2 lakh and Tk 1 lakh respectively. They can use this money to implement their plans.
Besides, four contestants won individually due to their special performances. The winners are Kaysari Ferdous, student of EEE department of Dhaka University, Mahmuda Naeem, graduate of Islamic University of Technology, Sumaiya Tariq Labiba, design verification engineer of SBIT Limited and Safrina Kabir, student of EEE department of Islamic University of Technology. These winners will get a chance to travel to China to get an idea of the country's start-up ecosystem.
