Fabric Lagbe Limited and Marcopolo AI have jointly received the third Bangabandhu Innovation Grant-BIG amounting taka1 crore each. The top winners are: Robayet Farhan, a graduate of Bangladesh University of Engineering (BUET) and Tasfia Tasbin, a graduate of Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET). They are the two founders of Marcopolo AI, an artificial intelligence-based service provider in digital marketing. These two young people have been included in the list of ’30 Under 30 Asia 2023 ‘ of the world-famous magazine ‘Forbes’.
Among twin, other winners are Nazmul Islam, founder and co-founder Razia Sultana of the innovative venture Fabric Lagbe Limited. Nazmul holds a bachelor’s degree in mechatronics engineering from World University of Bangladesh and Razia Sultana holds a bachelor’s degree from Victoria College, Comilla.
In total, the best 52 startups received a grant of 7 crore taka in this event. Both parties received taka 1 crore as grant.
The grant winning enterprises include AgriSmart, Ant Suite, Aqualink Bangladesh Limited, Aykari Digital Limited, Bangla School Bd. Limited, Bazar365 Limited, KardiCare, Chad Bazar, Checkbox, DesiFarmer Limited, Digarma, Doctime Limited, Drip Irrigation Bd. Ltd, E-Irrigation, e-Ustad, Easy Go, Edu Assist- The Future of Inclusive Education, Engage, ePalli, Farmhouse BD, G-Widgets Smart Energy Management System (SEMS), GramShop, Hishabi Technologies Limited, Income, Interactive Cares, JRC Board, Agriculture Swapna, Lilac, Maverick Innovations, Mimba, MomiKids Ltd., More Tech BD, Cure HealthTech, Robotry Bangladesh, Riogas, Swasthya Seva, Shalbriksha Ltd., Somvob, Sacha AI, Active Technologies Ltd., Soul Share- Soul Mobility, Staffbase Limited, TechRev 4.0- Smart Factory (Technovas Limited), Toyland, Toyo, VR Bangla, Wonder Woman, West Bangladesh, Your Campus and Gynax Health Limited.
Prime Minister’s Private Investment Adviser Salman Fazlur Rahman handed over the prizes to the winners at MAG Osmani Auditorium in the capital. Before this, he urged to prepare to face the AI challenges from the school.
While speaking as the chief guest, he said, artificial technology, quantum computing is now bringing big challenges in front of us. So now we have to think whether to teach coding from the beginning or not. More thought needs to be given now to meet the challenges of the future.
On the occasion of the present youth, he also said, I am inspired by the youth. The youth of Bangladesh can only get a favorable environment. We must remember that our population is our greatest opportunity. Because population is not a liability it is our asset. But for a long time we have gone the other way. But in the meantime we have come out of the mentality of dependency and begging.
The advisor stressed the importance of outsourcing the training program in the ‘revenue’ model and said that it is not important what the foreigners are doing. What I am doing is important. We must have a clear conscience. The conscience of the Prime Minister is very clear. Whatever she is doing is doing for the welfare of the country.
State Minister of ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak mentioned that ‘thanks to E-GP’, tender boxes are not robbed in Bangladesh now, with this solution, local institutions have also been transformed into global institutions.
He also said that under the guidance of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Sajeeb Wazed Joy, creating party culture and creating opportunities, many cases have been ‘deregulated’ instead of being regulated.
Palak said that this initiative of ICT department’s entrepreneurial culture is based on the experience of visiting ‘We Work’ in the United States, a hub of successful initiatives like Uber.
He said, 30 percent of the 400 startups that have given grants of Tk. 10 lakh in the last six years are still alive. 10 percent of them advanced from the seed stage to the next stage. In the last two years, the market value of the companies invested in by Startup Bangladesh has doubled.
The State Minister also commented that the achievement of Digital Bangladesh is the result of the collective success of the ICT family.
The ‘Startup Policy’ to the Prime Minister within a few days to build the startup eco-system; ‘fund of funds’; Zunaid Ahmed Palak said that startup Bangladesh will offer to be a ‘guarantor’ in risk sharing.
He expected that Bangladesh will have another 5 billion dollar startup by 2025.
While speaking as the special guest, the senior secretary of the ICT department Samsul Arefin said that if any start-up initiative is possible, the ICT Division will be the guarantor for that initiative to come to the capital market. For this reason I have already discussed with the stock exchange authorities. Similarly, the ICT Division can be the guarantor for bank loans.
Bangladesh Computer Council Executive Director Ranjit Kumar and StartUp Bangladesh Managing Director Sami Ahmed also spoke at the event.
Sami Ahmed said, Bangladesh has achieved a lot in a short period of time. There will be 5 unicorns by 2025 and over 50 by 41. During the trial, it seems that those who did not win will invest in equity. There is no such thing as failure here. The whole thing is instructive. So this is not the end.
The iDEA project director Altaf Hossain delivered the welcome speech. Explaining the details of the competition, BIG co-coordinator Siddhartha Goswami said that 22 percent of the 77,000 applications submitted initially are women entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs have flown from not only the country but also from Canada to participate in this competition. So BIG is now a brand.
The event featured a presentation of a documentary on successful past grant initiatives ShopUp and Open Refactor and music presentation by Drik Band.