The ICT Division is working to create 5 more billion dollar startups in the country by 2025. ICT State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak conveyed this information while speaking as the Chairman at the final result announcement ceremony of the third round of Bangabandhu Innovation Grant-BIG at Osmani Auditorium in the capital on Saturday.
At the same time, the ICT State Minister said that he will submit the ‘Startup Policy’ to the Prime Minister within a few days to build the startup eco-system; ‘fund of funds’; and will offer StartUp Bangladesh to be a ‘guarantor’ in risk sharing.
Zunaid Ahmed Palak thanked to E-GP’, and said tender boxes are not robbed in Bangladesh now, local organizations too have been transformed into global organizations with this solution.
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 Division’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 been given Tk. 10 lakh grants 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.
Prime Minister’s Private Investment Adviser Salman Fazlur Rahman was the chief guest at the event.
While speaking as the special guest, the senior secretary of the ICT Division 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.
Also, Bangladesh Computer Council Executive Director Ranjit Kumar and StartUp Bangladesh Managing Director Sami Ahmed 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 2041. 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.