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BYLC Ventures: Cohort 3 announce three winning startups
BYLC Ventures: Cohort 3 announced three startups as winners on Sunday.
The three winning teams are Interactive Cares, an edtech company, KhaniDani, a food delivery company and Tunibibi, a global logistics platform.
The three winning teams will receive seed funding of Taka 800,000 with the option of an additional Taka 1,500,000 as scale-up funding.
READ: Climate action: BYLC holds World Environment Day Creative Competition
Along with it, the winning teams will gain access to a world-class business accelerator program, in-house mentoring and networking support, legal and virtual CFO support, as well as a co-working space in Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center's (BYLC) Mohakhali office with rigorous leadership training.
Two teams, Dhaka Game Studio and Ministry of Codes, were given honorary mentions and will receive mentorship and training support from BYLC Ventures.
BYLC Ventures opened applications for Cohort 3 on March 15, 2021, and received hundreds of applications from numerous sectors and industries from all over Bangladesh.
READ: BYLC launches Volunteer Awards 2021
From May 4, more than 200 founders from 105 shortlisted startups took part in a six-day-long, intensive and interactive virtual boot camp.
After the boot camp session, 20 startups were selected for the thrilling final jury session.
The selected winning teams will join BYLC Ventures’ existing portfolio of 13 startups from the last two cohorts.
Read BYLC Ventures holds its largest virtual bootcamp to date
BYLC launches Volunteer Awards 2021
Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC) has launched the BYLC Volunteer Awards 2021 to recognize the contributions of individuals and organisations working for social issues within their communities.
The awards aim to foster a spirit of community service and active citizenship among youth,
while promoting exemplary practices in community leadership. Through this award, BYLC
hopes to encourage partnerships between youth change makers, community members, and
other stakeholders to contribute in achieving the government’s vision of SDGs by 2030, said a BYLC press release.
Individuals and organisations who have positively impacted the community through their
outstanding contributions are eligible to apply to
the BYLC Volunteers Awards 2021.
READ: Climate action: BYLC holds World Environment Day Creative Competition
Individual change makers will be awarded in the categories of: Inclusivity, Community Leader, Emerging Leader, and Action Against Anti-social Behavior. For organisations, the award category is Social Innovation.
Contributions of applicants will be evaluated in six criteria: role, impact, reach, engagement,
challenges, and inspiration.
READ: BYLC to host Youth Leadership Summit 2021
To apply for BYLC Volunteer Awards 2021, applicants need to fill out and submit the registration form by July 25, 2021.
Shammi Quddus: A Talented Bangladeshi Woman in Google, Global Fintech Industry
Shammi Quddus, Google's product manager and co-founder of Bangladesh's first leadership organization- BYLC (Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center), grew up in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The mother of two has already received MBA and MPAID degrees from Stanford GSB and Harvard Kennedy School respectively. Shammi went to America to study with a scholarship and graduated in environmental engineering from MIT. She is currently living in Sunnyvale, California with her husband and children.
Her reputation precedes her astonishing contributions to the fintech industry. Ignoring the patriarchal system, she has firmly established her position as a woman in the international technology sector. Let's find out the success story of this talented woman.
Gaining the opportunity to study at MIT
MIT has opened the door of possibilities in front of Shammi Quddus. Generally, it is very difficult for any girl from a middle-class family in Bangladesh to go abroad to study. Even then, Shammi was able to overcome all obstacles due to the positive attitude of her parents who were teachers. Going beyond the so-called rules, she mastered martial arts despite being a South Asian girl. She holds black belts in Karate and Taekwondo.
By the way, she moved to the United States with a scholarship. Traveled to different big cities. After all, instead of going for a conventional profession, she chooses a profession with her own choice.
Despite the contemporaneous adversity towards women, she was able to do so because of her family's support and self-confidence, and will-force.
In high school, she passed the SAT One and Two exams. She then applied to 14 American universities for scholarships. Shammi received scholarships from most of these universities. And she immediately chose MIT, the university of her dreams.
Read: The World's 10 Self-made Youngest Billionaires in 2021
Joining in end-user engagement
After doing a BSc in Environmental Engineering from MIT, Shammi first started working as an engineer in the multinational infrastructural engineering firm ECOM. Here she had to engage in theoretical activities like data analysis. But Shammi's desire was to involve himself in some work that directly affects people's lives. As a result, she started working with the Bangladesh team of Waterhealth International in 2011.
At that time the team was working on drinking water management in Chittagong. She then worked with Jeeon, a start-up social organization in the health and technology sector in Bangladesh. Through her, Jeeon's first telemedicine product entered Bangladesh. At this time, the Projotno mobile telemedicine service implemented by her has won the USAID M4D Award as the most innovative mobile app service of the year in South Asia.
Emerging as an entrepreneur
In early 2008, Shammi Quddus, along with her husband Ejaz Ahmed, formed the Young Leadership-Based Program (BYLC) with an aim of exchanging views of English, Bengali, and Arabic medium students and promoting active citizenship. During this time she won a highly competitive collegiate social innovation grant from MIT called the Davis Projects for Peace, which provided initial funding for BYLC. She developed partnerships and a curriculum. She ensured the participation of students in the program, 93% of whom have completed graduation. As a result, the program became the country's top leadership institute.
Based on this, Shammi has had to play the necessary role in setting up many start-ups by working in various multinational consultancy firms. She has been involved in a variety of activities, including negotiating with marginal consumers, marketing campaigns, dealing with landowners, bringing in electricity approvals, and arranging recruitments.
Read: Top 10 Co-working Spaces in Dhaka
Journey of Shammi Quddus as a Google employee
Shammi feels a deep urge to work in the development sector. So she did MBA to gain knowledge about leadership and economic planning. On the other hand, the MPA ended up acquiring skills in policymaking in various public and private sectors. Then came the call from Google Inc.
At first, she worked for a year and a half as Customer Insights Manager. Then join as the product manager of the payment platform team. It is the responsibility of this team to complete all types of Google monetization processes. This means that all types of financial transactions of customers with Google take place through them. They have to ensure the use of Google products like YouTube, Maps, Ads, Play Store, AdSense, etc. all over the world.
As a product manager, Shammi has to advise programmers on designing technical implementations for each product by understanding user needs, technical feasibility, regulatory restrictions, revenue impact, Google's goals.
Read: Taxation of Bangladeshi Freelancers in 2021
The pioneer of women leadership in the 21st century
Shammi thinks that in any organization, it is necessary to maintain equality of men and women in high positions as well as to recruit an equal number of men and women at the primary level. Gender discrimination will be eliminated if men and women are treated equally at all levels, not just in the workplace.
As in Bangladesh, women do not get the opportunity to play sports, so they suffer from an inferiority complex. But Shammi was very interested in martial arts and took Karate training in Chittagong at the age of 16 and got a black belt. She even became a champion at the divisional and national levels. As well as studying, she became more confident as a result of such outdoor activities. While at MIT, she took Taekwondo training and won a black belt in four years.
Besides career, Shammi also gives equal importance to family life. According to Shammi, the decisions have to be made depending on the situation. Sometimes after giving 80 percent, you will get 20 percent. Giving 20% again will give 80% profit. And it results to keep a balance in life.
Read: Top 10 Free Online Digital Marketing Courses in 2021
The challenges on the way to her success
Shammi's biggest challenge was getting a full free scholarship to MIT. And even after these 15 years, she still remembers the efforts to get that scholarship. The joy of finally getting MIT's positive emails seen in the inbox never fades.
Then it was very difficult for Shammi to study in two completely different places like Harvard and Stanford in different environments. Because maintaining contact with her husband and children and continuing her studies was like crossing the Himalayas for her. Ejaz Ahmed, the founder of BYLC, was by her side at that time.
Final Word
Shammi Quddus now dreams of creating new products in the financial technology industry in the future. However, more participation of Bangladeshi women is needed in this regard. Everyone should come forward to create technology-based services as much as possible from their place. Creativity can be born if a good work environment is created. And only then will welfare be achieved for the greater good.
Read Legendary Women in Bangladesh with Pioneering Contribution in Diverse Fields
BYLC to host Youth Leadership Summit 2021
Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC) will host a four-day-long Youth Leadership Summit 2021 from August 4 to 7.
The Summit aims at mobilizing youth to take a step forward in building a country that provides equitable opportunities for all citizens, not just for the privileged few.
The virtual summit, supported by MJF and UK aid, will bring together 400 youth selected from all over the country.
Read Global Youth Climate Summit 2021 urges pressing actions to combat climate change
Participants will have the opportunity to network, learn, and practice adaptive leadership and 21st century life skills, and design initiatives that can help create an inclusive Bangladesh.
BYLC will accept applications for the summit until June 12, to apply and more information visit- https://bylc.org/yls2021/.
"In 2021, Bangladesh celebrated the golden jubilee of independence and also qualified to graduate into a developing nation from the LDC status after 45 years,” said Imran Chowdhury, senior manager operations and RME, BYLC.
READ: BYLC Ventures holds its largest virtual boot camp to date
“However, to prepare us well for the transition and ensure an inclusive sustainable development harnessing the demographic dividend of our country, we need to empower the youth and ensure inclusiveness and equality in society”, he said.
This year, delegates at the summit will be listening to the voices of marginalized youth for crafting solutions together to achieve inclusivity in terms of opportunities to work, exercising equal rights, and access to better health, livelihood, education, and skills development within society.
Read BYLC hosts graduation ceremony
BYLC Ventures holds its largest virtual bootcamp to date
BYLC Ventures held a six-day-long virtual bootcamp with more than 200 founders from 105 selected startups from May 4-9, 2021. From 105 startups, the top 30 will be selected to go forward in the final round.
From the final group of 30 startups, the jury will select 5 startups who will receive seed funding of BDT 800,000 with the option of an additional BDT 1,500,000 as scale-up funding. The start-ups will also gain access to a world-class business accelerator program, in-house mentoring and networking support, legal and virtual CFO support, as well as a co-working space in BYLC’s Mohakhali office.
Also read: BYLC Ventures opens applications for 3rd cohort
These chosen start-ups will also receive rigorous leadership training.
The intensive and interactive bootcamp sessions covered various aspects of developing a start-up idea - from identifying a real problem in society, refining the start-up’s solution for the problem, to making an understanding of the customer persona and demographics of whom to offer the solution.
Also read: BYLC Ventures holds virtual entrepreneurship bootcamp
Sessions also enlightened the diverse audience of Bangladesh-based founders on the art of storytelling for business, developing a go-to-market strategy, preparing and presenting accurate financial data and forecasts, the local legal and regulatory infrastructures to navigate, and effective methods for user research and customer feedback. The sessions were supplemented with workshops where founders worked with the facilitators to iterate their business model and develop their pitch decks.
Fighting plastic pollution: EcoVia working to transform RMG waste
EcoVia, a biodegradable plastic manufacturing startup, is working to combat plastic pollution by offering environmentally friendly alternatives. The organization uses plant-based waste, such as apparel and paper waste, to make bioplastics.
Plastic is responsible for polluting water bodies and soil, and for disrupting the ecological balance. The main reason behind this destruction is the non-biodegradable nature of plastic.
One plastic bottle takes 450 years to decompose if left on the earth or ocean. However, biodegradable products take much less time to decompose and do not harm the ecological balance.
Also read: Jute: The Greenest Alternative to Plastic Bags
Moreover, with each kilogram of plastic produced, 6 kg carbon is released into the environment, leading to an increase in global warming.
So, a group of three came together in 2019 to launch EcoVia to fight plastic pollution. They developed new products but were not satisfied with what they achieved.
Finally, the group came up with the idea of making cellulosic bioplastic from cotton-based garments wastage. However, they did not have any capital to establish the company.
The group invested their money from part-time work, pocket money, prize money from small-scale business competitions into their startup. They scoured the market to identify the feasibility and viability of the product.
Also read: BYLC Ventures holds virtual entrepreneurship bootcamp
The trio put in all their effort, time, and resources into this project. Finally, it bore fruit when they were able to prove that per kilogram of their bioplastic product would save around 5.5 kg of carbon footprint, as the product completely decomposes in a matter of 150 days.
Through their impactful idea, they achieved success in multiple business and entrepreneurial competitions. They were elected as one of the South Asian regional winners of Climate Launchpad as well as being selected as one of the winners of cohort 1 of BYLC Ventures.
These competitions gave them a decent runway to operate on but they are constantly striving towards improving their product and gaining funds to grow their company.
"The world is becoming more aware and cautious of climate change and plastic pollution. So, fortunately, the acceptance and demand for products like EcoVia are on the rise," Rashik Hassan, co-founder of EcoVia, said.
"We are always trying to improve our existing product and also wish to introduce new product lines as well as ensure good revenue for our investors."
Read Global Youth Climate Summit 2021 urges pressing actions to combat climate change
'Only 50% youth consider climate change as current problem'
A study of Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC) and the Centre for Urban Studies (CUS) has found that while 97% of Bangladeshi youth are aware of climate change but only 50% perceive this as a current problem.
BYLC’s webinar on International Women’s Day Saturday
Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC), the country’s first leadership institute, will organize a webinar titled ‘Covid-19 crisis and way out : Story of Women Leadership’, marking the International Women’s Day on Saturday.