Dhaka, Jul 27 (Bureau) Speakers at a webinar called for collaboration between the start-ups of Bangladesh and India for building a stellar regional start-up ecosystem. They remarked while addressing the webinar titled “Shotoborshe Shotoasha | Rise Up” in the capital. Startup Bangladesh Ltd. organized the event in partnership with the Indian High Commission in Dhaka and StartUp India on Monday night. To commemorate Mujib Borsho, the Golden Jubilee of Bangladesh & 75th anniversary of India’s Independence, Startup Bangladesh Limited hosted the first session of six-part webinar series titled “Startup Landscape in Bangladesh & India: Tech Startups Transforming the Future”.
State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak and Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Doraiswami jointly inaugurated the webinar. Startup Bangladesh Limited, Bangladesh’s flagship venture capital fund under the ICT Ministry, earlier launched its inaugural campaign “ShotoBorshe Shoto Asha-Century of Million Dreams” in March 2021 with a commitment to invest Tk. 100 crore in 50 start-ups this year. In continuation of this initiative, Startup Bangladesh is undertaking various programs throughout the year, one of which is the webinar series featuring six sessions over the next six months. This series is also being supported by Startup India, Bangladesh Startup Consortium, BD-AIR, & Economic Reporters’ Forum of Bangladesh. Speaking at the event as the chief guest, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, MP, called on young start-ups from India to visit Bangladesh so that we can arrange a B2B match making session. If direct contact not possible now, we can arrange digital matchmaking so that 50 start-ups from Bangladesh and 50 start-ups from India selected by Startup India can have a B2B exchange tour, he said. Indian High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami told that in the next 6 months, the RiseUp platform will bring together mentors, innovators, entrepreneurs and investors from India and Bangladesh.
He hoped that the platform will facilitate an effective cross-learning opportunity that will benefit talented entrepreneurs from both the countries, especially young innovators. The Indian envoy observed that the RiseUp series could facilitate such linkages to jumpstart tangible cooperation. Tina Jabeen, Managing Director and CEO of Startup Bangladesh, said that Startup Bangladesh looks forward to collaborating with Startup India in building a stellar regional startup ecosystem. The inauguration was followed by a panel discussion on Startup landscape in Bangladesh & India: how tech startups are transforming the future with innovation in this region. Moderated by Bijon Islam, Co-founder & CEO, LightCastle Partners, notable speakers included Rahat Ahmed, Founding Partner & CEO, Anchorless Bangaldesh; Waseem Alim, Co-founder & CEO, Chaldal; Sharad Sharma, Co-founder, iSPIRT Foundation; Yamini Bhushan Pandey, CEO, AIC – Indian School of Business, Mohali.