Young entrepreneurs amaze many

They were excited for obvious reasons, but at the same time their innovative business ideas amazed many.
The Surma hall of Sonargaon Hotel was literarily too small to provide the encaustic young entrepreneurs with enough space, and with the announcement of the Young Entrepreneur Award 2008-09, the hall was about to be exploded with thundering claps and whistles.
Finance minister AMA Muhith congratulated the winners and all other participants of the competition, organised by Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Bangladesh. HSBC chief executive officer in Bangladesh Sanjay Prakash and marketing and communications head Mustafizur Rahman also spoke on the occasion.
The main attraction was the results of the competition. Among seven finalist teams, the team from International Business Administration named Viva La Vida bagged the top position to go to Hong Kong to compete with the winners from other regions. The IBA team secured the gold title with their ‘Water Wise’ project that suggested using rainwater to solve the water-crisis of mega-city, Dhaka. People in many parts of the world even in the developed countries, however, have been using rainwater for a long time to meet their daily needs.
Another IBA team, CMPI, achieved the second title with their project on cassava production and its use for making oral re-hydration saline and cheaper food items. Cassava is a major source of crobohydrade for the Pacific islanders including the people of Fiji and Tonga.
A team from the business studies faculty of Dhaka University secured the bronze title. The team, the Spartans BD, got the award for their waste converter project that advised rolling degradable municipal waste into petroleum and biogas. Some international oil and power companies earlier expressed their interest in this area to produce electricity for the Dhaka city consumers by using organic waste.
All the three winners received cash prices from HSBC. They will also get a weeklong study trip to Hong Kong.
HSBC Bangladesh selected the teams in phases. At the first phase, the bank’s staff visited different universities and invited student teams to submit their business ideas for the competition. Over 215 teams sent submissions from all over Bangladesh and 34 teams were selected for the second round. Only seven teams were selected for the final round.
The teams made separate presentations, detailing their business proposals, merit and depth of business concepts, commercial viability and innovation.

Courtesy of NewAgebd