The Leadership
SAJEEB WAZED JOY
Adviser to Honorable Prime minister of ICT Affairs
Sajeeb Wazed Joy, is a ICT Consultant and political campaigner. He is the son of Sheikh Hasina, the Honorable Prime Minister, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, and the eldest grandson of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first President of Bangladesh. A member of the Awami League, He was a key figure in formulating the party’s vision 2012 manifesto. He is currently serving as the Honorable Prime Minister’s Information and Communication Technology Affairs Adviser.
Sajeeb Wazed Joy graduated with a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in the United States and attended the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he earned his Masters in Public Administration degree.
In 2007, Sajeeb Wazed Joy was selected by the World Economic Forum in Davos as one of the “250 Young Global Leaders of the World”. The forum cited his role as Advisor to the President of the Bangladesh Awami League.
On 25 February 2009, Sajeeb Wazed Joy officially joined the Awami League as a primary member of the Rangpur district unit of the party.
Within days of joining the Awami League as a primary member, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, in his capacity as an IT policy analyst, unveiled the concept paper and action plan for the government’s ambitious “Digital Bangladesh” scheme; to develop a strong ICT industry in Bangladesh and initiate e-governance and IT education on a mass scale.
The Leadership
Zunaid Ahmed Palak
Hon’ble state Minister
Zunaid Ahmed Palak was born on 17 May 1980 Singra under Natore dristrict. Mr. Faiz Uddin Ahmed and Ms. Zamila Ahmed are his parents. His father was an active political activist being inspired by the ideology of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Being the then General Secretary of the Singra upazila unit of Bangladesh Awami League, he played an important role as one of the organizers of the great war of independence in the Chalan beel area.
Mr. Palak passed SSC examination from the Singra Damdama Pilot School and College in 1995 securing first division (with star marks and letter marks in five papers) and HSC examination from the Rajshahi Govenment College in 1997 securing first division (with letter marks in two papers). He obtained Bachelor degree, Master degree in Political Science and LLB from the National University of Bangladesh. Then, he started his career as a professional lawyer in the Natore District Judge’s Court and now he is a member of the Bangladesh Supreme Court Bar Council. He successfully completed a Capstone course from the National Defense College (NDC) in Dhaka.
He was very conspicuous in different co-curricular activities, like debate, recitation, impromtouspreech and sports. He obtained several prestigious awards in different seasonal competitions held at the district and divisional levels. During his student life, he performed music on many occasions. He was simultaneously an efficient sports organizer and a talented sportsperson. While studying in class VI, he established “Durdom” (indomitable) club that was turned into a center of sports and socio-cultural activities of the children from his locality. He was greatly inspired by the scouting movement of Robert Baden-Powell during his school life. He participated in the 1st Asia Pacific Jamboree held in Mouchak, Gazipur in 1994 as the team leader. He is one of the advisers of BPL franchisee ‘Duronto Rajshahi’.
After passing HSC exam, he avoided the temptation to study in a famous institution. Instead, he got admitted in a local college with a view to stand by his community in their will and woe and commenced his political career by joining Bangladesh Students’ League, a forum with a very reach tradition in students’ movement and politics. He was elected VP of the Gol-e-Afroze Govt. College Students’ Union at the age of 18 years. Later on, he joined Bangladesh Awami League, a party that led the nation for its independence.
Mr. Palak got nomination from Bangladesh Awami League for the national election held in 2008 and was elected Member of Parliament by a huge margin at the age of 28 years. He was the youngest Member of Parliament (MP) in the ninth parliament. He played an active role as a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on ICT Ministry. He was also a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Private Members’ Bill during the ninth parliament. Besides, he was a Co-convener of the All Party Parliamentary Committee on Climate Change.
He became a member of the Executive Committee of central Awarmi League in 2012 at the age of 32 years. In the national election held on 5 January 2014, he contested in a participatory election and elected Member of Parliament for second consecutive term with overwhelming support from the people of his constituency. Afterwards, Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina included Mr. Palak in her new Cabinet. He was sworn in as a Minister of State on 12 January 2014 at the age of 33 years and 8 months. Now, he is the youngest member in the Cabinet.
Mr. Palak is happily married to Ms. Arifa Jesmin, who did her Master of Science in Psychology and is a lecturer. They are blessed with three sons: Apurbo Zunaid, Aarjan Zunaid and Anirban Zunaid. He participated in the UN General Assembly as a member of state delegation and visited several countries across the globe as part of different official visits, summits, seminar, workshops and training programs. All sorts of modern technologies, especially ICT, law and governance, environment, music and arts are among his fields of interest. He undertook a special campaign of aforestation in his constituency in 2010. As part of the campaign, he distributed more than five hundred thousand saplings among general people. In recognition, he has been given National Environment Award by the Honorable Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.
about us
Background
Venture capital investments spur innovation, create employment, and make significant contribution to economic growth. With our population growing, globalization rapidly changing international business climate and sometimes making it uncertain, a culture of innovation can provide its own energy for Bangladesh by affording us opportunities for our young entrepreneurs. Where done correctly, the impact of government intervention in fostering an innovation economy in have successfully created venture capital ecosystems in many countries. The government of Bangladesh hopes to replicate similar success by founding Startup Bangladesh that will catapult its young generation of entrepreneurs to the next level who can accelerate the pace of innovation and lead the economy to a self-sustained path to growth. With this in mind Startup Bangladesh aims to pursue the following goals:
» Create an accelerator and its accompanying ecosystem of entrepreneurs, investors, mentors, advisors to promote Bangladesh as a global hub for tech entrepreneurship.
» Actively collaborate with entrepreneurs, industry, academia, financial institutions, and government to stimulate innovation.
» Create the appropriate business, operational and regulatory frameworks to support bold dreams.
Mission & Vission
Create a national entrepreneurship platform to enable Bangladesh to innovate faster, create new opportunities, develop technical skills and help realize the vision of Digital Bangladesh.
Through iDEA (Innovation, Design & Entrepreneurship Academy) create an Accelerator and its accompanying eco-system. Offer mentoring, funding, co-working spaces, marketing and legal support to selected startup entrepreneurs to help realize their visions. Create Industry/Academia/Government partnerships to stimulate innovation, sustain transformational efforts. Promote Bangladesh as a global hub for novel startups, and create the appropriate regulatory framework to support bold dreams.
Through iDEA Accelerator the government will nurture innovative ideas in the areas of Education, Agriculture, Health, Financial Services, eCommerce, eGovernance, Environment, Transport, and Infrastructure. Evaluate concepts based on potential impact, execution strategy, and public benefit.
Startup Bangladesh – Your Vision, Our Future.
Service
Mentoring
Startup Bangladesh – iDEA provides mentoring to its portfolio startups. Startup Bangladesh – iDEA has a pool of expert mentors. The mentor’s pool consists of national and international industry leaders, university professors, angel investors, successful entrepreneurs and specific field experts.
Legal and IP support
Startup Bangladesh – iDEA guides and helps startups to protect their legal and intellectual property rights. If needed the startups can also seek supports from Startup Circle members.
Academic Programs
The iDEA academy provides different courses to train up entrepreneurs working in different industries. The academy provides long term and short-term courses in different levels considering entrepreneur’s need. Workshops and training programs are also arranged regularly.
Networking
As the central hub of the startup ecosystem of Bangladesh, Startup Bangladesh – iDEA collaborates with national and international stakeholders who are working with startups. Startup Circle is created to foster the collaboration among the member organization. Match making sessions between startups and investors are arranged regularly.
Coworking Space
Startup Bangladesh – iDEA has a great coworking space for startups. 51 desks have been furnished for the startups. Startups can also use the meetings rooms and other facilities created by the project.
Funding
Startup Bangladesh – iDEA provides pre-seed (idea), seed and growth stage fund to startups. Pre-seed or idea stage startups can apply for grant which is up to 10 Lakhs BDT. Seed and growth stage startups can apply for investment. For seed stage the investment can be up to 1 Crore BDT and for growth stage startups it can be up to 5 Crore BDT. The growth stage startups may raise several rounds from us. The investment process and amount depend on the valuation and due diligence of the startups. And, all the funds are given in tranches.
Lab Support
Startup Bangladesh – iDEA has created a state-of-the-art lab facility for the startups. Startups can test their product or service and get expert opinion.
