Steve Banner, chief executive officer of HSBC Bangladesh, distributed the prizes.

YEA is a region-based business plan writing competition, participated by students, which was initiated by HSBC six years ago in Hong Kong. This is for the first time that Bangladesh is taking part in the contest.

Earlier, for the local competition the HSBC invited university-level students' teams to submit a single page outline of their innovative business ideas.

Over 250 teams submitted proposals. Among the teams, 30 entered the second round and seven teams contested in the final round. In the final round, three teams of Dhaka University won gold, silver and bronze medals.

The three winning teams were also given away Tk50,000, Tk25,000 and Tk10,000 respectively as prize money. The bank will also arrange for them weeklong study tours of Hong Kong and China.

The champion team will participate in the YEA regional contest to compete for the 'Best of the Best Awards' in June 2007 in Hong Kong.

Students from Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Hong Kong will also take part in the contest.

Steve Banner at the function said HSBC is proud to give the students an access to a regional competition that will allow them to showcase their innovation and creativity.

Ziaulhuq Mamun, director of Institute of Business Administration of Dhaka University, and Mustafizur R Khan, head of Marketing of HSBC, among others, were present.