“FLP is more than just a reality show”

The third edition of television reality show “The Future Leaders Programme (FLP)” will go on floor soon. Future Leaders Limited, UK and Channel i have been organising the programme engaging graduates from business and technology disciplines from different public and private universities of Bangladesh.

The show, first of its kind in Bangladesh, received positive response from participants, universities and concerned business firms. Also, the winning contestants were rewarded with a number of scholarships in different universities in Europe.

Ahead of the announcement of the third season of FLP, Taslim Ahmed, one of the two judges of the contest and Head of Corporate Communications and Public Relations of Citycell, spoke to The Daily Star. Excerpts:   
As a jury member, how would you evaluate the success of this programme?
Taslim Ahmed: It's a completely youth-centric platform which aims at creating real-life professional experiences for the participants through firsthand experience. Conventionally, a reality show rewards the winners with money but we provide the youths with something more valuable. Instead of name and fame, they get scholarships in different universities of Europe to build up their future.

Why did it create a positive vibe among the youths?
Taslim Ahmed: In Bangladesh, a fresh graduate barely has practical knowledge about professional environment, since universities focus on theoretical knowledge. This show challenges participants with real tasks and helps them know how a brand is promoted. They make plans on their own and come up with ideas to implement their project. This is how they fill up the gap between practical and theoretical knowledge. That's why this is more than just a reality show.

Tell us about the development of the programme.
Taslim Ahmed: From the second season, we opened the show for science and ICT graduates. They get different tasks in accordance with their background. When we made a change in the tasks, we had guest judges who are experts in the respective fields. During the grand finale of the last season, CEOs of a number of organisations were present. They are interested in contributing to the show. They also offered a few participants on-the-spot job placements.     

Any upcoming changes to the platform?
Taslim Ahmed: In the first and second season, we provided participants with different forms of scholarships in some of the most prominent European universities. But from this time onwards, we are planning to omit partial scholarships and short courses. Instead, we will try to provide full time scholarship along with job placements. Also, there are plans to create linkage with North American and Australian universities for scholarships. In addition, we have plans to gradually incorporate graduates from other disciplines to make it a universal platform.