Business ideas win applause

A group of entrepreneurial students from three universities took home the top prizes in the inaugural 'Rise High Bangladesh' competition -- a joint initiative of The Daily Star and Crown Cement to hunt local business talents.

The three teams were selected out of 100 for the final round, where Brains of Castamere, a team from the Institute of Business Administration of Dhaka University, was adjudged the champion for its project proposal on bio-plastic goods, a material made from sugarcane.

The demand for bags and bottles made from biodegradable plastics stood at one million tonnes worldwide in 2015.

By 2018, the demand will quadruple as some countries like France have already made use of such goods mandatory for packaging fruits and vegetables.

The team said Bangladesh has huge potential in this field as the country produces sugarcane: about 5.5 million tonnes every year.

With an initial investment of Tk 182.7 crore, the team has targeted to produce 500 million pieces of plastic bottles and 750 million pieces of plastic bags in their factory in Comilla.

The products will be sold to garment and pharmaceutical companies as they need a lot of plastic for packaging export goods.

If the project is implemented properly, the team said that it will be able to cut carbon emission by 182.24 tonnes a year.

Inspirebels from North South University became first runner-up with its project on growing mushrooms on discarded paddy straw, as the demand for this edible item is on the rise globally.

The team members were inspired by the fact that 50 percent of the straw is discarded only for them to be burnt, and in doing so, creating air pollution.

They cited the case of Delhi, which was covered with thick smog recently after farmers 100 kilometres away from the Indian capital lit up the straw in the fields after harvesting of paddy.

The farmers burn the paddy straw in the fields in India for making the soil fertile.

In Bangladesh, 28 percent of the paddy straw is used as cattle fodder, 12 percent as domestic fuels and 10 percent for other purposes.

The team members said their project would reduce air pollution, create employment for hundreds of farmers and unemployed youths and alleviate food shortages as well as bring in foreign currency.

The demand for mushrooms, grown on paddy straw, is high in the Western world and some countries in Asia and this is the best time to grab the European, Russian and the US markets, they said.

The farmers at the grassroots level will get better prices for the straw, as the mushrooms would be collected from the farmers by the appointed dealers across the country, team members said.

Inspirebels said the export of edible mushrooms from the paddy straw has great potential because of trade benefits in the European Union and the Brexit.

The UK is the largest importer of mushrooms, and since it came out of the EU, it will not enjoy duty benefit on import of mushrooms from Poland.

So, the export of mushrooms from Bangladesh to the UK will increase, they said.

Team Unpredictable from Rajshahi University was the second runner-up for its project on farming edible insects to lessen food shortages, protect the environment and earn foreign currency.

The team members said the demand for edible insects in the Western world is on the rise. Primarily, they would make food items from crickets, mealworms and grasshoppers.

The farming of edible insects would also create an opportunity for employment, they said.

Around 10 crore people eat edible insects and its global market is worth $15.9 billion, they said, citing cricket flour, cricket pasta and grasshoppers' drink as some of the food products made from edible insects.

The export of edible insect will open up a new opportunity in agriculture and diversify the export basket, which is heavily dependent on garment.

The team said they have a plan to be the top exporter of edible insects worldwide, overtaking Thailand, the current leader.

They have the target to export $6 billion worth of edible insects within next five years.

The teams were awarded at a gala event held at Senamalancha in Dhaka on Saturday night.