Start-ups to get a boost from govt

The government is working on identifying ten start-up companies that could represent Bangladesh abroad.

To that end, the ICT Division launched a competition -- Connecting Startups Bangladesh -- in October last year, and received 400 applications.

A process to select the top ten start-ups began at an event at Krishibid Institution in the capital yesterday.

The winners will get space free of cost in the country's first software technology park at Janata Tower in Dhaka, and Tk 5 lakh each as seed money.

Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), and Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority (BHTPA) are supporting the initiative of the ICT Division.

Mobile operator Banglalink has joined the programme as the telecom partner while other partners are Fenox Venture Capital, GAP and Kizki. “Lots of Bangladeshi companies are well-known globally, but they are not registered as local firms,” Zunaid Ahmed Palak, the state minister for ICT, said at the event.

“We hope leading ICT companies of the future will emerge through this process,” Palak said.

The government has decided to brand Bangladesh as an ICT nation, he said, adding, “Through this process billions of dollars will be invested in Bangladesh.”

The scheme aims to create more than 1,000 start-up companies by 2021, he said.

In the first phase, 60 companies will be selected by April this year, and the top ten among those will be awarded by July.

The remaining 50 will also get space at Janata Tower, but they will have to pay for it.

Shyam Sunder Sikder, ICT secretary; Erik Aas, chief executive of Banglalink; Shameem Ahsan, president of BASIS, and Hosne Ara Begum, managing director of BHTPA, were also present.