GBG Sonargaon hosts “GDay 2018 Bangladesh” at NSU
"GDay 2018 Bangladesh: Entrepreneurial success through technology and leadership skills" was held at North South University (NSU) on February 9, 2018. Engaging directly with over 600 participants, the programme was the largest of its kind held in Bangladesh.
GDays are a series of large-scale events conceptualised by Google for business graduates, tech enthusiasts and entrepreneurs. These programmes are spearheaded by Google Business Groups (GBG), communities of business professionals operating in over a 100 locations all around the world. GBG Sonargaon is one such community and organised "GDay 2018 Bangladesh".
The day-long programme consisted of 7 separate tracks. Track 1, "Innovation through design thinking", focused on a half-day workshop engaging start-ups and business students in a series of hands-on trainings, a method utilised the world over to facilitate innovation. The session was conducted by Iftekhar Azam, Onindo Ahmed, and Farhan Asef of Thinkdemy, a company specialising in design thinking.
Track 2, themed "Learning the ropes of corporate etiquette", focused on incorporating leadership skills into the future leaders. This session was organised and facilitated by Womenwill of GBG Sonargaon, an initiative from Google with an objective to inculcate not only leadership skills but also entrepreneurship, digital literacy as well as an inclusive workplace. The session was facilitated by Narmin Tartila Banu, Lead of Womenwill GBG Sonargaon, and conducted by Farha Naz Zaman, Head of Digital Marketing, Grameenphone, and Zarjina Tarana Khalil, Senior Lecturer, NSUSBE.
Track 3 and 5, themed "Technology for education", initiated participants to various tools that they can utilise in order to enhance productivity – be it in a group work at university, or at work. Conducted by Synthia Binta Wali and Benzir Shaon, both Assistant Managers at Mindshare, the session was a very timely and useful one as participants received training at one of NSU's computer labs.
Track 4 and 6 were on Google Analytics. Conducted by Saqiful Alam, Lecturer at NSUSBE, the session's primary focus was on mining insights using Google technology and making informed strategic decisions.
Track 7, the final track of the day, was a motivational session, with a panel that included Iresh Zaker, Executive Director, Asiatic JWT; Fatema Rizwana, HR Director, Nestlé Bangladesh; Nazika Imam, Head of HR and ER, HSBC; Hussain Elius, CEO, Pathao; and Ayman Sadiq, CEO, 10 Minute School. They spoke at length about the passionate journey of an entrepreneur as well as the hardships that entrepreneurs have to battle on a regular basis.
The event was held in collaboration with Google, NSU School of Business and Economics (NSUSBE), Institutional Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), NSU Career and Placement Center (NSUCPC), Boomerang, Softograph, NSU Social Services Club (NSUSSC) and NSU International Business Club (NSUIBC).