Making your business a success story

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Behind every successful entrepreneur, there are always countless sleepless nights spent designing and re-designing business models along with every ounce of their perseverance, courage and consistent hard work, topped with perfect timing and opportunity. 

For those wanting to launch their own start-ups and are willing to get hands on experience and an expert supervision, Orinus partners and Drink Entrepreneurs Dhaka have initiated a unique networking opportunity called Link. 

With the promise to create an entrepreneurial hub between Bangladesh and Japan, Link is a platform for budding entrepreneurs who want to get recognised by potential business partners and supporters that could help their business. This year the programme, with special focus on agriculture, will also include businesses engaged in healthcare, ICT, renewable energy and education as they have great potential in contributing to the sustainable development of Bangladesh.

This year the programme will include businesses engaged in healthcare, ICT, renewable energy and education as they have great potential in contributing to the sustainable development of Bangladesh. 

Any business model based in these above mentioned areas, which is financially scalable and has social accountability, is eligible to submit their plan through an online application available on Link's website before December 16, 2015. 

In the first round, a panel of six judges will select 20 applicants and will have a face to face interview with them. They will then select five people from these applicants who will get to present their ideas in the final presentation on January 23, 2016 in Dhaka. Finally, one entrepreneur will be selected based on their innovation and social commitment presented by the finalist's business model. What makes this platform even more lucrative is that the entrepreneurs will be offered mentorships and strong networks. Also, the finalist will get to present his/her business model in the largest social impact business competition organized by IC Net Limited in Japan in February, where around 300 companies and investors too will gather. 

“My other partners, Junaid Rafique and Sakib Jamal and I, set up Drink Entrepreneurs in Dhaka to create a platform that helps business-minded people to exchange ideas and information with individuals coming from different background,” says Mahenaz Chowdhury, one of the founders of Drink Entrepreneurs Dhaka.

“Every month we organise an informal networking event where we invite people from all areas - starting from students, start-ups, to employees and investors where they can gather, exchange ideas and establish contact,” she continues. “These meetings were quite beneficial for the participants; in fact it fostered a number of informal recruitments. Keeping that in mind, we decided to showcase the ideas on a larger platform. Thus, Link was born.”

Another partner Orinus Partners, on the other hand, is a group of professionals who encourage innovative startups which promise to create sustainable social impact while collaborating with different sectors in emerging countries.

“We are looking for two kinds of participants – those who are just starting out and others are existing entrepreneurs who have been running their business for some time now,” continues Mahenaz. “We don't call it a competition. It's basically a showcase of ideas of the talented individuals of our country and we are trying to give them global exposure.”

Anyone who wants to apply can do so before December 16 by simply filling up the form given in the following website: http://www.link-orinuspartners.com.