A sports agent’s commendable journey

Palash Sakal completed his BSc in Textile Engineering from Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology (DUET) in Gazipur in 2012 and MBA in Marketing from IBA in 2018. While studying at DUET, he became the first runner-up in the country in Textile Talent Hunt 2012, organised by Bangladesh Textile Today. After his graduation, he joined a foreign buying house. His love for sports pushed him to think outside the box, and pursue a career as a sports agent. In 2015, when he first told his father about his aim of becoming a sports agent, his father reacted skeptically. Currently, Palash works with celebrated cricketers of the national team as their agent. He manages various business contracts for the cricketers and facilitates communication between the cricketers and different corporate organisations. Additionally, his job is to take care of the daily routine of the cricketers outside the field and to provide them with other necessary services.

"I worked with nearly all the national team cricketers of Bangladesh, and I dream of working with the big stars like Messi and Ronaldo in the future," he says.

Palash also teaches Celebrity Endorsement as a guest lecturer at IBA. He was recently nominated for the Global Creative Leader Award by the Global Youth Parliament. He was scheduled to receive the award at the Global Youth Leadership Summit in Italy in April, which was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Palash used to host a radio show when he was a student. Celebrated cricketer Anamul Haque Bijoy came as a guest on the show. At the end of the programme, he shared his plans with Anamul, who encouraged him a lot. After quitting his job at the buying house, he opened a sports agency, named Power Play Communications in Banani in April 2015. He started out as the agent of Bangladeshi cricketer Mominul Haque.

Palash also runs a virtual programme, Sports Talk, where cricketers and officials of different corporate houses participate via social media. "We already aired 14 episodes and Venky Mysore, CEO and Managing Director of Kolkata Knight Riders, was a guest in one episode," concludes Palash.