Humayun Kabir, a successful businessman, entrepreneur and media personality of the country also a director of Bengal Group of Industries and the Managing Director of private television channel RTV (Bengal Media Corporation Limited). RTV has become one of the most popular TV channels under his leadership. He is the elder son of Mr Morshed Alam, who is a prominent industrialist, Member of Parliament (MP) for Noakhali-2 Constituency and the founder of Bengal group. The government has awarded Humayun Kabir Commercially Important Person (CIP) status for his significant contribution to the country's export sector.  Humayun Kabir completed BBA and MBA from Los Angeles City College and California State University in USA.  He serves on the Board of Directors of several well established companies including Media, Power Generation, Hotel & Tourism, Plastics, Food & Beverage and Garments.  He is also associated with various social and trade organizations and a member of the Executive Committee of Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPGMEA) and Bangladesh Auto Biscuit and Bread Manufacturers Association (BABBMA). He is also a member of FBCCI, BGMEA, BKMEA and BASIS.  Also a permanent member of Gulshan Club Limited, Dhaka Club Limited, Chittagong Club Limited, Kurmitola Golf Club Limited, Savar Golf Club Limited, Army Golf Club Limited and Dhaka Boat Club Limited.

In the heartlands of Arunachal Pradesh, a trailblazing entrepreneur is reshaping the landscape of sustainable living while preserving the rich tapestry of indigenous art and craftsmanship. Meet Ninna Lego, the visionary force behind House of Macnok (HoM), a dynamic startup that celebrates local culture, heritage, and skills through an array of exquisite jewelry, home decor, accessories, and wellness products. Lego’s journey is one of passion, business acumen, and unwavering commitment to the welfare of her community. Hailing from the serene town of Mariyang nestled in the Upper Siang district, Lego brings to her enterprise a unique blend of influences. With a background in civil engineering from Chennai’s Dr. MGR University and an MBA in HR from Rajiv Gandhi University, she embodies the perfect fusion of technical knowledge and compassionate leadership. HoM’s genesis can be traced back to Lego’s childhood, deeply rooted in the Adi community – a community dedicated to social welfare. An early introduction to traditional handloom techniques ignited her interest, leading her to craft intricate earrings that soon gained remarkable popularity among friends and family.  This pivotal moment marked the birth of HoM, driven by Lego’s resolute ambition to uplift rural artisans, women, youth, and farmers across Arunachal Pradesh. Collaborating with numerous women self-help groups, HoM has become a platform for crafting bamboo products, handlooms, crochet dolls, dreamcatchers, and more.  It’s not just about commerce, but about preserving the essence of indigenous craftsmanship. The products reflect the multifaceted diversity of Arunachal, representing various tribes and regions. Through strategic partnerships, HoM empowers these grassroots artisans, primarily women, allowing them to showcase their skills and heritage to the world. In a bid to harmonize innovation with tradition, HoM carefully infuses new designs into timeless art forms. For example, traditional bamboo weaving is rejuvenated with contemporary motifs, breathing new life into classic pieces. The commitment to authenticity ensures that the soul of indigenous practices remains intact. HoM is not merely a commercial venture; it’s a bridge between generations. Master trainers and craftsmen are brought in to mentor and train the younger generation, guaranteeing the continuity of age-old skills. This approach not only safeguards cultural heritage but also provides sustainable livelihoods to these mentors. Lego’s venture extends to agro-based collaborations with local villagers and agricultural institutions, spotlighting aromatic herbs and spices with health benefits. This symbiotic relationship contributes to the holistic vision of Arunachal’s development. Embracing ethical entrepreneurship, HoM’s revenue-sharing model eliminates intermediaries, resulting in cost-effective products. The endeavor challenges the misconception that sustainability translates to exorbitance, offering wild honey as an example. Where traders sell it for INR 1,500, HoM provides the same quality at INR 450. Ever conscious of environmental impact, Lego introduces upcycled fabrics, crafting dolls and mats, championing waste reduction. Furthermore, HoM is pioneering biodegradable, eco-friendly, and reusable sanitary pads, making hygiene accessible and affordable. Recently crowned the winner of the North East Entrepreneurship Challenge 2023 in the Incubation Category, Lego’s journey is far from over. She envisions HoM as a catalyst for transformative change, with an unwavering commitment to preserving tradition, empowering communities, and redefining sustainable commerce. As she continues to blaze this trail, the heartlands of Arunachal Pradesh find in Ninna Lego a visionary leader and an inspirational role model.

In the heartlands of Arunachal Pradesh, a trailblazing entrepreneur is reshaping the landscape of sustainable living while preserving the rich tapestry of indigenous art and craftsmanship. Meet Ninna Lego, the visionary force behind House of Macnok (HoM), a dynamic startup that celebrates local culture, heritage, and skills through an array of exquisite jewelry, home decor, accessories, and wellness products. Lego’s journey is one of passion, business acumen, and unwavering commitment to the welfare of her community. Hailing from the serene town of Mariyang nestled in the Upper Siang district, Lego brings to her enterprise a unique blend of influences. With a background in civil engineering from Chennai’s Dr. MGR University and an MBA in HR from Rajiv Gandhi University, she embodies the perfect fusion of technical knowledge and compassionate leadership. HoM’s genesis can be traced back to Lego’s childhood, deeply rooted in the Adi community – a community dedicated to social welfare. An early introduction to traditional handloom techniques ignited her interest, leading her to craft intricate earrings that soon gained remarkable popularity among friends and family.  This pivotal moment marked the birth of HoM, driven by Lego’s resolute ambition to uplift rural artisans, women, youth, and farmers across Arunachal Pradesh. Collaborating with numerous women self-help groups, HoM has become a platform for crafting bamboo products, handlooms, crochet dolls, dreamcatchers, and more.  It’s not just about commerce, but about preserving the essence of indigenous craftsmanship. The products reflect the multifaceted diversity of Arunachal, representing various tribes and regions. Through strategic partnerships, HoM empowers these grassroots artisans, primarily women, allowing them to showcase their skills and heritage to the world. In a bid to harmonize innovation with tradition, HoM carefully infuses new designs into timeless art forms. For example, traditional bamboo weaving is rejuvenated with contemporary motifs, breathing new life into classic pieces. The commitment to authenticity ensures that the soul of indigenous practices remains intact. HoM is not merely a commercial venture; it’s a bridge between generations. Master trainers and craftsmen are brought in to mentor and train the younger generation, guaranteeing the continuity of age-old skills. This approach not only safeguards cultural heritage but also provides sustainable livelihoods to these mentors. Lego’s venture extends to agro-based collaborations with local villagers and agricultural institutions, spotlighting aromatic herbs and spices with health benefits. This symbiotic relationship contributes to the holistic vision of Arunachal’s development. Embracing ethical entrepreneurship, HoM’s revenue-sharing model eliminates intermediaries, resulting in cost-effective products. The endeavor challenges the misconception that sustainability translates to exorbitance, offering wild honey as an example. Where traders sell it for INR 1,500, HoM provides the same quality at INR 450. Ever conscious of environmental impact, Lego introduces upcycled fabrics, crafting dolls and mats, championing waste reduction. Furthermore, HoM is pioneering biodegradable, eco-friendly, and reusable sanitary pads, making hygiene accessible and affordable. Recently crowned the winner of the North East Entrepreneurship Challenge 2023 in the Incubation Category, Lego’s journey is far from over. She envisions HoM as a catalyst for transformative change, with an unwavering commitment to preserving tradition, empowering communities, and redefining sustainable commerce. As she continues to blaze this trail, the heartlands of Arunachal Pradesh find in Ninna Lego a visionary leader and an inspirational role model.

In the heartlands of Arunachal Pradesh, a trailblazing entrepreneur is reshaping the landscape of sustainable living while preserving the rich tapestry of indigenous art and craftsmanship. Meet Ninna Lego, the visionary force behind House of Macnok (HoM), a dynamic startup that celebrates local culture, heritage, and skills through an array of exquisite jewelry, home decor, accessories, and wellness products. Lego’s journey is one of passion, business acumen, and unwavering commitment to the welfare of her community. Hailing from the serene town of Mariyang nestled in the Upper Siang district, Lego brings to her enterprise a unique blend of influences. With a background in civil engineering from Chennai’s Dr. MGR University and an MBA in HR from Rajiv Gandhi University, she embodies the perfect fusion of technical knowledge and compassionate leadership. HoM’s genesis can be traced back to Lego’s childhood, deeply rooted in the Adi community – a community dedicated to social welfare. An early introduction to traditional handloom techniques ignited her interest, leading her to craft intricate earrings that soon gained remarkable popularity among friends and family.  This pivotal moment marked the birth of HoM, driven by Lego’s resolute ambition to uplift rural artisans, women, youth, and farmers across Arunachal Pradesh. Collaborating with numerous women self-help groups, HoM has become a platform for crafting bamboo products, handlooms, crochet dolls, dreamcatchers, and more.  It’s not just about commerce, but about preserving the essence of indigenous craftsmanship. The products reflect the multifaceted diversity of Arunachal, representing various tribes and regions. Through strategic partnerships, HoM empowers these grassroots artisans, primarily women, allowing them to showcase their skills and heritage to the world. In a bid to harmonize innovation with tradition, HoM carefully infuses new designs into timeless art forms. For example, traditional bamboo weaving is rejuvenated with contemporary motifs, breathing new life into classic pieces. The commitment to authenticity ensures that the soul of indigenous practices remains intact. HoM is not merely a commercial venture; it’s a bridge between generations. Master trainers and craftsmen are brought in to mentor and train the younger generation, guaranteeing the continuity of age-old skills. This approach not only safeguards cultural heritage but also provides sustainable livelihoods to these mentors. Lego’s venture extends to agro-based collaborations with local villagers and agricultural institutions, spotlighting aromatic herbs and spices with health benefits. This symbiotic relationship contributes to the holistic vision of Arunachal’s development. Embracing ethical entrepreneurship, HoM’s revenue-sharing model eliminates intermediaries, resulting in cost-effective products. The endeavor challenges the misconception that sustainability translates to exorbitance, offering wild honey as an example. Where traders sell it for INR 1,500, HoM provides the same quality at INR 450. Ever conscious of environmental impact, Lego introduces upcycled fabrics, crafting dolls and mats, championing waste reduction. Furthermore, HoM is pioneering biodegradable, eco-friendly, and reusable sanitary pads, making hygiene accessible and affordable. Recently crowned the winner of the North East Entrepreneurship Challenge 2023 in the Incubation Category, Lego’s journey is far from over. She envisions HoM as a catalyst for transformative change, with an unwavering commitment to preserving tradition, empowering communities, and redefining sustainable commerce. As she continues to blaze this trail, the heartlands of Arunachal Pradesh find in Ninna Lego a visionary leader and an inspirational role model.

Md. Siful Islam has been awarded as the Best Emerging Entrepreneur in the 'Freelancer Award 2022' arranged by the Freelancers Association of Bangladesh. He was given this award for his special contribution to Freelancing.  On December 17, 2022, the Award was announced through a ceremony. Md. Siful Islam is one of the promising freelancer in the country who becomes self-reliant with own effort and showing dreams to many youths. During student life, he started his entrepreneurship journey.  In 2016, he bought only two computers and started freelancing. In a very short time, he realised that there is no  inadequacy of job in the market, just need to be skilled. Siful has employed 65 people so far through his ‘Advanced Skills Development Institute'. The academy provide different courses on Graphic Design, Web Coding. Bangladesh has around 650 thousand freelancers, with roughly 1,600 organisations in freelancing. While informing about awarding, Siful said, I feel very honored. Being out of the country, I could not receive the award in person. But I want to thank the organizers for honoring me.

Mahmudul Hasan, a New York-based Bangladeshi energy entrepreneur, has been leading data-driven solutions for existing and potential renewable energy users. Clean Energy Exploration LLC, his company, develops an application called Nexergy that enables consumers to have a better control of their solar installations and upgrades. Nexergy recently released a free estimation tool that takes into account all complex factors like roof size and shape, shaded roof areas, local weather, local electricity prices, solar costs, and estimated incentives over time to calculate the potential cost and savings of property-specific solar upgrades and installations. Nexergy also provides free educational tools to educate users on how to install, maintain, and upgrade their system. Mahmudul is a legal professional with experience and expertise in energy law. He received his first law degree from the University of Dhaka, started his career as a law academic in Dhaka and moved to the United States in 2018 to pursue his education in energy law.  Mahmudul says, “I spent seven-eight years of my life learning, researching and teaching energy and environmental law. I always dreamed of contributing the clean energy sector. When I started this project in 2019, I had some of my friends joined in the same goal with me. As a law professional, it was never easy for me to combine my expertise in the data and information technology sector. I never gave up the dream. My passion in cutting-edge technologies and vision to change the energy-market experience give me unlimited source of motivation to innovate, experiment and implement. I failed, I learnt, I grew, and now I believe I am well-positioned to change the conversional way of energy production and consumption. I want consumers to have more control of their energy usage, to make decision of their own energy usage and to contribute the clean future.” Nexergy is also working on other features, such as earth imagery tools to analyze the roof shape and local weather patterns to create a personalized year-round usable sunlight and community data discovery tools to see the solar estimate for a specific geolocation, according to Mahmudul. He added that their information and resources will also help researchers and energy professionals to get a market insight. He also told us that Nexergy is collaborating with some of the top IT and energy specialists to put the Nexergy’s vision into life and they are using a variety of cutting-edge technologies such as geospatial analytics, advanced visualization, big data, artificial intelligence, APIs, integrated databases, Google Map and 3d modeling, Federal and state resources to generate a real-time and near-accurate individualized analysis. They're also collaborating with a blockchain ledger technology to make peer-to-peer transactions.Mahmudul says, they want to develop the right business models with forward looking partners, so they are prepared to provide the services consumers are going to want in the distributed energy future. Mahmudul says, “My efforts to change the energy landscape of the United States of course will have a positive impact on the global scale including my country, Bangladesh. I will implement the same with a socioeconomic-specific business-model for Bangladesh, my innovation succeeds here.”  According to Mahmudul, they are looking for grants and funds to fuel up their operation and goal, and they are hopeful that they will be able to attract funds and possible investors. Clean energy-based microgrids are expected to become an important part of the energy matrix in near future. The Nexergy is one of the first to implement this kind of visionin America’s energy market and has been featured in some America’s leading media. As people search for an accurate and individualized analysis for reliable and environmentally-responsible sources of energy, localized and individualized analysis by Nexergy provides an exciting prospect. AH

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Sunday) urged the young generation to become entrepreneur instead of chasing after jobs wrapping up academic life.    "My call to the young generation is that instead of running after jobs in completion of academic life, you should put concentration on becoming entrepreneur and provide job to others, and all of you should prepare yourself in this way," she said.    The premier made this call while inaugurating the 8-day National SME Fair-2021 in city's Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) as the chief guest, joining virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban.    She said the government has taken all types of measures to develop the interested person as entrepreneur while anyone can be entrepreneur availing this scope.    Sheikh Hasina said her government has also allocated separate fund in the budget for "Start Up Programme" so that the young generation can take this opportunity.    In this connection, she also mentioned the government's initiatives of providing technical education and vocational training to the young people alongside making arrangement of different opportunities both off-line and online.    The prime minister also asked the officials concerned to pay special attention to the female entrepreneurs to help them expand their initiatives.    "We've kept special arrangement for female entrepreneurs in the 100 special economic zones and they will get special facilities for their venture," she said, referring to her initiative of setting up 100 special economic zones across the country.    With Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun, MP in the chair, Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) Foundation Chairperson Dr. Md. Masudur Rahman delivered the welcome address.    State Minister for Industries Kamal Ahmed Mojumder MP, Secretary of the Ministry Zakia Sultana and Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce & Industries (FBCCI) President Md Jashim Uddin also spoke.    At the outset of the function, an audio-visual documentary on SME sector was screened.    Later, the prime minister also distributed National SME Entrepreneur Award-2021.    On behalf of the premier, the industries minister handed over crests, certificates and cheques to four entrepreneurs.    The awardees are Humaira Mustafa, Nazmul Islam, Mohammad Shoyeb Hasan and Mohammad Azizul Huq.    The fair will remain open from 10am to 8pm for all everyday till December 12. Source: BSS AH

The EO (Entrepreneurs' Organization), Bangladesh chapter on Wednesday declared this year's 'Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) 2020' program for the country's student entrepreneurs to run for a US$ 40,000 worth international award. This was revealed at a press conference at a hotel in the capital where EO Bangladesh President and Aman Spinning Mill Ltd Vice Chairman Tahsin Aman and GSEA Chair and Kazi IT Center Ltd CEO Mike Kazi spoke. The competition's semi finals for the award will be held on January 7 and 8 in the capital while the Grand Finale to be held at RTV Studio on January 11. The student entrepreneurs can register their projects till January 1 while the GSEA 2020 will select the top entrepreneur with best business project at the final round from Bangladesh and send him or her to Cape Town, South Africa for competing against top student entrepreneurs across the world at the GSEA Global Finals. In the program Tahsin Aman said, it is an initiative of EO for transforming a ‘studentpreneur’ to a complete entrepreneur by providing much-needed mentorship, recognition and connections. "Our vision is to empower student entrepreneurs for becoming the world’s most influential change makers," he added. In his speech Mike Kazi said, EO GSEA supports student entrepreneurs who require much needed mentorship, recognition and connections to take their businesses to the next level of success. The national competition of GSEA, organized locally every year, is considered to be a flagship program of EO Bangladesh while over the years, participating students have gone on to create thousands of jobs and generate millions in revenue, the GSEA chair added. EO Bangladesh President Elect and Membership Chair Zareen Mahmud, RTV CEO Syed Ashik Rahman and Spellbound Leo Burnett Co-Founder and Managing Director Sadequl Arefeen were also present at the press conference. Spellbound will conduct the GSEA 2020 with Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB), American International University of Bangladesh (AIUB), United International University (UIU) and University of Liberal Arts of Bangladesh (ULAB) as strategic partners and RTV as media partner. GSEA is the premier global competition for students who own and operate a business while attending college or university. Nominees compete against their peers from around the world in a series of local or national competitions in hopes to qualify for GSEA Finals in hopes of winning over US$ 40,000 in cash and donated prizes. The EO is a global business network of more than 14,000 leading entrepreneurs in 193 chapters in 60 countries making changes in youth community worldwide, and EO Bangladesh is one of them. AH