Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought a special fund for creating more women entrepreneurs for their socioeconomic progress and more loan at concessional rates to implement climate-related projects. Addressing the World Bank, she said, "You (WB) can give a special fund for the socio-economic development of women in Bangladesh." The special fund will accelerate the government's efforts to create women entrepreneurs. ’ The Prime Minister said this when World Bank Managing Director (Operations) Anna Bojerde paid a courtesy call on her at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban here this afternoon. Prime Minister's Speechwriter M Nazrul Islam briefed the reporters after the meeting.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said Spanish investments will be welcomed in any sector of Bangladesh for mutual benefits as Spain's ambassador to Bangladesh Francisco de Asis Benitez Salas paid a farewell call on her. "They (Spain's entrepreneurs) are welcomed. They can invest in any sector of their choice in Bangladesh," PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim quoted her as saying in the meeting with the Spanish envoy at her official residence Ganabhaban here. While briefing reporters after the meeting, Karim said Salas expressed his country's keenness to invest in Bangladesh including its agro based industries. "Many entrepreneurs are keen to visit Bangladesh and invest here," the Spanish ambassador said. He said the quality of hospital and agro equipment of Spain is very good. During the meeting, both of the Bangladesh premier and the Spanish envoy expressed satisfaction over the existing relationship between the two countries and hoped that this relationship will be strengthened further. The Bangladesh premier has sought GSP+ facilities from the Spain even after its graduation as a developing nation in 2026. She said 60,000 Bangladeshis have been working in Spain and they are contributing to both economies. The prime minister recalled her visit to Madrid of Spain in December, 2019 to join the COP25.   The Spanish envoy highly appreciated the unprecedented development of Bangladesh particularly in the sectors of social, political, financial and women development in the last 15 years under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. In reply, the prime minister said her government has been working tirelessly for overall development of Bangladesh following the footprints of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. About women empowerment and development, Sheikh Hasina said Bangabandhu had first initiated reserved seats in the parliament for women and taken various measures to make the women self reliant economically aimed at empowering them. "We had to face a lot of difficulties to empower women. But, we have overcome," she said. The Spanish envoy praised the management of Bangladesh during the Covid-19 period for which the casualties were very low. In response, the prime minister said, "We gave topmost priorities in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic". PM's Ambassador-at-Large Mohammad Ziauddin and PM's Principal Secretary M. Tofazzel Hossain Miah were present.   Source: BSS

U.S. Embassy Dhaka’s Public Diplomacy Section, in collaboration with BRAC University, inaugurates the second-ever cohort of the “Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE)” Program in Bangladesh.   Dhaka, November 30, 2023 – Today, Stephen F. Ibelli, Public Affairs Counselor at the U.S. Embassy, inaugurated the second cohort of the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) Program at the EMK Center in Dhaka.  AWE, a global initiative led by the U.S. Department of State, provides enterprising women with the knowledge, professional network, and foundational materials essential for launching and expanding successful businesses.    In collaboration with BRAC University’s Center for Entrepreneurship Development, U.S. Embassy Dhaka is deeply committed to supporting young aspiring women entrepreneurs, promoting small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and nurturing local women business leaders, especially those from historically underrepresented communities.    As a flagship program promoting entrepreneurship through increased trade, AWE aligns seamlessly with the U.S. Strategy of Global Women’s Economic Security, which envisions a world where women and girls from diverse backgrounds can fully, meaningfully, and equally contribute to and benefit from global economic growth and prosperity.    The second cohort of the AWE program is set to empower 90 participants from three distinct geographic locations: Dhaka, Chattogram, and Sylhet. Participants from Chattogram and Sylhet will join sessions at the EMK Center virtually through Zoom. The program's goal this year is to recruit participants from historically underrepresented, indigenous, and minority communities, as well as women aged 20-45 who have traditionally been excluded from participation in formal training programs. As a U.S. government exchange initiative, AWE connects women with American learning and expertise, fostering stronger ties among women entrepreneurs across diverse American and Bangladeshi markets.    The AWE Program is in collaboration with Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management (ASU) and the Freeport-McMoRan Foundation, the creators of DreamBuilder—a no-cost online learning platform. This platform imparts fundamental business skills from a U.S. perspective and offers access to soft-skills training to enhance participants’ overall business acumen.     The AWE Program is a comprehensive three-month course tailored for aspiring women entrepreneurs.  The program provides hands-on training in Bangla conducted by industry experts, focusing on core business skills with an emphasis on sustainability.    AWE strongly emphasizes peer-to-peer learning, networking, and fostering cohesion among graduating women entrepreneurs, contributing significantly to local prosperity and business growth.  According to the 2021 evaluation by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), 74 percent of AWE graduates reported experiencing higher incomes, and 29 percent hired additional staff in their businesses post-program.  This data underscores the capacity of AWE alumni to generate revenue and create job opportunities in their communities.     By fundamentally empowering women, AWE actively promotes their full economic participation.  The study reveals that over 90 percent of AWE graduates reported increased confidence and higher self-esteem, attributing improvements to specific skill sets such as independent decision-making, strategic planning, and public speaking.  These skills have proven invaluable for women-led businesses adapting to economic challenges, including those posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.  The AWE project aligns directly with the U.S. National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality.   

Kohima-based Entrepreneurs Associates (tEA) on Thursday organised a programme to empower and uplift women street vendors at the Tourist Lodge in Dimapur. The programme served as a medium to create awareness about women’s physical well-being.  Ganesh Sharma, Superintendent of Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC), spoke briefly on the various schemes and services available for women street vendors. He elaborated on the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and how to avail of these schemes.  He further encouraged the women participants to become entrepreneurs and become financially independent. Sekulu Nyekha, Head of Feminist Futures India, shed light on the menstrual health and hygiene of women. She put forward various personal narratives and research studies, proving how modern women still stay away from the topic of menstrual health. Temjenlemla Phom, an active beneficiary of tEA also shared her experiences with tEA and encouraged other participants to get connected with tEA in the days to come. The tEA Dimapur branch also disbursed zero-interest loans to 10 eligible beneficiaries present in the programme today. Source: eastmojo.com

Kanija Fatma (40) and her husband Riyamuddin Ansari work as tailors in minority-dominated Maganpur village in Ramgarh district of Jharkhand in eastern India. Three years ago, Fatma got a proposal from Bengaluru-based SELCO Foundation to set up a solar system in her house for sewing work. The couple agreed, and two solar panels and an inverter were installed. This small initiative brought about a big change to her family. Tailoring work thrived, registering 20 to 30% increase in income. Earlier, Fatma’s electricity bill was around Rs 240 per month, though she always tried to reduce it by sewing manually. With the increased use of solar energy, the bill has come down to around Rs 140.  The SELCO Foundation’s permanent magnet DC motor was attached to her sewing machine, before connecting it to the photovoltaic system. As a result, Fatma, who has studied up to Class 8, no longer has to strain her foot that was fractured once.  Ramgarh was once a prominent coal-mining district. But according to a study by iForest, a think tank, more than half of the coal mines in Ramgarh have stopped functioning in the last few years. Earlier, coal mines covered around 10.5% of the district’s geographical area. By 2040, even the functional mines are expected to be shut as they are old and already overexploited. Right now, agriculture is the biggest source of employment in the district. According to the Economic Census of 2013, only 3% of the people in the district are employed in mining sector, and that too is gradually declining. Residents are now exploring ways to use renewable energy to boost their incomes. Of the 400 families living in Maganpur in Gola block, over 250 are tailors. "After we switched to solar energy, more villagers evinced interest. In fact, before getting the system installed, they usually come to my house to enquire about its performance," Fatma told 101Reporters.  Kanija Fatma and her husband, also a tailor, set up a solar system in her house for sewing work. Following this, they registered a 20 to 30% increase in income, she says (Photos - Rahul Singh)  Aman Bhardwaj, SELCO Foundation project coordinator (knowledge and outreach), told 101Reporters that livelihood options outside the coal sector were limited in Ramgarh. “Our work here is to generate income for people through micro-businesses using decentralised renewable energy.”  Presently, more than 50 houses in Maganpur use solar power for sewing, which creates new opportunities for women. “Things were really difficult. By the time I could sit down to stitch after completing household chores, the (grid) power would have gone,” said Shahnaz Parveen (27), who has been working as a tailor for the last seven years.  She now stitches for eight hours, even after finishing all the chores, thanks to the solar system installed in her house two months ago. Parveen’s husband Nishar Ahmed is also a tailor.  Parveen had to pay Rs 17,500, which was half the cost of the solar system, while the rest was paid by SELCO Foundation under CSR funding. Agragati, the implementing partner, executed the project. Apart from SELCO, Agragati also works with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) to promote green entrepreneurship using solar energy.  Gola block head Geeta Devi was the first to get the system installed. “I joined the self-help group of Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS), through which I learnt about the solar system and got it installed for sewing work. Subsequently, I associated with Agragati, which opened up new avenues before villagers,” she said.  Agri-based entrepreneurship Rural entrepreneurship has also benefitted due to the introduction of solar power. A total of 549 farmers, including 120 women, are associated with Sakhi Savera Krishak Production Company in Sarla Kala village of Gola block’s Sangrampur panchayat. The farmers’ producers’ organisation (FPO) now use solar energy for paddy threshing and oil extraction. “I have been getting valuable information about farming after joining the FPO. The use of solar energy has saved us from paying for diesel and petrol,” said Lalita Devi, who joined the self-help group in 2004. The FPO’s processing unit and office function from the house of its chairman Laxman Mahato. According to its chief executive officer Dineshwar Mahato, 16 solar panels of a total of 300 megahertz were installed to power agricultural production, including paddy harvest and oil extraction from mustard, safflower and mahua, a flower that forms the base of a drink. In all, the system cost them Rs 6.5 lakh. In March, three solar-operated machines worth a total of Rs 1.42 lakh were installed. Giribala Devi, wife of FPO board member Atul Bedia, is all praise for the solar system. A resident of Bediya Jara Tola in Sarla Kala, she said the solar irrigation system installed under the Tyma Watershed Scheme helped her family irrigate its two-and-a-half acres. “We farm even in summers now,” she added.  Giribala Devi and son; solar irrigation system helps the family water crops on their two-and-a-half acres of land; (Below) Jayanand Chowdhary is grateful to his solar-powered irrigation pump, which saved his paddy crops from this year's drought.  Basmati Kumari of Barki Lari in Chitarpur block of Ramgarh is pursuing her BA course. She does her sewing with a solar-powered machine in her spare time and earns around Rs 250 a day. Her husband Ravindra Patel does stationery printing from home.  The family gets a good yield by irrigating the fields using the photovoltaic system under the PM-KUSUM. Patel’s father Jayanand Chowdhary said this year’s drought did not affect their rice crop, thanks to their solar-powered irrigation pump. His only complaint was that he got the system three years after he had applied for it. According to a NITI Aayog report, India’s agriculture sector receives only 1% of its total energy consumption from solar. Considering that Jharkhand produces only 97.14 MW of solar power per day, there is a long way to go. Promoting employment Solar energy has the potential to transform many other traditional jobs. A jeweller in Chitarpur, Sujit Kumar, installed a solar-powered machine in his house a year ago. Now, around 15 to 20 craftsmen depend on it to make jewellery. “The machine cost me Rs 42,000. But the good thing is that work does not stop when there is no electricity.” Prashant Kumar Swain, Fellow (Rural Energy and Livelihood), TERI, told 101Reporters, “We have been working in the renewable energy sector for the last 20 years. Our focus has always been on lighting up homes. But now, we are looking at projects that use electricity for livelihood. We tried to understand the people’s energy needs, their usage patterns, and then liaised with solar system suppliers before project implementation.”  Citing the case of 200 entrepreneurs in Chitarpur, Swain said using solar energy has improved their work, besides lighting up homes and helping children to study without interruptions if the lights from the grid went off.  Agragati programme lead Kiron Shankar Dutta said a study done by TERI in the Chitarpur sewing cluster to ascertain peoples’ needs found that the area usually had no power supply for six to eight hours a day. The study, a copy of which is available with 101Reporters, found that power disruptions mostly happened during daylight hours when people want to do sewing. Productivity usually dips by 30 to 40% if there is no power for two to four hours.  The study also found that people did not have the money to restart work after COVID-19. According to it, using a photovoltaic system could generate an income of Rs 1,500 per month for a machine operator.  Solar energy has the potential to transform many other traditional jobs like that of Sujit Kumar, a jeweller in Chitarpur, who installed a solar-powered machine in his house a year ago; (Below) Dineshwar Mahato, the CEO of Sakhi Savera FPO, uses solar energy for paddy threshing and oil extraction.  State energy policy After eight years, Jharkhand revised its solar energy policy in July 2022 to aim for 4,000 MW of power generation in five years. Under the plan, Jharkhand has set a target of 720 MW power generation from distributed solar. Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency’s Executive Engineer Mukesh Prasad told 101Reporters that the new policy has outlined provisions for employment generation via solar power. However, he acknowledged that there was neither a specific plan for women in the policy nor any talk of direct participation from the JSLPS. JSLPS Chief Operating Officer Bishnu C Parida said 1.86 lakh SHGs comprising 10 to 20 women have been formed in the State under the National Rural Livelihood Mission. However, he did not give a direct answer regarding solar energy. Neeraj Kuldeep of New Delhi-based Council on Energy, Environment and Water, which drafted Jharkhand's Solar Energy Policy-2022, said, “After assessing the possibility of entrepreneurship, we have made a provision for 1,000 solar villages in the new policy.” Source: 101Reporters

The tech-savvy young women entrepreneurs from Jammu-Kashmir are swiftly making their way out of challenges including, political, social, economic, gender-related, lack of awareness, to seize upon the business opportunities. All these women possess skills to target prospective  customers which is helping them grow their businesses faster than ever before. Here are a few of the featured personalities: The first to fall in the list, Sana Imtiyaz Hussaini (22) baker from Srinagar. She listed the Homebakers' 2020 list of the top 100 home bakers of the country. Second, Rifat Mushtaq, who is one of the oldest woman entrepreneurs in Kashmir, she have established a matchbox manufacturing unit while venturing into the business. Nusrat Jahan, another woman entrepreneurs in the valley with her chain of flower stores, 'Ferns n Petals". She quit a promising job decades ago to start her own business in 2000. Saima Sheikh has taken a vow to fight the menace of milk adulteration. Sheikh approached Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) to receive training and applied for a loan. Meanwhile, It's been two years since article 370 was abrogated from Jammu and Kashmir, and the Union Territory has been marching on the path of development as a result of the newly laid government schemes. These schemes include various developmental initiatives executed under the Prime Minister Development Package (PMDP) focusing on individual beneficiaries and reviving long-pending projects lying dormant for several decades by removing the obstacles, through ensuring effective and transparent administration. Since, 2019 the government has been making efforts to cover crucial sectors like education, healthcare, employment generation, tourism, and industrial growth. The administration is also establishing institutions to provide quality education to Kashmiri children, the government has launched at least 50 new educational institutions offering 25,000 seats to students. Source: ANI EK  

    Prime Minister’s ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy called upon the young information and communication technology entrepreneurs to generate their own innovative ideas to take the lead in the global ICT sector. “My message to our BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) industrialist is find your own innovations and visions, find your ideas, find new technologies —don’t imitate, rather innovate,” he told the young IT entrepreneurs opening a two-day 4th BPO Summit at a city hotel on Sunday. Reports: BSS. Joy said Bangladesh’s next door neighbor India earned a global repute of being the “outsourcing hub of the world” making it difficult to others like Bangladesh to compete with them. “Our BPO industry does not need to go head to head, and toe to toe with the largest Indian IT and BPO companies to try to imitate what they do,” he said. But, Joy said, the ICT industry was still very new and Bangladeshi BPO entrepreneurs should explore opportunities through their innovative ideas as “there are new and new services that are coming online that perhaps we have not even imagine”. Posts, Telecommunications and IT Minister Mustafa Jabbar chaired the opening session of the meet, joined as well by State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak while when Bangladesh Association of Call Center and Outsourcing (BACCO) President Wahid Sharif delivered the welcome address. ICT Division Secretary NM Zeaul Alam, Posts and Telecommunications Division Secretary in Charge Ashoke Kumar Biswas and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Md Jahurul Haque also spoke. Joy said if he told someone 10 years ago that he or she could be working on a project wearing virtual reality goggles sitting in Bangladesh, everyone would have said it is impossible and it is magic. “But today that is reality. So I want to give a message to our BPO industry to find own innovations,” he added. He said Bangladesh has made a remarkable progress in the IT sector in such a short time. “Ten years ago, there were no such things of digital industry or digital Bangladesh. Bangladesh was still a very backward country,” he said. The PM’s adviser said: “Our BPO industry started its journey with a grand total of 300 employees. This was just ten years ago. Within 10 years, we have now come to this place where we have over 50,000 employees in the BPO sector earning 300 million dollars a year.” He said all of the achievements and development that the people are witnessing now, none of that had even been dreamed of, had not even been planned prior to the Awami League government coming to power in 2009. “All of these – – the metro-rail system, the Padma bridge, fiber optic connectivity throughout the country, the many high-tech parks – – none of these had even been thought of. It hadn’t been started, planning hadn’t been done. Simply did not exist,” he added. Very few countries have been able to achieve such rapid growth in such a short amount of time, he added. Joy said 10 years ago Bangladesh was being considered a failing state. BPO and IT industry was simply not even possible. “We had severe shortage of electricity, (fiber optic) connectivity did not exist, very little bandwidth, but extremely expensive,” he said. The ICT adviser said: “When we launched our vision of a Digital Bangladesh, of making Bangladesh middle income country by the year 2021, everyone said it was impossible. Today no one believes that to be impossible.” “We have achieved many of our goals ahead of targets and rather than becoming a middle income country by 2021, Bangladesh became officially a middle income country within the last couple of years,” he said. “What we believe and our vision is that we should not just catch up to the rest of the world. The country needs to exceed many of its experience. We must progress fast, we now have to focus not just on labor skills, industrialization skills, rather on the knowledge sector and this is where the BPO industry comes in,” he said. Joy said Bangladesh today is known globally as the world’s second largest manufacturer of clothing and garments. “That is the growth that came organically. With no government help and no government planning, the private sector took it forward on its own,” he added. He said: “However, for the BPO sector, for the fourth industrial revolution, for the knowledge sector, to wait for the private sector, something we could not afford to do. That would not have been possible for the private sector to do it alone.” “So what our Awami League government focused on was providing the facilitating base that is necessary, we focused on revamping our policies to help accelerate the IT sector’s growth,” he added. “Our government removed all taxes on IT industry, removed all import duty on IT hardware and software. We took up projects to reach fiber optic cable throughout the country. We now have extensive network and that is growing rapidly,” he added. He expressed his hope that the BPO industry will be one of the key drivers of economy in coming days. The ICT Division and Bangladesh Association of Call Center and Outsourcing (BACCO) jointly organized the BPO summit.  AH

With the social mission the Social Enterprises are expanding its operations across the world. To build a strong tie in the society the Social Enterprises can contribute a lot. The success of Social Enterprises is expecting to the mass people especially in Bangladesh. In this regard Human Resource Division can help to get their success.  The recent growth of social enterprise has been observed in the developed industrialized countries like Bangladesh.  Currently Social Enterprises are working in multifarious sectors like as health, social care, housing, children’s services, vehicles, food and farming, sustainable environment, human rights and leisure. The Social Enterprises need a strong human resource division to manage all these areas. As a result the human recourse division is facing a big challenge. Traditionally the HRD doesn’t consider significantly about hiring staffs. Things have changed now, the HRD of Social Enterprises have to keep consideration on hiring and retaining a significant percentages of staff, which leads Social Enterprises HRD to stiff position. Social Enterprise always focused on the culture-fair recruitment and selection process. The Social Enterprise’s HRD has to focus on energizing working relationship and introducing progressive development policies. The study found that 77% of the social enterprises in Bangladesh are established between 2009 and 2015. Most of these enterprises are led by early life who are under 35, which indicates that the youth are taking the mantle of leadership to make a positive change in the society. Bangladeshi social enterprises are generating an average annual turnover of Tk2.1 million and nearly three-quarters of the social enterprises expect a substantial increase in turnover in the next fiscal year For example of Social Enterprise we can take example of BRAC HRD. To help the employees to be authentic leaders BRAC HRD is trying to develop employees’ psychology through different trainings where employees can develop their self-awareness and leadership capability.  To increase the productivity of the employees BRAC Human Resources Division introduces employees’ code of conduct (hrd.brac.net) which will dictate employees’ attitudes and behaviors. Studies on women entrepreneurship have witnessed a rapid growth over the past 30 years. Today, according to  The Independent, “Women are almost twice as likely to reach the top ranks in social enterprises as they are in mainstream businesses,” and “more than 90 percent of companies that focus on tackling social problems have at least one woman on their leadership team.” To put it even more bluntly, as former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said in her address at the 2012 Social Enterprise World Forum in Rio de Janeiro, it seems that “women are natural social entrepreneurs.” The 23rd edition of Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) has seen the participation by a good number of women. In Bangladesh, women constitute above 10 percent of the total number of entrepreneurs in the country. Official data revealed the participation of women entrepreneurs at the SME fair was 56% in 2013, 74% in 2014, 66% in 2016, and 61.5% in 2017. The question is, why are we finding so many women in this field -- and are they really capable of leading the charge?  An alignment between women in leadership and women as consumers has been underway for some time. Women are no longer a niche market, and that change is reflected in evolving occupational roles as well. Meanwhile, women’s evolution as players in social entrepreneurship can be traced to the not-so-distant past. Women always worked in social occupations (teachers, nurses, mothers), but the more ambitious women of the Mad Men-era emerged as leaders in community societies and volunteer organizations. So while philanthropy has always been the domain of wealthy men, the new field of social entrepreneurship is ideally suited to women, who have always had to meet complex demands that pit community against individualism. In short, we understand the necessity of seeing the economy and the world as an interconnected and interdependent system. Executives are clearing the path for a new generation of social entrepreneurs who have chosen to forgo traditional corporate paths. Women are now starting social enterprises in ever-increasing numbers.  There are some ethical fashion brand and marketplace like Hur Nusrat  designed to sell products made by women from our country. The platform is completely flat, which means that products from unknown designers in Hur Nusrat  sell next to celebrity-designed products made by Aarong, Bishwa Rong or among others. It's a business, just like any other business. We can only benefit the community we serve if we profit because only profitable businesses can have a sustainable, far-reaching impact on communities and economies. Rather than tell women we need to be more like men to succeed in this new realm, we should encourage women to look to the skills they do have to succeed in social enterprise. It is more important than ever that we not see compassion, long-term thinking, and social orientation as weaknesses. In the emerging realm of the social enterprise, these skills are what will help our ventures succeed, grow and change the world as we know it. That's a bet on our future that I would like to take. It is ambitious, but the well-being of our communities (and the lives of men and women as workers, investors, consumers and citizens) are at stake. Those who understand that we are all in this together will benefit themselves while benefiting others. Entrepreneurship among women, no doubt improves the prosperity of the nation in general and of the family in particular. Women today are more willing to take up activities that were formerly considered the preserve of men, and have proved that they are second to no one with respect to contribution to the growth of the economy. Writer Information: 1.Abdullah Hil Muntakim, Assistant Professor, FBA, UODA, Email- [email protected] 2. Fatima Islam, Project Manager, CTEIP,PMSC, LGED HQ, Email: [email protected]   AH  

Two Bangladeshis have been put on the 2018 version of Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 Asia list for their contributions towards solving problems through their business initiatives. The US based influential magazine Forbes published the Asia’s best 30 entrepreneurs list under title ‘30 under 30 Asia 2018: The Social Entrepreneurs Bringing Positive Change to Asia’. The two listed young men are Ayman Sadiq (26) founder of online based educational institution ‘10 Minute School’ and Sajid Iqbal (27) chief of ‘Change’- a voluntary organization that was established to use renewable energy for protecting environment. The annual list by Forbes features 30 youngsters from Asia who are leveraging business tools to solve the world's problems.  Ayman Sadiq is an entrepreneur and internet personality known for starting the Youtube channel ‘10 Minute School’ that publishes video lectures on various topics, including science, business, personal development, and arts. His group also takes online live video classes. Earlier, he was named as one of the winners of the British Queen's Young Leader Award for 2018. Besides, he received Best e-learning Award from Asia-Pacific ICT alliance. Sadiq attended Dhaka University’s Institute of Business Administration from 2012 to 2016, graduating with a Bachelor in Business Administration. Another winner, Sajid Iqbal, is the founder of Change, a youth-led development agency working in the field of green innovations, research on renewable energy, water security and sustainable business development. His organization has managed to enlighten four thousand homes with their ‘bottle light’. He also achieved Muhammad Yunus Medal, US State Department and British Queen’s Young Leaders Awards 2017. Sajid Iqbal completed his BSc and MSc in Environmental Science and Management from North South University.  AH

Over 28 thousand new women entrepreneurs will be created across the country in the next five years so they can find their way of self-employment, according to an official document. Reports BSS.  The document on the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's 10 Special Initiatives also mentioned that a plan has been taken to provide training to over 56,100 women by June 2020 for engaging them in various income-generating activities. According to the document, the government is implementing the Urban based Marginal Women Development Project (second phase) to provide necessary trainings to 45 thousand city-based poor, helpless and low-income women to improve their skill by the end of this current 2017-18 financial year. The government is implementing a fiscal plan to create self-employment opportunity for over 53 thousand disadvantageous women by the next June through a micro credit scheme. Besides, the government in May last year approved a special project involving Taka 81.89 crore to provide necessary training to 10,500 women in order to make them capable of becoming entrepreneurs in the country's thriving ICT sector. Being implemented by the ICT division, the 'She Power Project' is designed to create the women entrepreneurs at 21 upazillas across the country by November this year.  Apart from empowering women for self-employment, the government has targeted increasing the share of female officers in the public sector to 25 percent by 2020 and motivating the rural women to participate in local and national elections by creating leadership among them. The official document also highlighted some of the major progress that the country achieved in empowering women in the recent years. These include establishing various organizations to expedite women empowerment, enacting anti-repression law for protecting women and setting up over 13 thousand rural maternity healthcare centers all over the country. As many as 40 ministries have also been brought under gender sensitive budgeting in order to ensure women participation in government activities.  Educated but unemployed 13,432 women have been trained under district based woman computer training project.  With a view to creating job and increasing income through skill development 19 lakh women have so far been trained under various programs. AH