To make this pandemic productive and to establish the actual entrepreneurial trait among the youths, Dhaka University Entrepreneurship Development Club (DUEDC) has organized one of the largest international entrepreneurship summits in the history of the University of Dhaka on last Friday 24th July, which continued till 25th July.
The summit was initiated by me Dr. Rafiuddin Ahmed and supported by Dhaka University Entrepreneurship Development Club (DUEDC) . I felt the urge to organize this summit on an international level. The main purpose of this summit was to inform Bangladeshi youth about the present COVID-19 job market scenario and how to be future-ready. Everyone had a unique opportunity to explore themselves in the deep sea of business as an entrepreneur.
Throughout the two days long scheduled summit, almost all the perspectives on entrepreneurship have been covered, i.e. entrepreneurship journey, Tech skills and Block chain for entrepreneurs, robotics, IT and IoT for business, soft skills, emotional intelligence and artificial intelligence in business, showcasing success story from home and global, negotiation skills, data analysis, healthcare entrepreneurship, women entrepreneurship, leadership skills, research in entrepreneurship domain, ethical entrepreneurship, social business and startups, entrepreneurship opportunity across borders, transformational leadership and many more.
The summit was inaugurated by a list of distinguished guests and speakers (from home and abroad) including Pro VC (academic) of Dhaka University Prof Dr. A.S.M Maksud Kamal, Acting Dean of Faculty of Business Studies Professor Dr Muhammad Abdul Moyeen, Professor Dr Gillian Sullivan Mort from Queensland, Australia, Mr Ahmad Ashkar (CEO at Hult Prize) and Mr Mark Nosworthy (CEO at Bproperty.com) and the session was moderated by Dr Rafiuddin Ahmed..
The summit was closed by honorable Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) Chairman Professor Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam. He focused on, to cope with the changing world, graduates should change their mindset and start their own venture and explore the world.
The summit hosted 21 sessions where there were distinguished speakers like
- Professor Dr Gillian Sullivan ( Queensland, Australia)
- Mr Ahmad Ashkar (CEO at Hult Prize)
- Mr Mark Nosworthy (CEO at Bproperty.com)
- M. Khorshed Anowar (Head of Retail & SME Banking, Eastern Bank Ltd)
- Rashed Mujib Noman (Country Director, Augmedix)
- Stephanie Woollard (Founder of Seven Women, Melbourne Australia)
- Syed Mojibul Huq (PD, iDEA project, Startup Bangladesh, ICT Division)
- AKM Hafizullah Khan (PD, ESDP )
- Aftab Mahmud Khurshid (GM, Evercare hospital former Apollo),
- Farah Mahmud Trina (Vice Chairman, Investment Committee, ECAB and founder at Trina’s Closet)
- Dr. Nazmul Hossain (Associate Professor of Dhaka University)
- Rashedur Rahman ( Associate Professor of Dhaka University)
- Saimum Hossain (Assistant Professor of Dhaka University)
- Dr. Ashir Ahmed (Associate Professor, Kyushu University, Japan)
- Dr. Faiz Shah (Director of Yunus Center AIT, Thailand)
- Nini Daing (CEO of myHarapan, Malaysia)
- Dr. Lafifa Jamal (Professor of Robotics & Mechatronics Engineering, DU)
- Dr. Atiqur Rahman Ahad (Professor of IEEE, DU and Osaka University )
- Susanna Bevilacqua (Founder, Moral Fairground, Melbourne, Australia)
- Dr. Chin-Wen Mark Shen (Associate Professor, National Central University, Taiwan)
- Dr. Farzana Nahid (Assistant Professor of Mkt and IB at North South University)
- Dr. Tanvir Ahmed (Sessional Lecturer, University of Melbourne, Australia)
- Bashir Ahmed (President, British Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BBCCI)
- Shamsul Arefin (Regional Secretary at BBCCI)
- Parisa islam (Associate Professor of Eastern University)
- Asif Kawnine (Chairman, ABBC)
- Monirul Islam (Exec Member, ABBC, Australia)
- Quazi M Ahmed (Global Leadership Trainer)
- Steven Dossou (Founder of Sail Force Catalyst)
- Susan Morrice (Director of Belize Natural Energy Charitable Trust)
- Taslima Sultana (Co-Founder at Extra Mile Age Care)
- Dr. Fahreen Hannan (Founder, Dhaka Cast)
- Sadia Noor Kashfi, Zaria Haque, Ajmain Faique Swad and Sheikh Anik Hassan (Innokids lead trainer and pedagogy Developer)
- Ejazur Rahman (Founder & Managing Director, Mind Mapper)
- Sheikh Atiqul Alam Mishuk (Trade Marketing Manager, Arla Foods)
- Nusrat Jahan (MD, Interactive Artefact)
- Pradeepta Kumar Saha (CEO at Nerdiz & NVR studio)
- M Aminur Rahman (CEO, Checkmate Solution)
- Tahlil ( Advanced block chain training )
- Iqbal Bahar Zahid (CEO and Director, Optimax Comm limited)
- Tajdin Hassan (Head of Marketing, The Daily Star)
- Minhaj Anwar (Chief Storyteller Better Stories Limited )
- Professor Moinuddin Chowdhury ( President, Society for Leadership Skills Development (SLSD) )
- Sadman Sadik ( Chief content creator Robi 10 mins school)
- Rafsan Sabab ( Co-founder and Host, What a show )
- Ridoan Khan Anik (Software Engineer of Leads Corporation Limited)
In total more than 50 speakers from 10 countries from home and abroad, i.e. Bangladesh, USA, UK, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, South Africa, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Japan. More than 28 institutions like National Central University, Yunus Social Business Centre, Hult Prize, Bproperty, Eastern Bank Limited, Innokids, Extra Mile age care, Arla foods were actively present in the global summit.
All the members of the Dhaka University Entrepreneurship Development Club and 17 other clubs of different universities meticulously worked behind to make the event successful. Especially Mohammad Arik (President of DUEDC) and Masud Siddique (General Secretary) extends their utmost support to make this a success. Lastly, a very special segment of this summit was covered named ‘Win Your Pitch: A demo pitching opportunity’ where youths with potential ideas were given the opportunity to pitch their ideas and got some essential feedback from honorable judges to improve their pitching. DUEDC upholds that our youth has the potential to take over the future with their entrepreneurial trait. DUEDC is hopeful that such events will play an effective role in making self-reliant and business oriented entrepreneurial leaders during covid-19 hard times. The summit was closed with 2 songs sung by Sheikh Anik Hassan.
Written by:
Dr. Rafiuddin Ahmed.
(Chief Organizer of the summit and DUEDC Moderator)
MBA (DU), Masters (MIB), University of Melbourne, PhD (Entrepreneurship), Melbourne, Australia.
Associate professor, Dept. of Marketing, University of Dhaka. Bangladesh.
