The leading global ICT infrastructure provider Huawei inaugurated three new competitions namely ICT Incubator, App Developer and Tech Woman to nurture the local startups and ICT talents of Bangladesh. The inauguration ceremony of these three programs has been held at a city hotel on Thursday.
All these three programs are designed for the new startup and idea on developing mobile apps. Among those, ICT incubator contest is focused on startups and divided into two criteria – Idea Stage and Early Stage. This ICT Incubator competition is powered by Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) Limited alongside iDEA and Startup Bangladesh Limited as strategic partners.
The champion of both idea stage and early stage of the ICT Incubation competition will get up to BDT 500,000 prize money, CEO will get chance to meet successful startup at abroad & up to USD 125k Huawei Cloud credit. 1st and 2nd runner up will consecutively get up to BDT 300,000 & up to BDT 100,000 prize money. Both the runner ups’ CEO will also get the chance to meet successful Startup at abroad with USD 80k Cloud Credit.
Other two competitions are being organized by Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) Limited. Huawei App Developer & Huawei Tech Woman competitions are for University student. Maximum two members can form a team. Participants from 3rd or 4th year of any University with a CGPA above 3.0 will be eligible to apply. Huawei Tech Woman program is solely dedicated for women participation whereas in Huawei App Developer, the combination can be anyway.
The champion of App Developer & Huawei Tech Woman competition will get up to BDT 300,000 prize money, an opportunity to meet global successful app developers and Huawei Cloud resource of up to USD 5,000. 1st and 2nd runner up will consecutively get up to BDT 200,000 & up to BDT 100,000 prize money and up to USD 3,000 & USD 2,000 Huawei Cloud resource.
The chief guests of the inauguration ceremony were Zunaid Ahmed Palak, MP, Hon’ble State Minister for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Pan Junfeng, CEO, Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) Limited.
The inauguration ceremony of these programs began with an opening speech by Pan Junfeng, CEO, Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) Limited. Afterward, Prof. Dr. M. Moshiul Hoque, Dean, ECE (CUET) & Chair, IEEE Bangladesh Section, gave the keynote speech. This was followed by a program overview and speech by Ilmul Haque Sajib, Co-founder & COO, Sheba Platform Ltd.; Prof. Dr. Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, Vice-Chancellor, Islamic University of Technology; Md. Altaf Hossain, Project Director, iDEA Project; and Sami Ahmed, Managing Director, Startup Bangladesh Limited.
At this occasion, ICT State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak said, “We need to build a startup community to build a digital society, knowledge-based economy and an innovative Bangladesh. To expedite this process, Huawei has developed an excellent partnership model through these competitions. In this special initiative taken by Huawei and meant for mobile app developers and women involved in the ICT sector, people from different backgrounds including university teachers, various established startups, mentors.”
Pan Junfeng, CEO, Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) Limited, said, “The ICT Incubator will foster a healthy and sustainable startup ecosystem for everyone by assisting both early-stage startups and idea-stage startups. It will also provide all EEE, ECE & CSE students in their 3rd and 4th year the opportunity to enhance their already existing skills while attaining new ones. The programs will also focus on supporting the women of this country who are working or studying in tech-related fields. We hope that everyone will benefit from these programs.”
Sami Ahmed, Managing Director, Startup Bangladesh Limited, said, “Huawei App developer, Tech Women and ICT Incubator programs are timely initiative to develop a unique platform for our young and talented people and I believe these unique programs will go a long way fostering and give them an opportunity to unleash their creativity after honoring their skills.”
Md. Altaf Hossain, Project Director (Joint Secretary), iDEA Project, ICT Division mentioned that this effort of HUAWEI will contribute remarkably to develop the ecosystem through encouraging startups of Bangladesh. It is important and encouraging that along with Government, private sector firms, academics and foreign/international organizations are coming up with programs and support to contribute to the process of enhancement of entrepreneurship and startup ecosystem in Bangladesh.
Prof. Dr. M. Moshiul Hoque, Dean, ECE (CUET) & Chair, IEEE Bangladesh Section said, “Huawei App developer, Tech Women and ICT Incubator programs are timely initiative to develop a unique platform for our young and talented people and I believe these unique programs will go a long way fostering and give them an opportunity to unleash their creativity after honoring their skills.”
Prof. Dr. Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, Vice-Chancellor, Islamic University of Technology, said, “Since the last few years, I have witnessed Huawei introduce some of the most unique youth development programs. For example, I have seen students participate in Huawei’s iconic Seeds For The Future program and how it impacted their lives drastically with all the knowledge they have gained. Hence, I truly believe that the upcoming three programs will offer students with numerous opportunities to showcase their skills while also developing new ones.”
Ilmul Haque Sajib, COO, Sheba Platform Ltd., said, “Last two years have shown us how ICT sector can contribute in the GDP and ensure the growth and development even in crisis. So, we really need to work more this industry. I believe this initiative will contribute a lot and change the ICT sector.”
The registration process will begin from 15th June and end in 30th June. Interested candidates of all three programs can apply from the official website - https://hibator.com/
MSI, a world leader in gaming hardware and innovative business solutions, has recently launched new Business and Productivity laptops in 3 series in Bangladesh, namely: Summit, Prestige, and Modern. Every laptop comes a with 12th Gen Intel® Core™ Processor.
The Intel® Evo™ platform certification was awarded to the Summit and Prestige series for their lightweight design, rapid response, and long-lasting battery life. Discrete graphics, powered by NVIDIA, fuel the Summit and Prestige series to help people express their passion and help business professionals reach their goals. The Summit Flip models also feature a seamless 360° 2-in-1 design, utilizing the touch-screen capability to switch seamlessly into a tablet mode. Meanwhile, for the Modern series, MSI has collaborated with popular French illustrator Lorraine Sorlet for four new exciting designs which give the series a more contemporary look.
Speaking about the new lineup, Derek Chen, MSI Notebook Worldwide Sales & Marketing Director said, “MSI’s roots are in high-performance laptops, and our Business Series laptops are built to complete any workspace. Our core mission has never changed; it’s built to be the backbone that maximizes your productivity.”
With various features and designs, there is a Business & Productivity laptop for everyone. Whether it’s the high-end Summit with convenient 360° Flip modes, the Prestige with astonishing display, or the Modern with its stylish yet robust design, Productivity Starts Here. The new MSI Business and Productivity Laptops with 12th Gen Intel® Core™ Processor are now available in the Bangladesh market.
The National App Store of Bangladesh, bdapps has recently launched in Rajshahi in order to serve the regions strong developer community and explore possible expansion opportunities. The launching event took place at a local elite hotel in Rajshahi city.
The event featured open discussions and quizzes with bdapps-related organizations, individuals working on the platform, and inspiring success stories of current developers. Senior bdapps executives shared opinions, and suggestions along with the vision of bdapps and its future work plans with university teachers, students, and top ICT-local media executives. The logo of the hackathon to be held this year was also unveiled at the event.
Dean of the ECE Faculty of RUET Professor Dr. Nazrul Islam Mandal, President of Startup Rajshahi Tasneem Binte Shawkat, General Secretary of BFDS Mahfuz Rahman, and other concerned persons shared their valuable thoughts on the occasion.
Newly appointed bdapps Rajshahi Region Community Engagement Executive Mahir Ashef, Ahmed Armaan Siddiqui, Executive Vice President, Md. Salah Uddin, General Manager, Robi Axiata Limited; Miaki Media Limited CEO Taneem Islam were also present at the launching event.
bdappps developers, stakeholders of IT institutes, training centers, and students from different universities along with 18 Campus ambassadors and more than 200 participants from different universities of Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions also participated in the event.
bdapps, an initiative by Robi Axiata Ltd., currently has more than 30,000 developers, of whom 20 percent are women developers, and more than 50,000 apps. Both programmers and non-programmers can start the journey of creating and publishing applications through the website dev.bdapps.com.
Speakers in a discussion meeting told that ‘Digital Bangladesh’ announced by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been successfully implemented by BASIS members and other industrial actors of the private sector ecosystem. Now is the time to make ‘SMART Bangladesh’.
They made this expectation in a discussion meeting titled ‘SMART Bangladesh: Role of ICT Industry’ to highlight the contribution of Software and ITES sector to the national development of Bangladesh, organized by Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) in a city hotel on Sunday night.
Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology minister Mustafa Jabbar was present as chief guest in the meeting.
State Minister for Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid, MP, State Minister for Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) were present as special guest.
Among others, Former President of BGMEA and Vice Chancellor of Asian University for Women Dr. Rubana Haque, Managing Director of Flora Telecom Limited Mostafa Rafiqul Islam Duke, BASIS President Mr. Russell T. Ahmed also spoke.
The success stories of the BASIS member organizations in the implementation of ‘Digital Bangladesh’ have been highlighted in the program.
One of the highlights of the event was the official inauguration of the “BASIS Contact Center.” The BTRC approved short code (16488) was introduced for the BASIS Contact Center to enable the members of the country’s top IT trade body to communicate with BASIS seamlessly and expeditiously.
BASIS expects that it will improve the membership service.
The event was sponsored by ADN Telecom and Flora Telecom.