250 women entrepreneurs received a grant of BDT 1 crore 25 lakhs from iDEA project

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iDEA of ICT Division celebrates Bangamata’s 92^nd Birth Anniversary and distributed grants to Women Entrepreneurs

TV24 Desk: The Innovation Design and Entrepreneurship Academy (iDEA) Project of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) under the ICT Division has organized the celebration program of the 92^nd birth anniversary of “Bangamata Begum Fazilatun Nesa Mujib” and the grant distribution program to 250 women entrepreneurs 8 August 2022 at Agargaon, BCC auditorium, Dhaka. She is the consort of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the loving mother of the visionary of digital Bangladesh Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The Honorable State Minister for the ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak MP was present as the chief guest at the program. He said that the motivator behind all the movements and struggles of Bangabandhu and the source of inexhaustible motivation in every political activity was the noble woman “Bangamata Begum Fazilatun Nesa Mujib”. Begum Mujib completed Bangabandhu’s activities by following him like a shadow throughout his political career. He also said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina lived a simple life, inspired by the life of Bangamata. “The failure rate of women entrepreneurs is lower than men”, the state minister said, saying that our mothers and daughters are thrifty. I think the grant given to these entrepreneurs will not go to waste.

Promising to continue the donation, the Minister of State said, “This is not the end; Every year on August 8, 1000 Bengali entrepreneurs will be given grants. He said that the ICT Division will do its best to provide training, co-working space and seed money to women entrepreneurs to create 50 percent women entrepreneurs by 2041 to fulfill the vision of Smart Bangladesh.

As a special guest, The Senior Secretary of the ICT Division N M Zeaul Alam PAA said that a major achievement in 2021 is that we have successfully implemented Digital Bangladesh. Now we have no obstacles or barriers to moving forward. Finally, he highlighted the importance of women in building a smart Bangladesh.

The Executive Director (Additional-in-Charge) of BCC Mr. Ranajit Kumar, the President of e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) Ms. Shomi Kaiser and the President of Women and e-commerce Trust (WE) Ms. Nasima Aktar Nisha were the special guests of the program. The President of the Women Entrepreneurs of Bangladesh (WEB) Rupa Ahmed and Anondomela of UNDP consultant Sara Zita also spoke on the occasion.

The Project Director (Joint Secretary) of the iDEA Project Mr. Md. Altaf Hossain presided over the program. He said that the government is progressing in the right way in implementing the vision of the government to build a smart Bangladesh in 2041. He encouraged women to come forward to build a smart Bangladesh.

A one-time grant of BDT 50,000 was given to each of 250 women entrepreneurs in the said program. The initiative is supported by e-CAB, WE, Anondomela and WEB. The IDEA project undertakes this initiative to provide grants to startups as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and entrepreneurs, especially women entrepreneurs, to develop, encourage and accelerate their businesses. In view of this, the applications received from the respective platforms/associations are scrutinized by a special committee formed by iDEA Project and 250 entrepreneurs are selected. 20 from e-CAB, 188 from WE, 31 from Anondomela and 11 from WEB ie a total of 250 women entrepreneurs were given grants of BDT 1 crore 25 lakhs from the iDEA project. Finally, the Hon’ble State Minister handed over the cheque to the women entrepreneurs.