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Feature

HSBC Young Entrepreneur Awards
“Bangladesh has all the ingredients to become a global player”

Mustafizur R.Khan

With a view to encouraging undergraduate students develop their creative business ideas the HSBC Bank is organizing a regional business plan competition named The HSBC Young Entrepreneur Awards. This competition will provide post-secondary students with an opportunity to demonstrate their creativity and develop their business acumen.

Prizes totaling around BDT 9,75,000 (BDT 85,000 local competition and BDT 8,90,000 for regional competition) will be awarded to student teams who are able to develop innovative and commercially viable business proposals. The Star Campus team had a conversation with the head of marketing and public relations Mr. Mustafizur R. Khan about the upcoming event.

SC: Tell us something about the HSBC Young Entrepreneur Awards?

M.R.K: This is an international competition for undergraduate students for enhancing the spirit of entrepreneurship. The participating countries are Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Bangladesh.

The students will initially submit a proposal of their business ideas and after the preliminary screening thirty teams will be invited for the second round. HSBC plans to groom the students with workshops to enhance their presentation; communication and business plan writing skills. The top three teams will be positioned in the gold, silver and bronze category. The gold team will eventually participate in the grand finale in Hong Kong for the regional championship and the other two teams will accompany them as observers.

S.C: How will the students be benefited from this competition?

M.R.K: HSBC is arranging this type of event as part of their corporate social responsibility. The main idea is to create a bridge amongst the young minds in this part of the globe. We also try to facilitate the spirit of entrepreneurship among the students to establish small enterprises. Many people think that globalization has become a cliché but as a matter of fact it has opened new dimensions of endless opportunities for entrepreneurs. For this reason we are planning to groom up the baby boomers to face the challenges of the business world.

S.C: What is your suggestion for the development of Entrepreneurship in Bangladesh?

M.R.K: The prospects are huge. Bangladesh has all the ingredients to become a global player; the only thing that is important is to integrate all the scattered components together and to institutionalize the spirit of entrepreneurship. Today, education has become very dynamic, so we need to groom up the students at a very early stage. I think that this sort of competition will give the students opportunity to get international exposure. Besides, exchanging business ideas will let the students get an opportunity to understand their position in the global context and take necessary improvement measures.

(Interviewed by Arif Ashraf Nayan)