Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED), Brac University (BracU) holds the final pitch session of Business Plan Competition (BPC) 2019 (Round 5) recently at GDLN Centre of the university. CED has been working for the development of young entrepreneurs, and the formation and running of student-led enterprises since 2011. CED, not only motivates the youth towards entrepreneurship, but also makes efforts to provide them with necessary incubation assistance.
CED has been organizing BPC since 2015, and the programme is now a regular yearly event. This year’s competition attracted a record number of more than 120 aspiring entrepreneurs (i.e. BracU students) and they participated in 37 groups.
The inspiring business plan competition includes an intensive training named “Triumph” to help participants refine and perfect their business ideas, business models, value propositions, and their pitches. This program helps them understand the business processes, business environments, product/service development stages, market segmentation, etc. for their proposed idea.
Throughout the 12-week Triumph programme, the business propositions were modified and screened by CED mentors. CED caters to entrepreneurs at four basic stages of entrepreneurship for the final round: running business model, transition from plan to model, idea stage, and realization of the spirit of entrepreneurship.
Upon successful completion of the screening process, 12 groups were selected for the final pitch in front of the Jury Panel. These projects were mostly involved with IOT industry, electronic manufacturing firm, trading house, entertainment industry, etc.
11 groups presented their business propositions in the final round under the auspices of the Jury Panel, consisted of Government of Bangladesh high officials, renowned entrepreneurs’ association members, bankers, successful entrepreneurs, academicians, etc. The finalists were judged on feasibility, scalability, job creation, and innovation impact in the society.
The teams titled “Bonton”, “Unpossible book”, “Pothorekha” and “Innovation Hub” were announced as the winners of the business plan competition (round 5). These 4 Grand Final winners have been pronounced as qualifiers for enrolling to the Business Incubation Centre (BIC), established and being managed by CED, where they will be provided with various business incubation services, and also be awarded an interest-free seed loan (up to BDT 5 Lac) from BracU for their head-start.
Besides, “Maker’s tech” and “Legunaa” were conditionally selected for further development of their business plans under the guidance of CED mentors. After successful completion of the development program, these two groups will be eligible to enrol in the Business Incubation Centre (BIC), and they will also be considered for the seed loan.
