Registration for Bangabandhu Innovation Grant 2023 opens

Registration is now open for the contest to win the Bangabandhu Innovation Grant (BIG) 2023, a government-sponsored seed funding for entrepreneurs and startups.
 
The State Minister for the ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak inaugurated the 3rd BIG registration programme yesterday at the BCC Auditorium of ICT Tower at Agargaon, Dhaka.
 
Commenced in 2019, the BIG initiative is organised for the country's entrepreneurs by the Innovation Design and Entrepreneurship Academy (iDEA) Project of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) under the ICT Division.
 
Highlighting this year's BIG features, Startup Bangladesh Limited Managing Director Sami Ahmed said the winner of the contest will be awarded a special honour and a grant of Tk1 crore.
 
Another 50 startups will be awarded a grant of Tk10 lakh each, he said.
 
"Journey through the BIG competition is attractive not only for the awards, but for the opportunity to receive the expert jury members' valuable advice on different things including investment opportunities," he added. 
 
Any information technology-oriented entrepreneurs can register for the tournament on BIG website – www.big.gov.bd – till 22 April 2023.
 
The BIG authorities plan to select 300 innovative startups at the initial stage from the applications received.
 
Later, a three-day boot camp will be organised for the selected startups. The boot camp includes day-long workshops, mentoring, and pitching opportunities for the startups.
 
The top 51 startups of BIG 2023 will be selected from the most promising startups at the boot camp, and the final round of BIG will be organised with the best five startups selected from them.
Inaugurating the event, Zunaid Ahmed Palak said seed funding is a big problem for any new startup, for which many innovative entrepreneurs give up their effort at the initial stage.
 
"Ten years ago there was no such support from the government for new small investors, but we took these initiatives and at present there are around 2,500 startups in the country. Some of these startups, for example – bKash and Nagad, have already become billionaire companies," said Zunaid Ahmed.
 
"I hope, we will have around 5,000 startups by 2025, which will play a key role in materialising the smart Bangladesh with their innovative service," he added.
 
The Secretary of the ICT Division Md Shamsul Arefin and BCC Executive Director Ranajit Kumar, among others, spoke as the special guests at the event presided over by the iDEA Project Director Md Altaf Hossain.