State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Junaid Ahmed Palak said that the future generation of the country will be developed as a creative, innovative and problem-solving nation by using technology. He said that the successful implementation of Digital Bangladesh is enabling the talented youth of the country to earn a lot of money using any device with affordable reliable high-speed internet.
The State Minister said these things in the chief guest speech at the award ceremony of Huawei’s flagship CSR program “Women in Tech, Bangladesh” held on 04 June 2024 Tuesday at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka.
State Minister Palak said, ICT Advisor Sajib Wazed Jai has guided and encouraged us to take internet connectivity to the remote areas of the country. Since then we have covered 2600 unions through fiber-optical cable connections. We have reduced the cost of internet and made it affordable for everyone. As a result there are 130 million internet users in Bangladesh.
Stating that we believe in partnerships, Palak said, ICT advisors always encourage us to work with the private sector, NGOs and academia. We have been able to create 2500 start-ups in the last decade and a half. Under Innovation Design Entrepreneurship Academy, I have given 385 start-ups a grant of around 10 lakh taka. He said, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has given us ‘She Power’ project to empower women and involve women in technology. As a result we have been able to train 10,500 women across the country. After the successful implementation of the ‘She Power’ scheme we received the ‘Har Power’ scheme from the Prime Minister. Under this scheme, we are providing 5 months training in IT Freelancing, E-Commerce, Call Center Agent and Service Engineering. After the training, we offer a one-month mentorship. He noted that training and funding alone are not enough for an entrepreneur, they need mentorship, coaching and technical support.
Palak also said, we hope that next year Huawei will manufacture their brand laptops in Bangladesh. At the same time I will be more happy if Huawei introduces a research and development center in Bangladesh. Where our women engineers will make a special contribution. In the same way, he expressed hope that the Chinese government will support and stand by Bangladesh in the implementation of the Smart Bangladesh vision of Bangladesh in the next 17 years.
Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen, Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Zara Jabeen Mahbub, MP, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Engineer Md. Mohiuddin Ahmed, head of the UNESCO office and representative in Bangladesh. Suzan Vize, Vice-Chancellor of IUT Dr. Mohammad Rafiqul Islam and Pan Junfeng, President of Huawei South Asia and CEO of Huawei Bangladesh.
Later, the state minister handed over the prizes to the winners and answered various questions from the journalists at the end of the ceremony.
Note that for the first time as Huawei’s strategic partner, UNESCO Bangladesh participated in this competition. Out of 750 participants in the competition, 18 finalists were selected. At this stage there were two types of competition – single and team. Team-based ideas are selected based on how new solutions are possible using ICT and their potential for business success. In addition to champion team Empower, the first runner-up winner in the competition was ‘Tera Bin’ whose business idea was how to turn waste into resources using solar composters and other technologies. The second runner-up team ‘Solnet’ worked on how to easily and cost-effectively build and operate solar plants using cloud technology and apps.
Besides, four contestants won individual prizes for their special performances. The winners are Kaysari Ferdous, student of EEE department of Dhaka University, Mahmuda Naeem, graduate of Islamic University of Technology, Sumaiya Tariq Labiba, design verification engineer of SBIT Limited and Safrina Kabir, student of EEE department of Islamic University of Technology. These winners will get a chance to travel to China to get an idea of the country’s start-up ecosystem.