Liakut Hossain Rajshahi: State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Junaid Ahmed Palak has said that today`s startups, in the fourth industrial revolution, will lead the ICT industry in Bangladesh. The ICT department is providing all kinds of facilities for startups in Bangladesh. We want to build big IT companies from these startups. That`s why we`re working to ensure the necessary mentoring and funding for startups. He said that every high-tech park in the country has been allotted one floor for startups where they are conducting activities without rent. Hi-tech park authorities are providing all kinds of utility facilities to them.

He said this while inaugurating a three-day `Startup Camp` at Sheikh Kamal IT Training and IncubationCenter in Rajshahi today.

The Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority is providing free allocation for at least one floor startups in all the establishments set up across the country. A total of 151 startups on these floors currently have one-year co-working space, logistics and utility support, as well as one-year in-house mentoring for startups (IMS).

In 2021 alone, about 115 startups received a total investment of more than 435 million US dollars.

As part of this year`s mentoring, 3-day startup camps are being organized at each location. As part of this, special sessions are being conducted by local and international mentors for the first 30 startups allotted at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Hi-Tech Park, Sheikh Kamal IT Training and IncubationCenter in Rajshahi. The three-day program will have a total of 12 sessions as well as 3 survey sessions for each startup.

Based on the information gathered from the camp, a personalized incubation program will be conducted through a 6-month curriculum as required by the startups. And later success will be calculated by measuring the growth of startups by collecting data again.

State Minister for ICT Junaid Ahmed Palak inaugurated the startup camp by conducting the first session. The camp will also be conducted by Dr. Bikarna Kumar Ghosh, Managing Director of Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority, Md. Mahdi-uz Zaman, Amazon`s startup and solution architect, and government and private mentors. Officials of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Hi-Tech Park, Rajshahi Project Director AKAM Fazlul Haque, Deputy Director Mahfuzul Kabir and other officials of Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park were present on the occasion. Under the overall supervision of Ashikur Rahman Rupak, Startup and Policy Consultant of Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority, the camp will be held from 26th to 29th January 2022 every day from 11 am to 5:30 pm in compliance with hygiene rules.