7th GSEA grand finale: Three Bangladeshi students awarded for transformational work

With an aim to prepare the young students of Bangladesh as entrepreneurs, the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) awarded a student at the grand finale of the Bangladesh chapter of the 7th Global Student Entrepreneurship Award (GSEA).

The event took place at the Dhaka's Westin Hotel on Friday. 

Kaiser Ahmed Alam, from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), won the first prize for his research and development startup. 

Alam's “Oxyjet Limited” aims to develop cost-effective, sustainable, and localized solutions for healthcare services. It primarily focuses on the development of low-cost medical devices for implementing healthcare in low-resource conditions like in Bangladesh. 

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Safat Jamil from Brac got the second position for his “allDoc” project which was designed for trading, manufacturing, and targeting e-commerce businesses. The project is aimed at creating automation in places where there is still reliance on paper-based or manual processes. The project aims to create an one-stop solution for accounting, expense management, inventory, and more.

The third place was taken by Sarowar Jahan, from the same university for his project “Sheba”. It is a non-invasive medical device that can measure seven basic health parameters using IoT for cloud-based data storage and identifying health issues using machine learning and BIG Data Analysis algorithm.

Sazzad Hossain/Bangla Tribune

The winners will represent Bangladesh at the global championship, which is going to be held in Cape Town, South Africa.

Marc Stockli, chair of the board of directors, Entrepreneurs' Organization was present at the event as special guest. 

Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni attended the event as the chief guest while Deputy Minister for Education Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury accompanied him.

Sadat Omi, EO Bangladesh president, chaired the event while Farian Yusuf, EO Bangladesh President and Vice Chair of Paragon Ceramics Ltd, spoke.

The other guests attending the event ate Sami Ahmed, managing director of Startup Bangladesh Limited, Altaf Hossain, project director of iDEA and Sanjay Jhunjhunwala, regional chair of EO were present as special guests. 

Sazzad Hossain/Bangla Tribune

The speakers at the event said that students should become entrepreneurs instead of just chasing after jobs. 

The economic context of Bangladesh will change in the hands of young entrepreneurs, they said. 

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Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni in her speech said: "The award will play a special role in creating smart citizens."

“We get good degrees but it has no application. There is a major shortage of soft skills. Through this learning process, students will learn to think and they will learn to work with others,” she added.

Deputy Education Minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury said: “We teach the young generation to dream but if we cannot create a suitable environment for them, how will they turn out to be entrepreneurs?”

“We are trying to create an outcome-based education system. We want to provide students with an education that is relevant in today's era and which has a demand in the job market,” he added.