The Banglalink Grandmaster season 3 engaged over 8,000 registered students around the country in a single competition to create mobile internet based applications that can change people’s lives. From the original 500 teams, only 20 remain and they will compete for the top place at the finale on November 23.
The participants have undergone rigorous workshops and grooming to prepare for the big day where they will present their ideas to a panel of celebrity judges. On October 23, they underwent a day-long training session conducted by Professor Dr Kaykobad, CSE, BUET, Professor Dr Abdul Hannan Chowdhury, School of Business, North South University, Dr Sarwar Uddin Ahmed, Dean, School of Business, Independent University Bangladesh, Professor Mamun Rashid, Vice Chairman, Financial Excellence Ltd and Professor Dr Md Musa, United International University and also a number of high officials from Banglalink.
The winning team will be chosen at the finale. Banglalink has involved the end users themselves in the competition: the judging will be done in two phases, one by all the Banglalink fans on facebook through voting on the Banglalink facebook page, and eventually by the jury panel, who will take the public’s decision into account while making final judgment.
The Grandmaster Champion will receive Tk200,000, while second and third place will receive Tk150,000 and Tk100,000 respectively. The three winning teams will also visit China to attend a 12-day-long youth camp, where they will attend further workshops and receive hands-on training from experts at Huawei Technologies Ltd. In addition, the students will visit the manufacturing plants of Huawei during the trip. Feasible projects will be taken into account for execution as applications.
Banglalink’s Head of PR and Communication, Marketing Sharfuddin Ahmed Chowdhury said at the training session: “We believe Grandmaster can motivate students to think of unique ideas and hopefully this kind of thinking will create a mobile application that will help society and change millions of lives.”