DataBird, a Bangladeshi company building an inclusive internet ecosystem with products across multiple digital verticals, recently launched DataBird LaunchPad, a platform to support young innovators.
It is in partnership with ICT Division, Bangladesh, LICT Bangladesh, Durbar, BASIS, and The Daily Star.
The virtual inauguration ceremony was graced by the State Minister, ICT Division, Zunaid Ahmed Palak MP as chief guest, and NM Zeaul Alam PAA, senior secretary of ICT Division as special guest. The partners and ecosystem stakeholders were also present, said a press release.
Sami Ahmed, policy adviser for LICT Bangladesh, applauded DataBird for being the first internet company to bring such an initiative to enable local tech talent.
Tina Jabeen, CEO and managing director, Startup Bangladesh Limited, shared how startups like ShareTrip and Ridmik are leading the growth of the digital economy.
Syed Almas Kabir, president of BASIS, and Md. Tajdin Hassan from The Daily Star emphasized the need for technological innovations by the young generation to drive the agenda of digital Bangladesh forward.
Tanveer Ali, board member of DataBird, and Sia Kamalie, founder of Skycatcher, the investor at DataBird, shared the vision of promoting local innovation and creating scale opportunities for innovators in Bangladesh, with the philosophy of ‘Building locally, scaling globally’ at the heart of DataBird.
Encouraging all young entrepreneurs, developers, engineers, and builders to amplify the power of their innovations, Zunaid Ahmed Palak said, “Our nation is going through a wave of digital transformation with the vision of making digital solutions equitable for all. Aligning with Government’s innovation-focused development efforts, a platform like DataBird will help fulfill the local demand and enable the young founders to solve the biggest challenges of society with scalable internet products.”
“DataBird is the pioneer of the Ridmik keyboard, which has revolutionized how we communicate and interact in Bangla online. Our state of the art B2B platform of ShareTrip is currently being used by over 4000 travel agencies around the country. We are constantly equipping micro-entrepreneurs with technology and empowering them to scale their businesses,” said Kashef Rahman, CEO of DataBird.
“We have designed DataBird LaunchPad to support the innovators from both student and professional track with exciting resources and opportunities so that they can bring their innovations to the market,” shared Sadia Haque, CCO of DataBird.
DataBird Launchpad will be taking applications from teams building an internet product that can solve a problem in Bangladesh, till July 24. From the Grand Finale in September 2021, the best team from the Professional track will get a grant of Tk15 lakh, and the most innovative idea from the Student track will receive 2 MacBooks. Runner-up teams in both tracks will receive exciting grants and rewards as well.
