Startup Cup was launched in Bangladesh in 2014, and tonight will mark the celebration of the completion of Bangladesh Startup Cup 2014. Sean Griffin, Founder of StartUp Cup will be present as chief guest, along with Ms Araksia Martirossian, StartUp Cup, Vice President of Entrepreneurial Community Development.
The competition had originally received 46 applications. After seven rounds spanned out over the past year, four teams have been finalized. Tonight, at the celebration, the final champion will be unveiled. The Dhaka Tribune caught up with the final teams about their products, dreams and aims.
Nilufer Karim, Founder
Company: Memento International
Product: Mushroom-enriched pickle
Why this product?
I am an agriculturist. Healthy, nutritional and medicinal food is my passion. My interest largely lies in food products that can be processed and given to people for good health.
So, I decided, if I could market this product it would be good for the society – as I would make it available for them, as well as for me – as I want to start a business.
How will this serve the society?
There are lots of good values in this. It addresses issues of diabetes, kidney problems and high pressure. Mushroom has nutrients that can help these issues.
Fresh oyster mushrooms are not available all year around, so I wanted to make pickles because they have higher shelf-lives.
Currently I am making them in three flavours: classic, sugar-free, and Kashmiri.
Debajit Saha, Founder
Company: Shurokkha
Product: Sanitary napkin for women of low-income background
Why this product?
We have a market research firm, and through an assignment we discovered that women workers of lower income group – especially garment factory workers – often use scrap pieces of cloth as alternatives for sanitary napkin. This is problematic because it eventually leads to infection and graver health problems and the women do not even realize that.
How will this be of help for the women?
Upon research, we learned that women use these for two reasons: price and distribution. Using scrap pieces of cloth is cheaper than buying sanitary napkins. At the same time, we checked some pharmacies in those areas and learned that they are operated by men. This discourages women from buying sanitary napkins. Our aim is to produce low-cost napkins as well as making them available at the health center at factories so that women have proper access to them.
Towfiq Ul Alam, Co-Founder
Company: Zpack Packaging Solutions
Product: Packaging solution service
Why this product?
Each product is unique, and we realize that each product has unique demands and needs for their packaging. We thus decided to provide a variety of packaging solutions for different companies. We provide customized packaging services, with cost-minimizing solutions, that generate higher productivity and more output. We are already working with different companies.
What is your expectation about the outcome of this Startup Cup?
All four finalists do different kinds of work. I believe we are all winners. Victory is not merely “winning” – us having come this far is our victory. We have learned so much. As an organization, we have moved from service-holders to a business organization and mentalities of these two bodies are entirely different. And Startup Cup has helped us immensely with this transition.
Motasim Rahman, Co-Founder
Company: Incogmito
Product: Anonymous social network
How does this product work?
Freedom of expression has become an issue in today’s world and we are trying to encourage people to express themselves.
In order to use this app, a user would have to log in through their Facebook and their friends list would automatically get synced with the app. The user can then anonymously share photos and statuses on Facebook through this app.
Another feature allows the users to comment on a friend’s activity such as status or an uploaded photo on Facebook. An Incogmito app user will be able to see these updates on their app and comment anonymously.
It is currently at a production level, and we hope to release it soon in the market with updated features. It is currently available on iOS and Android.
How will you address issues of abuse?
We have thought about this, and will of course have a reporting system. We also have an algorithm that will allow us to determine if one person’s comments/messages are being flagged too frequently. If, as a user, you are reported many times, your posts will be moved to the bottom of the newsfeed. The algorithm is designed such that only the good things will be promoted.
Furthermore, if a Facebook user does not like or want the anonymous comment on their activity, they can flag it, and we will take it off.
