Sakib Manzur, a Bangladeshi IBA student, has won Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) for his outstanding business ideas, excellent presentation skills and smart responses to questions.
The 21-year-old undergraduate of IBA beat competitors with his innovative production 'Sketch Board Interactive' and was presented the 'GSEA National Competition' award.
A total of five student entrepreneurs from different universities faced each other in the finale of the national competition-a programme of Entrepreneurs Organisation (EO) Bangladesh.
Syed Manzur Elahi, chairman of Apex Group and former adviser to the caretaker government, was present as chief guest of the event held on Saturday in the city.
The jury of the grand finale was included Rajiv Prasad Shaha, chairman of Reliance Insurance and managing director of Kumudini Welfare Trust, Farzana Chowdhury, managing director of Green Delta Insurance, Sulaiman Ajanee, president of the Aga Khan National Council and managing director of Standard Finis Oil Co, Farhana A Rahman, vice president of BASIS and Minhaz Anwar, head of GP accelerator of Grameenphone Ltd.
To qualify for the contest, an individual has to be an undergraduate student and the owner of a for-profit/social enterprise structured (revenue generating) business with at least six consecutive months' operation.
Mr Sakib Manzur along with his three partners founded his production company specialising in visual copy writing for business organisations on November 12, 2016 with the vision to be one of the largest video production companies in Bangladesh and diversify the company's portfolio and expand to other related markets and industries resulting in creation of employment opportunities for young talents looking to work in this growing industry.
He will represent Bangladesh at the 2018 GSEA Global Finals in Toronto, Canada and will be competing against the top student entrepreneurs from around the globe aiming to win over $400,000 in cash and donated prizes.
"GSEA has been more of a learning experience than a competition to me. It's a brilliant opportunity to learn from the very bests in the business. I can't wait to be able to represent Bangladesh on the global stage next year and have another whirlwind of a learning experience," said Sakib Manzur.
"We received applications from all over Bangladesh and it has been inspiring to listen to the stories and presentations of the contestants whose businesses look beyond generating profit to bring social impact within their communities," Zareen Mahmud Hosein, GSEA Co-Chair said.
Expressing his gratitude, Khaled Hossain, president of EO said, "I am very happy for young Manzur. I am sure he will be a tough competitor in the global arena and make Bangladesh proud as our representative. My best wishes are with him," he said.
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