Thrust on rural entrepreneurship ethos

FE Report | Published: May 16, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Rural entrepreneurs seen in the first Training Camp of OPEN Accelerator\'s (OPEN) in Savar Thursday.

They travelled from every corner of Bangladesh, from as far away as Cox's Bazar and Lalmonirhat, and arrived at the Hope Training Centre in Savar on Wednesday, tired but excited.
They are the 19 rural entrepreneurs, selected out of over 150 applications, who have been invited to participate in OPEN Accelerator's (OPEN) first Training Camp, according to a statement.
All the entrepreneurs participating in the 4 day training camp have existing rural businesses with at least 5 employees. All have great passion and plans to grow. The businesses they run are very diverse, from poultry, fisheries and animal feeds through to handmade products, drinking water, education and even a coffee shop with wifi. Their businesses benefit their local communities by supplying useful goods and services and creating sustainable jobs.
OPEN supports the leaders of these businesses through providing training, business mentoring, networking, media exposure and introduction to investors. Helping accelerate the growth of a small number of carefully selected rural businesses creates jobs, opens up new markets and encourages innovation. More importantly it creates powerful, real life success stories and examples for other rural entrepreneurs to follow.
Training Camp runs for four days and concludes with an Award Ceremony at Drik Gallery in Dhanmondi, Dhaka on Saturday. During the Camp the 19 entrepreneurs help each other to prepare a simple growth plan for their business. They are also made aware of the types of support, finance and technologies which are available to them.
Abdullah Al Mahmud, who runs a milk processing plant in Nahokali commented, "we are learning more about business ethics and ethical leadership. The interaction between small businessmen coming from all different parts of Bangladesh is very lively and fruitful". Mosfiq Rahman Tanvir who runs and electronics store in Noakhali also commented on the team spirit generated amongst the entrepreneurs, "The strongest side of Training Camp is team work and learning through information exchange".
The core delivery partners of OPEN are Tindercapital Bangladesh, DRIK, and Challenges Worldwide. Team Engine and Venture Investment Partners Bangladesh are supporting. The founder sponsor of OPEN is a Dutch impact investing company called Incluvest and Kilpartick Executive Search are the Program Sponsor for Training Camp.