The winners of the second edition of Banglalink Ennovators, a digital ideation competition for innovative youngsters, were announced at its Grand Finale held at Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden today. Mustafa Jabbar, Honorable Minister of Ministry of Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology was present at the event as the Chief Guest. Also present at the event were Erik Aas, CEO, Banglalink, Monzula Morshed, Chief Human Resources and Administration Officer, Banglalink and other high officials of the organizations.
After the successful completion of the inaugural edition, Banglalink Ennovators 2.0 was launched with the concept “Ennovate, Don’t just Innovate”, with a view to encouraging creative young minds to innovate. The participants proceeded through to the final round by putting forward their brilliant digital solutions to real-life problems. The participants also had the opportunity to learn from industry experts as well as employees from Banglalink through several grooming & boot-camp sessions, workshops and many other activities.
Around 9000 youngsters participated in the competition through Ennovators microsite registration platform. Based on trait-determining Knack Games, Top-100 were selected. Top-40 were selected through a day-long ideation and presentation session. The Top-40 participants were given real life challenges and they brought their best ideas to the table after an intense 36-hours pressure-cooker environment, and thus the Top-5 were found. Today, the Top-5 teams presented their digital ideas, and the winners are announced following an intense competition. Team Greenovation, Team Locomotives, and Team Diversity have clinched the top three positions respectively showcasing exceptional performances in all the phases of the competition. The projects presented by the top three teams are Recylcearn, Astha Filter and Project Yellow, which are based on incentivizing proper waste disposal by rewarding individuals and households through a digital platform, ensuring safe drinking water with the help of IoT metrics and producing electricity from waste water, respectively.
The winning team will be awarded an opportunity to visit Banglalink’s parent company Veon’s HQ in Amsterdam, Netherlands along with a direct entry to the Assessment Center of Banglalink’s Strategic Assistant Program. The first and the second runners-up will also get a direct entry to the Assessment Center of the Strategic Assistant Program of Banglalink along with attractive prizes. In addition, all the members of the top five teams will directly qualify for Banglalink’s Advanced Internship Program (AIP).
Erik Aas, CEO, Banglalink said, “ I am really touched by the passion and enthusiasm of these talented youngsters, who have the potentiality to lead Bangladesh in the upcoming digital era. As one of the leading digital service providers in the country, Banglalink has built a number of digital platforms that will help such youngsters pursue their dreams. We hope the opportunities we are going to provide to the winners will enable them to grow as future professionals as well.”
Banglalink has been taking initiatives to foster youth empowerment digitally and to empower innovation since its inception. The digital communications service provider will continue to take similar initiatives in the days to come as well.