Learn. Change. Flourish

The Camp Has Ended

Bangladesh achieved MDGs and now running towards achieving the SDG by 2030. As such most of the girls are now going to school. However, the girls and women’s participation in the workforce are not as good as expected. For the technology field, like ICT, it is only 13%. It is also mentionable that the women ICT entrepreneurs are also very few. In 2015, Bangladesh Association of Software and IT enable Services (BASIS) reported that only 3% of its member entrepreneurs are female.  Since, 2012 some organization including BdOSN initiated a campaign to bring more girls in ICT based study. At that year the female enrollment is only 22%. Currently, the number goes to 29%. However, in the startup arena the number of girls entrepreneurs are still very low.  

In this back drop the ESDG project aims to support women trained in ICT courses to start their own businesses with sound business plans suited for the internet economy.  In this regards, Girls Innovation and Entrepreneurship Boot Camp (GIEBC) was organized with some budding ideas. This was a unique opportunity for women entrepreneurs of Bangladesh who dream big and launch startups that bring ideas to life.  

The Online GIEBC was a blend of existing entrepreneurs and new innovators for their start-ups. We brought them in this camp with an objective of nurturing their ideas, analyzing existing gaps and giving them the solutions. During these three days, Bangladesh Open Source Network hosted several global activities which aim to engage and connect stakeholder groups and assist entrepreneurs along their pioneering journey.

Objectives 

This Boot camp aims to provide the platform to the budding entrepreneurs so that they can share their roller-coaster journey. Besides, one can share about their startups and the stories behind it as well. The key objectives are- 

• To identify girls who wanted to develop startup in coming days or wanted to flourish existing one
• To provide an idea to girls on how to start and going with an innovative idea with ICT usages. 
• To guide the top 10 ideas and keep a follow up continue. 
• To build networking between investors and entrepreneurs. 
• To connect girls with the innovation and start-up platform. 

Who Can Join

1. Undergrad female students from any Universities or Colleges from any part of Bangladesh who are trying to build their career with innovations and start-ups,
2. The female entrepreneurs who are struggling to establish their start-ups as an economically profitable organization. They can participate in this boot camp with their new born idea with a business model. 
3. Have  a basic idea of ICT and ICT based business opportunities

How to participate (The Camp Has Ended)

1. The primarily selected participants will be asked to attend an online based test. 
2. On the basis of the online test performance, you will be called for an interview over phone. 
3. Final selection of the 50 participants will be made based on the performance of the interview.  

After these three steps we will select 50 ideas for the Boot Camp and invite them for three days residential camp with free of cost. (Expenditure of accommodation, food and other sessions, logistics will be borne by organization) 

Activities

The Boot Camp is designed with three days and two night’s session plans. All the days contain some learning sessions and team work to flourish the ideas with identifying the gaps and lacking in product design, assessing the market demand, identifying the service consumer and so on. Details will be delivered on the brief session schedule. 

• Learning Session 
• Team Work