As Bangladesh’s startup ecosystem matures with time, an upcoming event titled ‘Innovation Xtreme’, organised by SD Asia, along with Grameenphone, will aim to draw more local and international investors to nurture the budding industry.

Talking to UNB, SD Asia founder and CEO Mustafizur Rahman Khan expressed high hopes about Innovation Xtreme, set to be held on 19 March at Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel.

Organising the event for the second time, he anticipates a large presence this year from the traditional businesses, especially the local conglomerates.

‘We are extremely proud to have people like Md. Aziz Khan, chairman of Summit Group, speak at the event for us,’ Mustafizur added. ‘It shows that local startups are gathering interest where it matters most and it validates our cause.’

He cited the example of a group of American angel investors, who received word about the growing startup ecosystem in Bangladesh from representatives of Chaldal, an online marketplace, after its recent participation in an accelerator program in the USA.

Even as curiosity grows among new investors, problems persist in the lack of visibility for such investments in the technology industry.

‘Stories such as these are very rare and mostly remain untold,’ Mustafizur observed. ‘It is imperative that such Bangladeshi success stories reach global audiences, as Bangladesh regularly comes into prominence for news of the wrong kind – political instability, natural disasters, etc.’

That is exactly where Innovation Xtreme (IX) comes into the picture, to raise the interest level of all relevant stakeholders, for them to come and understand what is going on in the local startup scene.

Founders of SD Asia

Twenty-six startups are going to have their own standalone booths at IX, where they will be able to showcase their passion to the business community and tell their stories. This will create a platform between promising startups and potential investors to hold 1-on-1 sessions allowing greater engagement.

Mustafizur cited another example, GoBD.com, who have progressed from being a startup that attended IX in 2014 as a participant, to being one of the speakers for this year’s event. ‘They credit us for being the catalyst of their success,’ he said.

But he is also cautious about feeding expectations from IX. Long term benefits will happen, he adds, but for now SD ASIA is just building the blocks to ensure that happens.

The SD ASIA CEO also does not expect revenue to be the key strength from organising IX, but rather foresees awareness about the startup potential to be a key objective.

‘It is almost like creating a bigger pie — the larger the pie, the bigger the slice.’

He added that if the local conglomerates step up to support these startups, they will experience a new range of innovative products and services that they can integrate into their businesses.

An example he cited was that of the booming fashion industry in Bangladesh, currently worth a mere $20 million, but has the potential to convert the offline retail industry which stands at $50 billion, annually.

As cash-on-delivery and delayed deliveries are generally the norms in e-commerce businesses, a lack of trust regarding product quality still persists, due to which businesses often lag behind in terms of business expansion.

But if these businesses could be integrated by leading companies, whose distribution channels are impeccable, both the parties could benefit from it.

Lack of venture capitalists in the country also hampers the growth of local startups, as they cannot promote and campaign for funding by themselves – existence of venture capital would send signals to the market after due diligence. Only then could a proper startup industry thrive in Bangladesh.

Mustafizur cited three specific areas which aspiring entrepreneurs need to tap into – online education, health care and financial technology. These areas could really take Bangladesh faster towards a truly digitalised culture.

Help from the government has been tremendous so far, he revealed, as exemption from VAT, ten-year tax holidays and other policies are entrepreneur-friendly. The addition of special economic zones and ICT parks would attract global tech giants to establish their offices in Bangladesh as well.

A lot of things can be expected from the future of local startups. As the space is growing, more investors and companies will tie up, leading to a better digital infrastructure.

Upgrading to 4G would ease the progress in terms of connectivity and a proper ‘digital economy’. In future as our market matures, we would need more industry-specific and specialised tech events. It would lead to a more robust digital ecosystem, and to harnessing potentials we still cannot imagine.