powered by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), aims to onboard and support young social entrepreneurs while they transform their communities by building Social Businesses. After a series of boot camps, mentorship sessions, consultations, and pitch events, 14 promising enterprises have successfully graduated from the Spring and Fall 2021 cohorts of the YY Goshthi Incubation Program in June 2022.
To celebrate the graduation of these cohorts, a beautiful reception was hosted by H.E. Anne Van Leeuwen, Ambassador of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Bangladesh, on June 4, 2022. The graduates were joined by alumni of past cohorts of the YY Goshthi incubation program, representatives of the Netherlands Embassy, and some key builders of the startup ecosystem in Bangladesh who joined in to celebrate the success of these 14 enterprises - Deshi Ballers, InstantKaj.com, MILE, SmartMek - Agricultural Machine and Farm Equipment Services, TechShoi, ToiToie, Safepad Bangladesh, ERC Eyecare, Amar Shontan - আমার সন্তান, Rise and Shine, Shrobon Alo by iTesseract Technologies Ltd., Laister, Wander Woman, and Plant Easy.
The segments of the reception were facilitated by the Emcee Maisha Ahmed, Deputy Program Manager at YY Ventures. The reception started off with opening remarks from the Ambassador of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Bangladesh, Anne Van Leeuwen, followed by remarks from Shazeeb M Khairul Islam, Founder & Managing Director at YY Ventures; Tien Hoang, Private Sector Development Coach - Bangladesh and Nigeria at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency; Bas Blaauw, First Secretary –Economic Affairs and RMG at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bangladesh; Mike Sips, Youth Employment and Youth Entrepreneurship Advisor at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency; and Theodore Klouvas, Programme Manager at Orange Corners. This was followed by reflections from the graduates of the Spring 2021 and Fall 2021 cohorts, Gulnahar Mahbub Monika, Co-founder of Deshi Ballers, and Mutaseem Akil, Operations Manager at Safepad Bangladesh LTD, where they talked about their learning journey through the Incubation Program.
The graduates were presented with certificates of achievement at the award ceremony co-hosted by Sadia Hossain, Chief Operating Officer at YY Ventures, and Monnujan Khanam, Senior Advisor, Economic and Commercial Affairs at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Bangladesh. The reception was followed by an open networking session for the graduates to connect with each other, alumni from the YY Goshthi program, and friends from the industry.
Meet our Graduates:
Deshi Ballers
Deshi Ballers is a female-led sports development organisation working to create a platform for Bangladeshi women and girls to be empowered through sports, specifically basketball. Click here
InstantKaj.com
Instant Kaj is a digital platform that connects talented Bangladeshi freelancers with potential employers, creating new and flexible employment opportunities. Click here
MILE
Mile is a technology-driven mobility platform that enables integrated urban mobility across public and private modes of transport, providing cheaper, faster, more eco-friendly transport. Click here
SmartMek - Agricultural Machine and Farm Equipment Services
SmartMek empowers the farmers of Bangladesh by equipping them with “smart-tech”- sustainable mechanized farming equipment and tools. Click here
TechShoi
TechShoi is an e-commerce platform exclusively for eco-friendly, upcycled, sustainable and recyclable products that are plastic alternatives, reducing production and consumption of plastic. Click here
ToiToie
Toitoie is a tourism agency that promotes authentic local experiences and travel destinations in Bangladesh by creating attractive audio-visual content and documentation. Click here
Safepad Bangladesh
Safepad Bangladesh works to provide women of Bangladesh a more affordable and hygienic menstruation. Their reusable napkin is made by women for women, and is an antimicrobial. Click here
ERC Eyecare
ERC is an organization that works to provide quality, affordable, accessible, inclusive, on-demand eye care. Click here
Amar Shontan - আমার সন্তান
Amar Shontan aims to become a parenting and child development catalyst of good meriting, contextualizing, disseminating, and designing interventions. Click here
Rise and Shine
Rise and Shine is a Social Enterprise dedicatedly working to empower differently-abled workforce by developing several training curriculums to build real-life skills and expertise. Click here
Shrobon Alo by iTesseract Technologies Ltd.
Shrobon Alo is a technological innovation by iTesseract Technologies Ltd. That helps visually impaired population live a better and independent life. Click here
Laister
Laister developed a small-scale portable biogas digester that uses organic waste to produce cooking fuel. Laister focuses on creating a clean city and producing renewable energy. Click here
Wander Woman
Wander Woman is an avant-garde travel platform. They are dedicatedly working to connect female travel enthusiasts from all around the world and create travel experiences for them. Click here
Plant Easy
Plant Easy is a one stop urban tree plantation and gardening solution for your urban lifestyle. They aim to utilize every little empty urban space left to encourage community gardening. Click here
