Bangladesh Agricultural University Career Club (BAUCC) organised the grand finale of the most auspicious event of their calendar 'TrailBlazer 2.0' on October 20, 2019. TrailBlazer is an intra-university business planning competition which has become an awaited event in the BAU campus.
Followed by the previous edition, it comprised three rounds: a) project proposal submission, b) business plan submission, and c) final pitch. There were nearly 70 teams who submitted their business proposal for the first round and among them, 15 teams got selected for the second round. In the second round, BAUCC organised a workshop on 'Business plan essentials' for the selected 15 teams. After the second round, five teams reached out to the grand finale and for them, BAUCC organised another workshop on 'Presentation hacks'.
Md Faruk Hossain of Faculty of Animal Husbandry, Md Moklasur Rahman of Faculty of Agriculture and Nazifa Jahin of Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology from 'Team Ekaras' bagged the crown of 'TrailBlazer2.0. 'Team Kabuliwala' was the first runner-up and 'Team AgroExplorer' secured the second runner-up position of the event.
Sharmeen Islam Eva, first runner-up of 'TrailBlazer1.0' and Tahmina Islam Sadia, second runner-up of 'TrailBlazer 1.0' were the judges for the first round of this edition. Professor Vin Morar, University of Twente, Netherlands was the judge for the second round of 'TrailBlazer 2.0'. Dr Ismail Hossain, professor of Department of Agribusiness and Marketing, BAU, Hasib Al Mamun, executive, Marketing and Outreach, Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC) and Tanmoy Kumar Ghose, ambassador at One Young World, UK acted as the judges for the grand finale. After finishing the final pitch of all finalists, judges reviewed and talked about the ideas and pitches. Judges pointed out the flaws and shortcomings of their performance where they could have been better. They also upheld the strength of each team and inspired them to execute their ideas at the field level.
In the closing ceremony, Professor Lutful Hassan, VC of BAU was present as the chief guest. Professor Md Jasimuddin Khan, pro-VC of BAU and Professor Md Solaiman Ali Fakir, students' affairs advisor, BAU also attended the programme as special guests. Dr Hamidul Islam, president, BAUCC presided over the closing ceremony. In his speech, the chief guest said, "BAU students are very potential and to sharpen their skills, they should grab the opportunity to attend programmes alike. Because it provides ample recourse of learnings that would definitely help them in building their career." Prior to his speech he handed over the winning money amounted to €500 to the champion team, €300 to the first runner-up team and €200 to the second runner-up team. The event was sponsored by the Dutch Project 'Development of an Entrepreneurial Eco-System at BAU'.
Dr Md Hamidul Islam, president, BAUCC thanked all the guests, participants, members of BAUCC and audiences for coming over and making a successful event.
The writer is currently studying in the Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology at Bangladesh Agricultural University. He can be reached at mnislam.415@gmail.com