Every individual is an innovator in today's world. Innovation starts with a seed-- a problem. Following a series of events such as analysing the core issue, the seed grows into a full plant, which serves a greater purpose. Innovation is similar to this, and it is brought about by strategic planning, execution excellence and operational diligence for providing a more significant benefit to society and its components. For an innovation to be successful people need to be effective, analytical and excellent; that is they need to 'ennovate'.
'Banglalink Ennovators 2.0', one of the flagship events of Banglalink Digital, was launched following the success of its first edition. This year Team Greenovation, consisting of Mustafid Raiyan Khan (final year student at the Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka), Sadman Haque Akash (final year student at Bangladesh University of Professionals) and Md Asif Imrul (a recent graduate from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology), emerged as the winners of the competition. They will now get the opportunity to visit Banglalink's parent company, VEON's headquarters in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
To know more about their ideas, Shanjida Hossain interviewed the three winners regarding their experiences and involvement with Banglalink Ennovators 2018.
Question (Q): Can you please share your idea of the final round? How did you come up with it?
Mustafid: This is about plastic disposal system. Usually, when we are throwing away our trash, we do not care about where it ends up. The entire process is a nuisance to us and is of no value. Our app changes that by giving you an opportunity cost of just throwing away your plastic anywhere. Because, if you give it to us instead, you get rewards. Many brainstorming and failed ideas led to this.
Q: Your team was formed randomly by the organisers. How did you manage to work together and what factors played a role in successful team building?
Asif: Before applying to Banglalink Ennovators 2.0, we all had the information that this competition would reflect the company's atmosphere, including the work environment and diversity among the teammates. From round one to gala round, each of the participants was shifted from one team to another to generate entirely new ideas, hold discussions on the feasibility of the ideas and finalise a single initiative. Through the rounds of Ennovators 2.0, we were trained to adjust with any team at any time and explore a new digital idea that can help to attain Sustainable Development Goals. However, ours had the best team configuration, a genuine trio, including two members from finance background and another from engineering background. All the members had previous experience in working with several teams in international and national level competitions.
Q: Please share your experience of Ennovators 2018, particularly the grand finale.
Asif: To me, the biggest challenge we faced was the storming session of team development. But through our mentor KM Raihan's guidance we could quickly come over and perfectly distribute the tasks. In our task distribution structure, Mustafid Raiyan Khan was handling the idea generation, idea picturisation, investors' pitching parts, etc. I was busy finding the relationship of our project with SDGs and environmental economy, providing proper transport mode, establishing agreements with end side customers and so on. The other member of our team, Sadman Haque, was storming his brain to tackle the financial and economic sectors of our project. Undoubtedly, the main driving force of our team had been a single aim - the trophy.
The finale held at Radisson Blu Utshob Hall on October 13 was glamorous. Chief officials of Banglalink were present within the audience. Minister of the Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Mustafa Jabbar, Chief Executive Officer of Banglalink Erik Aas and Chief Human Resources and Administration Officer of Banglalink Monzula Morshed were standing in the middle of the stage to announce the name of the winners. The lights and cameras were dancing on the participant teams. We held our breath. Within a minute, everything turned to an uproar, as our names were announced as the winners of Ennovators 2.0.
Q: Do you have any suggestion for the next year's participants who are eagerly waiting to take part in the upcoming season of Ennovators?
Sadman: Next season of Ennovators is going to be more competitive. For making into the top 100, an individual needs to be a good problem solver. This is the most required skill from any employer. For the initial stage, you have to play a problem-solving game (e.g. knack), or you may need to participate in an online aptitude test. Now you have sufficient time for preparing in this side. For the next rounds, you have to come up with digital ideas, which will solve the existing problem from the perspective of Bangladesh. So, try to solve problems with your ideas, work on building ideas, conduct research on it and communicate with those who love to do similar work. Besides, work on presentation skills, focus on group work, and be smart and collaborative. Finally, try to develop product designing skills and business skills. You need to solve business cases regularly, know the strategies that are required to solve business problems.
Q: If implemented, how do you think your idea will help the stakeholders?
Mustafid: If implemented, our idea can have a very positive impact on the environment at large. Right now, 800,000 tonnes of plastic waste are generated yearly, and 200,000 tonnes are directly dumped into rivers. Imagine the nasty effect that this has on marine life. This plastic even ends up in the fish we eat, and so the plastic we rashly throw away eventually comes back to us in a toxic form. My hope is our system will bring about a change in the fundamental way in which we regard our environment.
Q: Your team will be flying to Amsterdam and would visit the headquarters of VEON. How excited are you people about it?
Sadman: VEON is the sixth largest mobile network operator in the world according to the number of subscribers. Visiting this company is something very special to us. We can visit their innovation lab, see how they work and observe their operational activities. We expect to learn and meet people from diversified backgrounds.
Besides, we will visit Amsterdam, which is very famous for its artistic heritage, elaborate canal system, narrow houses with gabled facades, and legacies of the city's 17th-century Golden Age. We have already started making plans for Amsterdam, preparing ‘to do’ lists, and visiting websites to gain information about the city.
The interviewer is a first year student of BBA programme at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka. She can be reached at
shanjida7f@gmail.com