Toru to help budding entrepreneurs flourish
Toru Institute of Inclusive Innovation, a startup incubator, yesterday launched a programme to facilitate budding entrepreneurs to realise their innovative ideas.
Called the Impactor programme, it is an eight month-long curriculum for 10 select start-ups that want to transform their ideas, early form of a product or business into a successful enterprise with a social impact.
The programme will involve individually tailored roadmaps, supplemented with expert advice on areas ranging from product design to business, legal and investment support, said Saif Kamal, founder of Toru.
Other than the mentoring support, the participants, who will be selected through a rigorous process, will receive up to Tk 10 lakh seed funding and workspace from Startup Bangladesh at the ministry of information communication and technology.
“This programme will be the first-of-its-kind in Bangladesh. We have always had accelerator programmes or competitions, but ideas need extensive and long-term support in order to become impactful enterprises,” he added.
The Impactor programme is supported by Standard Chartered Bangladesh, Microsoft Bangladesh, The Daily Star, IPDC, Annisul Huq Foundation, Startup Bangladesh and North South University.
When an entrepreneur has an idea, the road to its execution gets very difficult because of lack of financing, said Rubana Huq, chairperson of Annisul Huq Foundation.
“This is where the Impactor programme comes in. It provides both the means and the 'know-how' to support the entrepreneurs in every step of the way,” she added.
Bitopi Das Chowdhury, head of corporate affairs, brand and marketing of Standard Chartered Bangladesh, said they are always with the new ideas and innovations.
