The British Council Bangladesh, in partnership with ChangeMaker, launched 'Innovate, Incubate and Grow (IIG): A Social Enterprise Support Programme' on 16 January 2016 at the Fuller Road office. IIG is an initiative which will develop the social and environmental problem-solving knowledge and skills of young entrepreneurs. 'Social Enterprise Support Programme' is a part of the British Council’s social enterprise capacity building and Business and Investment Readiness (BiR) programme. The key objective of the competition is to identify and encourage young people to pursue social entrepreneurship to develop entrepreneurial skills and raise awareness among the wider audience about social enterprise and to facilitate growth of social enterprises through the British Council social enterprise partner network.
Through this nationwide competition, the British Council invited innovative ideas developed by promising young social entrepreneurs. Barbara Wickham, Director of British Council Bangladesh, delivered the welcome note at the launching event. Dr.Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, Chairman of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) Bangladesh was present as Chief Guest while Syed S. Kaiser Kabir, CEO and Managing Director of Renata Limited, was also present as Special Guest. The entrepreneurs will receive training, mentoring and testing of the business models for their proposed products and services for two and a half months. This initiative will not only enhance the capabilities of existing and potential young social entrepreneurs, but also will provide them with necessary resources for their social enterprises.