Innovate, Incubate & Grow (IIG) programme is a two and a half month long journey began with a call of competition on innovative social enterprise idea. A number of 171 youth from across the country participated with 57 innovative social enterprise ideas in the competition. Among them ten enterprise ideas were selected by a panel of judge and were invited to join in a boot camp held between 10 and 15 February 2016, in the Hope Centre, Savar, Dhaka. In the boot camp, participants were oriented about the detail concepts, processes, and approaches of social enterprise. Throughout the process of boot camp six ideas were came up successfully. Afterward, 15 entrepreneurs with six social business ideas joined in a business planning workshop held from 7 to 9 March 2016. In the business planning workshop entrepreneurs participants have been through rigorous mentoring process to sharpen their business ideas.
As the last intervention of the two and a half month journey to groom young social entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, under ‘Innovate, Incubate & Grow (IIG): A Social Enterprise Support Program’, the British Council organised a ‘Social Enterprise Demo Day’ for the young social entrepreneurs on 29 March 2016 at the British Council Fuller Road premise.
The participating teams presented their social enterprise ideas and showcased their progress in the demo day. For the past ten weeks, the 15 social entrepreneurs have diligently worked on social enterprise ideas, business models, talked to consumers, and developed investor pitches, among many other tasks. This event was considered as an opportunity for the social entrepreneurs to present their business ideas in front of the potential investors. Along with successful social entrepreneurs and academia 30 potential investors were invited to observe the pitching event. In the occasion 15 young social entrepreneurs presented five innovative social enterprise ideas. Following are the enterprise ideas that were presented in the event :
- “Happy Organic House” from Kustia: a social enterprise to produce & market organic agriculture inputs
- “Bondhon” from Sylhet: a social enterprise to provide family care for children and & senior citizens of the community
- “Green fighter” from Dhaka: a social enterprise to promote greenery on the rooftop in urban Dhaka
- “Shonjibon” from Sylhet: a social enterprise to provide alternative livelihood for tea garden workers families
- “Prantik” from Dhaka: a social enterprise to create a marketplace for fruits and vegetables free of chemicals and pesticides
'Social Enterprise Demo Day’ helped participants gain knowledge of harnessing the immense possibilities of social enterprise that can substantially contribute towards positive social impact as well as financial returns.