By Syed Altefat Hossain  

 DHAKA, Dec 24, 2021 (BSS) – When young entrepreneurs are craving for a place to launch their self-motivated idea for mass producing material of the future, they are set to bank on Sheikh Kamal IT Training and Incubation Centers (SKITTIC) that have become magnet for high-tech startups.

The centers are being set up across the country under a priority base project to create an environment for producing technological materials to help Bangladeshi pioneers hit a technological wall.
 
Forward-looking business people now look for leading Sheikh Kamal IT Training and Incubation Centers to pursue their ambitions to transition of different districts of the country to global centers of technological innovation.
 
Setting up of the incubation centers have already made different parts of the country suitable for IT sector growth to create rooms for the new startups to dominate the global e-commerce.

Developing technological hubs in the country require generous policy support from the government, a pool of talent and easy access to venture capital, experts say.

According to the officials, a total of 64 incubation centers will be set up in 64 districts across the country under the Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority mainly aimed at developing students at SSC and HSC levels as skilled manpower in IT.

The centers will build bridges between academia and the IT industry by developing new entrepreneurs in the information and communication technology sector, creating huge opportunities for self-employment of the youth of Bangladesh in the IT / ITES sector, they said.

The centers should be reputed as startup hubs to attract a raft of venture investors, both foreign and domestic, to make those as contenders for the title of Silicon Valley of Bangladesh.

While visiting the incubation center set up at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Hi-Tech Park (BSMHTP) in Rajshahi recently, it was observed that the government has taken a project involving Taka 350 crore to transform the northwestern city into Silicon city, facilitating technological infrastructures.
 
BSMHTP Project Director ATM Fazlul Haque said the incubation center has been set up aiming at incubating startups as entrepreneurs to move as regular enterprises to the Joy Silicon Tower, a 10-storey building being built at the BSMHTP.

Now there are arrangements for 30 startups in the incubation center with dedicated space for 14 and common space for 16, he said, adding, “Currently 10 startup companies have been allotted space in the incubation center where 124 people are working”.

Once the construction work of the BSMHTP project is completed, a total of 14,000 employment opportunities will be created in the park, Haque said.

It was observed that since the incubation center creates a congenial atmosphere for IT based work, many startups are managing stores of multinational e-commerce companies like Walmart and Amazon from the center.

Md Manjurul Morshed, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of an outsourcing firm- MD INFOTECH, is one of those who was allotted space in the incubation center and working on customer service, operations, accounts and product development for companies like Amazon and Walmart.

Noting that freelancer companies have to face identity crisis as the clients decline to give work to any address-less company, he said technological infrastructures like hi-tech parks and the incubation centers work as the addresses for the freelancing companies enabling them to have self-identities.
He said the Sheikh Kamal incubation center has become the ultimate address for new startups that help them get more work orders from the clients.

Another youth entrepreneur of the city Md Khairul Alam said as the youths of the city had to struggle for jobs with meagre job opportunities here, the incubation center has emerged as the godsend to them creating scopes for technology-based employment.

“Gone are the days when youths in Rajshahi had to brace for jobs. Rajshahi has now been growing as a hub of start-up founders and freelancers centering the BSMHTP and the incubation center,” said Khairul, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Fleet Bangladesh who also got space allocation in the center.   
He said more than 500 people are currently working at his firm and managing stores of global e-commerce companies Walmart and Amazon.

State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak said the Sheikh Kamal IT incubation centers are the addresses for ensuring technology-oriented employment for the next generation.

“Construction works of eight more incubation centers are nearing completion. We will inaugurate those by 2021,” he said, adding construction works of more 11 incubation centers started on November 1, 2021 while 14 more are in the offing.
 
“We will complete the construction works of incubation centers in 64 districts across the country by 2025,” Palak said.