Bangladesh Youth Skills Summit 2019

Bangladesh Youth Skills Summit took place last month, at the permanent campus of United International University (UIU), at Madani Avenue, Badda. It was an insightful day for all those who participated from different esteemed professionals across the country.

Sonia Bashir Kabir, Founder and CEO of SBK Tech Ventures, marked the beginning of the summit with her opening speech on the importance of soft and hard skills for the students. Following the welcome speech, the opening session was conducted by Malik Talha Ismail Bari, director of United group. “Being a team player and leadership come in hand in hand,” he said.

The Managing Director of Mind Mapper, Ejazur Rahman then shared his knowledge on practical psychology and how emotions work for the human mind. Later on, Syed Mohammad Kamal, Arif Nezami, Galib Bin Mohammad and Jane Alam Romel enlightened the participants on topics such as financial technology or fintech, career path, job switching and spirituality, respectively.

Later at the programme, Mahzabin Ferdous, head of branding at IPDC, shed light on how branding works and the women in the corporate industry. Following that, the first panel discussion of the day was held, where entrepreneurship and the different challenges it possesses were discussed at length by Waiz Rahim, Ilmul Haque Sajib and Didarul Alam Sunny. They were accompanied by entrepreneur Ayman Sadiq as well.

Solaiman Shukhon, head of corporate and regulatory affairs of the new fintech venture, Nagad, put emphasis on the importance of emotional intelligence and cognitive flexibility among the youth, during his session. It was followed by an interesting and interactive session by Prito Reza, founder of Wedding Diary.  Tahmeed Shadab from Faraaz Hossain Foundation, one of the associated organisations with the summit, discussed the different activities the foundation takes part in.

Finally, the first keynote speaker of the day, Zaved Akhter, Marketing Transformation Director of Unilever South Asia took the floor. Emotional intelligence and the importance of emotional quotient, in both corporate and personal life, were the main focus of his session. Later on, renowned Bangladeshi musician Minar, talked about how art skill development is also necessary for self-growth.

After this session, the floor was set for the final panel discussion of the day consisting of the heavy weights of the corporate industry in Bangladesh, Shehzad Munim, Sonia Bashir Kabir, Fahim Mashroor and Mominul Islam. They discussed at length about various situations they had to face on their way to the top, and also what should the focus be, for the participants who aspire to follow in their footsteps.

The evening concluded with expressing gratitude towards the speakers, affiliated organisations - Torun Digital and UIU Marketing Forum.