Rising stars learn about entrepreneurship from leaders

IPDC Young Professional Summit 2019 was held at Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban of Dhaka University on April 01 with the slogan 'CEOs of Future'. IPDC Finance Limited sponsored the event, while it has hosted in cooperation with Dhaka University Career Club (DUCC) and Lighthouse. 

IPDC Young Professional Summit (YPS) 2019 was dedicated to fostering the next generation corporate and social leadership of the nation. The summit provided an opportunity for rising stars to grow, gain new skill sets, interact with senior corporate and social leaders and thus broaden their network. This signature event brought together eminent corporate, industrial and social personalities, respectable resources from and beyond the boundary to provide the incumbents with a holistic direction on their future to do's and don'ts of being a professional.

YPS Summit conducted 12 individual roadshows starting from February 11 that took place in different universities such as Dhaka University, Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh University of Professionals, BRAC University, East West University, Daffodil International University, United International University, North South University, American International University-Bangladesh etc. A total of 120 students were provided with free scholarships to attend the summit. The selection of the students was based on the results of instant case studies during the roadshows.

The summit with around 500 participants consisted of keynote and plenary sessions highlighting upcoming challenges, leadership values, communication skills, interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, decision-making, entrepreneurship skills and integration of technology as well as digitisation. Emphasising the importance of such summit, Atiur Rahman, former central bank governor, the chief guest of the event said, "Entrepreneurs create national wealth, create jobs and social change, and it's imperative to nourish the youth of today to tap into their potential of becoming the leaders of tomorrow to bring about social development and change."

Mominul Islam, managing director and CEO, IPDC Finance Limited, Ferdous Yusuf, chief human resource officer of bKash, Shwapna Bhowmick, country manager of Marks and Spencer, Rizwan Dawood Shams, deputy managing director and head of business finance of IPDC Finance Limited were among the corporate leaders of the country who delivered speeches.

Mahzabin Ferdous, head of corporate communications, IPDC Finance Limited and Shamarukh Fakhruddin, director, Urmi Group Limited conducted session on communication skills and emotional intelligence. Mahzabin Ferdous said, "In today's economy, solving emotion-related problems is critical. At work, we deal with complex problems. In addition, we often have to work together to find solutions. Achievement in business is not about your grade-based metrics like SAT scores or IQ tests. It is about making an impact as a leader, and if you want to achieve meaningful things, you must be able to work with other people. From that perspective, emotional intelligence (EI) is the main expertise that can bring better results and extra success."

Rizwan D Shams put stress on technology. He said, "It is detrimental for any job seeker to be well-versed with various aspects of technology. Being tech-savvy helps you widen the opportunities for job and increase the rate of progression up the career ladder. Employers expect their employees to be good with digital knowledge. Technology is fundamental to ensure that the business measures are successful. It is a technology driven world."

Speaking on the importance of young entrepreneurs and the summit, Mominul Islam, managing director and CEO, IPDC Finance Limited said, "Technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to enhance and accelerate the education experience for students, as well as streamline organisational process. So, it simply cannot be overlooked. If managed efficiently, students could benefit from exciting and engaging learning environments which are flexible, and exist outside the classroom."

The writer is a recent graduate  of Independent University, Bangladesh. He can be reached at [email protected]