Bangladeshi entrepreneurs at the Professional Fellows Congress

Bearing the slogan 'Impacting the future: It starts with us', a Professional Fellows Congress was held at Washington, DC between May 31 and June 2. From 43 countries, 263 emerging global leaders of the Professional Fellows Exchange Programmes of Spring 2016 gathered at the congress hosted by the United States Department of State, concluding an intensive month-long fellowship placement with state and local government offices, NGOs, media outlets, and businesses in 29 states across the United States.

The four entrepreneurs attending from Bangladesh include Ratul Dev, Founder of Gen Lab; Md Rasheduzzaman, Director of Mondal Agro Ltd., Mohiuddin Chowhdhury, Co-Founder of Dreamcast Marketing & Communications; and me, Syed Rabius Shams, Co-Founder and PR Strategist of Newsfeed PR. Our month long fellowship, which was partnered by the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma, commenced from May 2 to May 28.

It was an awe-inspiring, once-in-a-lifetime experience to recharge and move forward in our careers as entrepreneurs. The  three-day long Professional Fellows Congress provided professional experience and training that  nurtured the participants' latent talent and prepare them for more responsible leadership positions in their businesses, communities and society in general as the fellows return to their countries and start their venture with new enthusiasm.