To make this pandemic productive and to establish the actual entrepreneurial trait among the youths, Dhaka University Entrepreneurship Development Club (DUEDC) organized one of the largest international entrepreneurship summits in the history of University of Dhaka on July 24-25, 2020.

The summit was initiated by Dr. Rafiuddin Ahmed, Moderator (DUEDC), Associate Professor, Department of Marketing, University of Dhaka who bagged a PhD on Entrepreneurship from Melbourne, Australia last year. He felt the urge to organize this summit on an international level and with his tremendous support DUEDC made it possible. The main purpose of this international summit was to inform youth about the present COVID-19 job market scenario and how to be futuready. Everyone had a unique opportunity to explore themselves in the deep sea of business as an entrepreneur.

Throughout the two-days-long scheduled summit, almost all the perspectives on entrepreneurship have been covered, i.e. entrepreneurship journey, tech skills and blockchain for entrepreneurs, robotics, IT and Iot for business, soft skills, emotional intelligence and artificial intelligence in business, showcasing success story from home and global, negotiation skills, data analysis, healthcare entrepreneurship, women entrepreneurship, leadership skills, research in entrepreneurship domain, ethical entrepreneurship, social business and startups, entrepreneurship opportunity crossborders, transformational leadership and many more.

The summit was inaugurated by a list of distinguished guests and speakers (from home and abroad) including Pro-VC of Dhaka University Prof Dr. A.S.M Maksud Kamal, Acting Dean of Faculty of Business Studies Prof Dr Abdul Moyeen, Prof Dr Gillian Sullivan Mort, Ahmad Ashkar (CEO at Hult Prize) and Mark Nosworthy (CEO at Bproperty.com) and the session was moderated by Dr Rafiuddin Ahmed.

The summit hosted 21 sessions where there were distinguished speakers like M. Khorshed Anowar (Head of Retail & SME Banking, Eastern Bank Ltd); Rashed Mujib Noman (Country Director, Augmedix); Mark Nosworthy (CEO, Bproperty.com); Stephanie Woollard (Founder of Seven Women, Melbourne Australia); Syed Mojibul Huq (PD, iDEA, ICT Division); AKM Hafizullah Khan (PD, ESDP); Aftab Mahmud Khurshid (GM, Evercare Hospital); Farah Mahmud Trina (Vice Chairman, Inv. Committee, ECAB); Dr. Nazmul Hossain, Rashedur Rahman who are associate professors of Dhaka University and Saimum Hossain (Assistant Professor, DU); Dr. Ashir Ahmed, Associate Professor, Kyushu University, Japan; Dr. Faiz Shah, Director of Yunus Center AIT, Thailand; and Nini Daing, CEO, myHarapan, Malaysia.

The summit also had Dr. Lafifa Jamal, Professor of Robotics & Mechatronics Engineering, DU and Dr. Atiqur Rahman Ahad, Professor of IEEE, DU and Osaka University; Susanna Bevilacqua (Founder, Moral Fairground, Melbourne, Australia; Dr. Chin-Wen Mark Shen, Associate Professor, National Central University; Dr. Farzana Nahid, Assistant Professor of Mkt and IB at NSU; Dr. Tanvir Ahmed, Sessional Lecturer, University of Melbourne, Australia; Bashir Ahmed, President, British Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BBCCI); Shamsul Arefin, Regional Secretary at BBCCI; Parisa Islam, Associate Professor of Eastern University; Minhaj Anwar (Chief Storyteller, Better Stories Limited); Moinuddin Chowdhury (President, Society for Leadership Skills Development (SLSD); Sadman Sadik (Chief Content Creator, Robi 10 Minute School); Rafsan Sabab (Co-founder and Host, What A Show); Asif Kawnine (Chairman, ABCC) and Monirul Islam (Exec Member, ABBC) Australia; Tajdin Hassan (Head of Marketing, The Daily Star); Quazi M Ahmed (Global Leadership Trainer); Steven Dossou (Founder Sail Force Catalyst); Susan Morrice (Director of Belize Natural Energy Charitable Trust); Taslima Sultana, Co-Founder, Extra Mile Age Care; Dr. Fahreen Hannan, Founder, Dhaka Cast; Sadia Noor Kashfi, Zaria Haque, Ajmain Faique Swad and Sheikh Anik Hassan (Innokids Lead Trainer and Pedagogy Developer); Ejazur Rahman, Founder & Managing Director, Mind Mapper; and Sheikh Atiqul Alam Mishuk (Trade Marketing Manager, Arla Foods joined as a speaker. 

In total more than 50 speakers from 10 countries from home and abroad, i.e. Bangladesh, USA, UK, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, South Africa, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Japan participated. More than 28 institutions like National Central University, Yunus Social Business Centre, Hult Prize, Bproperty, Eastern Bank Limited, Innokids, Extra Mile Age Care, Arla foods were actively present in the global summit.

All the members of the Dhaka University Entrepreneurship Development Club and 17 other clubs of different universities meticulously worked behind to make the event successful. Lastly, a very special segment of this summit was covered named "Win Your Pitch: A demo pitching opportunity" where youths with potential ideas were given the opportunity to pitch their ideas and got some essential feedback from honorable judges to improve their pitching. DUEDC upholds that our youth has the potential to take over the future with their entrepreneurial trait.

DUEDC is hopeful that such events will play an effective role in making self-reliant and business oriented entrepreneurial leaders during COVID-19 hard times.

Written by Dr. Rafiuddin Ahmed, Chief Organizer of the summit and DUEDC Moderator, Associate Professor, Dept. of Marketing, University of Dhaka & Founder, Innokids (www.innokids.org). Reach him at rafi.mkt@du.ac.bd or www.rafiuddinahmed.com