The Start Up Guru

Mohammad Ruhul Kader. Photo: Prabir Das

After completing university education, most of the Bangladeshi youth rush to get jobs while very few of them take the risk of starting their own business. Taking a different path, Mohammad Ruhul Kader has not only started his own website, but this initiative called futurestartup.com has been guiding other youngsters to start their own business ventures. 

It is an online media and start up platform which showcases interviews and case studies of more than 50 entrepreneurs, activists and social leaders. Through this website, Ruhul also provides one stop solutions to different challenges an aspiring entrepreneur faces in Bangladesh. 

"Our mission is to enable young people to take initiatives by applying a proven model that has been in work for centuries all over the world. We start with inspiring people to realize their potential, and then educate them, and then we empower them with resources to start, initiating things," says Ruhul.

With the same mission, Ruhul has recently launched his new project called 'Impact', supported by EMK Centre. In this project Ruhul and his team in futurestartup.com have been travelling to the 64 districts of Bangladesh in search of young entrepreneurs in the rural areas.  Their goal is to showcase the struggle and achievement of these less privileged entrepreneurs and also train them on effective business management. 

Ruhul says, "I met Md Faruq Hossaain in Rangpur who has been weaving woollen mattresses for more than a decade. Faruq and his craftsmen weave mattresses of exquisite patterns but they have to sell these at a very low cost as they are not experienced in marketing."  

"Through this project, I will highlight Faruq's efforts in reviving one of the lost handicrafts of Bangladesh and we will also train him and his team in efficient marketing and management skills." he adds.  

Like Faruq, the 'Impact' project is going to expose 50 less privileged entrepreneurs of rural Bangladesh. Besides these, Ruhul also organises a dialogue programme called FS Talk where 40 young aspiring entrepreneurs share their experience and challenges with successful businessmen and take their valuable suggestions.

Ruhuls's effort to develop entrepreneurship in Bangladesh has been recognised in the international arena.  A renowned UK based online business portal, The Practitioners Hub is working in collaboration with futurestartup.com and regularly publish its articles in their website. Nominated by American Centre, Dhaka, Ruhul has recently visited the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Kenya as a delegate from Bangladesh. Ruhul says, "From this conference, I learned that Bangladesh has a long way to go to develop a friendly ecosystem for aspiring entrepreneurs. We still have limited knowledge, resources, technology, and infrastructural shortcomings. However, to achieve the milestones, it is the youth who must come forward to pave the way."

With his initiatives Ruhul has been working to create a positive environment for thousands of young Bangladeshi entrepreneurs. Ruhul's vision is to spread his initiative of encouraging entrepreneurship worldwide to fight the global crisis of unemployment and poverty.