Bijon Islam Moderates Panel Discussion at the SouthAsiaTech Founders’ Reception 2024

Bijon Islam, CEO and Co-founder of LightCastle Partners attended the SouthAsiaTech Founders’ Reception 2024 held at the Renaissance Hotel in Dhaka on Tuesday, February 19, 2024.

South Asia Technology Partners LLC (USA), in partnership with BetterStories Limited, hosted the event to provide a platform for the vibrant startup ecosystem of Bangladesh and South Asia to connect and explore opportunities for collaboration.

The event brought together a diverse set of people including startup founders, investors, ecosystem supporters, and industry leaders from banking, venture capital, diplomacy, and media. After a warm welcome, guests mingled and connected with founders and management teams from startups in Bangladesh and India.

The event featured several engaging sessions and panel discussions, centered on founders and their startups. These sessions provided insight into the founders’ vision and the capabilities and potential of their startups to transform industries and consumer experiences across South Asia.

At the event, Bijon Islam moderated one of the panel discussions titled, ‘Navigating the Challenges of Growth & Capital Needs’. The discussion offered thought-provoking insights into the current obstacles within the startup ecosystem and provided various strategies to overcome and strengthen the current ecosystem.

The panel included Waseem Alim, founder of Chaldal, and Fahim Ahmed, CEO of Pathao. All of them referred to the slowdown of funding, talent issues, and infrastructure gaps as major challenges, and explored many possible solutions to overcome them.

The event also featured sessions highlighting the rising Bangladeshi startups of the 2020s and the Indian startups supported by SouthAsiaTech. The pinnacle of the evening was a fireside chat titled, ‘Delivering on the Promise of Brand Bangladesh’, where prominent thought leaders examined the promising opportunities the country offers and what it would take to deliver on the promise to a talented population.