Bijon Islam Acted as a Judge and Was a Mentor for She Loves Tech Bangladesh 2022

She Loves Tech is a global platform that is committed to closing the funding gap for women entrepreneurs. The organization runs the world’s largest startup competition for women and technology. They seek out and accelerate the best entrepreneurs and technology for transformative impact with an aim to unlock over U$1B capital by 2030 for women-led businesses. Through the competition, they provide a global platform and a stage for entrepreneurs to showcase, provide access to funding opportunities, and equip them with skills and resources to take their business to the next level.

Turtle Venture, the regional partner of She Loves Tech, recently organized the competition for the 4th time in Bangladesh. They organized the event in partnership with Daraz Bangladesh, Startup Bangladesh Limited, Bangladesh Angels, SBK Tech Ventures, Moar, and BWIN. Turtle Venture is a startup ecosystem development and consultancy company, specializing in pre-seed and seed stage startups, with their amazing expertise and network.

All the contesting startups at the She Loves Tech 2022 went through a competitive selection process. After careful revisions through more than 150 applications, Turtle Venture held a month-long bootcamp and sessions for the selected startups.

Bijon Islam, CEO of LightCastle Partners and a Mentor of She Loves Tech, conducted a session on “Market Research, Validation, and Customer Discovery” at the Bootcamp. Through the session, the participants got to learn about their respective markets and methods of approach to analysis. He also partook as a Judge at the Grand Finale.

Fariha Kabir, Business Consultant at LightCastle Partners, conducted a session on “The solution and Impact: mapping your problem statement”. The participating startups appreciated her session as informative and insightful.

Esteemed Judge Panel of She Loves Tech Bangladesh 2022 was composed of: 

• Sami Ahmed – Managing Director, Startup Bangladesh Limited
• Bijon Islam – Co-Founder & CEO, LightCastle Partners
• Ahmed Yusuf – Advisory Lead, Bangladesh Angels 
• Sharawwat Islam – Managing Director, Truvalu Enterprises Limited
• Kerry Breen – Partner, SBK Tech Ventures

Vertical Innovations Limited, established by Rezwan Ahamed Noor Shabbin, was the winning startup, followed by Mommykidz and Food Patrons. Notable finalists were Silswa, Medisquare, and Peora.

Vertical Innovations Limited is a technology company focusing on improving the lives of people through connectivity. They capitalize on the Internet of Things (IoT) as a channel to make people’s lives easier. Their flagship product “Jyoti” is an IoT-based smart sanitary pad distribution platform. To date, they have deployed Jyoti Vending Machines in Dhaka, Chattagram, Narayanganj, Rangpur, and Jashore. They plan on expanding their operations beyond borders.