A team of students from Bangladesh won the 1st Runners-up honours at the regional HSBC Young Entrepreneur Challenge 2012 in Hong Kong Monday.

A team of students from Bangladesh has won the 1st Runners-up honours at the regional HSBC Young Entrepreneur Challenge 2012.

The Bangladesh team consisted of Makame Mahmud, Rakshanda Zihan, Syeda Rizwana Zafri and Ayesha Sultana who presented their idea and business case at the grand finale in Hong Kong Monday.

The team (“Team Fireflies”) successfully presented their business idea for Healthycaps – Halaal pharmaceutical capsules uniquely manufactured using fish waste (scales and fins) instead of the more usual imported capsules made from animal-based gelatine.

Commenting on the success of the team, Andrew Tilke – CEO of HSBC Bangladesh – said: ‘The HSBC Young Entrepreneur Challenge offers a challenging but unique opportunity for young people to showcase their entrepreneurial spirit and leadership on an international stage. It is particularly pleasing that amongst such intense competition Team Fireflies demonstrated the versatility and entrepreneurial spirit so typical in Bangladeshi businesses. Bangladesh has a great track record in this competition and this years team can be very proud of their achievement.”

The winning team was from Malaysia who presented an innovative business plan to introduce ‘EcoCell’ Bricks into the construction industry as a greenbuilding material. These would improve heat absorption characteristics of buildings and contribute towards greener living. Meanwhile, an Indonesianteam was awarded with the second runners-up prize for their business idea of utilising paddy waste to invent premium organic tissue.

The HSBC Young Entrepreneur Challenge programme encourages universitystudents to develop innovative and commercially viable business plans. Since its launch in 2000, the programme has expanded its footprint to Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Shanghai and Thailand. This year, over 3,500 full-time university students from the participating countries and territories took part in their respective local competitions; and best teams from each country/territory contested in the regional finale adjudicated by a panel of distinguished judges. Malini Thadani – Head of Corporate Sustainability, HSBC Asia Pacific; Susanne Wong – Assistant Commissioner, Innovation and Technology Commission of the HKSAR Government; Nicholas Brooke – Chairman, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation; and Ms Nisa Leung – Director, Young Entrepreneur Development Council graced the jury panel at the finale.