GBG Sonargaon hosts GDay 2018 Bangladesh in Dhaka

The Google Business Groups or GBG Sonargaon has organised GDay 2018 Bangladesh in Dhaka.

The event titled ‘GDay 2018 Bangladesh: Entrepreneurial success through technology and leadership skills’ was held on the North South University campus last month.

With over 600 participants, the Feb 9 program was the largest of its kind held in Bangladesh, the organisers said in a media release.

According to the release, GDays are a series of large-scale events conceptualised by Google for business graduates, tech enthusiasts and entrepreneurs.

These programs are spearheaded by Google Business Groups, communities of business professionals operating in over a 100 locations all around the world.

GBG Sonargaon is one such community.

The day-long program consisted of seven separate tracks like ‘Innovation through Design Thinking’, focused on a half-day long workshop for startups and business students in a series of hands-on training.

Iftekhar Azam, Onindo Ahmed, and Farhan Asef of Thinkdemy, a company specialising in design thinking, conducted the session.

Narmin Tartila Banu, Lead of Womenwill GBG Sonargaon, facilitated the Track 2 themed ‘Learning the ropes of corporate etiquette’ focused on incorporating leadership skills into the future leaders.

Farha Naz Zaman, Head of Digital Marketing of Grameenphone and Zarjina Tarana Khalil, Senior Lecturer, NSU, conducted the session.

Track 3 and 5, themed ‘Technology for education’, initiated participants to various tools that they can utilise to enhance productivity be it in group work at a university, or at work. Synthia Binta Wali and Benzir Shaon, both assistant managers at Mindshare, conducted the session where participants received training at one of NSU’s computer labs.

Track 4 and 6 were on Google Analytics conducted by Saqiful Alam, Lecturer, NSU.

The session’s primary focus was on mining insights using Google technology and making informed strategic decisions. Titled ‘Google analytics and decision making for brand managers’, the session was attended by marketing students as well as startup owners.

Track 7, the final track of the day, was a motivational session, with a panel of speakers.

Iresh Zaker, Executive Director, Asiatic JWT, Fatema Rizwana, HR Director, Nestlé Bangladesh, Nazika Imam, Head of HR and ER, HSBC, Hussain Elius, CEO, Pathao, and Ayman Sadiq, CEO, 10 Minute School, covered the importance of knowledge, leadership skills, and humility that is required of leaders in the session.

They spoke at length about the passionate journey of an entrepreneur as well as the hardships that entrepreneurs have to battle with on a regular basis, and also discussed overcoming various challenges that women face in their career.

The event was held in collaboration with Google, NSU School of Business and Economics or NSUSBE, Institutional Quality Assurance Cell or IQAC, NSU Career and Placement Center or NSUCPC, Boomerang, Softograph, NSU Social Services Club or NSUSSC and NSU International Business Club or NSUIBC.

“This event was not only a learning experience for the participants but also a great networking place,” the release quoted Touhid Choudhury, Senior Vice President, Product Management at Kona Software Lab Ltd, as saying.

“We are delighted to be a part of GBG Sonargaon’s journey and hope they maintain this momentum regarding touching more lives with technology and leadership skills,” said Tawhidur Rahman, Managing Director of Softograph.

“Students need to collaborate and network more with each other as well as with the industry. GBG Sonargaon’s “GDay 2018 Bangladesh” offered that very opportunity, and we’re excited to be a part of this event,” Shanta Zahir, Director of NSUCPC and Senior Lecturer at NSU, said.

Hashmi Rafsanjani, Google Country Marketing Consultant, Bangladesh, was also present.

The managers of GBG Sonargaon, Narmin, Affan Chowdhury, Ehsanul Hoque and Sayed Rafiul Islam, expressed their gratitude towards Google, especially Erica Hanson, Developer Relations Program Manager, Southeast Asia, Marcus Foon, GBG Community Manager – Global, and all the partners who provided support for the event.

“The support and encouragement of the faculty community of NSU go to show how much emphasis educators place on the opportunity for educating the community beyond regular curricula,” Narmin, who is also a Senior Lecturer at NSUSBE, said in the release.

“Here’s hoping GBG Sonargaon will continue to hold such meaningful events are going forward and continue to create an impact on the student as well as the startup community,” she added.