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Bangladesh’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has seen steady growth, particularly among youth and women who are striving for self-reliance amidst rising unemployment and underemployment. Skills development projects such as Building Youth Employability Through Skills (BYETS) are designed to bridge the gap between ambition and opportunity by offering practical, market-driven training that empowers young people to transform their skills into viable livelihoods. Through sector-specific ICT training and entrepreneurial boot camps, BYETS not only enhances employability but also inspires and equips individuals to launch and sustain their own ventures.
The BYETS project partnered with Truvalu and Inspira Advisory and Consulting Ltd. to provide entrepreneurship development training and support to 650 ICT training graduates across Dhaka, Chattogram, Khulna, and Rajshahi divisions. This targeted entrepreneurial intervention is designed to equip graduates with the skills needed to start and successfully manage their own businesses. With hands-on coaching from expert Business Development Service (BDS) providers, participants receive support in business formation and registration, team building, bookkeeping, financial management, marketing, and more.
Initially, all ICT graduates from BYETS project’s partnered training centres were invited to enroll in the boot camp by completing an application form, which outlined the opportunity to receive business skills training. The announcement generated strong interest among trainees. From these applicants, the BDS trainers selected 650 promising individuals who were already running micro-businesses or had strong potential to launch a new venture.
One of the boot camp’s inspiring participants from Chattogram is Sultana Akhter. Despite facing many setbacks, including a battle with cancer, the collapse of her marriage, and being left to raise two children on her own, Sultana never gave up. She once ran an online business of imported cosmetic products, which she struggled to sustain due to her limited digital skills. Hence, the digital marketing training she received from UCEP under the BYETS project proved to be a turning point, helping her learn essential skills such as post boosting, customer retention strategies, and effective online communication. After stepping away from her online selling venture, she completed a beautician course to explore a new direction. Today, Sultana earns a steady income through home-based beauty services and is saving to open her own salon. The digital marketing training, along with the seven-day Business Development Services (BDS) training provided by BYETS, has proven extremely useful for her new business. Skills in digital marketing are helping her to effectively manage online marketing and expand her clientele base. The skills acquired through BDS training help in business planning, location strategy, and most importantly, accounting and basic financial management processes. Her journey is a powerful example of how upskilling and an entrepreneurial mindset can transform a life from mere survival to meaningful success.
Another dedicated participant of the boot camp training carried out by Inspira Advisory and Consulting Ltd. in Jashore is Rohisa Mahmuda, a determined young woman who has been running a home-based handicraft business since 2018. She previously completed the BYETS Graphic Design course offered by the Rural Reconstruction Foundation (RRF) in Dharmatala, Jashore, in 2023, and more recently attended the BDS training. While she had long relied on instinct and experience to manage her business, the boot camp introduced her to structured concepts such as pricing, legal frameworks, and cost management, enabling her to become more strategic and self-assured. She now sets her product prices more accurately, taking into account previously overlooked operational costs and is better prepared to manage buyer relationships. The training not only broadened her business perspective but also showed her ways to scale up and create social impact. With nearly 100 contractual women workers working under her guidance, Rohisa’s journey shows how targeted support can transform potential into sustainable success.
Another noteworthy story is that of Foysal Azom, a boot camp participant who received digital marketing training from Nobojibon Polytechnic Institute and later attended the BDS boot camp in Satkhira, organised by Inspira Advisory and Consulting Ltd. Foysal’s entrepreneurial journey started during a conversation with one of the trainers, who also happened to run his own online business. Inspired by the trainer’s dual role as both mentor and entrepreneur, Foysal realised that he too could pursue entrepreneurship alongside his studies. Motivated by this idea, he began researching product demand, marketing strategies, and operational models. Soon after, he launched “Ambagan”, an online platform focused on selling Satkhira’s renowned mangoes during the summer season. “This was more than training; it was a platform where a group of aspiring entrepreneurs came together. We learned from one another what works and what doesn’t,” he shared. He remains in contact with several fellow participants, regularly exchanging ideas and market insights. His journey from a college student with limited resources to a determined entrepreneur and freelance digital marketer shows how entrepreneurial training, hands-on mentoring, and strategic opportunities can create self-employment among Bangladeshi youth.
Simultaneously, this partnership between BYETS and the BDS providers also helps achieve another key goal of the project, strengthening the capacity of the training centres to offer sustainable entrepreneurship support to graduates from rural and peri-urban areas with limited access to such knowledge. To date, the BDS providers have conducted workshops for professionals from 14 different training centres across Bangladesh. This may lead to the development of a sustainable business model, allowing these centres to continue offering entrepreneurial training services even after the project ends.
Through this targeted intervention, BYETS is not only helping individuals become entrepreneurs but also building the foundation for a more inclusive and sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem. As these motivated young professionals grow their businesses, they demonstrate the transformative power of upskilling and targeted support.