In a conversation, Imran Fahad, Founder and CEO, Inspiring Bangladesh explicates on the concept behind the first social fin-tech venture in Bangladesh, its unique customer ecosystem and future of the country’s ICT sector. Born To Inspire
Inspiring Bangladesh Ltd. is a “Social Good” company and the first “social fin-tech venture” in South Asia. What are the unique features that make it different from a regular social media company?
Inspiring Bangladesh Ltd. is a social good company which aims to promote inspirational stories of Bangladeshis around the world. Its customer ecosystem will allow people to earn rewards by sharing their stories. Bangladesh is full of inspiring stories, people from all walks of life doing remarkable things which remain untold. Inspiring Bangladesh will showcase the untold stories and ensure they get the deserving exposure. The platform will create engagement through the stories especially with the youth, inspiring them to emulate their success. We have some focus areas which include the youth and development of rural women.
Therefore, we are a social media platform designed for Bangladesh where contents will be based on positivity. It also provides a great opportunity for people with great ideas and stories to earn credits. The credits can be redeemed through our partners in the form of discounts. Born To Inspire
Inspiring Bangladesh is exclusively focused on positivity. How will it address fake news and profanity rampant in contemporary social media?
We have been researching the phenomena of fake news and its impact on Bangladeshi society from early 2019. Our platform will be working in two parts to prevent fake news. It will be connected to the official government websites like the Police Press Wings and different online portals to facilitate instant fact-checks. It will also be connected to a “committee” to verify the news circulating on the platform. Additionally, we have developed an AI to prevent fake news at a more efficient pace. Our goal is to prevent fake news with maximum efficiency and create a culture of positivity and good faith.
Your platform is also providing the opportunity to earn rewards by sharing inspiring stories which will entitle them to redeem credits at your partners’ outlets. Can you please elaborate on this ecosystem?
The customer, our ecosystem, flow of the credit redeem will be balanced between the users and our partners. In this platform, users will be able to earn credits by sharing their stories. These credits can be redeemed in our partners’ outlets. Concurrently, partners will be credited on their individual account. Therefore, when a user walks into one of our partners’ outlets, they will be able to get a discount on a specific products. Consequently, the partner can spend their credits on Inspiring Bangladesh’s platform to place ads and generate more credits. This is the unique eco-system of inspiring Bangladesh. Born To Inspire
As a successful entrepreneur in the sector, how do you assess the prospects of the ICT sector in Bangladesh?
Over the last decade, we have seen tremendous growth in the ICT sector. It has been the channel through which ideas were transformed into enterprises. The startup scene in Bangladesh has been facilitated by various incredible initiatives including Digital World, ICT Expo, National Hackathon and Startups Bangladesh. Currently, we have the right mix of community tech space, co-working space and accelerators to move ahead over the next decade.
As a developing nation, we have some lingering infrastructural issues that may prove an impediment to ICT growth. We need to create ICT Hubs that will enable a concentration of ideas, skilled workforce with proper infrastructural support. Born To Inspire
I believe every ecosystem will have its challenges but it’s important to assess the prospects and work on overcoming them. The ICT sector can enable Bangladesh to make leapfrog advancements in socio-economic development. There needs to be a holistic approach from the government and also the stakeholders to ensure we keep up with the rest of the world. Born To Inspire
