Future Startup 15 Under 35 For 2015: Entrepreneurs, Trailblazers, Mold-Breakers Of Bangladesh

I.I Introduction
A social entrepreneur disrupting development sector with technology right here. A musician, actress, and journalist taking bold steps. A Fine Arts grad building country’s biggest ad network. These are the people we feature for our debut FS 15 under 35 list. A list that not only inspires but takes impact at its heart.

This project takes months of effort. As a debut, we have learned a lot throughout the process of making this list. It begins with nominations from the public. After receiving submissions for months, the FS team go through the hundreds of candidates and select fewer than 20 finalists, all of whom are younger than 35 on October 1, 2015. We originally wanted to make a list of 150 people from 10 different sectors but it did not happen because we could not find enough candidates due to our limitations in finding right candidates.

We understand, there are many brilliant minds out there doing amazing things and we could not include many of them. We recognize that, this list is far from complete but we strongly believe in the works these young people are doing and contribution they are making every day to build a better Bangladesh.

As a nation we are young in almost all ways. We have a huge young population giving us hope that our future will be different and better. And it depends on these young people and their action. As we all know, our tomorrow depends on how we act today. We believe stories of these young people will inspire you, make you hopeful and optimistic about this beautiful country and about its potential, will push you to be courageous and make that leap of faith that you always wanted to make.

I.2 How we decided on these people?
We had a jury panel for whole selection process but, to be honest, it was not fully functional this year. Since we had no prior experience we could not take full advantage of a panel of juries and maintain the process we wanted to put in place. However, we worked hard to be strict on criteria we set forth for the selection.

These are the three things we used to evaluate candidates: 1) are they building/doing something sustainable and something that can go big 2) Are they contributing to the society 3) Are they demonstrating real impact, innovation with potential and promise of significant future impact in their field?

II.0 Gratitude
We are indebted to many people who helped us in the process of making this list happen. We are grateful to our readers for all the nominations and submissions. Specifically, we thank Nazim Farhan Chowdhury of AdComm, MK Aaref Of EMK Center, Samantha Morshed of Hathay Bunano, Minhaz Anwar of Better Stories for guiding us and helping us time to time.

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Rubayat Khan
Co-founder, mPower Social Enterprises Ltd
Sector: Technology, Social Entrepreneurship

Co-founder of mPower Social Enterprises and CEO of mDoc LLC. A social entrepreneur, tech and data geek striving to bridge gaps in essential services in remote areas of Bangladesh and other countries using mobile tech and data. Passionate about building companies with exemplary culture and exceptional values. A Fellow of the Aspen Institute and the Unreasonable Institute.

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Bijon Islam, Zahedul Amin, & Ivdad Ahmed Khan Mojlish
Co-founders, LightCastle Partners
Sector: Finance, Big Data

Co-founders of LightCastle Partners, a research firm working at the intersection of data and technology in Bangladesh. Working hard to make data the key to making better decisions.

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Mohd Fahad Ifaz
Co-founder, Edge Consulting Ltd, AmarCV
Sector: Agriculture, Technology

Co-founder of Edge Consulting Ltd, and has 5 years of professional experience in working in the development sector, more precisely developing markets for the poor. Started EDGE Consulting ltd. in 2013 with 4 people, currently a team of 35. EDGE implements long term projects and conducts research. 

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Muhammad Nazimuddaula
Co-founder and CEO, G&R 
Sector: Web, Advertising, Internet

Co-founded country's first and largest ad network. One of the brightest minds in the Bangladesh technology space, with a focus on advertising technology and Bangla language computing.

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Mahmudul Hasan Sohag
Founder and Chairman of Onnorokom Group
Sector: Technology, Internet

Founder and Chairman of Onnorokom Group, one of the fastest growing new generation companies in Bangladesh. There are around seven entities under Onnorokom umbrella. Known for his visionary thinking and for distinct approach to doing business.

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A.M.Ishtiaque Sarwar
CEO: Amarpay
Sector: Technology, Internet

An IT Entrepreneur working for last 12 years to become next IT Enabled Service Giant of Bangladesh. Started with Web Solution Company Soft Tech Innovation Ltd, today Sarwar leads three separate companies in three separate domains with potential to go significantly big.

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Waseem Alim
Co-founder and CEO, Chaldal
Sector: Internet, Ecommerce

Left high paying job in Silicon Valley to start Chaldal, one of the fastest growing ecommerce startups in Dhaka, backed by Y Combinator and 500 Startups. Waseem went to Wharton Business School, worked in the valley and returned to home to build business in Bangladesh.

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Tausif Ahmad
Co-founder and CEO, HungryNaki
Sector: Internet, Ecommerce

Co-founder and COO of HungryNaki, one of the Dhaka's fastest growing food delivery startups. Started back in 2013, HungryNaki is doing very good despite fierce competition from Rocket Internet rival Foodpanda in every way. The startup has already made a name for their distinct approach to customer services.

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Anita Ghazi Rahman
Sector: Law and Justice, Technology

A Barrister of the Lincoln's Inn and an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. She is the founder of Legal Cirtcle and co-editor and publisher of LCLR (Legal Circle Law Reports), a quarterly law report. She is also the editor of Think Legal Bangladesh-a comprehensive free legal resource websites in the country.

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Samira Zuberi Himika
Co-founder, teamengine
Sector: Social Entrepreneurship

Founder of teamengine, a social good company based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She is also the chairman of Inspira Advisory and Consulting and currently Director of (BASIS). Has been awarded as “Global Women Leader for Social Development” for her diversified initiatives as social entrepreneur.

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Biplob G. Rahul
Founder, eCourier
Sector: Logistics

Biplob founded first eco-friendly bicycle based courier service in Dhaka. His company, eCourier is now one of the fastest growing logistics startups and is changing how courier works in Dhaka.

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Elita Karim
Popular singer, Journalist, and Actress
Sector: Media, Art & Culture

A Singer, Journalist, and Actress. She is the editor of Star Weekend, a weekly supplement of the Daily Star. Elita released her first solo music album 'Elita' early this year

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Tareq Hasan
Founder, weDevs
Sector: Web, Internet

A self-taught programmer with a background in Computer Science. Initially, he started out on his own, but later on founded weDevs and has built a huge company from scratch. Tareq loves programming, PHP and WordPress.

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G. Sumdany Don
Chief Inspirational Officer, Don Sumdany Facilitation & Consultancy
Sector: Education, Motivational Speaker

Chief Inspirational Officer at Don Sumdany Facilitation and Consultancy, a training and consultancy firm based in Dhaka. Left his high paying corporate job to explore his career as motivational speaker and trainer and has become one of popular motivational speakers in the country within a very short period of time.

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Ovick Alam
Co-founder, Webable
Sector: Digital Marketing

A digital marketing entrepreneur based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A co-founder at WebAble (2013), a digital creative agency, and passionate about marketing technology.

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[su_note note_color="#ffffff" text_color="#363232" radius="0"]Nominate Candidates for 2016[/su_note]