Speakers at a seminar said startups are doing relatively well but the success rate is not satisfactory due to various problems including regulatory issues like lack of access to finance, age-old valuation process, lack of private equity, and incubation.

The seminar on “Journey of CMSMEs from startup to scale up: prospects and challenges” was organised by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) on Saturday in the capital.

DCCI President Rizwan Rahman said startups can be a great economic enabler for Bangladesh but a start-up-friendly ecosystem in the country has not been substantially equipped.

In the Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2022, Bangladesh ranks 93 out of 100 countries.

He said that the Startup index also claimed dearth of financing and policy support are root causes of weak startup growth in developing economies including Bangladesh.

He also said Bangladesh currently has over 1200 active startups and around 200 new startups join the industry every year, which made around $800 million in investment and 1.5 million in formal and informal jobs in the last decade.

The government has meanwhile taken various initiatives to strengthen the startup ecosystem, including establishing a venture capital firm, 28 high-tech parks, data centers as well draft rules for small-cap company 2022 by BSEC.

Taking this urgency of a smooth ecosystem into account, the country needs to create International standard startup incubation centres, startup pioneers, expert consultation, startup exhibition, networking, mentor development, low-cost financing options with necessary regulatory reforms including Industrial policy, Export policy, Fiscal policy, Foreign Exchange Regulation and SME policy and others, said Rahman.

Fahim Ahmed, CEO, Pathao presented the keynote paper. He said that startups are enabling the digital transformation of Bangladesh.

“Startups are helping SMEs by creating market access, accelerating Fintech, adopting technology, and enabling mobility. The regulatory framework, policies, limited human capital, technology, finance, and accessing the international market are some of the challenges for this sector,” he said.

Senior Secretary to the ICT Division Zeaul Alam inaugurated the program as the chief guest, while Dr. Shaikh Shamsuddin Ahmed, Commissioner, BSEC, was present as special guest at the function.