BYLC Ventures organised a three-day selection bootcamp at its headquarters in Mohakhali from July 25 to 27. Around 30 teams and 60 founders participated in the bootcamp. Participants were selected from over 200 applications for Cohort 5 of BYLC Ventures' six-month accelerator programme. From the 30 teams, an investment committee will select the top five, who will each receive Tk8 lakh seed funding and join the accelerator programme. The bootcamp was inaugurated by Tahsinah Ahmed, executive director of BYLC, and included sessions featuring industry experts, including Shammi S Quddus, product manager at Google, Adnan Imtiaz Halim, CEO of Sheba Platform, and Nirjhor Rahman, CEO of Bangladesh Angels. In the closing ceremony of the bootcamp, speakers encouraged the startup founders to develop business ideas that will contribute to social welfare and development. Read: Tahsinah Ahmed made BYLC executive director Dutch Ambassador to Bangladesh Anne van Leeuwen said: "I am hopeful that all of the startup founders present in this bootcamp will prove to be the parents of the inventions and provide solutions to the unique challenges Bangladesh is facing today." Ejaj Ahmad, founder and president of BYLC, urged the startup founders to be persistent, patient and committed. "You cannot build a business without commitment. Think hard before you commit and once you commit, stay committed." The bootcamp was supported by the IKEA Foundation and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Dhaka.

Public health specialist Dr Nizam Ahmed has been elected Vice-Chairman of the CSO Consistency Steering Committee of the Global Alliance for Vaccine Initiative (GAVI), a global alliance of vaccine management. He is the executive director of Shastho Shurokkha Foundation and national telehealth service provider Shastho Batayon. He was elected Vice-Chairman at the GAVI CSO Board Meeting held in Nairobi, Kenya recently, said a media release on Wednesday. In continuation of this new responsibility, Dr Nizam as the Vice Chairman of GAVI CSO will work to improve public health and immunization management worldwide, including in Bangladesh and South Asia. Read: Moshtaque Hossain appointed as new VC of RMU A total of 22 experts from around the world (GAVI) serve as members of the CSO Consistency Steering Committee. Dr Nizam said, “I hope that by acting as the Vice Chairman, I will try to coordinate between the government and the private sector in the development of public health in Bangladesh and in obtaining a fair vaccine.”