Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) have agreed to look into the possibility of investing in joint ventures in the apparel and textiles industries. Manqoba Khumalo, minister of commerce, industry and trade, paid a courtesy call on BGMEA President Faruque in Dhaka Wednesday. Read: BGMEA, Amfori to work together promote Bangladesh as safe, sustainable sourcing destination Cebile Amanda Mhlabatsi, undersecretary, and Mluleki Sakhile Dlamini, director of MSME at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade, and Khanyisile Dlamini, senior executive manager at Eswatini Investment Promotion Authority, accompanied the minister during the visit. Both sides discussed issues of mutual interest for Bangladesh and Eswatini, particularly trade and investment. BGMEA vice-presidents Miran Ali, Rakibul Alam Chowdhury; Director Asif Ashraf and Chair of BGMEA Standing Committee on Foreign Mission Cell Shams Mahmud were also present at the meeting. Read BGMEA, Kuhu to take Bangladeshi culture, heritage to global arena with garments

BYLC Ventures: Cohort 3 announced three startups as winners  on Sunday. The three winning teams are Interactive Cares, an edtech company, KhaniDani, a food delivery company and Tunibibi, a global logistics platform.  The three winning teams will receive seed funding of Taka 800,000 with the option of an additional Taka 1,500,000 as scale-up funding.  READ: Climate action: BYLC holds World Environment Day Creative Competition Along with it, the winning teams will gain access to a world-class business accelerator program, in-house mentoring and networking support, legal and virtual CFO support, as well as a co-working space in Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center's (BYLC) Mohakhali office with rigorous leadership training. Two teams, Dhaka Game Studio and Ministry of Codes, were given honorary mentions and will receive mentorship and training support from BYLC Ventures. BYLC Ventures opened applications for Cohort 3 on March 15, 2021, and received hundreds of applications from numerous sectors and industries from all over Bangladesh.  READ: BYLC launches Volunteer Awards 2021 From May 4, more than 200 founders from 105 shortlisted startups took part in a six-day-long, intensive and interactive virtual boot camp.  After the boot camp session, 20 startups were selected for the thrilling final jury session. The selected winning teams will join BYLC Ventures’ existing portfolio of 13 startups from the last two cohorts. Read BYLC Ventures holds its largest virtual bootcamp to date