Applications open for Orange Corners Incubation Programme in Bangladesh

An initiative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Orange Corners Bangladesh taps into the potential of Bangladeshi youth, equipping them with skills, finances, and resources to enable them to turn their smart ideas into sustainable businesses. The Orange Corners programme in Bangladesh is divided into three phases: Pre-Incubation, Incubation, and Post-Incubation.

The Pre-Incubation phase engages Bangladeshi youth to participate in solving local challenges and is designed to raise awareness of entrepreneurship among students through the campus ambassador programme, university-based events hackathons, PowHER events, etc.

The Incubation phase is designed to attract, select, and train early-stage entrepreneurs through intense capacity-building and mentorship initiatives. The 6-month long Incubation programme equips young entrepreneurs, aged 18-35 years, with skills, funding, and resources to start and grow sustainable businesses – specifically ones that contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and address the local challenges of Bangladesh. Selected teams in the Incubation programme will receive training, coaching, masterclasses, networking and opportunities to receive match funding up to 5,000 euros.

The Post-Incubation phase is designed to enable the top graduates of the Incubation programme to become eligible to access funding up to 50,000 euros and take their enterprises to the next level so that they can raise funding from VCs and other investors.

What Orange Corners can offer you?

• Skills development
  • Orange Corners offers both collective and individual workshops on the different stages of creating a social enterprise
• Coaching and mentoring
  • The programme provides a personal development week, collective workshops in soft skills, and mentoring for young entrepreneurs
• Personalised follow-up
  • There is an advisory board (strategic committee) and collective support available to help entrepreneurs as they develop their businesses
• Events and networking
  • Participants can attend professional meetings and events organised by the incubators to help them connect with other entrepreneurs and potential investors
• Accommodation and domiciliation
  • Entrepreneurs can access the incubator space and receive a reduced price for commercial domiciliation to help them establish their businesses
• Funding
  • Successful entrepreneurs in the programme will have the opportunity to access funding up to 50,000 euros and take their enterprises to the next level so that they can raise funding from VCs and other investors.

Eligibility Criteria

• The Incubation programme is open to young entrepreneurs aged between 18 – 35 years.
• The Incubation programme is open to early-stage enterprises that have not received significant funding or traction till date, and invites for-profit businesses, not-for-profit businesses, registered and unregistered businesses to apply.
• Successful applicants have a strong founding team with the necessary skills and expertise to execute the business plan, with at least one female member as a co-founder or in a leadership position.
• The programme is open to both startups with scalable business models and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from all business sectors.
• Applicants must be fully committed to the 6-month long Incubation programme, and should attend all training sessions, masterclasses, workshops, meetings, etc. Inability to participate in mandatory sessions for any reason will prevent teams from meeting eligibility criteria for funding support or graduating from the programme.
• The Incubation programme for Cohort 2 will start in Jan 2024.
• The Incubation programme invites entrepreneurs from all over Bangladesh to apply; however, the Selection Boot Camps and Incubation programme activities will be held in Dhaka which all selected teams will be expected to attend.

For more information, visit Orange Corners.