Anwarul Quadir Foundation Fellowships for Economic Development

Middlebury alum Khalid Quadir ’89—CEO and founding partner of Brummer & Partners Asset Management Limited (which manages Frontier Fund, the first private equity fund in Bangladesh) and founder of bracNet, a Bangladesh wireless broadband operator—is offering a unique summer internship opportunity for three Middlebury students to experience first-hand the challenges and rewards of working in a rapidly developing country. The paid internships are sponsored by the Anwarul Quadir Foundation (AQF), which seeks to promote understanding of economic and social progress in Bangladesh.

The internships will take place in the city of Dhaka and are open to rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors, with a strong preference for students not originally from the region to ensure a true cross-cultural experience. This internship is funded with a CCI award of $5,000 to cover airfare, in-country travel, and living expenses, and will last a minimum of eight weeks. If you are offered and accept this internship, please be aware that your funding for this position is provided by CCI, and therefore you will be required to complete funded internship paperwork. 

AQF has identified several possible organizations, described below, with which students can choose to intern, depending upon their specific interests. Industries include telecommunications, banking, transportation, manufacturing, software, food production, social enterprise, and others. One of the placements will be with Shohoz.com, and the other two will be among the others listed below. AQF will also assist with finding housing and transportation for the interns, who will live together, and provide an orientation to the city. To fully benefit from a short term experience in such a densely populated city in a developing country, the intern will need to adapt quickly to the work and living environments. The successful student therefore will be independent and resourceful, and willing to face personal challenge.

Shohoz.com, owned and operated by Shohoj Limited, is a premium online travel service provider which aims to make long distance travel in Bangladesh easy and convenient. Driven by the passion to serve you better, Shohoz.com went on to pioneer the online travel industry by offering bus tickets and launch tickets. In the entertainment sector, movie tickets, event tickets as well as cricket match tickets are also available on Shohoz.com. The team of energetic and young professionals with deep expertise in eCommerce and travel domains, leaves no stone unturned to provide the best of services at minimal costs through the user friendly website, Android App, Partner network all over Bangladesh, and a multi-lingual call center.  One of the most rapidly growing companies in Bangladesh, Shohoz.com addresses a critical need for the country. Founded and led by Maliha Quadir, named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, Shohoz promises to be an exciting place to work. mhttp://www.shohoz.com/

bKash - The ultimate objective of bKash is to ensure access to a broader range of financial services for the people of Bangladesh. It has a special focus to serve the low income masses of the country to achieve broader financial inclusion by providing services that are convenient, affordable and reliable. bKash Limited, a subsidiary of BRAC Bank, started as a joint venture between BRAC Bank Limited, Bangladesh and Money in Motion LLC, USA. In April 2013, International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, became an equity partner and in April 2014, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation became the investor of the company.

More than 70% of the population of Bangladesh lives in rural areas where access to formal financial services is difficult. Yet these are the people who are in most need of such services, either for receiving funds from loved ones in distant locations, or to access financial tools to improve their economic condition. Less than 15% of Bangladeshis are connected to the formal banking system whereas over 68% have mobile phones. These phones are not merely devices for talking, but can be used for more useful and sophisticated processing tasks. bKash was conceived primarily to utilize these mobile devices and the omnipresent telecom networks to extend financial services in a secure manner to the under-served remote population of Bangladesh.https://www.bkash.com/

Bikroy.com is a website where you can buy and sell almost everything. The best deals are often done with people who live in your own city or on your own street, so on Bikroy.com it's easy to buy and sell locally. Bikroy.com is committed to helping the people of Bangladesh buy and sell safely online. We want to build great online experiences for people and have a good time doing it. We are Bangladesh’s largest Internet company and are looking for top talents to join our team this summer. This is a unique opportunity to work for a fast moving company, which will offer you a challenging, but also fun environment with exposure to international teams, trends and businesses. https://bikroy.com/en

Sindabad.com LTD is an online shopping place for anything and everything that you need to run your factory or office. An ecommerce shop from Zero Gravity Ventures Limited, Sindabad.com LTD is the first of its kind business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform for factory/office supplies and one-stop purchasing solution site in Bangladesh. It brings the best of the products at the best value – delivered right at your factory or business premise. Sindabad.com LTD is Bangladesh's first B2B . It is a greenfield venture. https://sindabad.com/

Ananta Apparel has grown to be one of the leading apparel solution providers in Bangladesh. Engaged in the marketing, development and manufacturing of apparels, Ananta employs 20,000 people across the company and has an annual turnover of over $200 million. Ananta’s mission is to continue our tradition of global leadership in high quality apparel and commit ourselves to promoting universal ideals of community and service. We create products that make people feel stylish, comfortable and special from birth to maturity. We aim at an integrative approach in designing and producing our products which focuses on innovation, advanced technologies and special attention to our customer’s needs and lifestyles. Ananta is committed to supporting our customers, fulfilling and exceeding their expectations, and enabling them to be more competitive in the market place. We are proud of being multicultural global firm and believe in mutual respect and co-existence within the Ananta family and in the communities and environments in which we work.The company is committed to continue to grow and evolve and considering our corporate social and environmental responsibilities and stewardship throughout the process. https://www.ananta-bd.com/

EON (an agro food company) is a unique venture that is focused to conduct welfare to the grass root farmers, thereby contribute to the sustained development of the country’s economy. The philosophy is to develop a “Social Business” enterprise rather than conventional profit-driven business house. EON is a fast growing conglomerate in Agro-based industry working to provide inputs to farmers (crop & animal) to produce high yield and high quality farm produce for consumers. Group engaged in manufacture, import and distribute all types of agricultural inputs primarily for nation-wide local market and also for global market. Group is working with the vision to be a contributor to “Food Security and Safety” in Bangladesh.  http://www.eongroup.net.bd/

Advanced Chemical Industries (ACI) Limited, being one of the largest conglomerates in Bangladesh with a multinational heritage operates across the country through its four diversified strategic business units. ACI's Mission is to enrich the quality of life of the people through responsible application of knowledge, technology and skills. ACI is committed to the pursuit of excellence through world-class products, innovative processes and empowered employees, to provide the highest level of satisfaction to our customers. ‘ACI Pharmaceuticals’ is dedicated to improve the health of people of Bangladesh through introduction of innovative and reliable Pharmaceuticals products. ‘ACI Consumer Brands’ is adding value to the daily life of consumers through its Toiletries, Home care, Hygiene, Electrical, Electronics, Mobile, Salt, Flour, Foods, Rice, Tea, Edible Oil, Paints and International businesses. ‘ACI Agribusinesses’ is the largest integrator in Bangladesh in Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, Farm Mechanization, Infrastructure Development Services and Motorcycles. ‘ACI Retail Chain’ is the largest retail chain in the country operating through its 73 SHWAPNO outlets across the country by touching the lives of over 35,000 households each day. http://www.aci-bd.com/

Please feel free to contact Amy McGlashan if you have further questions agibansm@middlebury.edu