Bangladeshi wins Forbes award

We extend our heartiest congratulations to Bangladeshi social entrepreneur Minhaj Chowdhury who has won the first-ever "Under 30 Impact Challenge" at the Forbes Under 30 Summit this Monday in Boston, USA. Mr Chowdhury is the cofounder and CEO of Drinkwell, a market-leading water technology company operating in India and Bangladesh that is combating arsenic, fluoride and iron water contamination in the region and is providing more than one million litres of safe drinking water to over 250,000 people. We feel very proud to know that Drinkwell beat out stiff competition from social enterprises from across the world to win the prize money of USD 500,000.

The incredible work that the organisation is doing touches upon one of the most severe crises facing the region: lack of safe drinking water. Despite tremendous progress in the last few decades in the areas of water and sanitation, millions in Bangladesh and India still do not have access to safe drinking water. Drinkwell rightly recognised the scope of entrepreneurial opportunity to impact the lives of those without access to this basic need. It is their vision, dedication and spirit of problem-solving that make them a role model for all those, particularly the youth, who wish to make a difference someday.

Mr Chowdhury's achievement on a platform as prestigious as Forbes Under 30 Summit goes to show that the youth in Bangladesh have what it takes to tackle some of the most acute problems through innovative solutions. It is, therefore, important that we foster an environment conducive to social entrepreneurship so that more and more youngsters feel encouraged to turn problems into solutions.