BRAC Bank brought together leading academics, development partners, and women entrepreneurs at the “TARA Uddokta 101 Scale-Up Summit”, marking a key milestone in its long-term agenda to strengthen women-led enterprise development in Bangladesh.
The summit highlighted the journey of the “Uddokta 101” programme, a flagship accelerator under BRAC Bank’s Women Banking segment “TARA”, designed to equip women entrepreneurs with core capabilities in business management, financial literacy, and market readiness. Since 2021, the programme has supported more than 500 women entrepreneurs across leading universities in Bangladesh.
The day-long summit took place at BRAC University on 13 May 2026, bringing together entrepreneurs, academia, and institutional stakeholders to deliberate on the impact of the initiative and chart its future scale-up roadmap to address evolving capacity-building needs of business owners.
Implemented in collaboration with BRAC University, East West University, Daffodil International University, and Chittagong Independent University, the initiative has strengthened the bridge between academia and industry to develop scalable women-led enterprises.
The summit featured impact review sessions, networking engagements, panel discussions, and strategic reflections on women entrepreneurship development and future scale-up pathways. A key highlight of the event was the presentation of programme outcomes, showcasing participant progress in business formalisation, financial discipline, market access, and digital adoption.
The programme was attended by Professor Dr. Arshad Mahmud Chowdhury, Pro Vice Chancellor, BRAC University; Professor Dr. Mohammed Farashuddin, Chairperson, Board of Trustees, East West University; Professor Dr. Shams Rahman, Vice Chancellor, East West University; Professor Dr. M R Kabir, Vice Chancellor, Daffodil International University; and Professor Dr. M M Nurul Absar, Vice Chancellor, Chittagong Independent University, among other distinguished guests.
Celebrating women entrepreneurship in Bangladesh at the summit, Managing Director & CEO of BRAC Bank PLC, Tareq Refat Ullah Khan, stated that the programme reflects a long-term commitment to advancing women’s economic participation.
“Uddokta 101 is an ideal example of how industry and academia partnership can bring change in entrepreneurship development. We will enrich and scale up this accelerator programme and take this across the country to meet evolving capacity-building needs of aspiring entrepreneurs at the grassroots level,” he added.
Professor Dr. Mohammed Farashuddin, Chairperson, Board of Trustees, East West University, said: “We must thank BRAC Bank’s striving to blossom the womenpower for entrepreneurship development in Bangladesh. The girl students at East West University earn more than a proportionate share in higher grades and in the two crore a month scholarships. They are sober, serious, sincere, meritorious and enterprising.”
Professor Dr. M M Nurul Absar, Vice Chancellor, Chittagong Independent University, said: “We at Chittagong Independent University (CIU) are proud to be part of this great initiative as a leading university beyond Dhaka. We firmly believe that this type of robust women entrepreneurship development training and mentoring program, and partnership between industry and academia will go a long way for the socio-economic development of Bangladesh.”
Professor Dr. Arshad Mahmud Chowdhury, Pro Vice Chancellor, BRAC University, said: “Uddokta 101 is giving wings to dreams by transforming small beginnings into bold ambitions and limitless possibilities.
Professor Dr. M R Kabir, Vice Chancellor, Daffodil International University, said: “Uddokta 101 is not only developing entrepreneurs; it is empowering women to become confident economic contributors and future change-makers of Bangladesh.”
The summit also recognised partner universities and contributors for their role in co-designing and sustaining the initiative, with tokens of appreciation presented as a gesture of shared ownership.
The event concluded with a collective reflection on the programme’s future scale-up roadmap, emphasising deeper collaboration between financial institutions and academic ecosystems to accelerate women-led entrepreneurship in Bangladesh.
