D H A K A
INCREASING WOMEN’S EMPLOYMENT IN IT
TKS x UNITED NATIONS
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PROBLEM
RECOMMENDATION
IMPACT
Enabling up to 45,000 women in Dhaka, Bangladesh by 2026 to land high-paying jobs in the IT sector. Currently there are 400,000 women in IT, meaning we will provide a base of 11% increase in females in IT. We can validate our idea in Dhaka, later moving on to Chittagong to test the performance of the IT courses, and educate women at the same time. Due to our solution being easily scalable, we can expand well beyond 2026, putting a woman in IT for 68$.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A GENERAL OVERVIEW OF HOW OUR SOLUTION WILL TAKE SHAPE
We plan to administer Google’s IT Certifications by setting up an accessible training centre in Dhaka exclusively for women; ran by female instructors. We address the issue of time by the provision of an attached supervised daycare, so that mothers can dedicate time for the certification while their children are being looked after our babysitters. We will also provide professional mentorship and career counselling, to help women land their first jobs in IT, with a cost of 68 USD/person
There are 85,000+ employed mothers with children 3-12 years old in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in search for a higher paying job, with an interest of an IT career. However, these women have <30 minutes of free time per day. One of the biggest contributing factor to this is the fact that they spend 3+ hours on childcare daily with no help at all, stopping them from dedicating sufficient time to gain the necessary skills to find a higher paying job in the digital economy.
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LACK OF FREE TIME
MOTHERS HAVE <30 MINUTES OF FREE TIME A DAY BECAUSE OF SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS IN CHILDCARE
M O R E T H A N 1 , 3 0 0 , 0 0 0 W O M E N H A V E 2 C H I L D R E N O N A V E R A G E , W H O R E C I E V E 0 H E L P D U R I N G T H E D A Y W I T H C H I L D C A R E
37.5%
MAIN SOURCES OF LABOR
1
0
2
3
4
5
Childcare
Domestic Work
Employed Work
With 37.5% of employed women in Dhaka getting less than 30 minutes of free time a day, it is near impossible for all of these people to educate themselves sufficiently in order to get a new job. To open up time for women to educate themselves, we can look for losses of time to cut down on. The 3 biggest devotions of time are childcare, domestic work and employed work.
Hours Per Day
3
Harvard Business Review has identified Bangladesh as a ‘breakout’ economy due to their rapid digitalization despite their limited existing digital infrastructure, thus displaying an increasing digital momentum, which can benefit the deployment of our solution.
BANGLADESH IS THE PLACE TO START
BREAKOUT ECONOMY
Bangladesh has been on UN’s LDC list since 1975, with a current household income of <2000 USD annually. By enabling women to work in the digital economy, families can expect ~15000 USD, and an increase in quality of life through better education, healthcare and economic security.
LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
The Government of Bangladesh has been recognised by the World Economic Forum for their efforts in bringing down their huge gender gap over the last few years. This can be advantageous for the implementation for our recommendation as we are likely to have government support
GOVERNMENT EFFORTS
According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2020, although Bangladesh has vastly been able to reduce the gender gap in educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment, but very minimal progress has been made in economic participation and opportunity, for which their global rank dropped from a 107 (2006) to 141 (2020)
LOW FEMALE ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION
I T H A S A H I G H M O M E N T U M I N D I G I T A L I Z A T I O N, H I G H G E N D E R GAP I N I T A N D I S T A K I N G S T R I D E S T O W A R D S C L O S I N G THE G E N D E R G A P
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MEET AAFIYAH, A BANGLADESHI MOTHER OF TWO
THE TRADITIONAL ROLE OF WOMEN
L I K E O T H E R W O M E N , S H E I S P R E S U M E D T H E R O L E F O R A L L D O M E S T I C L A B O R
Girls always have housework to do, I usually don’t have much free time… it’s not easy looking after my kids, cleaning and cooking for my husband and a real job.
Aafiyah, 30, Dhaka
“
Although more women are now entering the labour market and political, policy and cultural spaces, like many women for the past 40 years, Aafiyah’s traditional role as a woman in Bangladesh's society has primarily been to be responsible for household chores, child rearing, and caring for the extended family members living in the marital home. Considering how marriage for women in Bangladesh has been considered as social and economic security, therefore, without a doubt, the picture of a woman in society is being painted by their role as primarily mothers, wives or even daughters in law.
Furthermore, we can even see how quickly a woman in Bangladesh can turn into a mother in her life, with with over 58.2% becoming a mother at just the age of 20-24. Aafiyah has expressed that the responsibilities that come with getting married and giving birth at such a young age has been challenging to manage alongside her low-paying job at the call centre - her family needs more money but her household responsibilities have stopping her from gaining the skills she needs for a higher-paying job
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83,509 MOTHERS WANT A JOB IN IT
3HRS
20-35
Spend 3+ hours in caring for their children, also fit criteria above (75%)
Women aged 20-35, still open to changing their job, also fit criteria above (26%)
H O W E V E R , T H E Y N E E D H E L P W I T H U P S K I L L I N G A N D C H I L D C A R E
2,769,803
Are Interested In pursuing a career in IT, also fit criteria above (12%)
12%
3-12
Females In Dhaka who have children in the ages of 3-12, also fit criteria above (67%)
1,384,901
166,188
111,346
83,509
2ND
A minimum education of secondary school, also fit criteria above (50%)
O U R F I L T E R C R I T E R I A
50%
Total females in Dhaka, half of the population (49%)
10,653,090
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Training within IT centers in Dhaka can take anywhere from 1 - 8 months, for students coming in for 2 hours a day, twice a week. The cost ranges from 100 USD to over 1000 USD depending on the chosen course, however, waivers and scholarships can be received from very few centres depending on either need or ability
DURATION & COST
Although each of these training centres have their own curriculum for each of their courses, the content is very similar and follow the same structure to other training centres. The aim of the training is to groom the students, in preparation for freelancing jobs in marketplaces such as Fiverr.
CURRICULUM
IT training centers in Dhaka generally require basic knowledge of computer operating and internet browsing, such as operating email, Google, and Facebook. However, most IT training centers in Dhaka it is required to be able to read, write and speak English fluently, as this is the primary language of the courses delivered.
PREREQUISITES
There are over 20 well-known IT training centers in Dhaka, which are mainly located on the west side of the city in areas such as Tejagon, Dhanmondi, Gulshan, Kafrul. Yet again, there still are numerous of other IT centers located in the northern area Dhaka
LOCATION
THE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR IT TRAINING CENTERS ALREADY EXISTS
IT TRAINING CENTRES IN DHAKA HAVE EXISTED FOR 20+ YEARS AND HAVE BEEN WIDELY ACCEPTED BY THE POPULATION, WITH THOUSANDS OF PARTICIPANTS GRADUATING EACH YEAR
W H A T A T Y P I C A L I T T R A I N I N G C E N T R E I N D H A K A L O O K L I K E
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INTERNET
SALARY
MIDDLE CLASS
66.4M
The number of internet users in Bangladesh increased by 5.8 million (+9.5%) between 2019 and 2020, standing at 66.44 million internet users as of January 2020. Such fast increase in connectivity accelerates the spread of ideas, information and technology across Bangladesh
3x
Currently, the household income per family in Dhaka is less than around 2500 USD yearly, even with two breadwinners. An average high-paying IT job can look to increase one’s average salary of about 2000 USD to 8500 USD, which is the average salary of a well-paid IT job
10%
The population of the middle class in Bangladesh has been increasing approximately 10% year (2016-2017). Due to this change, the overall increase in the accumulation of wealth for these middle-class families will allow for an increased access to internet and devices - consequently increasing the demand for IT related services and jobs
BANGLADESH HAS A RAPIDLY GROWING IT INDUSTRY
NEW IT OPPORTUNITIES IN DHAKA CAN DRAMATICALLY INCREASE HOUSEHOLD INCOMES
NEW JOB OPENINGS
1.5M
In the next 10 years, big venture capitalists are planning on investing more than 200 million US Dollars into the Bangladesh Startup industry, creating more than 1,500 new established Startups and an estimated 1.5 million new job openings in tech.
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INADEQUATE CAREER GUIDANCE FOR WOMEN
Although almost every IT training centre in Dhaka are for both male and female, women only have a <25% share of seats. This domination of men at IT training centres discourages women to take part because of the conservative culture of Bangladesh.
MALE DOMINATED
LESS THAN 1 IN 4 WOMEN CURRENTLY USE IT TRAINING CENTERS
T H E Y D O N ' T A D D R E S S T H E I S S U E M O T H E R S F A C E W I T H T I M E , N O R D O T H E Y C A R E F O R G E N D E R I N C L U S I O N
23.6%
<25%
Job placement for women is 23.6% lower than their male counterpart. Surveyed female participants felt that this was due to the fact that male participants had a gender advantage when it came to accessing career counsellors and mentors because of the existing male majority in the IT sector.
TIME CONSTRAINTS WITH MOTHERS
<30
With less than 30 minutes of free time throughout the day, the time requirement for the completion of IT courses within a given time frame is unfeasible for these employed mothers. Despite this, not a single IT training centre in Dhaka has accommodations, adjustments nor facilities to allow for the upskilling of employed mothers.
Based on a survey we conducted, 8/10 women responded that they would feel more comfortable and be more likely to attend if it were women only, with female instructors.
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GOOGLE’S IT CERTIFICATIONS
Setting up a female exclusive training centre with female staff to deliver 4 of Google’s IT Certifications, including: IT Support, Data Analytics, UX Design and Android Development. These will provide the skills needed for an introductory-level job in their respective fields, with no relevant experience required.
DAYCARE
Having an attached daycare for kids aged 3-12 allows mothers to drop off their children and spend the time they would’ve spent on looking after their children on completing their programs, remaining stress-free about the safety of their children, for 3 a day, twice a week, while they’re engaged in a variety of fun activities under adult supervision
CAREER COUNSELLING
Upon the completion of the program, the participants will be directed to a female career counsellor and a female mentor in IT, to advise and prepare for the right career path. The main aim of our centre is to not only equip the participant with skills in demand, but also help them land a job in the industry.
IMPLEMENTING DAYCARES AT IT TRAINING CENTERS
M A K I N G T I M E F O R M O T H E R S T O G O T H R O U G H G O O G L E ’ S I T C U R R I C U L U M W I T H 6 H R S / W E E K D A Y C A R E S
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IT Support Employees help troubleshoot problems so computers/networks run correctly. This course is for people who like helping others & solving problems
ABOUT
REQUIREMENTS
CURRICULUM
LAND A JOB IN 4 MONTHS
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G O O G L E I T C E R T I F I C A T I O N S A R E D E S I G N E D F O R U X , I T ,
D A T A A N A L Y T I C S A N D A N D R O I D D E V E L O P M E N T A N D O N L Y
R E Q U I R E S E C O N D A R Y S C H O O L E D U C A T I O N
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01
QUALIFY FOR IN-DEMAND JOBS
82% of participants of participants reported a change in career after completion. With knowledge in IT Support, participants can qualify for the following jobs:
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04
SALARY PER YEAR
10%
1,192 USD
MEDIAN
8.499 USD
90%
59,024 USD
Approximate income distribution for the IT jobs that participants can become eligible for
RECOMMENDATION
GOOGLE’S IT SUPPORT CERTIFICATION
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE OTHER OFFERED IT CERTIFICATIONS:
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Mothers who are enrolled in our training centre have the option to drop off their children of ages 3-12 at an attached daycare, passing on the responsibility of childcare to our supervisors for the time that the mother is at the training centre. This allows for the freeing up of time of up to 3 hours, which the mothers can utilize to complete the certification without having to worry about their children.
A TRUSTWORTHY & SAFE DAYCARE
CREATING TIME FOR MOTHERS
A potential point of failure is if the mothers fail to trust the daycare. After talking with mothers in Dhaka, we came to the conclusion that placing the daycare as close as possible to the training centre will help increase trust with the mothers, knowing that their child is just a few steps down the corridor.
ALWAYS NEAR THE MOTHER
Based on a survey from 2014, approximately 65% of women of ages 20-35 in Bangladesh had given birth to 2 children - keeping that in mind, we can expect up to 41 children from the 32 women that will be attending the training centre at a time. To ensure everyone’s safety, we plan to maintain a 12:1 ratio between the children and female supervisors, with at least one supervisor with a first-aid qualification.
ADULT SUPERVISION
We understand that health and safety is a huge concern for mothers, and is vital for gaining trust, and for that reason we will be prioritizing health and safety via the following measures:
HEALTH AND SAFETY
D R O P P I N G O F F C H I L D R E N A T T H E D A Y C A R E T O C R E A T E T I M E F O R M O M S
RECOMMENDATION
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WHILE MOMS LEARN,
CHILDREN LEARN TOO
ACTIVITIES FOR 3-7 YEAR OLDS
ACTIVITIES FOR 8-12 YEAR OLDS
With these activities for children, we aim to improve their social, communication, language, creativity, critical thinking and problem solving skills.
SKILLS CRUCIAL FOR DEVELOPMENT
By providing these activities, we can make it possible for children to have an enjoyable time, making it advantageous for both the mother and the children to go to this training center.
INCENTIVISING FOR CHILDREN
D E V E L O P I N G C R U C I A L S K I L L S F O R G R O W T H
RECOMMENDATION
We recognize the significant age gap between the children of ages 3-12, thus we’ve decided to split them up into two groups - which will be placed in two seperate rooms. Each group will be offered a variety of fun and engaging learning activities based on their age group.
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Part of the career counsellors job will be recommending a career path to the participants before starting the course based on their personal interests, personality and expected income. Upon the completion of the course, participants will get the chance to consult their career counsellor again to help decide which job offers and placements make sense for them
BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES
CAREER RECOMMENDATION
Our mentors will be women who have worked in, or are currently working in the employment aspect of the IT sector. This will make their advice to the participants more valuable as they can offer a more fitted perspective as a working woman in IT.
EXPERIENCED & RELATABLE MENTORS
A set time for a 1 on 1 session with the career counsellor and the participant to create the perfect resume. The counsellor, being experienced in employment, can guide the participant on what to do and what not to do, while also providing useful tips.
CV CRAFTING SESSIONS
An essential part of the employment process is getting passed the interview. To help our participants get through this step, once they have completed their chosen certification, the career counsellors give them tips on how to come in to interviews, even have sessions for practice interviews to brush up their skills.
PREPARING FOR AN INTERVIEW
A S S I S T I N G M O T H E R S W I T H A D V I S O R S T O G E T T H E M T H R O U G H T H E E M P L O Y M E N T P R O C E S S
RECOMMENDATION
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PARTNERING WITH TOP 18 IT EMPLOYERS FOR HIRING
C O M P A N I E S W H I C H H A V E P A R T N E R E D W I T H O T H E R I T I N S T I T U T I O N S T O P R O V I D E P A R T I C I P A N T S W I T H E M P L O Y M E N T O P P O R T U N I T I E S
RECOMMENDATION
These companies have worked with IT training centers in the past to hire their graduated participants. these include: Creative Clipping path, Oriental Group, HSBLCO, EON Group, Sheba.xyz, Alesha Tech LTD, Ingen Studio, Orbit Clipping Path, CEMS Bangladesh, HRSoft, Dev Syntech Inc., FIFO Tech, Code Core, Platinum Group, Next Monitor
ATN Bangla, ARN Tech, Oikko Foundation.
By partnering with IT startups, we can funnel our skilled and qualified graduates into open positions at some of the leading IT startups in Bangladesh.
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MONTH 1: SETTING UP EQUIPMENT
MONTH 1: LOCATION
START
Finding a spot in a building which has 3 rooms, 1 which will be the cohort room and the other 2 being the daycare rooms. The location of the building also depends on what step of scaling up we are in (More information on slide 22, 23) For our first center, we will set it up in a building in Mogbazar. We chose this place specifically since there are already a few IT Training centers in that area, meaning that the infrastructure in Mogbazar is appropriate for setting up an IT center.
After we pick the location, we have to look into buying items for the training center to function. These items include tables, chairs, computers, whiteboards, an internet plan for the cohort. Toys, carpets, tables, board games for the daycares.
90 DAY EXECUTION PLAN TO SET UP
A T H O R O U G H S E T O F I N S T R U C T I O N S T O S E T U P
A N I T T R A I N I N G C E N T E R
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MONTH 2: HIRING MENTORS
MONTH 3: ADVERTISING
END OF SETTING UP
After the whole IT Training Center is set up, it is time to get participants in it. We can post advertisements on facebook due to the high volume of users and click-through-rate (more on slide 21). As users start applying, we can wait some time for cohorts to be at least partially full until we officially start the program.
We will have 3 types of staff. To make our women participants feel included all of our mentors will be women as well.
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4 MONTHS & $68 TO PUT A WOMAN IN IT
A BETTER TOMORROW
S E T U P A N D M A I N T A I N A T R A I N I N G C E N T E R F O R L E S S T H A N $ 8 0 , 0 0 0 T H E F I R S T Y E A R
$78K
For maintaining each IT centre per year
$68
Costs for every single new female in tech.
$8.5K
If we were to take 10% of the income of all the employed graduates for their first year of work, then we would make a profit of approximately 8.5K dollars per year for each IT Center. This is assuming that only 15% of graduates find a job immediately after finishing the program which is definitely one of the worse-case scenarios.
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6-DAY SCHEDULE
With participants spending 3 hours a day, twice a week, the certification can be completed within 4 months. Running 3 cohorts at a time, with each cohort consisting of the 4 courses, we can expect to graduate 12 cohorts within a year. Each cohort consists of 32 participants.
COURSE SEGMENTATION
4 x 32 x 3 = 384 Students Graduated in 4 Months
EDUCATING 1152 STUDENTS PER YEAR FROM EACH CENTRE
W E C A N F I T T H E E D U C A T I O N O F 3 C O H O R T S I N 4 M O N T H S
384 x 3 = 1152 Students Educated in 1 Year
COHORT 1
COHORT 2
COHORT 3
COHORT 1
COHORT 2
COHORT 3
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
UI COURSE
UI COURSE
UI COURSE
UI COURSE
UI COURSE
UI COURSE
ANDROID
ANDROID
ANDROID
ANDROID
ANDROID
ANDROID
DATA ANALYSIS
DATA ANALYSIS
DATA ANALYSIS
DATA ANALYSIS
DATA ANALYSIS
DATA ANALYSIS
IT SUPPORT
IT SUPPORT
IT SUPPORT
IT SUPPORT
IT SUPPORT
IT SUPPORT
8am
11am
2pm
5pm
8pm
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With our simple solution, we can reach out to the women of Dhaka who fit our criteria, which can be specified within the settings of the ad campaign. We aim to maximise click-through rates by keeping our advertisement, simple, eye-catchy and professional.
REACHING OUT VIA FACEBOOK
Over 87% of social media users in Bangladesh are active on Facebook, maximising our reach.
FACEBOOK ISN’T DEAD YET
The majority of the population has Bangla as their main language. However , the country still holds a high percentage of English speakers.
NO LANGUAGE BARRIERS
C R E A T I N G A S I M P L E B U T P O W E R F U L A D .
Facebook Ads have a 34% impression rate, which would result in a maximum of 8140000 people viewing the advertisement.
REACH
By filtering women in Dhaka with our criteria, we will have to pay $0.97 per click on the advertisement, with an additional $7.19 per 100 impressions
PRICING
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UP TO 45,000 WOMEN WITH JOBS IN IT BY 2026
What may the results of this recommendation look like?
45K
32K
Best Case - We start out with one center and increase by 3 each year.
Realistic Case - We start with one center and increase by 2 each year
Worst Case - We start out with one center and increase by one center every 2 years
11K
Year 5
3
0
12
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
6
9
15
45,000
32,000
11,000
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THREE YEARS FROM NOW
Similar to the second year, we will expand even more. However, this time we can also set up training camps at places which have never had training centers before, giving this opportunity to still densely populated areas for the first time.
THIRD YEAR
Around the areas of Dhanmondi and Mogbazar, there are many already-existing IT centers making the area a good place to set up our first IT training center.
FIRST YEAR
As we aim to create 3 more centers each year, we want to increase our area of influence. For this reason we can set up other centers nearby our first one.
SECOND YEAR
O U R S T R A T E G I E S F O R S C A L I N G W I T H I N D H A K A
With this approach, we can influence 38106 people in Dhaka by 2026
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THREE TO FIVE YEARS FROM NOW
There are already a few training centers in Chattogram, which makes it self-evident to put the first 3 training centers near that spot
FOURTH YEAR
We will set up the rest in Chattogram since the population density in Chattogram is really high. Due to this, it is best that we set up the centers in Chattogram since we want as much people in our area of influence as possible.
FIFTH YEAR
O U R S T R A T E G I E S F O R S C A L I N G W I T H I N C H I T T A G O N G
With this approach, we can influence 10,368 people in Chittagong by 2026
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POTENTIAL BARRIERS
PERMISSION
Women do not have permission from their families as the families think that the course takes away more time than it cuts out, blocking women from doing childcare/housework
TRAVEL
Mothers are not willing to travel a far distance to the IT center/it is not possible.
GENDER BIAS
In the side of employers, they are biased towards not employing women, regardless of their education level.
TRUST ISSUES
Mothers do not trust the daycare in terms of looking after their children/mothers want to spend time with their children
H O W C A N T H I S R E C O M M E N D A T I O N F A I L ?
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| MONEY NEEDED | CENTER NUMBER | COLUMN THREE |
2022 | $78,000 | 1 | $12,345.00 |
2023 | $312,000 | 4 | $12,345.00 |
2024 | $546,000 | 7 | $12,345.00 |
2025 | $858,000 | 11 | $12,345.00 |
2026 | $1,092,000 | 14 | $12,345.00 |
ROW SIX | $12,345.00 | | $12,345.00 |
AMOUNT | $2,886,000 | 14 | $984,293.00 |
WHAT WE ASK FROM THE UNDP
How we could run and maintain the centers to educate thousands with help from UNDP
By 2026, to keep a fast pace of +3 training centers per year, we would need approximately +$234,000 annually from the UNDP. This collectively adds up to $2,886,000 for a total by the end of 2026, with 14 centers running full time.
However, this recommendation will not reach its full potential by 2026. There are a lot of target customers who can get a whole lot of help from this recommendation from all over Bangladesh, as well as the world. By easily expanding, we can exponentially grow in the upcoming decade to impact millions.
If we were to ask the ones who find a job after the course to pay us 10% of their income for the first year after getting a job, each center could generate a revenue of 86,500 dollars a year, each IT Center making 8,500 dollars of profit per year, assuming that only 15% of our students immediately find a job.
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Timucin Erbas
Mir Ali Zain
Petar Isakovic
Henri Klein
ON A MORE PERSONAL NOTE
The Knowledge Society x United Nations
THANK YOU
We would all like to thank you for this incredible opportunity to help make a difference in gender inequality all around the world. We have learned more than we could ever imagine throughout this journey and we hope we have made a difference in the United Nations' future decisions and their paths to help all women and girls.
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