YY Goshti: Helping Make Society Better

Hoping to help tackle the issue of limited entrepreneurial education, YY Goshti was created with a mission to support social entrepreneurs via training, mentorship, resources etc. Read on to find out how they created a global impact from the Founder & Managing Director himself.

The First Step

Completing his BBA and MBA from the University of Dhaka in International Business in 2013, Shazeeb M Khairul Islam then gave shape to his interest in social work and entrepreneurship. Inspired by the work of Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, he went on to creating a platform called Social Business Youth Alliance with friends which is still going strong and has connected 17000+ young people through social entrepreneurship programs. With a view to making a greater impact, YY Goshti came to life in 2016.

The Social Business Takeover
At the moment, social business practices are quite widespread with over 50 countries currently harnessing the power of social businesses. People however weren’t previously familiar with the concept of creating financial and business modules that would help create sustainable businesses for people. People are now more aware, educated and the big startup movement also helped!

Making the Community Better
In their first batch in 2016, they incubated Avijatrik Tourism Limited, a project ideated by fourth year university students. The idea was to backpack across the country and live with local families who would be taught various skills by the traveler. The families would in turn act as tour guides for the travelers who would pay them at the end for their services. Fahim Shuvo, the CEO of Garbageman is another example. Keeping waste management at the core, they came up with the idea of collecting kitchen waste which would produce organic fertilizer and be used for rooftop gardening; creating a greener city with lesser waste.
It’s evident that there’s a revolution in the field of agriculture and peace building, something the organization wants to capitalize on. Along with UNDP, they wish to incubate 15 projects in the next 2 years aiming to create a peaceful and tolerant Bangladesh.

The Unavoidable Challenges
Firstly, the biggest support social businesses and even incubators need is in terms of policies. Secondly, social businesses can’t be treated like traditional businesses. As such, traditional investors wouldn’t invest in social businesses, maybe CSR can be turned into sustainable investment. Thirdly, the younger social entrepreneurs need to work differently, they’re more focused on selling their products and services, they don’t even think about selling their shares; getting involved in a different way. Raising funding and investment is definitely essential but there needs to be more. They need to build a business, find the right model and then look for the perfect investors. Support in these areas can be given by the government, development organizations etc.

YY Goshti at Present
The company is currently heavily focused on water, food and peace. Their current project Shishir Water works to provide water to disadvantaged families, where the rich buy 20 litres with 40tk, the poor would buy for 10 tk. Agriculture is a massive focus of the company. They’re also working in central African Republic in partnership with Yunus Centre, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Caritas Centrafrique to support 25 former soldiers to create their own social businesses involving cattle, dairy, palm oil extraction etc. They are also supporting young entrepreneurs in Bangladesh who are producing organic artisan milk or sunflower oil. Apart from that, they are also providing corporate services in a number of countries in the Asia Pacific to help companies take their social impact agenda forward.

Advice for The Young Dreamers
He says it’s important to understand that not everything works out in the long haul, as witnessed by him. Out of 30 projects, nine to ten work quite well and three to four gain a lot of success on average, which is a good number in terms of global average. So, it’s important to keep learning, to accept failure and to always ask for help. It’s essential to innovate and to also adapt various helpful practices done in foreign lands.
And so, he wants to tell the young social entrepreneurs to stop thinking and to start doing.

“It’s okay to fail; but make sure you adapt.” says Shazeeb.

What the Future Holds
In the next 5 years, they want to incubate 100 projects. They want to create a world class community space for social entrepreneurs and help those social businesses grow.