Do classroom ideas work in the real world? Brac students find out

Young people often come up with ideas that could potentially make a difference in the world, when prompted by their instructors in a classroom. But can they put those ideas to test in the real world and see how it plays out?  

That is a question Professor Sebastian Groh (also Managing Director at SOLshare), who teaches a Social Entrepreneurship EMBA class at Brac University, tries to explore. 

As an entrepreneur and academician, Prof. Groh fervently encourages his students to take real-life action beyond the classroom. "If I want to be a driver of change for my country, I believe, I can't be that driver only in the classroom," he said.

Inspired by him, the class uses the rebelbase – a project learning platform – to help develop and test their ideas and get input from a global group of students and experts. 

In rebelbase, there are different steps called modules. These modules include identifying a problem, designing an idea, designing a prototype, and getting a financial model and marketing plan to a total addressable market, up to the final pitch. 

The course takes the students on a ride, literally, throughout the semester. Every week they tackle a different module, and every week they have to be ready in a global class to present this module.

A 'Safety Net' for the elderly

Two students, Shanila Mehjabin and Shezami Khalil, who happen to be sisters, wanted to develop a solution for making pension plans accessible for all. Shanila is a financial consultant, she has over 15 years of experience working at one of the largest commercial banks in Bangladesh and Shezami is the head of corporate communications of a multinational company. They saw an opportunity to create a project for elderly people. 

In Bangladesh, life expectancy is 73 years and the retirement age is 59. However, only a very few people have access to a pension. Most have to rely on their families for support. A big part of our society is over 60. "After reaching that age, what people want first is financial independence," said Shanila. 

The sisters realised that there was a real need for a new sort of retirement fund that would be accessible to more people. 

"When you invest in a government bond you have to give a lump sum altogether. But, our product is different because it's a monthly savings plan; so you give a little bit every month for however long you want," added Shezami. 

Using new Rebelbase modules to apply innovative methodologies for leading change in organisations, the group devised a retirement plan that would enable Bangladeshis to begin saving and investing their money as soon as they entered the workforce. Their plan was unique; it encouraged participants to save and invest as much as they could afford each month, with the promise of a 10-12% annual profit margin that would provide retirees with not only a nest egg, but a steady stream of comfortable income after they retire.

The group decided to test the waters on a small scale with a stock brokerage company. The company saw potential in their business plan and chose to back them up, allowing them to market the retirement investment programme to its asset management clients.

The product, in a nutshell, will create a mutual fund with the investment of many working people. The money will then be invested in the stock market with the expertise of an institution. The investors on the other hand will have a return interest, which is higher than traditional banks. 

But it's not that people have to start saving up a big amount, rather they can start with as low as Tk 1,000. It is called a Systematic investment plan (SIP).  

"The math remains the same – taking your money, investing that money and returning it with some interest, but our target market is new," said Shezami. 

"We as students designed the product, but we cannot launch it. We need an institution to launch and regulate the product. We are hoping someone will carry out our product," said Shanila. 

They named it 'Safety Net.' Shanila explained, "The word safety itself contains confidence, reliance and trust. When we decided to do something, we began thinking of a retirement plan, instead of a retirement pension. That's how the name 'safety net' came into being. We decided to work with a product in the financial industry because I have expertise in the field." 

Bangladeshi people are savers, but when it comes to stocks or mutual funds people are really scared. With the support of their bank's leadership, the new retirement fund is poised for full rollout and implementation in 2023. 

For Professor Sebastian Groh, the new retirement plan fulfils a key need as Bangladesh's economy moves into a new phase. He said, "I think that's also reflecting the development Bangladesh has experienced – it's approaching middle-income country status – and these are the things which are needed to develop further." 

Going to the 'Roots' of the problem

Another group of Brac social entrepreneurship students decided to turn their focus to a very different problem: the lack of daycare in Bangladesh's poorest communities. They decided to call the project 'ROOTS'. 

"We named it roots because if the root or the base of a tree is strong, the tree can stand for long. We wanted to do something from the roots so that the children, in the future, can contribute more to education, to society," said Abu Sifat Mahmud, co-founder of Roots. The team visited the Korail slum located in Dhaka, a community of more than 50,000 residents.

Sakib Ahmed, the other co-founder, said, "We went there and met a few families with children between the age of zero to six years. We believe that children should not be fed unhygienic food. These conditions are detrimental to the development of their cognitive attitude, language skills, and social skills. We would never want such a life for ourselves." 

The team realised that with support and guidance, local women could create daycare centres called hubs and run small businesses looking after the children of neighbouring families.

However, when putting their plan into practice in Korail, the Roots team encountered significant resistance from local parents who were understandably wary of entrusting their children to an outsider who they had never met before. 

It was also challenging to find women to take care of the kids because they needed to have a house that was big enough for four kids and also willing to welcome strangers' children to stay with them. 

Even though Sifat and Sakib worked hard to persuade the parents and caregivers to try their programme, they were unsuccessful until the team was able to engage with the community on a more personal level.

They eventually convinced a few families to work with them. Rabeya Akter, a woman in a Narayanganj slum, set up a hub under the project Roots. 

"After coming into the Roots service and after taking care of the children, I got drawn to it. I have never had the feeling of being a mother, but after taking care of these children, I now know that feeling," said Rabeya.

Mohammed Masum and his wife both work outside the house and do not have enough time to take care of their children. 

Masum said, "I've benefited a lot from sending them there (Roots hub). The children's physical condition is also a lot better than before. It's good for their growth. The children are also becoming more active. Because they're staying there, I have some assurance. I can focus on my work while my children are being well taken care of." 

If the children are not sent to be looked after, the alternative is nothing. They will not be educated and they will very likely eat poorly.

The project first got off the ground with a Hult prize and it went on to receive more recognition. It won Bard MBA's annual 'Disrupt to Sustain' pitch competition and the founders received a $1,500 prize to work on their idea. They won the prize for their vision of improving the quality and utilisation of childcare services. By using those funds, the team wants to develop and expand the project further.

"This team was so successful in developing this project that at the end of the semester they won a prize, which was fantastic news for Bangladesh and fantastic news for BRAC University, because they competed with teams from all over the world," said Prof. Groh. 

For Professor Groh and the students, having a chance to develop their ideas and receive international feedback was crucial. It's a continuous interactive and learning process, but they also realised that very different parts of the world may have very similar problems, and you have and learn together on how to solve these issues.

These projects are proof that with the right tools and the opportunity, problem solvers can introduce real-world solutions.