Bank of Maldives has announced the winners of Startup Grant Fund announced by the bank.
BML Startup Grant was announced in January 2022 for emerging entrepreneurs to win grant funding of MVR 500,000 to start or grow a business in the Maldives.
Four winners of the Startup Grant was announced on Tuesday. They are;
1. Mohamed Nazlee and Aishath Shamma Mohamed (NirisS Embroidery), to expand existing embroidery business.
2. Aminath Irasha (Kids Zone), this is a new business, teaching wood craft with a conducive learning environment for children with special needs.
3. Hawwa Suzan (Hawwan Cakes), to expand an existing small scale, home-based cake business into a bakery and introduce training facilities.
4. Aishath Liusha (Climate Smart Good Agricultural Practices), to expand an existing business to promote sustainable farming.
CEO and Managing Director of Bank of Maldives Timothy Sawyer, states that the winners of BML Startup Grant fund are emerging entrepreneurs who have demonstrated eagerness and promise to grow and manage their businesses sustainably through their plan and presentation.
He stated that the bank is proud to support these businesses and look forward to witnessing them create new jobs while making a positive impact towards the community.
The four winners were selected out of over 100 applicants across the country, through a highly competitive evaluation process comprising of two stages.
During the first stage, business plans were evaluated to shortlist the 10 most promising applicants. The selected applicants were required to present the business idea to an evaluation committee.
The Bank launched its Startup Grant Fund in January as the third of 12 high impact monthly community initiatives to celebrate the lead up to the Bank’s 40th anniversary.
So far, the bank has announced a scholarship fund. This was announced during November 2021. The scholarship fund will provide fully funded international scholarships for three students in the area of Banking and Finance, every year. The bank recently announced the winners of the first year of scholarships.
The second event was announced in December 2021. It was the refurbishment and upgrading of the Maldives National Library.
The Startup Grant Fund was the third event, launched in January 2022. BML highlights that this will pave the way for emerging entrepreneurs to win a grant funding to start or grow a business in the Maldives.
BML launched the ‘Housing Grant’ as the fourth initiative in February this year, with an aim to support vulnerable families by building and furnishing houses for three underprivileged families across the country.
The fifth event is the ‘Small Grants’ initiative which was launched in March, through which eight winning projects will be selected to win a grant of MVR 250,000 each, to implement their plan successfully.
The sixth initiative was launched in April, through which the Home for People with Special Needs (HPSN) in Guraidhoo island of Kaafu atoll will be refurbished and upgraded. The work is now reported to be underway.
BML launched the seventh initiative on June 1; ‘Kindly by BML’ is the first of its kind online fundraising platform launched in the Maldives.
The eighth initiative was launched on June 22, which is ‘BML Fehi Project’.
