Local confidence in our start-ups will have a ripple effect and encourage more foreign investment

It is a disappointing reality that, as the start-up culture grows in Bangladesh, locally, we have been unable to support them to reach their full potential. According to a recent study , less than 6% of the funding managed by Bangladeshi start-ups over the past decade came from local sources -- $317 million has been received since 2010 and only $18 million was from local sources.

While the fact that our start-ups managed to secure funding from international investors is certainly promising, it must not detract from the issue we have locally, that our start-ups are failing to garner the necessary local support to take their operations to the next level.