“We were in our second year of university, as students of chemical engineering, when the idea came to us. We used to do many courses available in foreign online platforms like Edex and Coursera,” says Piash.“We learned things like excel, data science and the fundamental elements of businesses. We wanted to introduce similar courses in Bangla.” The foreign courses offer credits which further are approved by the top- ranked universities, and they provide certificates which students can add into their resumes.
What makes Bohubrihi different from other online platforms is that they provide multidimensional courses which are not only related to education but hobbies and businesses as well. But the journey to starting Bohubrihi was certainly not a smooth one. “We did not have funds to hire web developers. So, we learnted how to create websites. We bought web domains with a small budget,” explains Galib.
The website of Bohubrihi was launched in May 2018. Since then, around 200 learners have bought their courses. Apart from their current available courses they have many underdevelopment business courses which they wish to complete soon. With two full-time employees and four volunteers, the founders are doing well for the time being and wish to expand their business with time. ‘Our courses are targeted at undergraduate students, but we want to have courses for high school and college students soon,” says Piash. “We also want to provide courses on farming, gardening and cooking.” Bohubrihi encourages freelance instructors, especially from renowned institutions like BUET and Dhaka University. These instructors are free to use their merits in creating new courses on different topics, which can help students in learning new things out of their regular curriculum. The payments for the courses are done through BKash and Rocket.
Moreover, the Bohubrihi team aims to connect people from different sectors who can easily avail the opportunities and learn skills online related to their own interests. Anyone can submit demonstrations of courses to the website, and if the courses have a standard quality, they will be approved. People can watch the demonstrations before buying them, and those who do not have a broadband connection can attain the courses through DVDs. Their videos are hosted by Vimeo.
“Currently, we have ten courses but by 2020 we wish to increase this number to thirty, and by 2022, we want to start corporate training. It is a draft plan for now and a matter of time and sponsors,” says Piash.
This Article Was Featured in The Daily Star
On January 11, 2019. Interviewed by AVIPSU DAS GUPTA and written by SHARMIN JOYA.
