Scott Hinton
If one finds a problem that needs to be solved and has the mindset to work on it with like-minded people, then anything is achievable.
Jahnnobi is a dreamer who’s committed to putting in hours every day to turn dreams into reality. She’s a dedicated team player and passionate about disciplined entrepreneurship and innovation.
Her venture got selected as one of the Top 2 ventures at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Innovation Leadership Boot-camp. She’s currently working with youth regarding soft skill development and mental health awareness through gamification Bangladesh.
She enjoys taking on new problems, brainstorming different solutions from designing products to monetization, and leading the team towards efficient solving.
Jahnnobi is also a mathlete participating in different Math Challenges every year and is the current Bronze medalist of the International Youth Math Challenge. She holds an accuracy of 80% use of unique English words in Grammarly as she also loves writing.
Tell us a little bit about your current projects. What exciting milestone would you like to share with our readers? (Don’t hesitate to delve into your achievements, they will inspire the audience)
Jahnnobi Rahman: So currently I have my focus on creating a positive environment for youth through gamification. Help them practice kindness in small doses, be a spark of hope to society, contribute and take care of their mental health. So, I and my other two founders have started Captain Earth – Be The Change.
Captain Earth – be the change is Bangladesh’s first real-life task-based gaming platform and it is all about engaging youth in a process that grows awareness, kindness as well as empathy and encourages youth to work for the welfare of society.
Here, users complete varieties of tasks that help them improve their soft skills and also lessen their mental stress.
Nowadays we see a lack of empathy among the young generation. A country where 20% of its population are young people and 92% of them are suffering from mental health issues that they are not even aware of.
More so young people nowadays are lacking kindness, goodwill, leadership, and other basic soft skills. Soft skill development to employability is a must in today’s world but there is no definite platform where one can work on these skills and have a record of their progress.
On our platform, We have 4 different levels and tasks enlisted in 3 categories – Acts of love, Goodwill, and Leadership.
A leader board where the players can see their current progress. Top scorers of the leaderboard also have a chance to win rewards.
A WHO-5 test(the World Health Organization- Five Well-Being Index is a short self-reported measure of current mental well-being) monitors the user’s current mental well-being.
We have a task feed page where players can see their submitted tasks. Players can also share their completed tasks on social media platforms and earn extra points.
Current Traction :
- Our app is already on the google play store with over 900+ downloads
- 400+ active users every day.
- More than 200+ uploaded Task videos.
- Awarded more than 30 young players aging from 10-16.
- 5.00-star rating from 63 reviews on Google Play store.
We are now collaborating with three of the prestigious schools in Bangladesh to improve their soft skills and raise awareness about mental health.
We have started conducting three-week-long online free sessions to encourage the young generation to play and engage in our game. We have arranged some prizes for the winners too.
Captain Earth is not just any product or an idea, it’s a step, a movement by the youth, for the youth and wants to go far with youth. To be a part of the #BeTheChange movement is a promise to ourselves to be a better human not just any day but every day. A platform for learning new skills and sharing with fellow users.
Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
Jahnnobi Rahman: I’m still young and just started all these. I’m not the same person as I was last year. I’ve taken almost a 360-degree turn of what I was before.
In this journey that I’ve started, I had a special friend along the way who made me realize what I could achieve and what I’m capable of. Has always been a constant support and I think you already know who you are when you’re reading this!
And another person who has always guided me through tough situations would be my very own personal favorite Qazi Saad whom I met in MIT Innovation Leadership Bootcamp and won the title of being in the top 2 ventures of the program.
Just a brief intro: He’s currently serving as the VP of Innovation & New Ventures at Cloud Primero B.V. and is an interim CEO at Dosafar, a startup focusing on digitizing the inter-city bus travels in Pakistan. He has over 19 years of experience as a tech entrepreneur and has founded 6 companies in that tenure.
I remember we worked all night consecutively for three months to build an idea from scratch. The mentorship and guidance I’ve got from him are exceptional. I’m gonna carry all his pearls of wisdom for the rest of my life.
Whatever I’m gonna do in the future these two people will always be my point 0; where it all started. This is a number I specifically like because to me it’s the most powerful one. It can nullify any number or take everything away from it. These two are precious to me.
Often leaders are asked to share the best advice they received. But let’s reverse the question. What’s the worst advice you received?
Jahnnobi Rahman: I think the worst advice that someone gave me that I should just stick to one genre for the rest of my life and should not explore my other interests. So that person was like if you are in well-being you should only be in this genre, which I think got me off cause I think a person can have interest in multiple genres like Fintech, Gaming, or Green Economy or anything. Maybe not just do all things together at the same time but one should definitely explore and should have the hunger of learning a new industry and be open to solve problems and look for innovative solutions. And another concern was as I am a young girl, so I’m gonna definitely fail as my background in Computer Science but then I’m also into business.
Is there a particular podcast you listened to, or business thought leader that you find helpful while maneuvering this pandemic?
Jahnnobi Rahman: I can name so many of those I always listened to like a ritual or something. But in particular, I’ve always adored Jeff Bezos of Amazon. His strategies, leadership skills are divine. For someone like me, who is new to all of this, the advice and the way of tackling problems are super inspiring.
Also, my new favorite, the person I have my utmost respect and appreciation for Kunal Shah of Cred. The way he thinks of the youth, how we should work, and where it needs change are amazing. He’s like a breath of fresh air to the industry, possesses a strong attitude towards life which is world inspiring.
When you think of your company, 5 years from now, what do you see?
Jahnnobi Rahman: We have some goals to achieve within 2025.
- We aim to be the next leading youth engagement platform to encourage soft skill development to employability.
- A harassment-free video sharing platform not only in the country but around the world to promote positive and good vibes among the young generation.
- A chance for every student regarding the place, the academic background, race,
- to give them a fun and entertaining platform to explore, improve and test
- themselves along with students all over the country.
- Reach Captain Earth to rural places of Bangladesh educating them about Leadership, especially young girls. It’s important that young girls are taught to own up and take spaces.
- More SDG-based tasks to educate young entrepreneurs about the importance of SDG.
- Be the epitome of a positive platform that promotes empathy, learning, and developing collectively.
To achieve these noble milestones we need people, organizations, govt, public and private sectors to come together with us. Mental health is still treated as a myth to many. Young students especially lack awareness about it. We are determined to solve this and create a peaceful, fun platform for learning, growing, and sharing.
What do you consider are your strengths when dealing with staff workers, colleagues, senior management, and customers?
Jahnnobi Rahman: One of my strengths would be that I’m not only a good listener but also the last one to speak. Think it’s time we adopt this too. Being the last one to speak gives you the opportunity to listen to others and understand their point of view. I sit there, take it all in and then I ask questions to understand why they have the opinions they have.
How important do you think it is for a leader to be mindful of his own brand?
Jahnnobi Rahman: To be carrying a brand is important and it’s not just one day, it’s every single day you have to put in hours to achieve the vision for the company and consciously choose what’s best for the individual, team, and organization. It can be tiring but a leader should always make sure that the vision they are working on is a shared vision. The team members should be involved emotionally with the brand. No one person can make a change, maybe he/she can start. But it takes a lot more than that to build something sustainable.
We shouldn’t be the only ones talking in the meetings let alone start talking before anyone and imposing on others. Leaders should be better listeners, last to speak, and care for the team members more than numbers.
What’s your favorite leadership style and why?
Jahnnobi Rahman: My best style is also one of my strengths and that is, I constantly practice being the last one to speak. I try my level best to understand where they are speaking and why. Also, I take inspiration from other leaders but I don’t blindly follow any of them. I try to make decisions consciously and not biased and my team members are always my utmost priority. I try to work with an open mind and try to make a safe place for my team members so that anyone can ask for help if they are struggling with something and not hide away. I think when we create an environment of giving and listening to others life becomes easier and productivity skyrockets.
Do you think entrepreneurship is something that you’re born with or something that you can learn along the way?
Jahnnobi Rahman: I don’t think entrepreneurship is something that only some special among us can achieve or so. It’s a skill and takes practice to think out of the box. If one finds a problem that needs to be solved and has the mindset to work on it with like-minded people, then anything is achievable.
What’s your favorite “leadership” quote and how has it affected the way you implement your leadership style?
Jahnnobi Rahman: My favorite quote would be from Simon Sinek. One of the quotes that inspired me is: “If we believe trust, cooperation, and innovation matter to the long-term prospects of our organizations, then we have only one choice—to learn how to play with an infinite mindset”.
I truly believe there is no win or lose, it’s all about how long we can keep the game going. There isn’t any finish line. The goal should be how can we be the best in it. Make changes within.
This interview was originally published on ValiantCEO.
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