MotoRent from Brac University in Bangladesh, has won a $1,500 seed grant to advance its vision of expanding access to income-generating transportation—through a trusted peer-to-peer motorcycle rental platform. The student team presented the project—developed using the RebelBase platform for building innovative solutions—during the Launch a Different World competition, hosted by the Democratizing Innovation Institute, in December 2025.
The competition showcases new social ventures developed through a groundbreaking global program in which participants from across continents tackle tough problems by building innovative solutions. Students from design, business, and humanities programs work shoulder-to-shoulder with problem solvers through NGOs like South Africa’s StreetBiz and the US’ Brothers@, with support from the Cliff Bar Foundation.
Students join from all over the world, including Bard College, the American University of Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan), Al Quds University (Palestine), Brac, European Humanities University (Lithuania), Parami University (Myanmar), the American University of Afghanistan, and the Open University of the Philippines.
As the top-ranked venture, MotoRent is being seeded with a $1500 grant generously donated by Henny Romjin. If its founders have their way, this seed will have a transformative impact. The team makes the case that a major barrier for gig workers and micro-entrepreneurs is not motivation or demand, but access to the tools needed to earn. Often, owning a motorcycle can spell the difference between stable work and missed opportunity, yet purchasing a vehicle is out of reach for many.
In response, MotoRent’s platform connects motorcycle owners with vetted renters and is designed to reduce risk on both sides of the marketplace. The team’s revenue model combines a 9% commission on rentals with a monthly GPS tracking subscription (and related services), aiming to build a scalable, trust-driven alternative to informal arrangements.
The team included Brac U students Sadman Rahaman, Moonim Ahsan, Ayman Kabir, Nawaz Uddin Tamim, and Sumaiya Akter Lima. They believe that Bangladesh “needs to reduce unemployment, and we are working toward that goal. MotoRent will succeed because the challenge we face is not a mobility issue—it is an access problem. We are working to solve this issue by making transportation resources more accessible. With dedication and resilience, we believe we can overcome this barrier.”
The competition itself reflected a bigger idea: meaningful innovation often emerges from people closest to the constraints. According to the global program lead, Bard MBA professor Alejandro Juárez Crawford, “We need to create our own solutions for us by us,” and “launch a million experiments” that replace systems that no longer respond to real needs. We develop an experimental mindset by building experiments. MotoRent’s team’s pitch embodies that spirit: practical, locally grounded, and built around a clear path to sustainability.
The key, as Paul Spinrad notes in a recent article in the Main Street Journal, is for “people everywhere to create new businesses, not to create a new business for people everywhere.” This makes us come alive to our power to build a different world. Crawford and Mim Plavin-Masterman, innovation and entrepreneurship scholar, present compelling data to this effect in their new book One Size Fits None: Time for an Entrepreneurial Revolution, drawn from the program in which MotoRent took part.
MotoRent’s win came in a field of ventures spanning regions and problem areas. Wild Roots (Palestine) placed second with a non-profit model supporting farmers and harvesters by connecting them to premium markets while navigating restrictions. Designed as a hub for existing cooperatives, Wild Roots aims to strengthen shared logistics, warehousing, marketing, and shipping, so producers can reach higher-value channels and expand into underserved markets. The runner-up team included Asma Safi, Fares AlJamal, Lina Abu Ghalia, Malak Jaffal, Raneem Arbasi, Sara Ayoub.
Other finalist projects included Shorpo (Kyrgyzstan), an AI-enabled approach to healthier meal delivery built around local cuisine; Digital Leash, a platform offering workshops and guidance to help families manage teenage screen time; and Edify, an in-person education and support program for Rohingya girls in Bangladesh refugee camps focused on preventing child marriage.
Dr. Kate O’Neill, Jonas van der Straeten, and Evelina Van Mensel served as judges. The panel pressure-tested teams on business models, impact logic, and financial sustainability, offering the kind of feedback that helps founders move from a compelling pitch to a launch-ready plan. After the course, participants reached out to alumni from previous years and formed an alumni peer group to continue supporting one another beyond the course, so that the work doesn’t end when the session ends.
The competition is the culminating event of a joint program offered by the Democratizing Innovation Institute in partnership with GHEA 21 and Bard's #1 MBA in Sustainability in New York. The program includes an annual fall sequence in social entrepreneurship, and spring offerings in leading change in organizations and in launching climate solutions. This year, the program was supported in part by a grant from the Clif Bar Family Foundation.
A new episode of Bard’s Lead the Change podcast is coming soon, highlighting the themes behind Launch a Different World — and the powers participants discover along the way. Watch the 90-second teaser here.