Contribution of women entrepreneurs to economic development

Brought up in a middle-class family, Rubana financed her education from the age of 15 through tuition. The truly talented girl stood in SSC, HSC-Board twice. Rubana Haque is the managing director of Mohammadi Group and the elected first woman president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). She is the wife of the late former mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation, Anisul Haque. The first female Major General Susane Giti in the history of the Bangladesh Army, that is, the armed forces. Major General Susane Geeti passed MBBS from Rajshahi Medical College in 1985. In 1986, she joined the Bangladesh Army as a female doctor with the rank of Captain. Ishwardi’s Nurunnahar won the national agriculture gold medal and set the record straight. In 2011 she won the Bangabandhu National Agriculture Bronze Medal as the country’s best woman farmer, Bangabandhu National Agriculture Gold Medal in 2016, Randhuni Kirtimati Award as a woman entrepreneur in 2017, National Vegetable Medal in the same year, KIB Medal in 2018. Housewife Lutfa Sanjida used to make baby clothes and Punjabis and supply them to the local market. In the beginning her capital was only 15 thousand taka. Later, her cousin came forward for this work. Borrowing 30 thousand taka from him, she opened a showroom in Chittagong City’s Chalkview Market. Success keeps coming. Now she is the owner of Anindya Boutique House and Anindya Beauty Parlor. She started his business with 15 thousand taka and today she is a successful entrepreneur and millionaire in a span of 26 years. The success of her struggle has been highlighted in the Class IX-X Business Enterprise Book published by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board. In order to inspire the students of business education department, the colorful biography of Lutfa Sanjida, a successful woman entrepreneur and fashion designer of Chittagong, has been presented in the twelfth chapter of the book. More or less one-third of the total entrepreneurs in Bangladesh are women. Bangladesh is ahead of many other countries in the world in terms of creating women entrepreneurs. Although the situation is not favorable in terms of family, socio-economic position, religious perspective, mutual cooperation, financial support and business environment, the women entrepreneurs of Bangladesh continue their business with determination by facing various adversities. They are becoming successful entrepreneurs not by chance, but by necessity. This huge potential of women entrepreneurs is not only city-centric. Thousands of women entrepreneurs can be found in remote areas. Those who are moving forward with success and making important contribution to the economic development of the country.

Currently, half of the people who are running online businesses in the country are women entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs are earning from a minimum of 10 thousand to  lakh taka per month by selling their products. The Women and E-Commerce Forum (Wee), a large Facebook page for women entrepreneurs, was launched in 2017. Currently, the number of members of this page is more than 11 lakh. In the last decade, 50 lakh women are among the 1.3 million additional labor force associated with economic activities in the country. After independence in 1971, the poor in Bangladesh lived a very fragile and difficult life. Today a poor person can eat three meals a day. That was not the case after the independence of the country. Floods, famines, political upheavals. Because of this, those who lived below the poverty line in the seventies and eighties were in a very miserable condition. At that time women had almost no opportunity to earn. Now the opportunity to earn has increased. Now women can work in many places, which was not possible before. Many other disparities are now reduced. Opened job opportunities for women in cities and villages. But that opportunity is much less than men. Wages are also lower than men. Despite all this, Bangladesh has played a good role in reducing gender inequality, especially in South Asia. Bangladesh’s GDP, GNP has increased, this is also positive. Rural women are getting good education, health care. Enriched with knowledge of modern technology and information technology, the women of the village are implementing various economic activities including increasing the intensity of crops, modern methods of fishing, animal husbandry.

The number of working women in Bangladesh is increasing gradually. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) Labor Force Survey, one of the significant changes in the labor market is the participation of a significant number of women. On the positive side, the labor market participation rate of rural women is higher than that of urban women. Apart from the clothing sector, now women’s participation is increasing in the hotel, restaurant, communication sector, real estate services, telecommunication, banking and insurance sectors. The number of women among the total garment workers in the country is high. After the garment sector, Bangladeshi women workers working abroad have played an important role in turning the wheels of the country’s economy.

Women have come a long way today. We have achieved a lot. Besides the government, various social organizations have played an important role and are doing so. Many women are working very successfully in different places. Compared to the developed countries of the world, our women are still far behind. Women have to work under various obstacles. We have to come out of patriarchal dependence. In 1997, women got the opportunity to be elected as members of the Union Parishad for the first time. At that time, they did not even have a place to sit in the council room. At present, women have come out of this situation and are smartly doing public representative work from Union Parishad to everywhere.

Until women become economically independent, women empowerment is not possible. Women in remote areas work from agriculture sector to various cottage industries with loans from NGOs and banks. Even in the last decade, the women of our country could not have any outside dreams from morning to night. They had only one nightmare in their heads, the installments to be paid. These women are now entrepreneurs themselves with low interest agricultural and cottage industry loans from the government to improve their fortunes. In this way, they are moving towards fulfilling their dreams by repaying the loan. Through economic liberation, they are involved in politics and are playing a role in empowering women.

We don’t need to see whether Bangladesh is better or worse than other countries. We want to see Bangladesh as an ideal in the court of the world. And for this reason, the issue of women’s progress should be given importance. The biggest thing that is needed is a change of mindset. The mentality of the people of our country has changed more than before. Women are getting opportunities to work, mixing with the outside world. On the one hand, women are given free opportunities for jobs and education. Men are earning in the family, women are also earning. Women are working for women empowerment. They are working equally with men. Now women are not only taking training in sewing, but starting from business management, catering, mobile servicing, they are taking all training to build digital Bangladesh. The place of thinking must be changed. Every man should be human-friendly, not woman-friendly. All people should learn to respect equally. It is not just respect for men and women. There should be class, caste, religious respect. Creating division will only reduce the space of respect and hinder the advancement of women.

Contribution of women entrepreneurs to economic development should be ensured to build a smart Bangladesh. Bangladesh will transition from a middle-income country to a developed country by 2041 with the joint efforts of the country’s men and women to implement Vision 2021 and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.