‘Financial products are empowering rural women’

Financial products for women and the digital revolution are playing a big role in empowering the rural women entrepreneurs, speakers said at a programme.

Rural women entrepreneurs are now connected to buyers online, excluding intermediaries and getting fair price for their products, they said.

They were speaking at the first anniversary of Krishti – the first digital marketplace for rural women– organised by created by BAGDOOM.com at a city hotel recently, said a press release issued on March 30, 2019.

“Access to finance is now there for women. It wasn’t the case when I started out,” said Rokia Afzal Rahman, President of Bangladesh Federation of Women Entrepreneurs.

“However, I don’t think enough rural women have access to it, because banks tend to be focus more on the larger corporate clients than the rural micro and cottage entrepreneurs,” she added.

“Krishti by BAGDOOM in partnership with WEESMS, is the first digital market-place which is meant to cater direct access to market for rural women entrepreneurs providing nationwide customers with quality yet value for money home-made textiles and jute diversified products,” said CEO of BAGDOOM, SyedaKamrun Ahmed.

“This Krishti project not only empowers all our rural women entrepreneurs to reach out nation directly, and at scale, but is also actionable under digital and financial inclusion (among other key components), through bagdoom.com," she said.

WEESMS Programme is funded by the Embassy of Sweden and implemented by iDE Bangladesh and The Asia Foundation and is currently working in Rangpur and Khulna division across 9 districts in Home Textiles and Jute Diversified Products and Processed and Packaged Foods.

On the day, twin panel discussions saw participation from Sara Zaker, Executive Vice Chairperson of Asiatic3sixty, Tashina Ahmed, Executive Director of UCEP and Mominul Islam, CEO of IPDC Finance Limited and was moderated by Deepak Dhoj Khadka, Country Director of iDE Bangladesh.