Feature

Documentary on Rural Entrepreneurs at Khulna University

Effat Ara Kabir and Sk. Hafizur Rahman

Some were seen running a restaurant, some were nursing flowers, some were farming cows, some were catching fish, and some were making terracotta tiles. These are not the students of 16th batch BBA, Khulna University. These are the chosen rural entrepreneurs on their assigned documentaries. Md. Nur Alam, Assistant Professor, Management and Business Administration School, Khulna University, along with the students of 16th Batch of the Business Administration Discipline, arranged a video documentary presentation in the university auditorium on January 12, 2009, as a part of the course titled 'Entrepreneurship Development' .

Md. Mizanur Rahman, the dean of MBA School of Khulna University inaugurated the session. He also mentioned that this kind of approach is really helpful for the students to get vast and practical knowledge about a particular course.

Nine documentaries on nine different rural entrepreneurs from each of the nine teams were presented one after another before a huge audience . The first team was 'Excalibur'. The audience was thrilled by the great start of the documentary on 'Hotel Abbas', a renowned hangout place, situated 30 KM from Khulna city. Excalibur revealed the history, progress, and the secret recipe, which had enchanted the customers. 'Maestro' was the second group to present their work on a rural fish farmer having a dynamic and expanding business of his own. Team 'Hermes' illustrated an amazing documentary on the living legend Sher Ali, the prominent commercial flower vendor and the largest supplier of fresh flowers all over Bangladesh. After that, 'Novice' presented an exciting story of an entrepreneur with an aspiration. He had a dream to start his own business and saved money from his very teenage days.. The first half of the session ended with the documentary of team 'Pegasus', who presented an outstanding and successful effort of a farmer owning several poultry and fish farms.

After a short lunch break, all the teams and audience were back in the auditorium with a refreshed mind. The group 'Pinnacle' portrayed the life of an experienced and aged entrepreneur, who struggled hard throughout his life. Starting his career as a day labourer, this hard working person expanded his fish and dairy farms with skill. 'Prodigy' came up with a documentary on an interesting interior designer, who used his entrepreneurial knowledge and pure sense of aesthetics to add a new dimension to the flower and nursery business. 'Supreme' presented its documentary on a promising entrepreneur who reformed his family business by making and exporting terracotta tiles from Satkhira. The documentary covered the overall process of manufacturing, packaging, and exporting along with the interview of the entrepreneur and workers.' Oracle' worked on a self-motivated and enthusiastic entrepreneur who started his business of cow fattening and dairy farm. The encouraging interview of the farmer helped motivate entrepreneurship in future and the dignity and pride of possessing one's own business.

The noteworthy effort and enthusiasm of making their own documentaries for the very first time reflected upon the works, and obviously, upon the teams. The obstacles, struggles, and the way towards success of the rural entrepreneurs became clear after the session came to its end. The programme was highly appreciated by the faculty members and students. The programme ended with an encouraging speech by Md. Nur Alam, the course conductor. It is expected that the experience of making a documentary will not only enrich the students’ entrepreneurial knowledge, but also will encourage them to bring new dimensions to their creativity and innovation.