The Present State

Those who have won accolades

We reproduce short profiles of women entrepreneurs adjudged 'outstanding woman in business' from 2000 till 2004 by The Daily Star and DHL.

Salina Akhter, outstanding woman 2000
In 1979, a young girl of class five clad in lungi and fatua with a gamcha wrapped around her head chose to play a pickle seller for the school's annual 'Dress as you like” event. Almost twenty years later, that same girl, now in late twenties, started her own company Aakor with just a few thousand taka. Maybe her decision to play the role of a pickle seller was not just wishful thinking. Because even at that age she had decided to run a business that would be her own.

Salina Akhter dreamt of becoming a big name in the world of business, which is mainly male dominated. Though her initial efforts hit snags, she would not lose heart. Her enthusiasm for what she chose to do, her struggle, her relentless efforts made her one of the rare hard-working women entrepreneurs of the country.

After many failed attempts to run an enterprise from the early eighties, Salina along with a friend borrowed some from her uncle and both applied for a loan from Midas. They got Tk 150,000 each and each of them chipped in with more money, making a total of capital of Tk 360,000 to start a small business in handicrafts.

In the next two ears, their company succeeded in making a mark in the handicraft arena. But soon differences of opinion appeared between the two ladies. She decided to depart and started her own company, Aakor, in 1998. She took another loan from Midas.

Now her company supplies high quality handicraft to different shops in the city. She is very popular among her employees as well. Though she did not get support from her family, her success has changed their attitude towards her. Now they are proud of this hard working woman entrepreneur in their family.

Rehana Kashem, outstanding woman in business 2001
Like in the case of many housewives of the country, it started as an amateur venture. A self-made entrepreneur, Rehana Kashem, is among the very few successful women in the country who not only built her own enterprise but also has been able to attract her family members to help her develop the company. As a typical housewife, she loved to make cushion covers, tea-pot covers, tale mats, bed linens etc. Appreciation of her work encouraged her to think bigger. She started her venture with a capital of only Tk 6,000 and began selling her products to friends and neighbours.

In 1990, Rehana decided to expand her business. She began supplying her products to various outlets in Dhaka. Soon the turnover of her company Saatrong began to rise. Slowly, many shops in the city began to get in touch with her and place orders. With the support of her husband, an employee of a private company, Rehana's company grew leaps and bounds. Her husband, Md Abul Kashem Khan resigned his job and took up the responsibility of maintaining accounts and cater for other needs.

In the late nineties, the company's annual turnover crossed Tk.1 crore. Rehana believes that sincerity, hard work and good business sense are some of the qualities that one must have in this age of tough competition. In Dhaka, she employs around 50 workers, while more than 500 workers in other districts like Pabna, Jamalpur and Jessore more than 500 are Saatrong employees.

Taking time out from everyday household chores, a housewife who has reached a height in business today with sheer hard work and creativity deserves more than appreciation.

Geeteara Safiya Chowdhury Outstanding woman in business 2002
Geeteara Safiya Chowdhury could have been a good columnist, successful journalist or lecturer in a university. But she chose to become an entrepreneur, doing a wonderful job of it as she went on. Currently chairman and managing director of Adcomm Limited, Geeteara had a stint as editor of a women's magazine in the late 60 which used to be published from Karachi. In that capacity while interviewing famous political leaders she felt restricted in her ability to express her views.

During that time she also did some freelance copywriting for a few advertising agencies. After she came back from Karachi to Dhaka with her husband, she joined one of the leading ad agencies, Interspan, now known as Interspeed. There she climbed up the ladder from being a copy writer to general manager to executive vice president.

Two years later, she left the company and formed her own ad agency called Adcomm in July 1974. There were just six people in a small room and an investment of Tk 10,000. It was not easy. In those days there were no big brands apart from the fact that very few companies were willing to work with a new firm where a woman was the CEO.

In 1977, a multinaional company asked advertising firms to submit designs for their products and after a lot of scrutiny, selected six. Incidentally all six were from Adcomm. And this was a turning point for the company. The second turning point was the offer from Lever Brothers to work with its brands.

From a small office, Adcomm has now expanded to one of the most successful advertising firms of the country with the group's turnover reaching Tk 50 crore and employment of about 300. It is afiliated with renowned international agencies like Bates Worlwide, and Lowe, Lintas and Partners.

Apart from learning the trade, Geeteara also learnt some crucial lessons on professional values. She never compromised on quality. She worked hard, was honest in providing services to clients.

A careerist, Geeteara is one of the leading women entrepreneurs of the country. She has reached a height most people can only dream of. Her rise and success story is a great of inspiration for many women of this country who want to go out and make a successful life of their own.

Manjulika Chakma Outstanding woman in business 2003
In the 60s when starting a business in the hill tracts was unthinkable, especially for a woman, Manjulika Chakma a tribal woman entrepreneur showed that it was not really impossible.

Though agriculture has always been the main occupation in the hill tracts region, the art of weaving was a part of regular household chores by the tribal women. Manjulika, who was born in 1943 in Rangamati was no exception either. Her mother taught her the art of weaving in her childhood. They had looms in their family, locally called 'komor tant'.

Manjulika says during 1950s and early 60s many indigenous women in hill districts used to produce clothes for their own use. But they never thought about starting any commercial venture. Manjulika decided that she should take the bold initiative of developing traditional looms in her area and establishing the first business concern of tribal handloom products.

In 1965, when Manjulika was a teacher at Shah Boys High School, she purchased two traditional looms and started applying new weaving techniques. Her journey as an entrepreneur began with a capital of only Tk 500. It was a very difficult task, but she overcame all hurdles through sheer hard work and dedication.

There were problems galore -- inadequate capital, dearth of raw materials, lack of marketing the products. People outside the hill tracts hardly knew about her products. But she didn't lose heart. She began to sell her products at her residence.

Slowly her business began to grow: Bain Textile became a popular name in handloom. Presently, Bain Textile has three showrooms in Rangamati and one in Cox's Bazaar. Besides these, her products are also sold in select outlets in Dhaka such as Aarong, Prabartana, Karika, Aranya and Kumudini.

Products such as tribal dress (pinon, khadi), shawls, bed covers, panjabis, purses, sofa covers, towels etc are not only popular among the Banglaeshis, foreigners have also shown keen interest in buying them.

Bain Textile earns a huge amount from exports every year. Around 80 weavers, experts and helpers, apart from the more than 100 tribal women in four villages are employed by Bain Textile.

Manjulika still plays a key role in supervising the whole production process right from procuring raw materials like yarn and chemicals for dyeing, preparing them for use and controlling the quality. She is a master in preparing vegetable dyes. It's a secret of her success in making her products popular.

In the early days of her business Manjulika had fund constraints but banks could not do much for her as it was very difficult for them to provide loan to a person without collateral. Manjulika did not have any assets to mortgage against bank loans.

Manjulika's bold initiative encouraged new entrepreneurs in the hill districts. Over the years, about 20 to 25 such handloom enterprises have been set up and showrooms opened where several thousand indigenous women are working.

Thus, her contribution towards generating employment for women in the almost unknown field of tribal traditional looms, has greatly helped the indigenous people to take part in economic activities and improve their lifestyle. Manjulika's work has also created a market for ethnic handloom products and brought them into the world of fashion.

Selina Quader Outstanding woman in business 2004
Something that started as a hobby and genuine interest has over-time turned into a successful export-oriented agri-business for Selina Quader. Daughter of a lawyer in Jessore, Selina took a keen interest in gardening like her father. After graduating from Jessore Women's College in 1967 and getting married to an agri-scientist the following year, her passion for gardening remained. Years later, when her husband, Dr Shaikh Abdul Quader was posted in Chuadanga in the early eighties, she began to pursue her hobby more seriously.

Selina was excited by the large piece of land that was available within her home premises and promptly started growing a kitchen garden. Soon there was no looking back. She reinvested everything she earned from selling her vegetables into leasing more and more lands nearby and grew an increasing amount of produce. Now, her total area of production is nearly 200 acres including her own land, leased land, and those of her contract growers in Chuadanga and Thakurgaon.

Her direct employees number over 200 and her total turnover reached Tk 25 million in 2004 after demonstrating an impressive growth rate in the last five years. Her company, Agroconcern, works closely with client and contract farmers on both production and marketing aspects.

Inspired by her success, Selina's neighbours in Chuadanga have also joined the bandwagon of vegetable production -- now almost 6-8 truckloads are headed everyday for destinations in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet. With this spectacular performance in a previously arid geographical region, has come the benefits of economic development for all; villagers in the area now have access to electricity, concrete housing and Selina's previous workers themselves have now moved on to their own lands.

Even though Selina's production basket includes a whole variety of items like cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, capsicum, papaya, egg-plant, rice, maize, watermelon and sugarcane, her biggest success so far has been her potatoes. At first, she grew the seeds herself with the help of her husband to produce a variety that is high-yielding and disease-free. Large-scale production ensued in 1990 with the help of contract growers. Prompted by high acceptance of these potatoes, she first exported 4 containers in 2000 to Singapore; since then, she has also exported to wholesalers in Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

Selina's journey definitely has not been obstacle-free. As is true for other agricultural produce, she is plagued by the middlemen who dominate the supply chain and eat up a chunk of the total margin. Lack of access to financing is also a factor that constrains her growth potential. The bags she needs to export her produce are not available in the local market, they must be imported from China or India, and hence the delay in export.

Despite these challenges, Selina remans undaunted. She plans to build further on her existing work of developing improved strains and introducing exotic seeds.

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Compiled by Kaushik Sankar Das

Shamima Khatun

Most Innovative Business Person

Shamima Khatun achieved the Global Microentrepreneurship Award 2005 jointly organized by Citigroup Foundation and the UNCDF in “Most Innovative Business of the Year 2005” category.

Shamima Khatun of Shatkhira Shamnagar, spent her childhood catching shrimp from the salty water with her poor father. She did not have the chance to complete primary schooling. In the year 1994, at the age of fifteen she was married to a day labourer Muniruzzaman of the same village. There she only resumed her poverty stricken life in a small hut beside the Kholpetua River.

In June, 1994 Shamima Khatun, with her husband Muniruzzaman's consent, took a loan of Tk 4,000 from the Noabeki Ganomokhi Foundation. With Tk 1,000 she bought a secondhand bicycle for her husband and with TK 3,000, she started vegetable business. As the soil of Shatkhira is salty, it is difficult to cultivate vegetable.

Shamima had the idea that there was a demand for vegetable at Shatkhira. She and her husband brought in vegetables from the adjacent areas of Shatkhira, with the help of the bicycle and Shamima used to sell them on the streets or in the local market. After six months when her income increased, she expanded her business. Furthermore, after one and a half years, when her income increased further, she started to use truck for carrying vegetables instead of a cycle.

Because of the steps taken by Shamima, a vegetable market has grown in Noabeki bazaar. With the assistance from Shamima, there are around 50 people who are conducting the business of selling vegetables.

After the success of her vegetable business, Shamima started making sanitary ring slab. She was an instant success in field too, as she was the sole producer. She was able to expand her business from making ring slab to selling brick and sand as well.

Although she took many loans, she was never a loan defaulter. She started her journey with only Tk 4,000 and now Shamima's capital stands at Tk 20, 00,000.With Tk 1 lakh she bought a piece of land, built a house on it with electricity connection.

Shamima did not achieve her success in one day. She has always been hard working and dreaming to be a winner. At first, the idea of a woman running a business in the village was not acceptable to many. But now all that has changed. Shamima's success has become now an example for the poverty-stricken people of Shatkhira to try and improve their lot.