RAJSHAHI, May 18, 2019 (BSS) – A large number of rural female are passing
their busy time with shoe making and its finishing and packaging activities
at Kaluhati village in the district ahead of the Eid festival.
More than 2,600 women have become financially solvent through making shoes
during the last couple of years in the village and its adjacent areas as the
show-making venture has become boon for them.
The village under Charghat upazila is famous among businessmen from
different parts of the country.
According to the sources concerned, the village has around 75 shoe
factories employing around 7,500 people and around 2,600 of them are females
who are involved in the shoe-making at present.
Along with working in shoe factories, many women have already become small
entrepreneurs, manufacturing shoe-packets, bags, key-rings, purses and
wallets.
Morjina Begum, 41, wife of Faraj Ali, has been working at Konika Shoes
Factory for more than seven years. She earns Taka 350 to 400 every day. She
also operates a factory named ‘Bhabna Bag and Box’ in her house, employing 22
other women.
She initiated the business with primary investment of Taka 20,000 around
three years back and now her capital investment stood at above Taka three
lakh.
While visiting to the village, nearly 30 km away from the Rajshahi city,
recently this reporter found that the villagers are running small footwear
factories and shops almost everywhere.
The shoe factories were flourished in the village with financial and
technical assistance of Small and Medium Enterprises Foundation (SMEF).
Abdul Mannan, President of Kaluhati Shoe Industry Owners Cooperative Samity
Limited, said most of the villagers make footwear from leather and synthetic
fabrics using traditional method and the raw materials are procured from the
capital Dhaka.
Some women have become successful entrepreneurs like Marzina Khatun who
has been running her own business for the last three years, he said.
He added that the village witnessed a significant change in the last seven
years for successful footwear business.
“We are working here for boosting capability and efficiency of the
entrepreneurs for successful business promotion,” said Abu Monjoor Sayeef,
assistant general manager of SMEF, adding that initial investment was Taka 46
crore and recovery rate was hundred percent.
All the prospective issues were taken into consideration so that the
cherished goal is achieved within near future, he said.
Dhaka Bank Limited (DBL) is working here as stakeholder and it has
distributed Taka 60 lakh among the potential entrepreneurs.
“We have another investment proposal of Taka one crore in shoe making
industry here,” said Samiul Haque, assistant vice president of DBL.