By Shuaibul Islam

SYLHET, June 29, 2021 (BSS) – The womenfolk in Sylhet have been coming out tearing hundred years old regional conservative wrap with indomitable spirit as the country's eastern district witnessed a huge number of successful female entrepreneurs in recent time.

“More than 100 women in the district established themselves as successful entrepreneurs through boutique business and outsourcing in the last one year which was never seen in the past,” said Sylhet Women's Chamber President Swarnalota Roy.

She said the rural women of the district have also started boutique business and are selling products through online like their urban fellows, while the city girls have been becoming self-reliant through outsourcing.

“In the context of Sylhet, it’s a great achievement,” said Roy, who recently demanded a separate shopping mall in the divisional city for the women entrepreneurs.

“Those days are over ...  the fruits of information technology have changed the scenario. Now the women are doing business through online staying at home,” she said expressing heartfelt gratitude to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her visionary innovation regarding “Digital Bangladesh” campaign.          

Roy said the most encouraging aspect is that the women of Sylhet are working on the region's different aesthetic traditional products  with their high creativity and innovation.

One of such successful entrepreneurs is Sultana Parveen who has been working on traditional canes. “Since long I had a wish to do something different ... I chose traditional cane to make various  products in more aesthetic and creative ways,” she said.

Parveen, who hails from Pashchim Jaflong union in Goainghat upazila, was inspired to launch her own business by seeing the country's other women entrepreneurs who are selling their products through different Facebook pages.

“I told myself, if other can do why not me as I got plenty of creative ideas,” Parveen said, recalling the days of her starting business.

After being encouraged by other women entrepreneurs, Parveen contacted with local cane goods producers and placed her own designs before them. “Simultaneously, I opened my own  Facebook page named 'Chirachorito' (traditional) to sell my cane products,” she said.        
So far, Parveen has sold Taka 25 lakh worth cane products at home and abroad, especially to non-resident Bangladeshis residing in the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia and the UAE.

“I'm glad that people do like my goods and I'm getting adequate orders that inspire me in putting more efforts in my business,” she said, adding she wants to create a new workplace for the forgotten marginal cane producers.

Another successful woman entrepreneur like Parveen is a widow named Ayesha Akhter who is now working on Sylhet's antique item -- 'Shitalpati', a kind of mat which feels cold by nature.

"When my husband passed away two years back, I had to go through a hard time with three growing up children. I was so desperate to earn money for the family,” she said.

When Ayesha got frustrated after not seeing any ray of hope, a  Facebook group named ‘We’, run by women entrepreneurs, came as her guide to launch her own business.

“I was involved with the group in 2019, and with the inspiration of the women entrepreneurs there, I started my business with 'Shitalpati' from 2020,” Ayesha said.

Ayesha recalled that initially she had to push hard the weavers to make 'Shitalpati' again for her as the product is about to extinct due to lack of proper marketing.

“At first, I didn’t get a good response from the consumers. The people almost forgot about this kind of traditional goods. Then I brought innovation to make diversified items with Shitalpati like ornaments and wall mats,” she said while narrating her story.

With her creativity, Ayesha had succeeded to attract consumers and sold Taka 5 lakh worth products in last three months. “I also made shipments of my goods to the USA and Australia,” she said in a proud voice.        

Banani Chowdhury from the bordering area of the district is another entrepreneur who came to the limelight in the online marketplace when a famous filmmaker wore her 'jamdani' shirt as fashion of the last Eid-ul-Fitr.

"Thanks to my creative mind to become popular among the consumers suddenly," Banani said in a smiling face while describing how her innovative idea of making shirt with jamdani was acclaimed by many customers across the country.      

Similarly, Ismat Jahan Holly of Tenngranagar village in Rajnagar upazila of Moulvibazar is selling Monipuri sharees. “It was beyond my imagination that I would be able to sell Taka 12 lakh worth Monipuri sharees through online in just one year,” said Holly.

The young girls and women in the Sylhet city have also become self-reliant by doing outsourcing as like Rupali Rani Gope, a third year Management (honors) student at Moin Uddin Adarsha Mohila College here who is earning Taka 80/90 thousand per month through outsourcing.  

“Women in Sylhet have come across a long way. Even few years back they had to face multifaced obstacles to go out of home for work,” said Sylhet District Jatiya Mohila Sangstha President Helen Ahmed.

But the reality has been changed now, Helen said, adding that many women are now riding bike or driving cars in the Sylhet city while they are contributing to the local and national economy as well with their skills and high leadership qualities.

“The way females are moving forward in Sylhet there will be no room for seeing men and women separately in near future,” Planning Minister MA Mannan told the closing ceremony of a woman entrepreneurs conference in Sylhet recently.

As women empowerment is one of the core commitments of the incumbent Awami League government, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina  adopted the progressive ‘National Women Development Policy’ in 2011 for the first time with a set of goals to empower the country's women socially, economically and politically.

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), Bangladesh is now the second most gender equal country in Asia, top in South Asia, while it ranks 47th among 144 countries of the world in the Global Gender Gap Index.