Building Women in Business:A Situation Analysis of Women Entrepreneurs in Bangladesh

Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and IndustryIn cooperation with The Center for International Private Enterprise

P W E A

Building Women in Business:A Situation Analysis of Women Entrepreneurs in Bangladesh

Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and IndustryIn cooperation with The Center for International Private Enterprise

P W E A

AdvisorSelima AhmadPresident, BWCCISangita Ahmed Senior Vice President, BWCCI

Building Women in Business:A Situation Analysis of WomenEntrepreneurs in Bangladesh

Published by

Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BWCCI)

Supported by

Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)

Published in February 2008

Cover design and illustration

Foridi Numan

© BWCCIContact addressBangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BWCCI)Gulshan Grace, Apt. # 2C, House # 8, Block-CWS (C), South Avenue, Gulshan-1, Dhaka, Bangladesh.Phone # 880-2-9861526, Fax # 880-2-8861296, E-mail: womenchamber.bd@gmail.com, Website : www.bwcci.org

The opinions expressed here do not necessarily express the opinion of CIPE and BWCCI. Research team bears theresponsibilities for all information.

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Research Design, Data Analysisand Report Preparation

by: Munir Uddin Shamim

Research AssociatesAhmed Omar FarukMd. AkteruzzamanSushanta SarkerMd. Nazrul IslamMd. Zahidul Islam

Clara Shikha PalmaImran Sattar

Muhit HossainRezwan AhamedDhrubo Ahamed

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Table of Contents

Message 05Executive Summary 06Introduction 09Methodology 12Findings from the Questionnaire Survey 15Qualitative Findings from Focus Group Discussions and Seminars 37Stakeholders’ Recommendations for Women Entrepreneurship Development 43Reference 47

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Message It was a golden moment in 2001, when we started our journey with a very small but dynamic team. We were a small group ofwomen. We have had enlightened vision; a vision for a gender-friendly business environment, a vision for women’s economicempowerment. We have had a collective dream to ensure a gender justice in economy, especially in private sector of the country.As a manifestation of our collective visions, the Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry was born as the firstwomen’s chamber in the country. It was a new name, new phenomenon to most of the people. Despite this, we stepped forwardwith shared responsibilities of building women in business. We started walking across the country. We found a number of womenwith potentialities and creativities to be entrepreneurs. We started building a relationship, a network, a collective platform. Our teamspirits, shared responsibilities, mutual dedication has made us distinguishable. We have gained a unique identity at the local level,national level and at the international level.

Throughout our activities, we have been in need of a comprehensive database; need of a study that can tell about the real situationof women entrepreneurs. Lack of filed based data always makes the way difficult to speak about the real need of womenentrepreneurs. The issues of women entrepreneurs cannot properly be incorporated in policy measures, development program andeconomic activities. Considering the situation, BWCCI undertook this initiative under its `Promoting Women Entrepreneurshipthrough Advocacy Project’ to explore the situation of women entrepreneurs with special focus on rural micro women. Over the lasttwo years, a dynamic team of BWCCI collected information from 11 districts of the country. I am really happy to see the researchwork completed and findings report is prepared.

At this stage, I would like to thank the Center for International Private Enterprise for its continuous support. I would like to offer myspecial thanks to all women entrepreneurs, who extended their keen support during questionnaire survey. I am very grateful to allrepresentatives including public officials, bankers, journalists, CSOs, NGOs, local government bodies, who attended seminars andFGDs and provided valuable inputs to make this study a comprehensive one.

I believe this study has created a space for the people including the policymakers and implementers to know the real situation ofwomen entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. I also believe that the information obtained from this study would help to create new programfor women entrepreneurship development. It will serve as a new source of information and knowledge for development practitionersand development organizations. It will contribute to policy formulation and implementation.

To conclude, I would like to offer my wholehearted tanks to the research team who have made this study completed within thescheduled period.

Selima AhmadPresident

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1. Executive Summary

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A.

Women’s economic empowerment is an inevitable part ofdevelopment discourse. Excluding women from the mainstreamdevelopment program, institutionalization of a sustainabledevelopment process is just unthinkable. People’s long lastingthrust for a participatory democracy in Bangladesh also requiresa sustainable economic growth. Nevertheless, this growthwould always be untouchable without active and meaningfulparticipation of the country’s women folks. Keep the issues inmind, the Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce andIndustry, since its inception in 2001, has been working forwomen entrepreneurship development across the country. Aspart of its unbroken enlightened visions towards a genderfriendly environment, especially in private sector, BWCCI hasbeen implementing a project named ‘Promoting WomenEntrepreneurship through Advocacy’ in cooperation with theCenter for International Private Enterprise. The main goal of theproject is to facilitate increased participation in the economy bywomen entrepreneurs. It is evident from BWCCI’s practicalexperiences that lack of firsthand information on the situation ofwomen entrepreneurs is continuously hindering properinclusion of the issues of women entrepreneurs in the policymeasures as well as development program. Having properinformation is always a power. Lack of this power has madewomen entrepreneurs unable to claim their rights in a justifiedand structured way. Realizing this existing reality, BWCCI hasconducted this study.

B.

By nature, it is an explorative study aiming at having anoverview of the situation of women entrepreneurs inBangladesh. The main thematic issues covered by this study

are socio-demographic profile of women entrepreneurs, typesof women-owned enterprises, regulatory procedures includingtax, VAT, company registration, training and capacity buildingsand human resources. The study also focused women’s accessto finance, business management, product and designdevelopment, marketing and the issues related to businesspromotion. The study tried to explore the social perspectives ofwomen entrepreneurs, their conditions and position in family.Overall perception of women entrepreneurs about existingbusiness environment were also tried to discover through thisstudy.

Both qualitative and quantitative research methods adoptingparticipatory data collection processes were applied to exploreinformation from 130 women entrepreneurs of 11 districts inBangladesh. Moreover, this study reached as many as 1494representatives of various stakeholders through 12 FGDs and13 seminars organized in six divisional cities and six districtcities. A semi-structured questionnaire survey was conductedfrom May 2007 to October 2007. The qualitative informationwas collected from March 2006 to February 2008. Data wereanalyzed using various statistical software including SPSS, MSWord and Excel.

C.

The respondents of the questionnaire survey were from 11districts namely Dhaka (18.9%), Khulna (17.9%), Jessoere(15.1%), Rajshahi (15.1%), Comilla (12.3%), Sylhet (9.4%),Gazipur (5.6%) and Barishal (2.8%) respectively. Therepresentation from other three districts namely Jamalpur,Dinajpur and Bogra was less than 1% (.9%). The age structureof the respondents illustrates that most of the womenentrepreneurs in Bangladesh are young belong to age group

15-31 years and were students (54%) just before involved inbusiness. Although women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh arenot highly educated, about 90% in the sample have at leastsecondary school certificate (10 years of formal education).Most of the women entrepreneurs are married (53.8%) and livein nuclear families (69%). It is also observed that educatedwomen are gradually becoming interested in involving inbusiness. In this respect, family background was found to beone of the determining factors inspiring women to becomeentrepreneurs. Existing alternative socialization processincluding continuous discussions and debate on women’seconomic empowerment also played vital roles for women toenter into business.

About 83% of enterprises in the sample were establishedbetween the years 2000-2007 indicating that young women aregradually becoming interested in business and entrepreneurialactivities and women’s visibility in economic sector isincreasing. The mean and median values for the months ofbusiness experiences of the respondents were calculated as 59and 42 months.

In terms of ownership, individual ownership is the dominanttype. Among 130 enterprises, 73.2% is owned by individual.Most women entrepreurs cater to local market and their tradeis related to the local and national market. Only few women arefound to be involved in export-import sectors.

From the perspective of regulatory provisions, about half of thewomen entrepreneurs are not aware of trade license, tax andVAT. Most of them lack capacity to maintain accounts,bookkeeping and other necessary documents. As a result,women entrepreneurs, particularly rural women do not enjoyinstitutional facilities offered by various public and privateagencies at the local level.

The finding illustrates that women entrepreneurs’ contribution toemployment generation is significant as most of them increasedtheir number of employees. Their contribution to familyexpenditures and savings were also found to be significant.

Access to capital was found to be one of major problems. Mostof them have no access to formal banks. Family was the mainsecures of starter capital. Commercial banks, both public andprivate banks, did not play significant roles in promotion ofwomen entrepreneurs.

It is also observed that 65% of the respondents did not knowanything about the circular of Bangladesh Bank on refinancingscheme for women SME. Among 35% of the respondents, who areinformed of this circular, 79% of them got information from BWCCIthrough its various activities like seminar, training etc. Although 35%of the total respondents heard about the circular, 59% of them didnot know about all provisions of the circular. Bangladesh bank orany other banks did not take any effective mechanism todisseminate information of this circular to women entrepreneurs orother stakeholders. Even bankers working at the local level were notinformed of this circular, which was evident from BWCCI’s advocacyactivities. Poor information dissemination process contributed tohindering poor implementation of this circular.

Despite existence of diversified barriers, capital growth ofwomen entrepreneurs were also found to very momentousindicating that women are potential to extend their business andcontribute to the national economic development.

The survey findings also shows that women entrepreneurs,particularly the local women, lack the capacity of businessmanagement. They are in need of building capacity inmarketing, business promotion, accounting and bookkeeping,product and design development, ICT, e-commerce andregulatory process, etc. The opportunity of training was found tobe very limited. The roles of public training providing agencieswere not satisfactory. NGOs are providing some training withlimited scales.

Participation in trade fairs significantly contributed to strengtheningcapacity of women entrepreneurs as 85% of the respondents,who had the opportunity to participate in trade fairs, mentionedthat it had positive impact on their business development.

Regarding overall business environment for womenentrepreneurs, most of the women entrepreurs were found to besatisfied and they mentioned that, despite traditional negativeattitudes, the overall business atmosphere is becomingfavorable for women. It is also observed that the involvement ofwomen in business does not emancipate them from thetraditional roles in family. As a result, being involvement inbusiness creates double burden and increase working times forwomen. In terms of marginalization, the local and rural womenwere found to be more vulnerable as most of them lack accessto necessary information. They also do not have access topublic and private institutions. Respondents also expressedtheir dissatisfaction about the roles of the local chamber ofcommerce, even some respondents mentioned that they did notknow anything abut the activities of the chamber of commercein their localities.

D.

This report is an output of a descriptive study on the situation ofwomen entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. The report is divided intosix distinguished parts.

The first chapter is executive summary. The second chapterdescribes background, rational and objectives of the study. Italso highlights on major thematic areas of the study.

The third chapter focuses research methodology, samplingprocess, data collection tools, data processing and analysis.This chapter also describes about the challenges and limitationof the study.

The fourth chapter presents quantitative findings obtained fromquestionnaire survey. The fifth chapter concentrates on qualitativefindings, which were gathered through FGDs and seminars withvarious stakeholders over last two years. Stakeholders’recommendations for women entrepreneurship development arepresented in the last chapters.

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2. Introduction

2. 1

Existing sex ratio in demographic structure of Bangladeshindicates that women comprise almost 50% of the totalpopulation1. They are essential part of nation’s humanresources. Due to this demographic structure, the issue of theparticipation of women in the mainstream economy isimperative. Without a meaningful and active participation ofwomen, half of the total population, in regular economicactivities, a dynamic and sustainable economy is impossible. Asustainable economy is a precondition for national growth andprosperity including institutionalization of a democratic system.It is also impossible to achieve the target of a poverty-freesociety without incorporation of women in the mainstreameconomy. Considering the issue, a special emphasis has beengiven by the Government, donor agencies, NGOs, businesscommunity and all other relevant stakeholders through differentinterventions to ensure increased women’s participation informal economic sector, especially in business and industry.

Bangladesh is one of the countries, which rectified the UNConvention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discriminationagainst Women (CEDAW). The Constitution of Bangladesh alsogrants equal rights to women and men in all spheres of publiclife [Article 28(1), and 28(3)2]. The Constitution also keeps anobligation for the state to ensure women’s active andmeaningful participation in all spheres of public life (Article-10).In response to the international concern and constitutionalcommitment, the Government of Bangladesh has initiated someinstitutional measures for the enhancement of women’seconomic position and status in society. The major initiativesundertaken by the Government so far included establishment ofa separate ministry on women’s affairs, formulation of theNational Policy for Advancement of Women-2008 and theNational Action Plan, which was prepared in response to theBeijing Platform for Action (PFA). The Bangladesh Governmenthas also formed a National Women SME Forum under the SMEFoundation of the Ministry of Industry to promote women’sparticipation in formal economic sectors. The Poverty ReductionStrategy Paper (PRSP), which is now the main document fornational development in Bangladesh, also incorporated somenoteworthy issues to ensure women’s participation in social andeconomic life. The industrial and SME policies 2005 ofBangladesh Government have emphasized womenentrepreneurship development, particularly in SME sector.

Despite various initiatives from different corner of the state, thelevel of participation of women in the mainstream economicactivities, especially private sector, remains insufficient and thepercentage of women in business and industry is still well belowthan that of their male counterpart. A recent survey conductedby the PPRC, an independent research organization in

Bangladesh, on `Local Business Dynamics’ showed that femaleconstitute only 1% of the sample indicating the very limitedpresence of women in formal business3.

It is inspiring to mention here that a new women’s entrepreneursclass is increasingly emerging each year taking on thechallenge to work in a male-dominated, competitive andcomplex economic and business environment. Not only havetheir entrepreneurship improved their living conditions andearned more respect in the family and the society, but they arealso contributing to business and export growth, supplies,employment generation, productivity and skill development ofthe country4. Even though, women are entering into businesssector everyday, they are still vulnerable and marginalized. Oneof the indications of their marginalization is lack of informationand statistics about the situation of women entrepreneurs.Every year, a number of research works have been undertakenby various research organizations including public institutions.Apart from few exceptions, most of the mainstream researchworks bypass the issue of women entrepreneurs. As a result,proper data, specially field based data is not available, so tosay. Most of the financial institutions, public institutions do notmaintain gender disaggregated data. Due to the weakness ofdata, women entrepreneurs were automatically kept excludedfrom the consideration of various policies. This is also difficult toaddress the issues of women entrepreneurs without havingproper data on the situation of women entrepreneurs, speciallyrural and micro women, as they are still prime groups amongcountry’s women entrepreneurs. Under these circumstances,the Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industryundertook this initiative to analyze the situation of womenentrepreneurs in Bangladesh with special focus on rural andmicro women.

2. 2.

Over the last two years, the Bangladesh Women Chamber ofCommerce and Industry has been implementing a projectnamed ‘Promoting Women Entrepreneurship through Advocacy(PWEA). This project is supported by the Center forInternational Private Enterprise (CIPE), a US basedorganization affiliated with the US Chamber of Commerce. Thisis a second phase of the project. The overall goal of the projectof this phase is to facilitate increased participation in theeconomy by women entrepreneurs. The specific objectivesinclude:l To build the institutional capacity of the Bangladesh

Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry in order toimprove advocacy campaign techniques and strategies

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1 According to the Statistical Pocket Book, published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics in 2006, the sex ratio is 105 per 100 female. 2 The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, published by The British Council, Dhaka 3 Local Business Dynamic: Ground Realities and Policies Challenges, PPRC, Dhaka, 2006, pg. 23.4 www.adb.org

l To improve the legislative environment in which womenentrepreneurs operates in Bangladesh, nationally andlocally.

In order to achieve project goal and objectives, a series ofactivities were undertaken including three tier advocacy groupformation, advocacy meetings, policy dialogues, seminars,roundtable meetings, memo development, issue briefsdevelopment and policy recommendations. None of these canproperly be happened without knowing real situation of womenentrepreneurs in Bangladesh. As a result, conduction of thisresearch was a pre-condition to explore knowledge gapsregarding situation of women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh.This study was also undertaken to provide baseline informationto the project.

2. 3. Research Objective:

The overall objective of the study is to have an overview of theexisting situation of women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh in linewith their problems and prospects. The study also aimed atexploring recommendations and suggestions from therespective stakeholders to address existing problems topromote a gender-friendly business environment. Considering

the overall objective, the study selected the following focalissues as thematic areas of this research initiative:

l Socio-demographic profile of women entrepreneurs

l Profile and types of women-owned enterprises

l Regulatory procedures including tax, VAT and companyregistration

l Training and capacity buildings, human resources

l Access to finance including the implementation status ofthe Bangladesh Bank circular

l Business management including business planning,accounting and bookkeeping, etc

l Product and design development, marketing and businesspromotion

l Social perspective of women entrepreneurs

l Conditions and position of women entrepreneurs in familylife including their economic contribution to the family

l Overall perception about business environment.

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3. Methodology

Considering the objectives of the study, geographical areas,time, types of respondents, major thematic areas under thestudy, both qualitative and quantitative research methods andprocedures were applied to explore pertinent information for thisstudy. Major steps and procedures followed in this study wereas follows:

3.1. Study Theme Selection

Project documents such as project proposal, quarterlyqualitative progress report, result framework and other availableliterature serve as the main guideline for theme selection undereach specific objective. The study put its primary focus to havean overview about the situation of women entrepreneurs inBangladesh. The major theme covered by this study included: l Socio-demographic profile of women entrepreneurs

l Profile and types of women-owned enterprises

l Regulatory procedures including tax, VAT and companyregistration

l Training and capacity buildings, human resources

l Access to finance including the implementation status ofthe Bangladesh Bank circular

l Business management including business planning,accounting and bookkeeping, etc

l Product and design development, marketing and businesspromotion

l Social perspective of women entrepreneurs

l Conditions and position of women entrepreneurs in familylife including their economic contribution to the family

l Overall perception about business environment

3.2 Sampling

Different types of sampling procedures were followedconsidering the obligation set by the project proposal, types ofstakeholders, geographical areas, time, budget, etc. Majorsampling procedures applied in this study are described below:

3.2.1. Study Areas Selection

The study areas were selected considering two things; projectareas of PWEA Project and the districts where BWCCI had easyaccess to the people. Considering this, 11 districts werepurposively included in the sample. The name of the districtsinclude Dhaka, Comilla, Khulna, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Rangpur,Dinajpur, Barishal, Jamalpur, Bogra and Gazipur. In addition,qualitative information was also collected from Patuakhali,Moulovibazar, Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong.

3.2.2. Stakeholders Selection

As per the document of project proposal, women entrepreneurswere selected for questionnaire survey. In addition, thequalitative information were collected from variousstakeholders, who are directly or indirectly related with womenentrepreneurship development. Apart from womenentrepreneurs, the qualitative information were collected fromthe representatives of public institutions, local government,female ward commissioners, business community, NGOs,electronic and print media, financial institutions, civil societyorganizations, academicians and the members of BWCCI

3.2.3. Sample Size and Respondents Selection

As mentioned earlier, the questionnaire survey was conductedamong 130 women entrepreneurs from 11 districts ofBangladesh. The qualitative information was collected through12 FGDs and 13 seminars where as many as 1494 participantsattended.

Since no comprehensive directory for women entrepreneurs inBangladesh is available, it was difficult to apply randomsampling procedures. Therefore, the respondents forquestionnaire survey were purposively selected from BWCCI’smembers and its training participants. The participants for FGDsand seminars were selected in consultation with the localpeople, who were knowledgeable of local reality. At every stageof the selection of respondents, priority was given on theobjectives of the study.

3.3. Data Collection

3.3.1. Data Collection Methods

Considering the nature of variables and types of respondents,both qualitative and quantitative procedures of data collectionwere applied. Main four data collection methods used in thisstudy are as follows: l Semi-structured questionnaire survey: This method was

applied to collect data from women entreprneurs. l Key Informants Attend (KIA): KIA was applied to collect

data from the person who were knowledgeable of womenentrepreneurship development in Bangladesh.

l Focus Group Discussions (FGD): As many as 12 FGDswere organized with different stakeholders includingwomen entrepreneurs, bankers, public officials, localgovernment representatives, mdeia, NGO and CSOrepresentatives.

l Literature Review: Primarily project documents such asproject proposal, quarterly progress reports, resultfremework and other available documents were used inorder to explore pertinent variables for the study.

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3.3.2. Data Collection Tools

Different types of data collection tools were applied in this studyconsidering types of the respondents and methods of the study.Major data collection tools applied in this study were as follows:l Semi-Structured Interview Schedule (SSIS): A semi-

structured interview schedules was used to collect datafrom women entrepreneurs.

l FGD Guideline: A comprehensive FGD guideline wasdeveloped. This guideline covered facilitation process ofFGD, issues to be addressed, reporting requirements andprocess, data summary sheet. Each research assistantwas provided FGD guideline so that they could takesufficient preparation and facilitate the FGDs withrespective groups properly.

3.4. Training for Research Associates

The project staff and other personnel, who were involved in datacollection, were clearly briefed about data collection processand overall research outline. The pertinent variables used inquestionnaire were also explained to them so that they caneasily collect data from the field.

3.5. Field study

As mentioned before, the qualitative information for this studywere collected from March 2006 to February 2008. Quantitativedata were collected during May 2007 to October 2007.

3.6. Data Processing and quality control

A cross checking mechanism was introduced to ensure thequality of data. Central study team regularly monitored the datacollection procedures. Research Associates also review allfilled-in interview schedule, focus group findings right aftercompletion of the fieldwork every day. Despite this, some datawere excluded from the analysis due to confusion about theirreliability.

Most of the variables were pre-coded. Some data were codedright after field study. After completion of the field study, fourResearch Associates were engaged in order to insert the data

in computer based worksheets, which were developed usingSPSS, MS Word and Excel. Most of the data, both qualitativeand quantitative, are analyzed through SPSS and MS Excel.Some worksheet developed using MS Word were also used inorder to analyze qualitative data obtained from FGDs andseminers.

3.7. Overall Challenges and Limitation of the study

All possible cautions were maintained during the planning ofstudy, selection of methods and techniques, data processingand analysis. In spite of this, the study is not free fromlimitations. Some limitations related to the study could be citedhere as follows: l Considering the volume of the study, the timeline was

limited, particularly for questionnaire survey. Therefore, itwas a great challenge for the Research team to reach allrespondents within the timeframe. To get it happened,Research Associates had to pay extra efforts. Timelimitation created some barriers to collect some qualitativedata.

l To get response from women entrepreneurs for allquestions was really a great challenges as womenentrepreneurs were found to be very busy. As a result,some important information were missed.

l Existing Infrastructure of communication is not so good inthe study areas. So it was hard to reach some areas.During field study, there were some natural disasters andpolitical conflicts, which sometimes created problems forthe Research Associates to maintain the time schedule.

l The Study could not apply random sampling procedures inall stages of respondents selection due to lack of time andan appropriate sampling frame.

l Some qualitative findings were related to the perception ofrespondents. These findings may not be representative topredict the overall situation of womwn entrepreneurs.

l The women entrepreneurs, involved in the large scale ofbusiness, were not included in this study, Therefore, thisstudy dose not tell anything about their situation.

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4. Findings from theQuestionnaire Survey

4. Findings from the Questionnaire Survey 4.1. Socio-Demographic Background

4.1.1. District of the women entrepreneurs

It is mentioned earlier that a semi-structured questionnairesurvey was conducted among 130 women entrepreneurs in 11districts. The larger group of women entrepreneurs interviewedunder this study was from Dhaka (18.9%) following Khulna(17.9%), Jessoere (15.1%), Rajshahi (15.1%), Comilla (12.3%),Sylhet (9.4%), Gazipur (5.6%) and Barishal (2.8%) respectively.The representation from other three districts namely Jamalpur,Dinajpur and Bogra was less than 1% (.9%).

4.1.2. Age and Education

Table-1: Percentage distribution of the respondent by age

* N=130

Among women entrepreneurs interviewed, 58.3% respondentsbelong to the age group of 15-30 years and another 26.7%belong to the age group 31-40 years. Women entrepreneursbelong to middle (41-50 years) and older gage group (50+years) constitutes only 15% of the total sample. The percentagedistribution of women entrepreneurs by age indicates that mostof the women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh are young. It is alsoevident from the values of mean and median age, which werefound to be 30.60 and 27 years respectively. Median valueindicates that 50% of women entrepreneurs in the samplebelong to age bracket of 15-27 years.

Table-2 : Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs bythe level of education

* N=130

In terms of educational level of women entrepreneurs, 10.9%have post graduation degree, 16.8% are graduates, 26.7% havehigher secondary education, 34.7% have secondary school leveleducation and 6.9% have minimum primary education. Only 4%of women entrepreneurs interviewed have no formal educationbut some of them mentioned that they could read and write.

4.1.2. Marital Status

Figure-1 : Percentage distribution of respondents by theirmarital status

From socio-cultural perspectives in Bangladesh, marital statusof women is also an important factor that have vital influence onwomen’s socio-economic and political life. Considering this, thesurvey focused marital status of the respondents. Among thewomen entrepreneurs interviewed, 62.5% are ever married.37.5% are unmarried in the sample indicates that young womenare gradually becoming interested to be involved in businessand entrepreneurial activities. Among the ever married, 53.8%of the total sample is still married, 2.9% are widow, 1.9% areseparated and 3.8% are divorced.

4.1.3. Types of Family and Number of Children

Figure-2: Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs bythe types of family

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AgeTotal

15-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 50+ years21.7 36.6 26.7 9.0 6.0 100

Level of Education %Post Graduation 10.9Graduation 16.8HSC 26.7SSC 34.7Class Eight 5.9Primary (class five) 1.0No formal education 4.0Total 100

2.9%Widow

1.9%Separated 3.8%

Divorced

53.8%Married

37.5%Unmarried

Types of Family

69%Nuclear/conjugal

31%Extended/Joint

In terms of the types of family, most of the womenentrepreneurs (69%) interviewed live in either a nuclear or aconjugal family while only 31% live in extended or joint family5.

Among married women entrepreneurs, 30% had no child. Thearithmetic mean for the number of children for the rest of 70%married women entrepreneurs was calculated as 1.3 and themedian value was found to be 1, which means average numberof children for women entrepreneurs are less than 2 and at least50% of them has only one child. This statistic indicates thatwomen’s economic involvement is not only contributing towardseconomic development but also to country’s social developmentactivities like on going family planning program. It is evident thatinvolvement of women in formal economy inspires them to keepfamily size smaller.

4.1.2. Educational background of Fathers and Husbands

Table-3 : Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs bythe level of education of their fathers and husbands

Table-3 shows that 61% of women entrepreneur’s fathers haveat least college level education and 15.6% have secondaryschool level education. Out of total sample, fathers of 23.3%women entrepreneurs have post graduation degree and 18.9%have graduation degree. Only fathers of 2.2% womenentrepreneurs have no formal education.

The same table also shows that husbands of more than 55%women entrepreneurs are at least graduates, out of them,32.8% have post graduation degree. In total sample, husbandsof 83.6% have at least a college level degree, 4.5% haveprimary level degree. Only 1.5% have no formal education butsome of them can read and write.

Considering the educational level of their fathers and husbands,the educational status of women entrepreneurs are notsatisfactory as 45.6% (table 2) of women entrepreneurs in thesample have below college level education. This situation couldbe associated with the incidence of early marriage, particularlyin rural Bangladesh. This is also associated with the patriarchalattitudes towards women’s education and social mobility, underwhich, higher education for women is not encouraged.

4.1.2. Occupational background of Fathers and Husbands.

Table-4: Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs by theoccupation of their fathers and husbands

It is evident from the table-4 that the occupation of fathers andhusbands is one of the determinant factors to inspire or helpwomen to become entrepreneurs. In case of sample under thisstudy, business is the occupation of 34.8% of womenentrepreneurs’ fathers. In case of husband; business asoccupation was found for 43.5%. Among the womenentrepreneurs interviewed, the occupation of their father ispublic service for 15.7%, private service for 18%, agriculture for12.4%. Only 15.7% of women entrepreneurs’ father were foundto be retired. On the other hand, the women entrepreneurs interms of the occupation of their husband were found in thecategory of public service, private service, business, agriculture,unemployed, retired and students as 14.5%, 30.6%, 43.5%,1.6%, 1.6%, 4.8% and 3.2% respectively. Under this study, incase of most women entrepreneurs, either thair fathers orhusbands were found to be involved in business. It can beexplained that having family background in businessencourages women to be involved in entreprenurial activities.

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Level ofEducation

6 father’seducation

7 husband’seducation

Post Graduation 23.3 32.8

Graduation 18.9 22.4

HSC 18.9 28.4

SSC 15.6 10.4

Class Eight 18.9 1.5

Primary (class five) 2.2 3.0

No formal education 2.2 1.5

Total 100 100

5 In case, where a married couple and their unmarried children live together refer to nuclear family. A family where only married couple without anychildren live together refer to conjugal family. A family in which relatives-such as grandparents, aunts, or uncles-live in the same home as parentsand their children in known as an extended family (for detail, see, Schaefer, Richard T. Sociology: A Brief Introduction, Fifth Edition, Macgraw Hill,2004, Pg-281)

6 N=1307 N=678 N=1309 N=67

Types ofOccupation

father’soccupation

husband’soccupation

Public Service 15.7 14.5

Private service 18.0 30.6

Business 34.8 43.5

Agriculture 12.4 1.6

Unemployed 2.2 1.6

Retired 15.7 4.8

Students 1.1 (not student but other) 3.2

Total 100 8 100 9

4.2. Profile of enterprises

4.2.1. Motivating factors to enter into business

The respondents were asked to describe factors that encourage them to enter into business and entrepreneurial activities. Theopinions they expressed in response to this questions are compiled and given in the following table with relative frequency andranking.

Table-5

The above table shows that family members, either parents or husbandhaving business played a vital role in inspiring women (29%) to becomeentrepreneurs. The same observation was also found in the section4.1.2. This section shows that the occupation of 34.8% of the father ofwomen entrepreneurs was business. In case of husbands’ occupation asbusiness, the percentage was found to be 43.5. It is very significantfindings that 24% of women entrepreneurs started their business with aview to having self dependency and economic freedom. A great numberof women (22%) become involved in business to earn extra money forfamily. Friends also played vital roles to get some women (9%) involvedin business. 3% of the respondents became entrepreneurs because theydid not have any alternatives. Only 1% of women entrepreneursinterviewed told that they were inspired by training.

4.2.2. Previous Occupation Figure-3 : Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs by theirprevious occupation

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Factors that encourage women to enter into business % 10 Ranking

Inspiration from family and family had business 29 1

To create self-dependency 24 2

Self inspiration 22 3

Extra income for the family 22 3

For economic freedom 14 4

Self employment 12 5

Inspiration by friends 9 5

To upgrade social status 6 6

Pass leisure time 5 7

Economic development 5 7

Inspiration from some organizations 4 8

No alternative to have a job 3 9

Inspired by training 1 10

To establish women’s rights 1 10

Eradicate gender discrimination 1 10

Creating opportunity for others 1 10

Types of previous occupation of women entrepreneurs

54.0%Students

1.1%Other4.6%

Unemployed

4.6%Other business

23.0%House wife

12.6%Service

(employed by others)

10 Multiple responses were allowed and responses were not mutually exclusive

The figure-3 shows that most of the women entrepreneurs werestudents (54%) before getting involved in business. Among therest of the respondents, 23% were housewife, 12.6% wereemployed by others and 4.6% had no job.

4.2.3. Year of establishment of the enterprises

Table - 6 : Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs bythe year of the establishment of their enterprises.

It is evident from the age structure of the respondents (table-1)that most of the women entrepreneurs belong to age group 15-30 ages and the previous occupation of 54% was students(figure-3). These two variables are the indication of recentestablishment of the most enterprises, which is also evidentfrom the table-6. About 83% of enterprises in the sample wereestablished between the years 2000-2007 indicating thatwomen are gradually becoming interested in business andentrepreneurial activities. Italso indicates that women’svisibility in economic sector isincreasing.

4.2.4. Duration of experiencein business

F i g u r e - 4 : P e r c e n t a g edistribution of womenentrepreneurs by theirinvolvement in business andentrepreneurial activities

It is also observed thatinvolvement in formal businessby women is not very old

phenomena as about 53% of women entrepreneurs in thesample have only three years or less than three yearsexperiences in business. Among 130 women entrepreneurs,18% have only one year of experiences and 20% has 2 yearsof experiences in business. The mean and median months ofbusiness experiences were calculated as 59 and 42 months.The calculated value for standard deviation that was 61indicates that the group, in term of business experience, is nothomogeneous. Maximum duration of business experiences inmonth was found to be 372 (31 years). Four or five high extremevalues in the sample influenced on the value of mean.

4.2.5. Secondary Occupation

Figure-5: Percentage distribution of the respondents by theirsecondary occupation.

Respondents were asked whether they have any other secondaryoccupation. It is apparent from the figure-5 that 32.3% womenentrepreneurs have different types of secondary occupation.Their secondary occupation includes teaching, private tuition,part-time job, etc. The reasons behind involvement in secondaryoccupation is primarily associated with the aims to earn more andcontribute to family. Uncertainty of business is also a motivatingfactor behind involving in secondary occupation.

19

Percentage Cumulativepercentage

1977 1.1 1.11982 2.1 3.21990 1.1 4.31992 3.2 7.41993 2.1 9.61994 1.1 10.61997 5.3 16.01999 1.1 17.02000 13.8 30.92001 2.1 33.02002 10.6 43.62003 10.6 54.32004 7.4 61.72005 8.5 70.22006 14.9 85.12007 14.9 100Total 100

Duration of experience in business

of women entrepreneurs

(Months)

18.0%20.0%

15.0%

6.0% 6.0% 7.0% 7.0%

2.0% 3.0%

9.0%

12 13-24 25-36 37-48 61-72 73-84 85-96 97-108 109-120

7.0%

120+49-600

10

20

30

40

50

Secondary Occupation of women entrepreneurs

32.3%

Yes

67.7%

No

4.2.6. Nature of Ownership

Figure-6 : Percentage distribution of enterprises by the natureof ownership

Figure-6 shows that individual ownership is dominant type.Among 130 enterprises, 73.2% is owned by individual, 15.9% isjointly owned by family members and only 7.3% business is runin partnership with other members.

Partnership is also dominated by the traditional kinshiprelationships as 38.5% of women entrepreneurs have partnershipwith mother, 26.9% with sisters, and 3.8% with brother. Only 3.8%of women entrepreneurs interviewed have partnership withhusband. In 15.4% cases, partnership is found with friends.Domination of partnership by the kinship relationship can beexplained by traditional patriarchal social values and socialsystem, under which, women’s social dealing with the people,particularly men, outside of the family is highly restricted. This isalso associated with the fear of social insecurity and social stigma.

4.2.7. Types of Business

Table-7 : Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs bythe types of business

Among 130 women entrepreneurs interviewed, about two thirdof them (62%) were found to be involved in manufacturingsector followed by service (12.8%) and trading sector (12.8%).Among them, 82.8% has no relation with export-import businessas only 15.6% were found to be involved in export-orientedbusiness. Retail is the dominant trend among womenentrepreneurs in the sample. More than one third of them (43%)were found to be involved in retail business. Only 16.2%enterprises were found to be wholesellers and 40.8% wereinvolved in both retail and wholesell business.

4.2.8. Main sectors

Table-8 : sector-wise percentage distribution of therespondents.

Among the respondents, majority of women entrepreneurs(69.4%) were found to be involved in handicraft sector followedby garments/ home-textile (16%). The table-8 also shows thatwomen are becoming in non-traditional sectors like printing andmedia, food business, etc.

It is observed that 60% of women entrepreneurs did not knowhow to conduct feasibility study before selecting a specificproduct, 26.7% of them were completely found unaware offeasibility study and 6.7% of them did not feel necesity toconduct a feasibility study. Only few women entrepreneurs toldthat they conducted feasibility through market observation andparticipation in trade fair.

20

Nature of Ownership of enterprise

73.2%Sole

ownership

15.9%Joint familyownership

7.3%Partnership

3.6%Other

Type-1 Type-2 Type-3

Description % Description % Description %

Manufacturing and trading 61.6 Only Export 15.6 Whole sell 16.2

Service 12.8 Only Import 0 Retail 43.0

Trading 12.8 Neither export nor import 82.8 Both 40.8

Other 12.8 Both export and import 1.6 Total 100

100 Total 100

Name of the sectors % enterprises

Garments/Home textile 16.1

Printing 1.6

Handicraft 69.4

Agro based 3.2

Parlor 4.8

Food 3.2

Others 1.6

Total 100

4.3. Experiences in Trade Licensing and CompanyRegistration

Figure-7 : Status of enterprises in term of having companyregistration

The figure shows that almost half of the women entrepreneurs(49.7%) interviewed did not get their enterprises registered withany legal authorities. Among women entrepreneurs, who havetrade license, most of them run their business in the citycorporation like Dhaka, Rajshahi and Sylhet. About 90% of thewomen entrepreneurs from Dhaka have trade license. Most ofthe women entrepreneurs, who do not have trade license, arefrom the district town or local area like Jessore (85.7% have notrade license), Comilla (57% have no trade license). It could beassumed that having trade license is associated with the accessto information. Since the women living in the city corporationareas have greater access to information and public institutions,most of them were able to get their company registered. It isalso evident from the result of cross tabulation that educationand training has a great influence to inspire women to get theircompany registered. About 70% of women entrepreneurshaving trade license completed at least secondary level ofeducation and have some training experiences on variousissues.

4.3.2. Year of company registration

Figure-8 : Percentage distribution of enterprises by the year ofgetting trade license

Although 50% of women entrepreneurs did not get theircompany registered from any legal authority, the tendency tohave trade license is gradually increasing, as it is evident fromfigure-8. that 59% of enterprises become registered during2001-2007. It can be assumed that educated women areentering into business and they have better knowledge ofregulatory procedures.

4.3.3. Interval between starting point of business andcompany registration

Table -9 : Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs bythe time of interval between starting point of business and thetime of company registration

It is evident from the previous section that 50% of the womenentrepreneurs do not have any trade license. The rest of 50%,who got their company registered, also did not got theircompany registered timely. The table-9 shows that only 27.5%of women entrepreneurs get trade license within the one month

of their business. Arithmetic meanfor the interval between the time ofcompany registration and startingpoint of business was calculated as6 years and median value for it wasfound to be 1 year. There are someentrepreneurs who got theircompany registered after seven tonine years (6.9% after seven years,6.4% after 8 years and 3.4% after 9years).

21

Status of company registration

51.3%Yes

49.7%No

Year of company registration

0

14

28

42

56

70

11.7% 11.7%

17.6%

59.0%

up to 1990 1991-1995 1996-2000 2001-2007

Time of interval % of enterprises

1 month 27.5

2 months 3.4

3 months 3.4

6 months 3.4

7 months 3.4

9 months 3.4

1 year 17.2

2 years 13.7

3 years 4.4

4 years 3.4

7 years 6.9

8 years 6.4

9 years 3.4

Total 100

4.3.4. Trade license-providing agencies

Figure-9: Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs bythe trade-licensing authorities

Among 50% of the respondents having trade license, majority ofthem (67.9%) got trade license from the City Corporation,17.9% from Municipality, 3.6% from Union Parishad. It is alsoevident from the findings that 40% were unable to completetrade licensing procedures on their own resulting in increasedexpenditures for company registration. About 45% of them hadto expend, on average, extra 2000 taka only to get help in tradelicense processing. The median value for this purpose wasfound to be 5000 taka, which means about 50% of the womenentrepreneurs, who were unable to accomplish trade licensingprocess on their own, had to expense, on average, 5000 taka ormore than 5000 taka.

4.3.4. Expenditure for getting trade license

Table-10 : It is evident from the findings that most of the womenentrepreneurs have experiences of informal source of

expenditures like bribery in the process of getting trade license.The women entrepreneurs interviewed mentioned that they hadto informally pay from 50 to 1200 taka to get trade license fromthe city corporation. Regarding informal expenditure, they hadbetter experiences with municipalities. Average expenditureincluding formal and informal for getting trade license from theCity Corporation was found to be BDT 2400 and median wascalculated for this category as BDT 2250. In case ofMunicipality, both mean and median were found to be 1200. Itmeans getting trade license from municipalities is lessexpensive. It is also mentioned by the respondents that gettingtrade license from Municipality was less bureaucratic andcomplication free compare to the services from the citycorporation.

4.3.5. Reasons behind not having trade license

The women entrepreneurs, who did not have trade license,were asked to describe the reasons. The opinions theyexpressed as reasons for not having trade license were asfollows:

Table-11

4.3.6. Problems faced by the women entrepreneurs withdifferent trade licensing authorities

Table-12

X indicates presence of problems

4.3.7. Problems faced by the women entrepreneurs due tonot having trade license

Table - 13

It is observed from the table-13 that women entrepreneursfaced various problems due to not having trade license. As per

22

0

14

28

42

56

70

Trade license-providing agencies of enterprises

17.9%

67.9%

3.6%

10.7%

MunicipalityCity Corporation Union Parishad Other

ExpenditureName of the trade licensing authority

City corporation Municipality Union parishad

Mean 2400 1200 Not available

Median 2250 1200 Not available

Opinion %

Unaware of the necessity of having trade license 37

Aware but not familiar with the process 41

Applied for trade license and the process is going on 3.7

Others 18.3

Total 100

Types of Problemsmentioned by thewomen entrepreneurs

CityCorpo-ration

Municip-alities

UnionParis-had

Taxdepart-ment

Complex process X X XTime consuming X X X XBureaucratic process X X XBribery X X XIndecent behavior X X XSexual harassment,teasing X X X X

Lack of cooperation X X X

Major Problems %11

Could not get access to bank loan and financial institutions 80

Could not participate in trade fair 75

Could not get membership with the chamber of commerce 60

Missed profitable orders and buyers 45

Could not enter into export-import oriented sectors 35

11 N=36, multiple responses were allowed and data were not mutually exclusive

responses by women entrepreneurs, for the lack of tradelicense, 80% of them were refused by banks or financialinstitutions to give a loan to them, 75% of them could notparticipate in trade fair. Since, it is mandatory to have tradelicense for getting membership with the chamber of commerce,60% of them failed to apply for membership. Another 35% toldthat they could not enter into export-import business.

4.3.8. Opinion of the women regarding companyregistration

The women entrepreneurs in the sample were asked to expresstheir recommendations about existing company registrationprocess. The major issues they raised were as follows:

Table-14 :

4.4. Training and Human Resources

4.4.1. Training

Table-15 : Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs bythe status of training

n=130

Training is a vital issue for women entrepreneurshipdevelopment. It can facilitate women to internalize required

business skills and attributes. The table-15 shows that amongthe women entrepreneurs interviewed, almost half of them(48.7%) had received training on various issues before theyentered into business. Different NGOs, public institutions likewomen and children affairs department, youth developmentdepartment, chamber of commerce, trade bodies provided thesetraining. 42.1% of them started their business without having anytraining on business development although they receivedtraining after they had entered into business. In 9.2% cases,there was no opportunity to receive training and they did notreceive any training on business. This group is from the remotestarea that means women entrepreneurs live in the rural areas orlocal areas are more vulnerable than their urban counterpart is.

Table-16 : Percentage distribution of the respondents by thename of courses that they received before and after theirbusiness initiatives

The above table shows training courses which were organizedfor women entrepreneurs before or after their entry into business.It is expected that those training courses were helpful to build

23

12 N=27, 13 N=32, for both cases, multiple responses were allowed and data were not mutually exclusive.

Opinion %

Make registration process easier 75

Make information available towomen entrepreneurs

70

Create awareness regardingregistration process

60

Establish a gender cell or at least a boothwith women employee to facilitatewomen to get trade license

85

Make the people gender sensitive 65

Organize training on regulatory process 58Reduce company registration fee 70

Reduce complexity 55

Fasten registration process 45

Whether received training % of therespondents

Received before starting business 35.5Received after starting business 42.1Received before and after starting business 13.2Did not receive any training 9.2Total 100

Name of the trainingcourses

% of the respondentsBefore starting12

businessAfter starting

business13

Sales and marketing 44 69Training on sewing 44 6Training on block and boutique 40 28Training on embroidery 19 0Training on cutting 11 0Training on tailoring anddesigning 26 9Handicraft 41 19Computer 4 22Financial management 11 9Business Management 7 16Leadership of women 4 0Poultry 15 3Mini garments 4 0Screen print 4 3Cooking 4 3Beauty and Herbal care 4 0Secretarial science 4 3Industrial development 0 13Accounting and bookkeeping 0 3English language 0 19Confectionary 0 3Mushroom Cultivation 0 3Interior Decoration 0 3EntrepreneurshipDevelopment 0 16Beauty parlor 0 3

capacity of women entrepreneurs at entry level but in terms of thedegree of effectiveness, there is a scope to raise questions. Therespondents were asked to express their satisfaction level aboutthe effectiveness of training in their profession. 75% of womenentrepreneurs expressed their dissatisfaction regardingrelevance of contents, training methodology and process. Theyalso mentioned that training contents were not selected in priorconsultation with them or based on training need assessment. Asa result, most of the training courses failed to address the realneeds of women entrepreneurs.

The women entrepreneurs who did not receive any trainingmentioned that they did not know where to go to receivetraining. They do not have proper idea about training providingagencies. It is also observed that public training providingagencies do not have proper mechanism to go to womenentrepreneurs, particularly to rural women with their services, assaid by the respondents.

The women entrepreneurs also recommended for some trainingcourses which include; financial management andbookkeeping, building business network, businessdocumentation, regulatory procedures, business planning,marketing planning, business feasibility study, bankingprocedures, Tax and VAT, design development, productdevelopment and product diversification. They alsorecommended for skill-based training like IT natural dyeing, etc.

4.4.1. Trend in Human Resources and Contribution toEmployment Generation

Table-17

In terms of human resource or workforces, women-run enterprisesare quite small. There are a number of enterprises with one or twoworkforces. Family or kinship-group members are prime sources ofhuman resources, especially at the initial level of business. It is alsoevident from the findings that women-run enterprises recruits bothmale and female workforces but domination of female workforcesare seen in case of almost all women-owned enterprises. Theabove table also shows that women entrepreneurship developmenthas significant contribution to the employment generation. Themean value calculated for the number of female workforces at thestarting point of business was 8 and median was 2. At the currentlevel, the value of mean and median for same group wereincreased to 45 and 25 respectively. This statistic indicates thatwomen entrepreneurs are not only contributing to family income butalso to creating employment opportunities.

4.4.2. Satisfaction Level about human resources

The respondents were asked to express their satisfaction aboutthe availability of skilled human resources and theirperformance. Among 130 women entrepreneurs, 50% of themexpressed that their existing human resources have requiredskills to run their business effectively. The rest 50% demandedfor more skilled and knowledgeable human resources. As pertheir opinion, lack of skilled human resource is one of thebarriers to develop their business. The problems mentioned bythe respondents regarding workforces included lack of requiredskills, lack of proper training, family restriction (in case of femaleworkers), lack of managerial skills, education, dedication andlack of communication skills, etc.

4.5. Sources of Capital and Access to Finance

4.5.1. Starter Capital and Trend in Investment

Table-18: status of starter capital and growth in investment

Out of 130 women entrepreneurs interviewed, 77 womenentrepreneurs were able to provide information about theamount of their starter capital. Based on available informationprovided by them, mean value of starter capital for 77 women

entrepreneurs were found to be BDT 207265 but the medianvalue was found to be BDT 20,000, which means 50% of 77women entrepreneurs’ starter capita was equal to or less thanBDT 20,000. The minimum starter capital was found to be onlyBDT 500. The maximum amount of starter capital was BDT4000000. This extreme case has positive influence on the valueof mean.

Compare to the current amount of capital, it is evident thataverage capital has been increased from the amount of thestarting point of business. For 69 women entrepreneurs, meanand median for existing capital were calculated as BDT 290884and BDT 600000. In case of starter capital, 50% of womenentrepreneurs’ investment was from BDT 500 to 20000 while50% of women entrepreneurs’ current investments were found

24

Status at the starting point of business Current status

Male Female Male Female

from family Out side offamily from family Out side of

family from family Out side offamily from family Out side of

family

Mean 0.88 5 3 8 0.84 3 2 45

Median 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 25

Starter capital (BDT) Current amount of capital (BDT)Mean 207265 290884Median 20000 600000Mode 100000 300000Minimum 500 10000 Maximum 4000000 5000000

between BDT 10000 to 600000. It can be considered assignificant growth in investment for micro womenentrepreneurs.

4.5.2. Sources of Starter capital

Table-19: Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs bythe sources of starter capital

Regarding the roles of private and public banks in womenentrepreneurship development, a very negative feature wasobserved. Among 130 women entrepreneurs, only 2%mentioned that they got support from public and private bank atthe starting point of their business. The main sources of startercapital was own savings (61%) followed by parents (39%),husband (18%), In-laws (6%) and NGO (5%). AlthoughBangladesh is very popular for micro credit, NGO’s contributionto providing starter capital was not found to be significant.

4.5.3. Access to Institutional Credit Facilities

Among women entrepreneurs interviewed, only 19% told thatthey received loan from formal financial institutions like banks,leasing companies etc. The rest of them (79%) never receivedcredit from any financial institutions. Regarding loan facilitiesfrom public and private bank, it is observed that only 5 personsout of 130 women entrepreneurs in the sample managed toreceive loan from bank, one from public bank and 4 from privatecommercial banks. This statistic indicates that having access tobanks by the women entrepreneurs is still a tough job.

Table-20: Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs bytheir first impression at bank

Among the respondents, 98 women entrepreneurs out of 130visited various banks and financial institutions for a loan but only5 of them managed to get a loan from banks. 98 womenentrepreneurs were also asked to express their first impressionabout bank. Only 11% mentioned that they have very goodimpression. 67% of them expressed their moderate impressionand 22% told they had bad impression while they went for aloan to a bank.

4.5.4. Status of BB Circular on Refinancing Scheme forWomen SMEs.

Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of the country, developed acircular titled ‘Refinancing Scheme for Women SME’ and issuedit to all scheduled banks and financial institutions on 7 February2007. This circular adopted several important provisions forwomen SME including 10% quota of its aggregate SME loan at5-10% interest rate and collateral free loan for women SME upto 1.5 million BDT15. In order to see the implementation status ofthis circular, the research tried to explore relevant information.

4.5.4.1. Level of Knowledge about the circular

Figure-10 : Are you informed of the circular

25

Sources of starter capital % of the respondents Own savings 61Parents 39Husband 18In-laws 6Relatives belong to kinship group 2Friends 3Public commercial bank 1Private commercial bank 1NGO 5Other government agencies 3Cooperative society 0Leasing company 0Mahajan 0Others 0

Level of Impression %14 of women entrepreneurs

Very good 11

Moderate 67

Bad 22

Total 100

14 N=9815 Shamim, Munir Uddin, Report on Promoting Women Entrepreneurship through Advocacy, March 206-February 2007, BWCCI, July 2007, pg. 24.

Are you informed of the circular

65%No

35%Yes

It should be mentioned here that it was a landmark initiativeundertaken by the central bank in order to facilitate womenentrepreneurs to have access to finance but possibility of beingbenefited by the women entrepreneurs from this circular is alsorelated with proper dissemination of information. The abovefigure shows that the level of dissemination of information aboutthis circular is very poor, as 65% of the respondents did notknow anything about this circular. Among 35% of therespondents, who are informed of this circular, 79% of them gotinformation from BWCCI through its various activities likeseminars, trainings etc. Among informed respondents, 11%knew about this circular from the newspaper, 5% from NGOand other community based organizations. Although 35% of thetotal respondents heard about thecircular, 59% of them did not knowabout all provisions of the circular.The information mentioned aboveshows that either Bangladesh Bankor any other banks did not take anyeffective mechanism to disseminateinformation of this circular to womenentrepreneurs or other stakeholders.Even bankers at the local level werenot informed of this circular, whichwas evident from BWCCI’s advocacyactivities. Poor information dissemination process contributed topoor implementation of this circular.

4.5.4.2. Implementation Status of the circular

It is observed that implementation level of this circular is veryinsignificant. Among the women entrepreneurs interviewed,only 11% mentioned that they applied to have a loan under thiscircular. The rest of 89% did not apply for a loan. Among 130women entrepreneurs in the sample, only 25 personsmentioned that they went to a bank with a view to applying fora loan but finally they did not apply. The reasons for which theydid not apply include:l Bank was not informed of the circular (76%)

l Bank was informed of the circular but did not startimplementing this circular at that time (%)

l Other (8%).

The same findings were also observed in FGDs and Seminars,which were organized by BWCCI in six districts. During theseminar, most of the bankers reported that they were informedof the circular but did not start implementing. BWCCI’sadvocacy team also visited as many as 26 banks. During theirvisits, most of the bankers were found to be unaware of thecircular. No branches started implementing the circular tillBWCCI team visited.

It is also observed from the disbursement report of theBangladesh Bank that six financial institutions including bankshave disbursed and refinanced Tk. 3.9 million to womenentrepreneurs up to December 2007. If it is compared with thetotal amount of SME fund which is TK. 6200 million it wouldappear highly insignificant (only .06%)16.

4.6. Business Management

4.6.1. Business Planning

Table-21: Percentage distribution of the respondents by thetypes of business planning

From the perspective of proper development of business,having business plan is a vital issue. Considering this, the studytried to explore the status of the respondents regarding theirbusiness plan. Among 130 women entrepreneurs, only 75respondents were able to provide information about theirbusiness plan. The rest of the respondents do not knowanything about business plan. The table- 21 shows that among75 women entrepreneurs, only 48% have written business plan.35% of 75 women entrepreneurs have no idea about businessplan and 17% mentioned that they have idea about how todevelop a business plan but they do not practice it. Among 35% of 75 women entrepreneurs having writtenbusiness plan mentioned that normally they accomplish theirbusiness plan, 19% of them jointly develop their business planwith their staff. Only 12% informed that they had to hireresource person to develop it. Although 35% of 75 women entrepreneurs mentioned that theyhave written business plan, 76% of them are regular in doingbusiness plan, the rest of 24% are found to be irregular in doingbusiness plan. It is observed from the cross tabulation between two variablesnamely district of the respondent and having written business planthat area has a significant impact. The women entrepreneursdoing business in the city corporation or in urban area are moreaware of having business plan as 79% of the respondents fromDhaka city corporation have written business plan followed byGazipur (75%), Sylhet (71%) and Rajshahi (60%).

26

Do you have writtenbusiness plan %17 Who do your

business plan % Frequency of doingbusiness plan %

Have business plan 48 Me 69 Regular 76

No Idea aboutbusiness plan 35 Me and other staff of

my company 19 Irregular 24

Have idea but do notpractice 17 Me and hired person 12 Total 100

Total 100 Total 100

16 Afsar, Dr. Rita, Bringing Women Entrepreneurs in Policy Focus for SME Development in Bangladesh, A keynote paper presented at the Seminar onStrengthening Capacity of Women organized by BWCCI, February 26, 2008

17 N=75

It should be mentioned here that having a written business planis a vital issue to get access to credit facilitates from formalsources like banks and leasing companies. It could be assumedthat inability of women entrepreneurs to develop their businessplan and lack of knowledge of it are closely associated withbeing refused by formal financial institutions while they go for aloan from banks and other financial institutions.

4.6.2 Accounting and Financial Management

4.6.2.1 Accounting and bookkeeping

Table-22: Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs bythe status of maintaining accounting and bookkeeping

Accounting and bookkeeping is very important to see andmaintain the growth of business. Sustainability of business alsorequires maintaning them properly. It is also closely associatedwith having access to the facilities of public and privateinstitutions like bank loan, etc. The table-22 showsthat only 62% of women entrepreneurs accomplishtheir accounts related tasks regularly, 36% of themirregular in keeping accounts and bookkeeping. 2%of the total respondents mentioned that they did notregularly maintain their accounts and bookkeeping.

Among the women entrepreneurs in the sample, 70%of them do not have any professional accountant tokeep their accounts and bookkeeping updated. As aresult, 86% of the women entrepreneurs personallymaintain their accounts and bookkeeping. Most of themdo not have any educational background in accountingor related discipline, even they do not have any trainingin accounting and bookkeeping. Only 6% of themmentioned that they take help from relatives likehusband or other person to maintain accounts.

4.6.2.2. Bank Account

Table-23 : Percentage distribution of womenentrepreneurs by the status of having bank account

It is observed from the table-23 that only 39% of the womenenterprises have bank account for their business firm. 42% ofwomen entrepreneurs do not have account for their businessfirm but they personally have bank account. About one fifth(19%) of women entrepreneurs in the sample did not have anybank account.

The respondents were also asked to express the reason for nothaving bank account for their business firm. In response to thisquestion, 29% of them mentioned that they were unable to openbank account for their business firm as their business firm hasno trade license, which is the pre-condition to have an accountwith any bank, they added. Among them, 3% informed that theyhave trade license, despite this, the respective banks refused

them to open an account. A greatnumber of women entrepreneurs(42%) mentioned that they did notfeel necessity to open a bank accountfor their business firms, as it requiresfollowing a complicated procedure.

The women entrepreneurs, who havebank account with any bank, 86% ofthem mentioned that they did not faceany problems to open bank account.Only 14% described that as awoman, they had to face extracondition while they went to open abank account.

In terms of having bank account, the situation of womenentrepreneurs from Dhaka and other City corporation is betteras 71% of the respondents from Dhaka have bank account fortheir business firm followed by Rajshai (56%).

27

Who supervise andmaintain your accountsand bookkeeping

%Do you have anyaccountant to maintainyour accounts andbookkeeping

Do you accomplishyour account relatedtask everyday

Me 86 Yes 30 Regular 62

My Husband 9 No 70 Irregular 36

Me and my husband 1 Total 100 I do not do 2Me and other familymembers

1 Total 100

Other 3

Total 100

Do you have any bank account %

Only my business firm has bank account 36

My business firm has no bank account but I have my bank account 42

Both me and my business firm have bank account 3

I do not have any bank account 19

Total 100

The reasons for not having bank account %

My business firm has no trade license 29

My business firm has trade license despite this bank refused meto give a bank account for my business firm

3

I do not feel to have bank account in the name of my business firm 42

Other 26

Total 100

4.6.3. TAX and VAT

Figure-11 : Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs bytheir situation related to tax and VAT

Among the women entrepreneurs interviewed, only 34% havetax identity number, the rest of 66% do not have any tax IDnumber, although this ID number is very important to haveaccess to various facilities provided by banks and other publicinstitutions. During interview, 48% of the respondentsmentioned that they did not have any idea about the process oftax and value added tax (VAT), only 15% of them stated thatthey are fully informed of the process and another 37% werefound to be partially informed of tax and VAT process.

Regarding tax assessment and processing, more than two thirdof the women entrepreneur were found to be unable to assessand process their tax and VAT. Only 29% of them told they gettheir tax assessment completed on their own.

4.6.4. Marketing and Business Promotion

4.6.4.1. Showroom and Location

Table-24: Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs bythe status of having showroom and location

From the perspective of business growth, and marketing chain,having show room and the location of show room are veryimportant components. The table-24 shows that 67% of thewomen entrepreneurs have their show room. Only 33% did nothave any showroom to sell their product directly. As a result,they have to be dependent on other entrepreneurs who havetheir show room. Sometimes, they sell their product from theirhome. Sometimes, they supplied to big shopping mall. Theseprocesses are hindering their growth, they mentioned.

The column in the table-24 bearing information about the locationof showroom indicates that about 50% of the entrepreneurs arerunning their business in residential areas; only 51% of thewomen-owned enterprises are located in commercial areas.

The women entrepreneurs having showroom in residentialareas were asked to explain reasons. The major causesmentioned by them included lack of capital, high rent incommercial areas, near to home, family restriction, possibility ofbeing harassed, etc. They also mentioned about badtransportation and communication system.

28

Do you have showroom to sellyour product

% Location ofshow room-1

% Location ofshowroom-2

%

Yes 67 Dhaka 45 Commercial area 51

No 33 District city 13 Residential area 49

Total 100 Divisional city 32 Total 100

Upazila Headquarter 5

Rural market 5

Total 100

Do you have Tax ID number

34%

Yes

66%

No

Are you informed of the process of tax and VAT

15%

Totally

informed

37%

Partially

informed

48%

No idea

How do you assess your income tax

29%

Myself

61%

By lawyer

10%

Other

4.6.4.2. Ownership of showroom

Figure-12 : Percentage distribution of the respondents by thenature of the ownership of showroom

It is evident that, among women entrepreneurs havingshowroom, 53% of them owned their showroom. Only 47% runtheir business at rented showroom. The respondents whoowned their showroom, most of them from the local areas,especially from district cities.

4.6.4.3. Monthly Expenditure for Rented Showroom

Monthly expenditures for rented showroom primarily depend onthe location. Therefore, it varies from place to place, district todistrict, town to town. The highest amount of monthly rent for theshowroom was found in Dhaka while the lowest amount wasfound in district and upazila town. The mean and median werecalculated for monthly rent as BDT 6575 and 2000. Monthly rentfor 75% of women entrepreneurs was BDT 5000 or less than5000. Before the showroom were rented, the respective womenentrepreneurs had to pay possession fee. Again, possessionfee also varies from place to place, district to district. It is alsofound to be highest in Dhaka city following other citycorporations. The mean and median value for possession feeswere found to be BDT 11798 and 3000 respectively. The highervalue of standard deviation for both monthly rent andpossession fees indicates that there were many extremevalues, which means monthly rent and possession fee is notuniform. It varies depending on location, time, and types ofbusiness.

4.6.4.4. Business Promotional Materials and Process

Table-25: Percentage distribution of the respondents bybusiness promotional materials

The table-25 shows that most of the women entrepreneurs arenot aware of using various business promotional materials.Among 68 women entrepreneurs, only 42% have businesscard, the rest of 58% do not use business card to create linkagewith other business people or customers. They were also askedto express reasons for not using business card. The opinionsthey expressed were as follows: l Do not have idea (9%)

l Have idea but did not feel necessity of having businesscard (57%)

l Seemed to be expensive (36%) Among 51 women entrepreneurs, only 28% have brochure fortheir enterprises and 72% of them have no brochure todisseminate information about their company and products.27% of them do not feel that brochure is important for businesspromotion, 50% did not print brochure because of expenditures.Only 24% mentioned that they did not have any idea aboutbrochure. In terms of having signboard, the situation seemed to be betteras 59% of 44 women entrepreneurs have signboard for theirenterprises but the rest of 41% still do not use any signboard toattract target customers. Among the women entrepreneurs, whodo not have signboard, 19% of them do not use signboard dueto lack of space to hang signboard, 53% mentioned that they didnot feel any necessity of having signboard.

29

Nature of ownership of showroom

53%

Owned by

entrepreneurs

47%

Rented

18 % calculated on the basis of 68 women entrepreneurs. 19 Information was available for 51 women entrepreneurs 20 Information was available for 44 women entrepreneurs

Do you have business card %18

Yes 42

No 58

Total 100

Do your company have brochure %19

Yes 28

No 72

Total 100

Does your showroom has any signboard %20

Yes 59

No 41

Total 100

The situation mentioned above indicates that womenentrepreneurs are still unaware of various forms of businesspromotion and marketing.

Table-26: Percentage distribution of the respondents by theirprocess to inform customer

In terms of market promotion, the methodologies and theprocess followed by women entrepreneurs are still moretraditional. In 50% cases, friend and family are the main agentsto disseminate information about their product to the customers.Only 13% tried to keep customers informedof their product through regularadvertisement. Trade organization andNGO also played a role in market-promotionof women entrepreneurs but the scale isvery limited. Some women entrepreneurspromote their product through printedhandbill and banner but this process isoccasional like, especially eid/puja21 festivalor other religious or social occasions.

4.6.4.5. Access to IT

In the era of globalization, access to IT is a very vital question,especially for business development. E-commerce hasemerged as prime form of business communication andbusiness promotion. From the perspective of access to IT, thesituation of women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh seemed tovery disappointing. Among 130 women entrepreneurs, only32% have e-mail address but they did not have regular accessto internet facilities. In 68% cases, no one have e-mail account.The women entrepreneurs having e-mail address were askedwhether they use e-mail for their business purpose. Only 30%mentioned that they use e-mail and interment for their businesspromotion. The rest of 69% never use their e-mail for business

communication although they have e-mail account and accessto internet.

Among 68% of women entrepreneurs, who do not have any e-mail account, 30% of them mentioned that they have no ideaabout e-mail and internet, another 30% mentioned that theywere unable to operate internet although they are aware of e-mail and internet. Only 28% said that they have no access tointernet.

The women entrepreneurs included in the sample, only 20%were found who have computer to use for business. Theremaining 80% have no computer at either premises of theirenterprise or home. 64% of 64 women entrepreneurs werefound to be incapable to operate computer. Among 20% of 64women entrepreneurs, who mentioned that they are able tooperate computer, were asked to express their satisfaction levelon the capability of computer operation. In response to thisquestion, only 10% said they are satisfied with the capability tooperate computer. For 66%, the satisfaction level was found tobe moderate and 21% of the respondent said that their capacityto operate computer is below satisfactory.

4.6.4.6. Target Market and Target Customer Table-27: Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs bytheir targeted customer or market

From the concept of modern business, this is very important tohave proper idea about targeted customers. Without knowingtargeted customers, it is difficult to satisfy them with properproducts. Without it, this is also difficult for an entrepreneur tosurvive in business. In this respect, the study gave specialconcentration to explore whether the women entrepreneursconsciously produce for specific customers. Among 130 womenentrepreneurs, 66% told that they produce for specificcustomers but 34% do not have clear idea about theircustomers.

It is also evident from the table-27 that most of the womenentrepreneurs produce their product for local market. This local

30

Major process to inform targeted customer %

Regular advertisement 13.2

Irregular advertisement 10.3

Handbill 7.4

Banner 7.0

Website 2.9

Friends and family 50

Trade organization network 2.9

NGO 2.0

No specific strategy 5.0

21 EId is a religious festival of Muslim community and puja is a religious festival of Hindu community.

Do you produce for anytargeted customer

% Which is your maintargeted market

%

Yes 66 Local market 59

No 34 Regional and district town market 25

Total 100 National market 7

International market 8

Other 2

Total 100

31

market means the areas around their home. It means mostwomen entrepreneurs have no proper access to formal market.25% of them told that their main market is district town and other7% produced for national market. Only 8% of them producetargeting international market.

Regarding having proper price of the product, 43% of 130women entrepreneurs reported that they had to sell theirproduct at lower rate compare to that of their male counterpart.

4.6.4.7. Opportunity of training on Marketing

Figure-13: Percentage distribution of the respondents by theopportunity training on marketing of product

Building capacity of women entrepreneurs in marketing ofproduct is a very important issue. Despite this, the above figureshows that opportunity of training on marketing was very limited.Among 130 women entrepreneurs, 50% of them did not receiveany training on marketing.

It is also observed that NGO is the main agent for training.Among 50% of women entrepreneurs, who received training onmarketing, 52% of them received training from NGOs. Tradebodies provided to only 11% of women entrepreneurs. Publicinstitutions also are not playing important roles regarding thisissue as only 11% of the women entrepreneurs received trainingfrom public institutions.

The women entrepreneurs, who received training on marketing,were asked to comment whether they were satisfied with thequality of the training. In this respect, 84% of them found to besatisfied with training courses. Only 16% expressed theirdissatisfaction.

4.6.4.8. Factors hindering marketing of the product

The women entrepreneurs interviewed were asked todescribe their perception about the factors that werehindering proper marketing of their products. The majoropinions were as follows22:

l Lack of proper training (86%)

l Lack of raw materials (75%)

l Lack of capital (90%)

l Social barriers (95%)

l Unsecured communication system (81%)

l Lack of efficient workers (60%)

l Sexual harassment (65%)

l Family restriction (45%)

l Religious beliefs and traditional customs (71%)

l Lack of linkage with national and international market(40%)

l Failure to recover cost (25%)

l Lack of market information (13%)

Training on marketing of product

50%

No50%

Yes

11%

Public

Institutions

11%

Trade

bodies

52%

NGO

26%

Other

84%

Yes

16%

No

Training providing agencies Was the training useful for you

22 Multiple responses were allowed and data were not mutually exclusive.

4.7. Participation in Trade Fair

Table-28 : Percentage distribution of the respondents by thestatus of their participation in trade fair

Participation in trade fair is very important. It helped women tobe exposed to diversified product, buyers and market demand.It also contributes to building market linkages. Despite this, theopportunity for women entrepreneurs to participate in trade fairseemed to be very limited. Among 57 women entrepreneurs,only 38% participated in trade fair. The rest of 62% did not haveany opportunity to participate in any trade fair.

Among 38% of respondents, who participated in trade fairs,45.5% of them attended international trade fair, followed bylocal/village trade fair (by 27.5%), regional trade fair (by 13.5%)and the national level trade fair (by 13.5%).

Regarding satisfaction level of participation in trade fairs, 85%expressed that trade fairs contributed positively to building theircapacity.

Table-29 : Percentage distribution of the women entrepreneurswho attended trade fairs by the types of support

The women entrepreneurs, who attended various trade fair,40% of them received support from various institutions likeBWCCI (61%), NGOs (11%) and other agencies (28%). Thesupport they received include both financial (in 82% cases) andtechnical (19%). 60% of women entrepreneurs did not receiveany support to participate in trade fairs.

4.8. Institutional support for product development

Table-30: Opportunity of institutional support for productdevelopment

Table-30 shows that institutional facilities for productdevelopment are very limited for women entrepreneurs. Among130 women entrepreneurs, only 17% told that they went torespective public service providing agencies to receive supportfor product development. Among them, only 48% receivedsome support. The rest of 52% did not get any support forproduct and design development. Among 83% of therespondents, who never went to any public service providingagencies, 53% of them told that they were not familiar with suchtypes of institutions, 7% mentioned that they had no access tothose institutions. Only 40% told that they did not feel any

necessity to go there.Based on above situationit can be assumed thatpublic service agencieswere unable to createdemands for theirservices; even they didnot properly disseminateinformation to womenentrepreneurs regardingtheir services.

It is also observed that

32

Did youparticipatein anytrade fair

% 23If yes, typesof trade fair

%Opinion on theimpact ofparticipation intrade fair

%

Yes 38 Local ruraltrade fair

27.5 Participation intrade fair haspositive impact

85

No 62 Regionaltrade fair(District ordivisional cities)

13.5 Participation intrade fair has nopositive impact

15

Total 100 Nationaltrade fair

13.5 Total 100

Internationaltrade fair

45.5

Total 100

Did you receive anyinstitutional supportfor trade fair

% If yes, types of supportthat you received

% Types of organization thatprovided you support

%

Yes 40 Financial 82 NGO 11

No 60 Technical and other 19 BWCCI 61

Total 100 Total 100Other 28

Total 100

23 Percentage calculated based on 57 women entrepreneurs.

Did you goto anypublic orprivateinstitutionsto developyourproduct

% If yes, didyou receiveany support

% If you did not goto for support,describe reasons

%

Yes 17 Yes 48 Did not feelnecessity

40

No 83 No 52 Did not knowabout supportingorganizations

53

Total 100 Total 100 Knew about thisorganization butno easy access

7.0

Total 100

women entrepreneurs, especially local women entrepreneurswere not concern about their product development, even theydid not have proper idea about product development. Duringsurvey, the respondents were asked to describe major problemshindering their product development. Main issues discussed bythem were as follows24:

l Lack of capital (60%)

l Lack of good designers (65%)

l Lack of skilled workers (61%)

l High price of materials (45%)

l Lack of modern machineries (55%)

l Lack of raw materials (48%)

l Lack of proper knowledge and training (46%)

l Lack of information (35%)

l Lack of family and social restriction to give more time todevelop product (39%)

l Lack of development institutions (55%)

l High volume of involvement in family

4.9. Involvement in tradeorganizations and business network

From the perspective of bargainingcapacity and business networking, it isvery important for women entrepreneursto be involved with any collective platformso that they can raise their voices. Table-31 shows that involvement by womenentrepreneurs with formal trade bodies is

still well below than that of their male counterpart. Among 130women entrepreneurs, only 58% of women entrepreneurs havemembership with formal trade bodies. It can be said that thispercentage was found to be higher due to the limitation ofsampling process. as mentioned earlier, major respondentswere drawn from BWCCI members. Apart from the membershipwith BWCCI, only 13% told that they have membership with themale dominated local chamber of commerce.

Among 42% of the respondents, who did not have anymembership with any formal trade body, 32.5% mentioned thatthey did not know about trade bodies available in the localities.Among them, 15% mentioned that they were aware of tradebodies but the process to get membership seemed to them ascomplicated. This is why they did not feel interested to be amember of professional trade body.

4.10. Business Environment

4.10.1. Incidence of Illegal tolls and Briberies

Figure-14: Percentage distribution of women entrepreneurs bythe demand of illegal tolls by miscreants

The figure-14 shows thatthe incidence of tollcollection from womenentrepreneurs is verycommon phenomena.Among 130 womenentrepreneurs, almost halfof them (45%) had faceincidence of illegal tollsdemanded by miscreants.Among them, 60%mentioned that they had topay illegal tolls regularlywith specific interval (38%)and irregular basis (62%).

33

Do you have anymembership with anytrade organization

% If yes, what types oforganizations

% If no, what are the reasons %

Yes 58 BWCCI 37.025 Don’t know about trade body 32.5

No 42 Banik Samity 17.4 Know about trade body buttheir conditions did not permitto get membership

15.0

Total 100 Local Chamber ofCommerce 13.0 Did not feel necessity 52.5

Other 32.6 Total100

Total 100

24 Multiple responses were allowed and data were not mutually exclusive25 Since the number of BWCCI’s member in the sample was higher, the percentage for this category was also found to be higher

Did anybody forcefully demand tolls from you

55%

No

40%

No45%

Yes

60%

Yes62%

Irregular

38%

Regular with

specific interval

Did you pay tolls to anybody

after you had involved in business

If yes, types of toll

Table-31: Percentage distribution of therespondents by their involvement withtrade organizations

Table-32: Percentage distribution of the respondents by the demands of bribery by public officials when they went to them forbusiness purpose

Among 130 women entrepreneurs, only 37 agreed to speakabout bribe demanded by the public officials when they went toany public institutions for their business purposes. Among 37respondents, 22% mentioned that public official demandedbribe from them. Out of them, 34% had to give bribe to therespective public official to get their purpose accomplished.Moreover, 65% of 130 women entrepreneurs also mentionedthat they were facing various social problems as entrepreneurs.

4.10.2. Perception about overall business environment Women entrepreneurs were asked to give their opinion about overall business environment for women. In line with the prescribedcriterion, they have expressed their perception on five point rating scale from +2 to -2. The summary of the findings is given below:

Table-33

34

%26 If yes, did you pay thembribe

%

Demanded bribe 22 Yes 34

Did not demand 78 No 66

Total 100 Total 100

Indicators of Business Environment% of the respondent by their Perception level

Partiallydisagreed (-1)

Completelydisagreed (-2)

No opinion(0)

Completely Agreed (+2 )

Partiallyagreed (+1)

Total Result

Overall a positive environment for womento enter into business has been ensured

23% 5% 0% 22% 50% 100-23 -10 0 44 50 + 61 Moderately Positive

Social and family responsibilities to promotewomen in business has increased

18.3% 8.5% 0 26.8% 46.3% 100-18.3 -17 0 +53.6 46.3 +64.6 Moderately Positive

Help from the government has graduallyincreasing

8.2 0 0 32.9 58.8 100-8.2 -0 0 65.8 58.8 +116 Significantly positive

Quality of the assistance provided by theGovernment is gradually increasing

12.2 2.4 1.2 32.9 51.2 100-12.2 -4.8 0 +65.8 +51.2 +100 Significantly positive

Credit facilities has increased 24.4 2.4 1.2 25.6 46.3 100-24.4 -4.8 0 +21.2 +46.3 +38.3 Positive, but insignificant

Local chamber is coming forward to helpwomen SME

50.0% 32.9 1.2 1.2 14.6 100-50 -65.8 0 +2.4 +14.6 -98.8 Significantly Negative

NGO and women organizations are contributingto women’s economic development

4.7 0 1.2 34.1 60.0 100-4.7 0 0 +68.2 +60 +123.5 Significantly positive

Social barriers are decreased 26.6 1.3 2.5 10.1 59.5 100-26.6 -2.6 0 20.2 59.5 +16.4 Insignificantly positive

Government’s help for women toparticipate in trade fair increased

18.4 1.3 9.2 3.9 67.1 100-18.4 2.6 0 +7.8 +67.1 +55.3 Insignificantly positive

Training facilities for women increased 14.3 0 1.2 8.3 76.2 100-14.3 0 0 +16.6 +76.2 +78.5 Positive

Access to information increased 12.2 2.4 2.4 9.7 73.2 100-12.2 -4.8 0 +19.4 +73.2 +75.6 Positive

Women business network extended 20.5 1.3 1.3 9.0 67.9 100-20.5 -2.6 0 +18.0 +67.9 +62.8 Positive

Women are getting proper price for theirproduct

74.7 12.0 2.4 1.2 9.6 100-74.7 -24 0 +2.4 +9.6 -86.7 Significantly Negative

Women are getting administrative and legalsupport

67.9 6.2 2.5 2.5 21.0 100-67.9 -12.4 0 +5.0 +21 -54.3 Insignificantly negative

Women friendly environment has beencreated at the public institutions

36.7 1.3 3.7 6.3 51.9 100-36.7 -2.6 0 +12.6 +51.9 +25.2 Insignificantly positive

4.11. Roles, Responsibilities and Status of Women Entrepreneurs in Family

4.11.1. Percentage distribution of women enterpreneurs by the Head of Household

Figure-15: Head of the HouseholdIn terms of the position in family, traditional gender-based stereotyped relationship was highly manifested as only 10.5% of women

entrepreneurs in the sample reported that they werehead of the family. It could be assumed that this figure(10.5% household is headed by women entrepreneurs) isclosely associated with the marital status of womenentrepreneurs as nearly 10% respondents were found tobe either widow, separated or divorced. Excluding this10%, their male counterpart (46.7% by husband, 30.5%by father, 3.8% by brother) headed all households. Only8.6% women entrepreneurs told that their head of thefamily is mother. The women entrepreneurs, whomentioned father, brother and mother as the head ofhouseholds, are primarily unmarried. From theperspective of power and authority, most of thehouseholds are still male dominated, despite women’sinvolment in formal economic activities.

4.11.2. Roles of family members in business and domestic work

Table-34: Percentage distribution of the respondents by their roles in business and family

It is evident from the table-34 that participation of women in formal economy has not freed them from traditional roles andresponsibilities in family life rather it creates double workload for them. Among 130 women entrepreneurs, 82.5% played main rolesin their business. At the same time, 78.6% mentioned that they had to take main responsibilities in their family life. Only 1.6% ofthe respondents mentioned that their husband performed main responsibilities regarding domestic work. 19.8% told that otherfamily members played main responsibilities of domestic works.

It is also evident from the time distribution ofwomen entrepreneurs. Out of 24 hours aday, a women entrepreneur had to expend70% of her time for different tasks includingmain business (27%), secondary profession(7%), domestic or reproductive roles (25%)and social and community work (10%).They can use only 31% of the time for theirleisure and rest.

The mean and median value for leisure andrest time for a women entrepreneurs werefound to be 5.8 and 7 hours, which means atleast 50% of the women entrepreneurs cantake rest or sleep for less than 7 hours.

35

46.7%Husband

30.5%Father

3.8%Brother

8.6%Mother

10.5%The respondent

Head of household of women entrepreneurs

Who does play main roles in your business % Who does play main roles and responsibilities in domestic work %

Me 82.5 Me 78.6

Husband 8.5 Husband 1.6

Husband and me 4.8 Other family member 19.8

Other 3.2Total 100Total 100

Description oftime allocation

Mainbusiness

Secondaryprofession

Domesticwork

Social andcommunit

y Restand

leisuretotal

percentage oftime

27% 7% 25% 10% 31% 100

Mean in hour 5 Notcalculated

5 Notcalculated

5.8 Notcalculated

Median inhour

6 Notcalculated

5 Notcalculated

7 Notcalculated

Std 3.5 Notcalculated

3.8 Notcalculated

3.2 Notcalculated

Table-35: Time allocation of women entrepreneurs for various task a day

4.11.3. Women Entrepreneur’s Monetary Contribution to family

Table-36: Contribution of women entrepreneurs to family expenditure and savings

Table-36 illustrates that women entrepreneurs’ monetary contribution to family expenditure and savings is significant as 50% of themean value calculated for family expenditure comes from women entrepreneurs. The average monthly family expenditure wasfound to be BDT 21628 where women entrepreneurs contributed, on average, BDT 11000.

36

Monthly familyexpenditure in BDT

Your contribution tomonthly familyexpenditures in BDT

Current family savingsin BDT

Your contribution tofamily savings

Mean 21628 11000 526829 319081

Median 15000 5000 10000 5000

Mode 15000 10000 3000 20000

Minimum 10000 1200 3000 2000

Maximum 150000 100000 20000000 10000000

37

5. Qualitative Findings fromFocus Group Discussions

and Seminars

Over the last two years, BWCCI organized 12 focus group discussions in six divisional cities and six district towns. The focus groupdiscussions were organized with different stakeholders, who are directly or indirectly involved in women entrepreneurshipdevelopment. Among the participants, 50% of them were women entrepreneurs. BWCCI also organized 13 seminars during thistime. Six seminars were organized in six divisional cities including Dhaka during March 2006-February 2007. Another 7 seminarswere organized in six districts and one in Dhaka from March 2007 to February 2008. During FGDs and seminars, the participantsshared heir experiences regarding problems of women entreprneurship development in Bangladesh. This chapter presents thefindings of the 12 FGDs and 13 seminars.

5.1. Trade Licenses and Company Registration

Table-37: Problems identified by the participants regarding trade license and company registration

38

Major Opinion of the Participants in FGDs andSeminars

Name of Districts27

D G S M B P K J Ch C R Bo

Most of the women do not have proper idea abuttrade license and company registration

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Most of the women entrepreneurs do not havetrade license.

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Women entrepreneurs are unable to get access tovarious facilities of public and private institutionsavailable at the local level due to lack of tradelicense

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Women entrepreneurs are not aware of gettingtheir company registered with legal authorities.

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Women entrepreneurs are not accustomed withthe process of trade license

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Banks are unable to consider women for credit asmost of them do not have trade license

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Although the representatives of the localgovernment mentioned that getting trade licensewas easier, women entrepreneurs disagreed withthem.

√ √ √ √ √ √ √

Getting trade license is time consuming and itrequires extra money in addition to fixed fees fortrade license.

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Bureaucratic process discourage womenentrepreneurs to go for trade license

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Traditional values and attitudes regarding socialmobility of women discourage women to go to thetrade license providing agencies

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

27 D=Dhaka, G=Gazipur, S=Sylhet, M=Moulovibazar, B=Barishal, P=Patuakhali, K=Khulna, J=Jessore, Ch=Chittagong, C=Coxbaxar, R=Rajshahi andBo= Bogra district where 13 FGDs and 13 Seminars were took place

5.2. Access to Finance

Table-38: Problems identified by the participants at FGDs and Seminars regarding access to finance

39

Major Opinion of the Participants in FGDs andSeminars

Name of Districts27

D G S M B P K J Ch C R Bo

Access of women SMEs to formal financial andcredit facilities is very limited. Family and otherinformal sources are main sources of credit

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

The interest rate/service charges are higher forloan from informal sources

NGO-run credit program are the main sources ofcapital for local women entrepreneurs but ithinders reinvestment process of women SME dueto high interest rate of NGO-run credit program

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Most of the women entrepreneurs are unaware ofthe circular of Bangladesh Bank on refinancingscheme for women SME, even local bankers arenot informed of this circular

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

The local bank did not start implementing thecircular of the Bangladesh Bank

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Banks cannot provide a loan to women SME dueto different conditions of the banks

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Women are not aware of the process to get a loanfrom banks

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Women entrepreneurs do not properly maintainnecessary documents. As a result, bank cannotconsider them for a loan

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Banks impose various conditions. In most cases,women entrepreneurs are unable to meet up theirconditions

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

The conditions imposed by banks discouragewomen entrepreneurs to go to bank for a loan

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Most of the banks follow a lengthy, complicatedand bureaucratic process

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Loan application form is complicated and not easyto understand

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Bank requires collateral. Most of the womenentrepreurs are unable to provide this collateral.This process automatically exclude women fromloan facilities

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

In most cases, women were kept excluded fromcredit facilities due to not having trade license

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

5.3. Training and Skill Development

Table-39: Problems identified regarding training and capacity building

40

Major Opinion of the Participants in FGDs andSeminars

Name of Districts27

D G S M B P K J Ch C R Bo

Women SMEs face various complexities at thecommercial banks despite all required proceduresare followed and relevant papers are provided

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

The people working at various banks are notsensitized regarding women entrepreneurs

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Husband is asked to sign as guarantor while wifegoes for a loan but in case of husband, wife neednot to sign

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Some commercial banks recently initiated SMEloan but their service charge is not affordable forwomen SME due high interest rate. As a result,this SME loan cannot play positive roles inpromotion of women entrepreneurs

√ √ √ √ √ √ √

Current credit policies of the banks are malebiased

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Public and private commercial banks lackappropriate and effective procedures todisseminate relevant information to women SMEs

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Various public institutions are running micro creditprogram but their amount of loan is very small,which is unable to contribute to entrepreneurshipdevelopment

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

NGO-provided micro credit is playing very vitalrole in reducing income poverty level but thisprogram is still insufficient to developentrepreneurship

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Provision of weekly installment of loan and higherservice charges are also barrier to thedevelopment of women SMEs

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Major Opinion of the Participants in FGDs andSeminars

Name of Districts27

D G S M B P K J Ch C R Bo

The opportunity of training and capacity buildingis very limited for local women entrepreneurs

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

5.3. Access to Market

Table-40: Problems identified by the participants regarding access to market

41

Major Opinion of the Participants in FGDs andSeminars

Name of Districts27

D G S M B P K J Ch C R Bo

Although some development organizations likeNGO and trade bodies are providing training,those are not sufficient to meet the needs ofwomen entrepreneurs

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Trained women cannot utilize their skills due tothe lack of the opportunity to apply their skills

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Women entrepreneurs are not informed of trainingproviding institutions available at the local level

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

The mainstream chambers are not playing anysignificant roles regarding promotion of womenentrepreneurs

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Most of the local women entrepreneurs have noidea about the activities of the mainstreamchamber

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Most of the local women do not have proper ideaabout product and design development, eventhere is no opportunity at the local level toorganize training on product and designdevelopment

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Major Opinion of the Participants in FGDs andSeminars

Name of Districts27

D G S M B P K J Ch C R Bo

Women entrepreneurs have no proper ideaabout the process of formal market

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Most of the women entrepreneurs, specially localwomen entrepreneurs, lack access to market

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

A number of women entrepreneurs do not haveown showroom or display center to sell theirproduct

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

A very few women are able to sell their product attheir own showroom

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Some women entrepreneurs supply their productto big shopping malls but most cases, it is difficultfor them to have payment timely

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Sometimes, women have sell their product atlower prices only because they are women

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Women are unable to create proper market due tolack of product diversification and standard design

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

5.4. Other

Tabel-41: Problems identified by the participants at FGDs and Seminars

42

Major Opinion of the Participants in FGDs andSeminars

Name of Districts27

D G S M B P K J Ch C R Bo

There was no training opportunity for productdiversification at the local level

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Due to lack of proper marketing system, somewomen SME lose their interest to continue theirentrepreneurial activities

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Women SMEs have to sell their product at lowerrate due to their lack of access to marketinformation, limited social mobility, and traditionalsocial roles and responsibilities in their families

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Women are hardly ever allocated shops at themarket place constructed or run by the CityCorporation, municipalities or other localgovernment bodies

√ √ √ √ √ √ √

Major Opinion of the Participants in FGDs andSeminars

Name of Districts27

D G S M B P K J Ch C R Bo

Women SME are not aware of tax and VATprocess

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Women entrepreneurs lack access to necessaryinformation

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Social attitudes are not positive towards womenentrepreneurs

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Restricted social mobility is hindering thedevelopment of women entrepreneurship

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Law and order situation is not positive for womenentrepreneurs

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Due to lack of uniform family code, women arebeing deprived of equal rights to family property

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

The relevant local institutions could have playedmore active roles in promoting women businessbut due to lack of responsiveness, accountabilityand efficiency, they could not play expected roles

√ √ √ √ √ √ √

There are many policy initiatives but they are notproperly implemented

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

There is a lack of coordination between andamong different institutions working for womenentrepreneurship development

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

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6. Stakeholders’Recommendations for

Women EntrepreneurshipDevelopment

6.1. Company Registration and Administrative Support

l Establish a separate cell at the City Corporation and otherlocal government bodies to deal with womenentrepreneurs regarding trade license and companyregistration

l City corporation, municipalities and Union parishad shouldease the regulatory process regarding trade license

l Empower female ward commissioner to facilitate womenentrepreneurs to get trade license

l Make information available to women entrepreneursregarding any types of license including companyregistration

l Create awareness of the necessity of having trade licenseand company registration among women entrepreneurs

l Local administration should have special initiatives to helpwomen entrepreneurs

l Provide administrative support and services to womenentrepreneurs for various information dissemination

l Create easy access for women entrepreneurs to the localadministrative support and public institutions

l The public institutions, both at the local and the nationallevel, should improve the quality of their services. Thecentral authority should introduce a strong monitoringsystem in order to ensure quality services for thebetterment of women entrepreneurs.

l Improve law and order situation in order to ensure fearfree environment for business community, especially forwomen entrepreneurs.

6.2. Access to Finance

l Undertake initiative for proper implementation of thecircular on refinancing scheme for women SME issued bythe Bangladesh Bank

l The central bank should fix up a target for each bank toprovide loan for women SMEs and form a monitoring teamto monitor the implementation of its circular

l Disseminate information of the circular on refinancingscheme for women SME issued by the Bangladesh Bankto women entrepreneurs

l Establish a separate bank for the development of womenentrepreneurs. Impose an obligation for other banks tomaintain a minimum quota for women entrepreneurs inloan disbursement and ensure the implementation of thisquota

l Execute the announcement by the then Prime Minister atfirst women SME conference to establish a separate bankfor Women SME

l A comprehensive credit policy should be initiated underthe supervision of the central bank in order to createaccess of women entrepreneurs to finance. This policymust keep a provision of collateral free loan, credit withoutinterest or low rate of interest (maximum 8% interest), loanfor long time duration, etc for women entrepreneurs

l A number of institutions including NGOs are running creditprogram in the country. Women constitute the lion portionof their beneficiaries. But the amount of loan provided byNGOs is too small to develop entrepreneurship. In thisrespect, they should increase the amount of credit so thatwomen can develop themselves as entrepreneurs

l Establish gender cell in each private and public bank tofacilitate women entrepreneurs to get a loan

l Maintain gender disaggregated data by the financialinstitutions and banks to monitor the progress of the loandisbursement to women SMEs

l A special training and awareness program should beundertaken for the people working with different banks inorder to make them gender sensitized

l Make loan application form user-friendly

l Bank should provide loan to women SME on the basis ofmoral guarantee by BWCCI

l BWCCI should work as bridge between women SMEs andfinancial institutions and banks

l As part of corporate social responsibilities, banks shouldprovide loan to women SMEs at the lower rate of interest.The Government can give subsidy to the banks forproviding loan to women SMEs. For example, if theinterest charge is 10%, the Government can pay 5% to theparticular bank. As a result, women SME can have a loanat the rate of 5% intarest.

l Increase allocation for SME loan at least up to BDT200,0000000, 20% of them for women entrepreneurs

l In the name of market economy, bank fixes its interest ratewithout any consideration for women. In this respect,Bangladesh bank should have a mechanism to monitor it

l At least one women should be included in the board ofcommercial banks so that she can oversee the progress ofbanks services undertaken for women.

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As mentioned in previous chapter, over last two years,BWCCI conducted 12 FGDs and 13 seminars, 7 at thedivision level and 6 at the district level. Therecommendations presented here the outputs of thoseevents:

6.3.Training and Capacity Development l Establish women entrepreneurship development

academy for the capacity development of the womenSMEs

l Establish design and product development traininginstitute and undertake research initiatives for productand design development

l Special capacity building programs for the women SMEon finance, business management, accounting andbookkeeping, marketing, business planning, etc shouldbe developed

l Facilitate women to participate in national andinternational trade fair. Allocate fund for women toparticipate in national and international trade fair

l Introduce a holistic program for capacity building ofwomen. Government, NGO and business associationscan provide various training to women SME.

l Program should be introduced to upgrade womenentrepreneurs from primary stage to graduate stage. Thisprogram may include training, credit, etc.

l Training on IT should be provided to the women SMEs.Create easy access of women SMEs to IT and promotethem in e-commerce, even in the rural areas

l Activate public training providing agencies and createeasy access of women SME to them

l Increase research program on women entrepreneurshipdevelopment and provide financial support by thegovernment to the institutions that are currently involvedin research activities on women entrepreneurshipdevelopment

l Provide counselling services to the women entrepreneurson a regular basis and extend such types of services tothe rural areas

l Undertake a comprehensive training program based on aneed assessment

l In addition to providing credit, banks should introducetraining program on financial management

l Some experimental program also can be undertaken sincewomen entrepreneurship development is a creative work.

l Bank can organize training on women SME development.As result, they will be able to find more credible clientsfrom women

l Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management shouldintroduce a training program on entrepreneurshipdevelopment

l Women entrepreneurs should be familiar with thesophisticated and modern technology so that they candevelop their product

l Establish Knowledge center at the district level tofacilitate women to have business idea and information.

6.4. Tax and Vat

l Existing provision of tax holiday is extended up to the year2008. It should be extended for another five or six years.The sectors related to women entrepreneurs should beincluded under tax holiday on priority basis

l Make easier to get tax ID number and other tax relatedprocess

l All types of new women entrepreneurs should be given aprovision of tax-exemption for at least five years

l Organize training for women entrepreneurs by theNational Board of Revenue (NBR) in order to raiseawareness on tax giving procedures

l Include a special provision for women entrepreneurs in thepolicy and procedures of value added tax (VAT) and keepa provision of VAT exemption for new womenentrepreneurs for at least the first five years of theirbusiness

l Giving special tariff facilities to women entrepreneurs inthe case of capital goods import.

6.5. Access to market

l Organize training on marketing and develop businessnetwork

l Provide market intelligence to the women SMEs throughcross visits between and among women entrepreneurswithin and out side of the country

l Provide business incubator for women SMEs

l Develop data base on potential buyers and make itavailable to the women owned enterprises

l Increase budgetary allocation to facilitate womenentrepreneurs, specially rural women entrepreneurs toparticipate in the national and international trade fair

l From EPB, maintain minimum quota for women SME tosend them to various national and international trade fair

l Organize women SME trade fairs by the respectiveorganizations like SME Foundation, the ministry ofcommerce, the ministry of women and children affairs, andother organizations like trade bodies and NGOs

l City corporation and Municipalities should have specialquota to reserve space for women entrepreneurs in themarket run by them

l Provide special support to women entrepreneurs who areinvolved in export-oriented activities for promotingmarketing of their products

l Adopt provision of loan against LC for women SME

45

l Establish a separate market for women entrepreneurs bythe City Corporation authority or other respectiveinstitutions.

0

6.6. Miscellaneous

l Proper implementation of the National WomenDevelopment Policy 2008

l People from all walks of life should work together toremove existing social barriers and create an enablingenvironment for women SME in Bangladesh

l Extend social network for women SME

l Family members should provide help women to enter andrun business

l Introduce lesson on entrepreneurship development ineducational curriculum

l Education system should have some mechanism tochange social attitudes towards women

l Establish an information center. This information centermust be well-equipped with information of market, design,buyers and sources of finance

l Ensure harmony and coordination between and amongpolicy institutions

l Consider differences in profile of women SME while go forpolicy formulation and keep special provision consideringthe reality of specific group

l Media should extend its support to women entrepreneurs.

l In addition to existing poverty eradication program, theGovernment should undertake a separate program forwomen entrepreneurship development

l Special budgetary block allocation in the national budgetand take strategies in order to utilize the block allocationproperly

l Maintain a quota for women entrepreneurs in the projectundertaken by respective ministries and make sure thatthis quota is maintained properly

l Increase the budgetary allocation for those ministries andinstitutions, which are working for the development ofwomen entrepreneurship

l Disseminate all relevant information regarding existingprovision or facilities ensured by the existing policy of thegovernment or respective institutions so that womenentrepreneurs could claim their rights

l Increase coordination between and among differentministries and institutions that are involved in womenentrepreneurship development activities

l Ensure representation of women in different committees ofrespective ministries and institutions that are engaged inwomen entrepreneurship development

l Business associations, both at the national and the locallevel, should extend their cooperation to womenentrepreneurs in view of creating access to finance,capacity building, access to local public institutions, etc

l Ensure media coverage on successes and failures andthe problems and prospects of women entrepreneurs

l Undertake a five year long women entrepreneurshipdevelopment plan and ensure proper implementation ofthis plan

l BWCCI and other women organizations together withmale counterpart have to continue their voices to influencethe government to undertake policy measures andimplement them properly

l Government should concentrate on local businessdevelopment because it is very import for income andemployment generation for a highly populous country

l For women’s economic empowerment, politicalempowerment is also very important. In this respect,representation of women in the National Parliament mustbe at least one third of the total members. Recentdecisions by the Government regarding this issue must beimplemented to ensure women’s economic and politicalempowerment

l Women’s equal rights to family property and othereconomic resources must be ensured. Without uniformfamily code, it is impossible to ensure women’s economicrights. For this, the Government and other political partiesshould come forward to incorporate uniform family code.

.

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Reference:

1. Afsar, Dr. Rita, Bringing Women Entrepreneurs in Policy Focus for SME Development in Bangladesh, A keynote paperpresented at the Seminar on Strengthening Capacity of Women organized by BWCCI, February 26, 2008

2. Black, Thomas R, Doing Quantitative Research in the Social Sciences, SAGA Publications, London, 1999

3. British Council, the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka, 1996

4. BBS, The Statistical Pocket of Book of Bangladesh, Dhaka, 2006

5. BWCCI, Quarterly Progress Report of Promoting Women Entrepreneurship through Advocacy Project, quarter-1,2, 3, 4(phase-1), 5, 6, 7 (phase-2).

6. Hussain, Saiyid Musharraf, Assessment of the Implications of Policies and Measures for Women EntrepreneurshipDevelopment, MOWCA, Dhaka, December 2002

7. Rahman, Hossain Zillur, Local Bussiness Dynamics: Ground Realities and Policies Challenges, PPRC, Dhaka, 2006

8. Schaefer, Richard, Sociology: A Brief Introduction, Fifth Edition, The McGraw Hills Companies, New York, 2004

9. Shamim, Munir Uddin, Report on Promoting Women Entrepreneurship through Advocacy, BWCCI, Dhaka, July 2007

10. www.adb.org

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