An inspiration for women

While we as a country progress towards economic excellence under the top leadership of the nation, we must also recognise the efforts of our business community and our fellow countrymen who work abroad and send back valuable remittances to accelerate the growth. Over the past decade, Bangladesh has made significant progress in one specific sector i.e., the RMG sector. The RMG sector itself contributes 80 per cent to the national GDP and about 30 million people of Bangladesh are engaged in the sector directly or indirectly. This sector helped in reducing poverty by creating employment and empowering women.

Today Bangladesh is the 2nd largest producer of garments in the world. While most of the workforce engaged in this industry are women working in the production sections, Bangladesh saw in the past few years the emergence of women in various leadership positions within the sector, who are working shoulder to shoulder beside their male counterparts.

Shagufhta Newaz is the Chairman of N2N Sourcing Limited, a prominent company in Bangladesh assisting customers from Europe and the USA to source the best apparels from Bangladesh. She along with her team is working very closely with the manufacturers in Bangladesh to ensure that quality merchandises are shipped to customers thus earning their trust and elevating the image of Bangladesh as the top sourcing option for RMG.

However, success did not come easily, and she had to work very hard to establish herself in the sector and earn the trust of all stakeholders. After completion of her Post Graduate education from Dhaka University, she joined a reputed company functioning in the Logistics Sector. From there on, she worked for various local and multinational organisations related to the RMG sector before being offered the position of Country Manager for a reputed textile company based out of Germany. She gained valuable experience while working there and developed the necessary skills to start something new. She always wanted to get into business and with unconditional support and motivation provided by her family. Finally, she opened her own sourcing company and started working with one European Customer. The beginning was tough as for a woman at that time it was very difficult to maintain the balance between work life and personal obligations. Again, with the support from her husband, in-laws and parents, she worked hard and today her organization is one of the prominent sourcing companies in Bangladesh. She has also established a joint-venture entity in the USA and recently launched a tech company named N2N Technologies.

When asked, what made her successful, she replied with two words: Dedication and Integrity. While she has always been dedicated towards everything she did in her life, the most important matter for her is the trust she has been able to establish with all the stakeholders throughout the years. As a result, her customers' trust on her way of work and decision-making abilities and the manufacturers relies on her support and guidance throughout the manufacturing process.

Shagufhta wants to see more women get involved in this sector specially in leadership roles as the RMG sector has evolved significantly over the past decade. Women's empowerment is a very important matter for her, and she wants to work closely with other similar minds to promote the same. One of the most important factors that sometimes we overlook is the positive economic impact that can be seen when women are empowered - she says. She acknowledges that women of Bangladesh are contributing massively to the growth of Bangladesh's Economy, but they can do much more if the proper support system is there. Managing family and work can be hard and stressful but if the family members do that extra bit and provide the support to their family members, Shagufhta guarantees that the perceptions will change, and families will become benefited and financially strong.

To her team she is a leader who leads from the front and always remains there when times are difficult. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, she stood by each team members ensuring that they received their wages on-time even though business volumes shrunk. The size of her team remained the same throughout the 2 years of pandemic as to her they are family members, and it is her responsibility that they do not go through hard times.

In the coming years, Shagufhta wants to work closely to create a platform for the women community in Bangladesh and empower the community through technology and innovation. She wants to elevate the success of her organisation to a level from where the next group of female entrepreneurs can find inspiration. The prospect of inspiring someone and change even a single life is what drives Shagufhta every single day and we wish her all the success on her future endeavour.