Govt takes up 5-yr project to create jobs for entrepreneurs, women

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Monira Munni
The government has initiated a five-year project worth Tk 312 million to create employment opportunities for first-time entrepreneurs including women by providing them with vocational training, officials said.
"The government has already undertaken the 'one family one businessman' project to create employment," Industries Minister Dilip Barua told the FE Saturday.
The project will contribute to poverty reduction, ensure food-safety, create employment opportunities and develop human resources as part of the government's responsibility to the society, he explained.
The government will fund the training project from its own resources.
Bangladesh Industrial Technical Assistance Centre (BITAC) under the Ministry of Industries has been providing training particularly to the women workers and entrepreneurs, the minister added.
A total of 9,900 individuals will be provided vocational training during the five-year period in branches such as carpentry and other occupation. Of the participants, about 4,000 would be chosen from poor, helpless and deprived unemployed women, officials of the industries ministry said.
Under the project, which started in July this year, training would be offered to 600 women and 1,080 men in the current fiscal year.
Nearly 100 males and females, who have qualified in the training programme, are currently employed in different companies.
Every participant has got materials worth Tk 10,000 so that they could start their own business, a senior ministry official said.
By providing vocational training, the country will be able to reduce poverty with the active promotion of self-employment and income generating activities, officials said adding that the government places equal value on both the provisioning of financial and technological inputs alongwith skills development through training and education.
Through this approach, the country will continue to promote production and provide those who have no means of earning opportunities to improve their standards of living, they said.