Removing obstacles to development of women entrepreneurship
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
THE Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BWCCI), the sole representative body of women entrepreneurs in the country, launched the Women's National Business Agenda (WNBA) last Sunday to draw attention of all concerned to the factors hindering the growth of women entrepreneurship and initiate befitting policy measures to resolve the same. The BWCCI, with support from the Centre for International Enterprise (CIPE), USA, has developed the Agenda through consultation with a large number of stakeholders coming from all over the country. The WNBA has listed three key issues, the social barriers, obstacles to capacity building and training and financial barriers, and suggested what should be done for unhindered growth of women entrepreneurship in the country.
Notwithstanding the fact that the status of women in Bangladesh society is now better than 20 to 25 years back -- more and more women are now engaged in business activities and employed in public and private sector offices -- the situation is far from being satisfactory in a largely male-dominated society. Despite the fact that two leading ladies have been ruling the country in turns for the last 17 years, the conditions of womenfolk in the social and economic spheres have not improved meaningfully. A few policy measures initiated in the recent past have failed to make any tangible impact on the ground realities due to the lukewarm attitude of the agencies concerned to implement the same. If an increase in the number of women politicians, Members of Parliament and Union Parishad members or employment of hundreds of thousands of young women in garment factories means the empowerment of women, Bangladesh has surely made some progress. But true empowerment does carry a different meaning: women must enjoy rights and facilities equal to those enjoyed by men at all levels, their respective families included.
Development of entrepreneurship in Bangladesh has not been easy because of a hostile policy environment and bureaucratic complexities. When it comes to women entrepreneurship, the situation turns out to be more difficult. According to the BWCCI president, less than 10 per cent of the country's entrepreneurs are women, compared to, at least, 25 per cent in the developed countries. The chamber while developing the Agenda identified 20 problems that women entrepreneurs face and listed 40 prospective areas where women can work better. While dwelling on social barriers, it has made specific recommendations to help reduce the incidence of violence against, and torture and harassment of, women. The Agenda has attached equal importance to capacity building of women entrepreneurs by ensuring access to all business information, skill development and technical training in relevant areas.
The WNBA, while discussing the financial barriers, regretted that, in most cases, the financial institutions do have a negative attitude towards women entrepreneurs on the assumption that women lack entrepreneurial ability. That the allegation of the BWCCI is based on fact is corroborated by the rate of progress of a refinancing scheme introduced by the central bank for women entrepreneurs. Under the scheme, the participant banks are to disburse loans among women at an interest rate of 10 per cent. But out of Tk. 1.05 billion refinancing fund, the banks have disbursed only Tk 73.0 million. The central bank governor, while speaking at the launch of the Agenda, cautioned the banks that their scorecards as per CAMELS rating would be affected if they failed to comply with the directives relating to the disbursement of loans among women entrepreneurs. Since the women's chamber has come out detailing their problems and possible policy remedies, the ministries and agencies concerned should closely examine those, take appropriate measures and help create an environment conducive to the growth of women entrepreneurship.
Notwithstanding the fact that the status of women in Bangladesh society is now better than 20 to 25 years back -- more and more women are now engaged in business activities and employed in public and private sector offices -- the situation is far from being satisfactory in a largely male-dominated society. Despite the fact that two leading ladies have been ruling the country in turns for the last 17 years, the conditions of womenfolk in the social and economic spheres have not improved meaningfully. A few policy measures initiated in the recent past have failed to make any tangible impact on the ground realities due to the lukewarm attitude of the agencies concerned to implement the same. If an increase in the number of women politicians, Members of Parliament and Union Parishad members or employment of hundreds of thousands of young women in garment factories means the empowerment of women, Bangladesh has surely made some progress. But true empowerment does carry a different meaning: women must enjoy rights and facilities equal to those enjoyed by men at all levels, their respective families included.
Development of entrepreneurship in Bangladesh has not been easy because of a hostile policy environment and bureaucratic complexities. When it comes to women entrepreneurship, the situation turns out to be more difficult. According to the BWCCI president, less than 10 per cent of the country's entrepreneurs are women, compared to, at least, 25 per cent in the developed countries. The chamber while developing the Agenda identified 20 problems that women entrepreneurs face and listed 40 prospective areas where women can work better. While dwelling on social barriers, it has made specific recommendations to help reduce the incidence of violence against, and torture and harassment of, women. The Agenda has attached equal importance to capacity building of women entrepreneurs by ensuring access to all business information, skill development and technical training in relevant areas.
The WNBA, while discussing the financial barriers, regretted that, in most cases, the financial institutions do have a negative attitude towards women entrepreneurs on the assumption that women lack entrepreneurial ability. That the allegation of the BWCCI is based on fact is corroborated by the rate of progress of a refinancing scheme introduced by the central bank for women entrepreneurs. Under the scheme, the participant banks are to disburse loans among women at an interest rate of 10 per cent. But out of Tk. 1.05 billion refinancing fund, the banks have disbursed only Tk 73.0 million. The central bank governor, while speaking at the launch of the Agenda, cautioned the banks that their scorecards as per CAMELS rating would be affected if they failed to comply with the directives relating to the disbursement of loans among women entrepreneurs. Since the women's chamber has come out detailing their problems and possible policy remedies, the ministries and agencies concerned should closely examine those, take appropriate measures and help create an environment conducive to the growth of women entrepreneurship.