Women entrepreneurs face challenges to move forward

Bangladesh Bank has taken a praiseworthy initiative by instructing the commercial banks to develop one woman entrepreneur each. We know that small scale business concerns face a lot of problems for developing the business concerns. Especially the initial formation stage is the most crucial time for entrepreneurs. Failing to cross this stage will result in total failure of the concern. On the other hand as per statistics 1.8 million job seekers enters the market for jobs every year but we know that creation of new jobs is very limited. At this stage initiative to create and help women entrepreneurs deserves much appreciation. Small ventures also create jobs increase production and as such it would add strength to our economic growth. But another issue in this regard needs to keep in mind of the policy designers that failure of small scale entrepreneurs is very high. And as a matter of fact the women entrepreneurs are more vulnerable. Failure of a business means loss of valuable investment employment opportunity and also loss of potential economic growth.      
Let us discuss some typical problems faced by new entrepreneurs. There is widespread perception that access to loan facilities to new entrepreneurs is the main problem. But lots of examples are there that entrepreneurs arranged fund from their own sources initially established the business and became successful. For example a large number of people migrating to other countries in search of jobs, paying forty thousand to one hundred thousand taka to brokers which is good enough for starting a small business if they are guided properly. Still it is important to avail credit facility for any entrepreneur no matter large or small. But some other vital elements are there which turn a business concern into failure. So I think other issues are needed to be taken into consideration especially new and women entrepreneurs.
Normally, reasons for new product failure are as follows:
l   Overestimation of market size
l Poor design
l Incorrect positioning
l Priced too high
l Ineffective promotion
l High development costs
l Competition
l What market segments to pursue
l What competitive advantages to go after
If we analyze the issues mentioned above, we can see that new entrepreneurs are going to face challenges from these areas where no one is there to help them. It is important to mention that some of organizations like PKSF started providing other supports like marketing and product development and even they have also diversified their financial products. In the similar way women entrepreneur development project should move forward.      
Most often marketing appears to be the main problem for them. After arranging fund from different sources like micro credit, government supported loan and bank credit they can produce products of different categories. But they face main problem with marketing of those goods. In some cases the retailers don't settle dues instantly. They pay the producers after selling the products. Usually this payment system creates a major problem for the entrepreneurs at introduction stage. But to continue their production producers need immediate settlement of their dues because for continuing their production they need payment. So if they fail to get their payment on time ultimately the concern turns into failure. Records show a good number of small scale business ventures fail due to this every year. Only financial support in most cases is not enough for small entrepreneurs to successfully establish their ventures.  
In addition to payment-related problems new entrepreneurs face marketing related problems. Most cases they fail to determine which marketing strategy is appropriate for them, what promotional methods are going to yield better sales result, shortage of promotional and advertising fund and even transporting their products to the sales centres if they are away from market places? A comprehensive support package is needed for small entrepreneurs. A failure of a business venture small or large means wastage of investment fund.
On the other hand small scale ventures are very important for the economy. Small ventures create employment. Bangladesh is a densely populated country and as such labour intensive industries are always suitable for the economy. Moreover there is huge prospect for products for the size of a market which is more than one sixty million plus. As economy is moving forward per capita income is increasing gradually and obviously demand is increasing at the same time. To keep pace with this development central bank's step to create and promote women entrepreneur development is a timely one which deserves much appreciation. But to make the project successful we need to take a comprehensive plan of action.      
In this connection the policy designers need to focus on recent developments that could be utilized for better result of the project. Recent trend shows development of retail chains all over the country especially in the metropolitan city areas of Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and Rajshahi. A large number of products are sold in this chain shops basically exotic products of different categories. They also sell a large number of home made products ranging from food items and handicrafts to cosmetics and toiletries. Some of these chain shops are selling their products produced by them and selling the items using their brand names. Through this they attract customers and establish their brand in the market.
As we understand that main problem of newly established concerns is the marketing problem, so a joint marketing effort is suggested to overcome this problem. Collective marketing efforts will allow small newly established entrepreneurs to sell their products smoothly and repay their debts. But once again individually it is not possible for the entrepreneurs to establish such retail outlets. It should be a step of the promoters to make such arrangements through which they will allow the concerns to survive and grow. Even there is scope for branding the products made by the entrepreneurs under these chain stores. Krishibid group sell their products produced in small scale in different areas through their retail outlets. A collective marketing approach will help small concerns to take promotional activities, transporting their goods, advertise and increase their sales and grow faster. I think much better ideas are there. Honourable Governor of central bank himself is a renowned economist and scholar and so far he has initiated these projects through his innovative ideas and we expect that he will guide the thinkers to right direction. This is a humble suggestion from my part and as far as my experience allows me to assess that if these entrepreneurs especially the women entrepreneurs are left only by providing financial support, most of them will not survive as successful entrepreneurs. However, no doubt this is a very timely and important initiative of the central bank.

The writer is Assistant Professor at Royal University of Dhaka.