Women entrepreneurship: the success story of Tripti Poultry Farm
Monday, 24 November 2008
Md. Dilwar Hossain Bhuiyan
"THOUGH I was married at a very young age, I always knew that I was made for some thing more." This is how Shahnaz Hossain, one of the world's greatest woman entrepreneurs expresses herself when she tells her story of success. Credited with single- handedly placing Indian herbals on the world cosmetic map, Shahnaz's success story -- that of young girl from a conservative family who rose to become an international trailblazer in the field of herbals -- is now a legend. Having completed 25 years in the business, the self-taught marketing miracle reveals her formula for success.
"In life, you get what you negotiate. Any woman has the capacity to do what I did, it doesn't matter what you want, what matters is how badly you want it." Interestingly, Shahnaz has never advertised her product, a fact that had Harvard in the US wanting to use her marketing system as case study.
In Bangladesh, women's entry into business is not a very old phenomenon. But women in our country have got themselves into business for both pull-and-push factors. Pull factors imply the factors which encourage women to start an occupation or venture with an urge to do something independently. Push factors refer to those factors which compel women to take up their own business to tide over their economic difficulties and responsibilities.
Since half the population of Bangladesh is females, promotion of women entrepreneurship should form an integral part of our development efforts. According to a recent United Nations report, "In countries where women have advanced, the economy has usually been steady. By contrast, in countries where women have been restricted, the economy has been stagnant."
Women are coming up as entrepreneurs to make significant contribution, especially running small and medium enterprises. Many organisations assisted women entrepreneurs, providing different facilities including in training and marketing. Women have emerged as successful manufacturers, exporters, business agents, order suppliers etc., and have ventured to take up challenging tasks previously unknown to them.
Efforts are on at the government level to tap the hitherto unrecognised and unaccounted for strength of women to integrate them in the process of industrial development, especially in small and medium enterprises. Some of the recent government policies for developing women entrepreneurship are mentioned below:
* SME Policy Strategies 2005 points out women entrepreneurs will be accorded preference, wherever appropriate, and efforts to accelerate the retention and promotion of women entrepreneurs should be strengthened.
* Industrial Policy 2005 stipulates several useful goals to broaden the participation of women entrepreneurs such as identifying women entrepreneurs capable of running independent and self-sufficient industries.
* Export Promotion Strategy Paper 2006-2009 declares that it is necessary to reduce the discrimination between men and women, and to integrate more and more women in business development activities.
* Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2000-2015 emphasises, among other things, employment generation for women.
* Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP)-2004, following up policy initiative in line with MDGs, advocates setting up separate programmes for women's entrepreneurship development.
* Prudential Regulations for SME Financing of Bangladesh Bank -- 2004 and Micro Credit Regulatory Act-2006 also demonstrate government's commitment to Women Entrepreneurship Development.
Women entrepreneurs' efforts to accelerate the growth of the economy i.,e., the gross domestic product (GDP), often go unnoticed. This reminds one of famous lines of a poem.
"Full many a flower is born to blush unseen
And wastes its sweetness in the desert air
Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear".
An immense contribution of entrepreneur Nahid Sultana Tripti of Bogra to the society remains unnoticed and unrecognised.
The Karmasangsthan Bank sanctioned a loan of Tk 1.2 million for the 20,000-broiler chicken project of Tripti Poultry Farm, slashing the credit proposal for Tk 1.5 million sent by the Bogra branch of the bank. A visit to the project in remote part of Bogra explained the success story of Tripti. Her farm is a testimony to what hard work, grit and determination can do.
In Satni, her village in the remote Adamdighi upazila, 55 kilometers from Bogra, most of the people are farmers and mat makers. She was married at the age of 14 when she was a student of Class VIII. Her husband Kamal, then an unemployed youth, somehow supported his family by cultivating four bighas of paternal land.
After her marriage, Tripti passed SSC from Chhatni Dhekra High School in 1995 securing first division. Because of poverty, she could not continue her studies and had to take a job with an NGO to support the family. After a two-year break, Tripti passed the HSC in second division in 1999 from Shantahar Government College. At that time, she had no work and was worried about the future of her family. She decided to help her husband by doing something herself.
In 1998, Tripti set up a small farm with 150 layer-chickens (pullet) in the corridor of her husband's house. She was 18 at that time. Tripti understood that she must know many things about farming. She decided to take training and in 2001 joined a three-month training on livestock and fishery in Bogra conducted by Youth Development Directorate. Every morning she prepared food for her children and husband and went to Bogra by bus. After classes, she came back home in the evening to prepare food for the family. Since Tripti had no time at home to read the training materials, she used to read them in the bus while going to Bogra and on the way back home.
Karmasangsthan Bank's Bogra branch manager A Khaleque Mia was a resource person of the training programme. Easy, simple and transparent loaning procedures of the bank inspired Tripti to borrow from it to expand her business.
On advice from the manager, Tripti built the shades for the project and contacted the branch for a loan. The manager visited the project, far away from Bogra, and was in a dilemma whether or not to lend to the project, run by a woman. But her achievement, motivation, and performance in the training programme, in which she stood first, as well as the way she built the shades for the project encouraged the bank to financing the project.
In 2001, the Karmasangsthan Bank provided a loan of Tk 88,000 to Tripti for a project of layer chickens. She borrowed an additional amount of Tk 60,000 from her mother-in-law and established a farm of 800 chickens. After repaying the bank loan, she did not have any savings. In 2003, Tripti took another loan of Tk 1,00,000 from the bank for expansion of the layer chicken farm. As the chicks for the layer birds were not available in time, she, in consultation with the bank branch, purchased 1000 chicks of broiler chickens which gave her good returns in two subsequent batches. This encouraged her to go for broiler chicken farming, instead of the layers.
When the broiler chickens of the subsequent batch were ready for sale, bird flue panic spread for the first time, to bring broiler price down to Tk 30 per kg from Tk 60. A loss of Tk 40,000 she incurred could not deter her out of the thinking that only by taking the risk she can develop her farm. She bought from Goalanda Hatchery chicks at the rate of Tk 5.0 and the feed on condition that she would pay from the sale proceeds. After the outbreak of bird flue, no entrepreneur dared to continue in the business. But Tripti invested all her money in making more shades and took 4500 chicks and the food from Goalanda Hatchery. Out of that batch, she sold chickens at the rate of Tk 65 per kg. She recovered earlier losses. She did not have to look back anymore. She repaid the entire bank loan and again took a loan of Tk 2,60,000. As the business expanded, the bank lent her Tk 5,00,000.
In the mean time, some of her shades were damaged by floods in 2005. But as the word 'failure' is not there in her vocabulary, she went ahead with greater zeal and determination. Satisfied with her excellent business and repayment, the Karmasangsthan Bank lent her Tk 12,00,000 in 2008. Tripti could not provide any collateral for the loan as she had no land of her own. But her husband and a brother-in-law stood guarantors.
Tripti bought a refrigerator, colour television, cell phones and a motor bike for her husband, to help her in the business. She purchased 2.50 acres of land in the vicinity of her house for at Tk 3,50,000. On it, for the project, she built two shades, with foundation for five-storey structures at a cost of Tk 14,00,000. Now Tripti has 20,00,000 broiler chickens in 11 shades. She makes profit of Tk 2,00,000 from every batch. She takes care of the chickens herself. Her husband helps her in collection of chicks and the food and in marketing the chickens. Besides, she employs 20 people to run the farm. Tripti runs a dealership, from where other adjoining farms buy chicks. "An approach road to the project would make it easier for me to run business", Tripti said. She requested the concerned authorities for the road several times.
Credit from Karmasangsthan Bank has changed Tripti's life. Everyone in the village respects Tripti. She is invited to participate in decision-making in village matters. She has strong sense of belonging to village, and the poor there get chickens for marriage of their children for free. Tripti has moved with her family to Naogaon town for the education of her two kids. She wants to educate her children properly and build a house in the town. Tripti has proved, what a woman can do.
Tripti is role model in a resource scarce and over-populated country like Bangladesh, where nearly half of the population are women.
The writer is general manager, the Karmasangsthan Bank
"THOUGH I was married at a very young age, I always knew that I was made for some thing more." This is how Shahnaz Hossain, one of the world's greatest woman entrepreneurs expresses herself when she tells her story of success. Credited with single- handedly placing Indian herbals on the world cosmetic map, Shahnaz's success story -- that of young girl from a conservative family who rose to become an international trailblazer in the field of herbals -- is now a legend. Having completed 25 years in the business, the self-taught marketing miracle reveals her formula for success.
"In life, you get what you negotiate. Any woman has the capacity to do what I did, it doesn't matter what you want, what matters is how badly you want it." Interestingly, Shahnaz has never advertised her product, a fact that had Harvard in the US wanting to use her marketing system as case study.
In Bangladesh, women's entry into business is not a very old phenomenon. But women in our country have got themselves into business for both pull-and-push factors. Pull factors imply the factors which encourage women to start an occupation or venture with an urge to do something independently. Push factors refer to those factors which compel women to take up their own business to tide over their economic difficulties and responsibilities.
Since half the population of Bangladesh is females, promotion of women entrepreneurship should form an integral part of our development efforts. According to a recent United Nations report, "In countries where women have advanced, the economy has usually been steady. By contrast, in countries where women have been restricted, the economy has been stagnant."
Women are coming up as entrepreneurs to make significant contribution, especially running small and medium enterprises. Many organisations assisted women entrepreneurs, providing different facilities including in training and marketing. Women have emerged as successful manufacturers, exporters, business agents, order suppliers etc., and have ventured to take up challenging tasks previously unknown to them.
Efforts are on at the government level to tap the hitherto unrecognised and unaccounted for strength of women to integrate them in the process of industrial development, especially in small and medium enterprises. Some of the recent government policies for developing women entrepreneurship are mentioned below:
* SME Policy Strategies 2005 points out women entrepreneurs will be accorded preference, wherever appropriate, and efforts to accelerate the retention and promotion of women entrepreneurs should be strengthened.
* Industrial Policy 2005 stipulates several useful goals to broaden the participation of women entrepreneurs such as identifying women entrepreneurs capable of running independent and self-sufficient industries.
* Export Promotion Strategy Paper 2006-2009 declares that it is necessary to reduce the discrimination between men and women, and to integrate more and more women in business development activities.
* Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2000-2015 emphasises, among other things, employment generation for women.
* Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP)-2004, following up policy initiative in line with MDGs, advocates setting up separate programmes for women's entrepreneurship development.
* Prudential Regulations for SME Financing of Bangladesh Bank -- 2004 and Micro Credit Regulatory Act-2006 also demonstrate government's commitment to Women Entrepreneurship Development.
Women entrepreneurs' efforts to accelerate the growth of the economy i.,e., the gross domestic product (GDP), often go unnoticed. This reminds one of famous lines of a poem.
"Full many a flower is born to blush unseen
And wastes its sweetness in the desert air
Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear".
An immense contribution of entrepreneur Nahid Sultana Tripti of Bogra to the society remains unnoticed and unrecognised.
The Karmasangsthan Bank sanctioned a loan of Tk 1.2 million for the 20,000-broiler chicken project of Tripti Poultry Farm, slashing the credit proposal for Tk 1.5 million sent by the Bogra branch of the bank. A visit to the project in remote part of Bogra explained the success story of Tripti. Her farm is a testimony to what hard work, grit and determination can do.
In Satni, her village in the remote Adamdighi upazila, 55 kilometers from Bogra, most of the people are farmers and mat makers. She was married at the age of 14 when she was a student of Class VIII. Her husband Kamal, then an unemployed youth, somehow supported his family by cultivating four bighas of paternal land.
After her marriage, Tripti passed SSC from Chhatni Dhekra High School in 1995 securing first division. Because of poverty, she could not continue her studies and had to take a job with an NGO to support the family. After a two-year break, Tripti passed the HSC in second division in 1999 from Shantahar Government College. At that time, she had no work and was worried about the future of her family. She decided to help her husband by doing something herself.
In 1998, Tripti set up a small farm with 150 layer-chickens (pullet) in the corridor of her husband's house. She was 18 at that time. Tripti understood that she must know many things about farming. She decided to take training and in 2001 joined a three-month training on livestock and fishery in Bogra conducted by Youth Development Directorate. Every morning she prepared food for her children and husband and went to Bogra by bus. After classes, she came back home in the evening to prepare food for the family. Since Tripti had no time at home to read the training materials, she used to read them in the bus while going to Bogra and on the way back home.
Karmasangsthan Bank's Bogra branch manager A Khaleque Mia was a resource person of the training programme. Easy, simple and transparent loaning procedures of the bank inspired Tripti to borrow from it to expand her business.
On advice from the manager, Tripti built the shades for the project and contacted the branch for a loan. The manager visited the project, far away from Bogra, and was in a dilemma whether or not to lend to the project, run by a woman. But her achievement, motivation, and performance in the training programme, in which she stood first, as well as the way she built the shades for the project encouraged the bank to financing the project.
In 2001, the Karmasangsthan Bank provided a loan of Tk 88,000 to Tripti for a project of layer chickens. She borrowed an additional amount of Tk 60,000 from her mother-in-law and established a farm of 800 chickens. After repaying the bank loan, she did not have any savings. In 2003, Tripti took another loan of Tk 1,00,000 from the bank for expansion of the layer chicken farm. As the chicks for the layer birds were not available in time, she, in consultation with the bank branch, purchased 1000 chicks of broiler chickens which gave her good returns in two subsequent batches. This encouraged her to go for broiler chicken farming, instead of the layers.
When the broiler chickens of the subsequent batch were ready for sale, bird flue panic spread for the first time, to bring broiler price down to Tk 30 per kg from Tk 60. A loss of Tk 40,000 she incurred could not deter her out of the thinking that only by taking the risk she can develop her farm. She bought from Goalanda Hatchery chicks at the rate of Tk 5.0 and the feed on condition that she would pay from the sale proceeds. After the outbreak of bird flue, no entrepreneur dared to continue in the business. But Tripti invested all her money in making more shades and took 4500 chicks and the food from Goalanda Hatchery. Out of that batch, she sold chickens at the rate of Tk 65 per kg. She recovered earlier losses. She did not have to look back anymore. She repaid the entire bank loan and again took a loan of Tk 2,60,000. As the business expanded, the bank lent her Tk 5,00,000.
In the mean time, some of her shades were damaged by floods in 2005. But as the word 'failure' is not there in her vocabulary, she went ahead with greater zeal and determination. Satisfied with her excellent business and repayment, the Karmasangsthan Bank lent her Tk 12,00,000 in 2008. Tripti could not provide any collateral for the loan as she had no land of her own. But her husband and a brother-in-law stood guarantors.
Tripti bought a refrigerator, colour television, cell phones and a motor bike for her husband, to help her in the business. She purchased 2.50 acres of land in the vicinity of her house for at Tk 3,50,000. On it, for the project, she built two shades, with foundation for five-storey structures at a cost of Tk 14,00,000. Now Tripti has 20,00,000 broiler chickens in 11 shades. She makes profit of Tk 2,00,000 from every batch. She takes care of the chickens herself. Her husband helps her in collection of chicks and the food and in marketing the chickens. Besides, she employs 20 people to run the farm. Tripti runs a dealership, from where other adjoining farms buy chicks. "An approach road to the project would make it easier for me to run business", Tripti said. She requested the concerned authorities for the road several times.
Credit from Karmasangsthan Bank has changed Tripti's life. Everyone in the village respects Tripti. She is invited to participate in decision-making in village matters. She has strong sense of belonging to village, and the poor there get chickens for marriage of their children for free. Tripti has moved with her family to Naogaon town for the education of her two kids. She wants to educate her children properly and build a house in the town. Tripti has proved, what a woman can do.
Tripti is role model in a resource scarce and over-populated country like Bangladesh, where nearly half of the population are women.
The writer is general manager, the Karmasangsthan Bank