A United Nations agency has conducted a survey on the country's groceries in an attempt to make those more efficient.
The survey by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) was carried out on some 2,100 groceries across the country with FMCGs (fast moving consumer goods) retailers.
FMCGs or consumer packaged goods are products that are sold quickly and at relatively low cost at retail stores.
The main objective of the study is to provide the country's thousands of groceries with the formal and digitalised landscape.
The UNCDF Wednesday presented the survey at a workshop held at the FBCCI, seeking further recommendations on it.
The survey is part of a three-year project styled SHIFT (Shaping Inclusive Finance Transportations), funded by the European Union while the UNCDF is the lead of the project.
The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and Bangladesh Dokan Malik Samity, a group of retailers across the country, are partners of the SHIFT project meant for enhancing growth and competitiveness of retail merchants in rural Bangladesh.
Md. Eunusur Rahman, senior secretary of ministry of finance, attended the validation workshop on "Fast Moving Consumer Goods Micro-Merchants Landscape Assessment" as the chief guest.
The FBCCI senior Vice President Sheikh Fazle Fahim was the moderator.
The programme was also attended by Vincent Wierda, Regional Advisor of the UNCDF, Md. Muntakim Ashraf, vice president of the FBCCI, and Md. Ashraful Alam, country project coordinator of SHIFT Bangladesh.
FBCCI directors, representatives from multinational and local marketing companies and the leading business persons of the country were present.
Speaking as the chief guest, Eunusur Rahman said the expansion of agent banking in rural areas will reach out to more people.
"The present government is working relentlessly to reduce extreme poverty from 10 per cent to 6.0 per cent," the senior secretary said.
FBCCI senior vice president Sheikh Fazle Fahim said that micro merchants were important in maintaining the checks and balances in the economy, particularly in rural areas.
Through this programme, the FBCCI will work toward enhancing the role of the private sector in ensuring that the right initiatives are taken for greater financial inclusion through Digital Financial Service, he said.
The present study has been commissioned by the UNCDF under the micro-merchant component to develop a dataset of merchant enterprises in Bangladesh and build meaningful knowledge about the merchant industry.
[email protected]
