Zakir Ali Robin: Dhaka, 30 March 2019- In collaboration with Women’s Economic Empowerment through Strengthening Market
Systems (WEESMS), BAGDOOM.com celebrated International Women’s Day 2019 and the first anniversary of
Krishti- the first digital marketplace for rural women entrepreneurs at Four Points by Sheraton. Krishti is a Women’s
Empowerment initiative focused on providing rural women entrepreneurs more advanced platform to sell their
products nationwide and expand their customer base. WEESMS Programme is funded by the Embassy of Sweden
and implemented by iDE Bangladesh and The Asia Foundation and is currently working in Rangpur and Khulna
division across 9 districts in Home Textiles and Jute Diversified Products and Processed and Packaged Foods.
The day was filled with interactive panel discussions and shared learning and highlighted some of the achievements
of the rural women entrepreneurs. The first panel discussion was on "Challenges & Opportunities of Rural Women:
Direct Access to Markets & Digital Inclusiveness" with a star-studded panel including Rokia Afzal Rahman, President
of Bangladesh Federation of Women Entrepreneurs, Sara Zaker, Executive Vice Chairperson of Asiatic3sixty,
Tashina Ahmed, Executive Director of UCEP and Mominul Islam, CEO of IPDC Finance Limited and was moderated
by Deepak Dhoj Khadka, Country Director of iDE Bangladesh.
The second panel discussion was on the topic “Networking, Mentoring and Coaching Support for Women SMEs” with
panelists including Farzana Khan the General Manager of SME Foundation, Sakera Begum Banu ‘Joyeeta
Sammanana’ winner and social activist, Humaira Islam the Founder and Executive Director, Shakti Foundation and
was moderated by Nasim Firdaus, Former Ambassador. Sara Taylor, Country Representative of The Asia Foundation
encouraged programmes to be cautious not to perpetuate stereotypical gender roles and emphasized the
significance of including rural women entrepreneurs in mentoring and networking discussions, as their challenges are
distinctly different from the urban entrepreneurs.
Speakers at the event emphasized on the financial products available for women and the digital revolution playing a
big role in connecting rural women entrepreneurs with buyers online, excluding the intermediaries and getting a fair
price for their products.
Speaking at the occasion, Ms. Rokia Afzal said “Access to finance is now there for women. It wasn’t the case when I
started out. However, I don’t think enough rural women have access to it, because banks tend to be focus more on
the larger corporate clients than the rural micro and cottage entrepreneurs.”
On the other hand, the CEO of BAGDOOM stated that “Krishti by BAGDOOM in partnership with WEESMS, is the
first digital market-place which is meant to cater direct access to market for rural women entrepreneurs providing
nationwide customers with quality yet value for money home-made textiles and jute diversified products. This Krishti
project not only empowers all our rural women entrepreneurs to reach out nation directly, and at scale, but is also
actionable under digital and financial inclusion (among other key components), through bagdoom.com."
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