Editor's Note

Hope Grows

Rahima Begum is the next story in our list of successful women entrepreneurs. Her business is crabs. In the interview that follows she talks about the rewards and hardships of starting a business from scratch and seeing poverty slowly disappear from their lives. Rahima started her business with a loan of only taka 3000 and currently she owns over four acres of land for her crab cultivation project and has a bunch of people working under her. From her interview, you can sense that she lacks a formal education. These are entrepreneurs who have done good business because they have had no choice- it all starts out as a matter of survival. There are no MBAs here, no corporate balance sheets. In fact, Rahima Begum has trouble even keeping basic accounts. But she's trying, and getting better at it every day. The successes of these barely-literate entrepreneurs are especially noteworthy.

Another such story is of a village that exports a crore taka worth of flutes every year. Who would've thought that these little pieces of bamboo would become a major source or revenue and a livelihood for all its inhabitants? Flute-making has become a part of everyday life for these villagers. This is just another one of many villages in Bangladesh that has its very own flavor and lifestyle- its own world.

Abak Hussain
From the Insight Desk

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