Speakers at a seminar on Monday observed that the overall trading across borders has remained challenging in Bangladesh while women-owned businesses face even more difficulties compared to their male counterparts.
They said this is mostly due to their lack of knowledge about policies and procedures for export and import, limited ICT orientation and exposure to service providers.
Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD), in collaboration with IFC, organized the seminar titled “Dissemination Seminar on Policy Recommendations to Make Trading Across Border Easier for Women-Owned Businesses” aiming to make trading across borders easier for women-owned businesses.
To address the issue, BUILD and International Finance Corporation, under the Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund (BICF) project supported by the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), had previously organized 14 virtual orientation and awareness workshops for women-owned businesses on trade procedures from different divisions and districts of Bangladesh.
Training was given to women entrepreneurs on general business procedures, trade-related online and manual services provided by the government, rules and regulations for operating formal businesses in Bangladesh and government announced policy benefits, especially for women entrepreneurs.
Through these workshops, the project has reached approximately 27,000 women entrepreneurs, government representatives, and start-ups and other stakeholders.
During these workshops, the participants shared the major challenges and issues faced by them. Following which, a report has been prepared with policy recommendations to address these challenges which was disseminated in the event.
Major challenges shared by women-owned businesses during the workshops included business formalization (traditional and e-commerce), cumbersome trade licensing processes and high renewal fees, getting collateral-free loans and loans from stimulus packages from banks and financial institutions, lack of knowledge on effective marketing and branding, and inability to fully revive from the direct impacts of COVID-19 and to access government announced incentives.
High registration fees, poor buyer-seller linkage within and beyond the country, raw material availability, and branding non-traditional products produced by women-owned businesses were also identified as challenges.
Sharifa Khan, Member (Secretary), Planning Commission, was present at the workshop as Chief Guest. Representatives from Bangladesh Bank, Office of the Chief Controller of Imports and Exports (CCI&I), National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the Ministry of Commerce participated in the workshop as the panelists.
Nusrat Nahid Babi, Task Team Leader for Trade Competitiveness for Export Diversification project, IFC, MashfiqueIbne Akbar, Private Sector Development Adviser, FCDO, and Nihad Kabir, Chairperson, BUILD and Ferdaus Ara Begum, CEO, BUILD also spoke at the event among others.
