NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, June 16, 2014

Six microentrepreneurs and two micro-lenders yesterday won prestigious awards for creating jobs for themselves and for others as well as helping small borrowers make their way up the economic prosperity ladder.
M Abdul Mannan, state minister for finance and planning, handed the Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards among the winners at the capital’s Sonargaon Hotel.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman gave away the prize money and Rashed Maqsood, country officer of Citibank NA Bangladesh, handed the certificates.
Samsad Akter from Baliadangi in Thakurgaon won a trophy as the Best Microentrepreneur of the Year in recognition of her long struggle against poverty.
Nicknamed Mukti, which is freedom in English, Samsad set up a factory to produce mattresses in 2005 and did not look back since. She now employs 150 workers in her locality in the underprivileged part of the country.
“I want to expand the factory. Now my products are sold within the country, but I also want to export them,” she said in her immediate reaction. She also called for interest-free loans to expand her factory further.
Apart from the trophy, Samsad received Tk 4.5 lakh as prize money.
In the same category, Samirunnahar Begum from Shaymnagar in Satkhira became the runner-up and won Tk 1 lakh as prize money.
Roksana Begum from Bhaluka in Mymensingh was recognised as the Best Woman Microentrepreneur of the Year, for setting up a paper cone making factory that changed her fate and also that of many others in the neighbourhood.
In her journey towards prosperity from poverty, she has created 30 permanent jobs and 20 temporary ones.
Roksana said: “Thanks to the factory, I am doing well now. Some people of my area are also doing fine.”