Banks and non-bank financial institutions should come forward to finance the women entrepreneurs as only 30 per cent of them have so far got access to credit facilities.
Lack of adequate financing hinders women empowerment although loan recovery from women entrepreneurs is almost hundred per cent, speakers at a daylong conference of women entrepreneurs on Thursday said.
Bangladesh Bank organised the conference in association with the scheduled banks, NBFIs, JICA and CARE Bangladesh at Ruposhi Bangla hotel in the capital.
BB governor Atiur Rahman inaugurated the conference and exhibition as chief guest.
Atiur said that some banks were reluctant to sanction loans for women entrepreneurs and as a result the women failed to go forward appropriately.
The central bank has allocated 15 per cent of its SME refinance scheme for the women entrepreneurs to encourage the business women, he said.
The BB is now closely monitoring in this connection so that the female entrepreneurs can get greater access to bank finance easily, he said.
The central bank is going to take initiative to provide loans ranging from Tk 50,000 or below the amount for the women entrepreneurs so that they could utilize the fund to purchase computer, laptop or other information technology related equipments, he said.
The BB governor said the government should set up a separate economic zone to promote the women entrepreneurs.
BB deputy governor Md Abul Quasem said loan recovery from women entrepreneurs was almost hundred per cent and hence the banks’ finance should be most secure in investing the female owned enterprises.
For this reasons, the banks and the NBFIs should take more initiative to extend finance to the women entrepreneurs, he said.
Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries president Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed said that the country’s apex trade oraganisation wished to set up women chamber in every district.
He said, ‘I desire that every woman entrepreneur will be attached to the FBCCI. There are seven women chambers in the country. The FBCCI has recently received 10 applications to set up women chambers’.
Association of Bankers, Bangladesh chairman Ali Reza Iftekhar said that the authorities concerned should take initiative to create a business favorable environment for the women entrepreneurs.
Iftekhar, who is also the managing director and chief executive officer of Eastern Bank, said that only 30 per cent women entrepreneurs could avail the bank finance although the return from the women was excellent.
The banks and the NBFIs should not take it as a corporate social responsibility to grant loans for women entrepreneurs as the business women usually do not become defaulters, he said.
Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Rokia Afzal Rahman said that the BB should ensure to provide at least 10 per cent of its total disbursed SME loans in a year for women entrepreneurs as the central bank had earlier set the rules.
She said that the central bank should continue its support to the women entrepreneurs in the days to come.
JICA Bangladesh office chief representative Mikio Hataeda said that his oraginsation would continue the financial support to Bangladesh government to strengthen the women entrepreneurship.
A number of entrepreneurs have already received SME loans with lower rate of interest from the JICA refinancing scheme which is operated by the BB.
BB board member Hannana Begum, DCCI president Mohammad Shahjahan Khan, CARE Bangladesh country director Jamie Terzi, SME faculty consultant of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management Sukamal Sinha Chowdhury also addressed the conference.
Around five hundred women entrepreneurs from different parts of the country took part in the conference.
The products of the women entrepreneurs were displayed at 78 stalls in the conference premise.
-With New Age input
