Says Wahiduddin Mahmud at the Citi microentrepreneurship awards launch
Former caretaker government advisor and economist Wahiduddin Mahmud on Thursday said the country’s micro-entrepreneurs, garment workers and farmers were keeping the economy vibrant despite barriers put up by politicians. He said that the politicians should take lessons from these hard working people who were bringing forward the economy. ‘Despite political chaos, hiccups of democracy and good governance, the micro-entrepreneurs, garment workers and rural farmers are leading the economy ahead,’ Wahiduddin said at the launching ceremony of Citi Micro-Entrepreneurship Awards at a city hotel on Thursday morning.
‘You [politicians] put up barriers in different ways and they [micro-entrepreneurs, garment workers and rural farmers] take up the challenges of economic development. They will keep this trend on. You [politicians] should be ashamed of this and take lessons from them,’ he said.
Citi Foundation arranged the function.
Mahmud said there were some 25 lakhs micro-entrepreneurs and some two crores micro-credit beneficiaries in the country who were running home-based production system to keep the country’s GDP up to 6 per cent.
Such production system, along with remittance and earnings from apparel sector, prevented the debacle of the country’s economy from global economic recession, he said.
He also asked the banking sector to make the access to loan easy for the micro-entrepreneurs as they were facing different challenges.
Rokeya A Rahman, another former advisor to caretaker government, said Bangladesh was doing good to achieve millennium
development goals as the country’s rural economy was developing.
She said: ‘While India and other developing countries make doctors, engineers and architects to achieve MDG, we’ve reached to villages and made around 25 lakhs micro-entrepreneurs, which have turned as a blessing to us’.
Citi Foundation announced awards to the micro-entrepreneurs on the occasion. Rashed Maqsood, Citi country officer of Bangladesh, said this was the 9th time the Citi Foundation, an initiative of Citibank NA Bangladesh, awarding micro-entrepreneurs.
He said, this year, they will award micro-entrepreneurs around the country in five categories – Best Agricultural Micro-entrepreneur of the year with Tk 3,50,000, Best Women Micro-entrepreneur of the year with Tk 3,50,000, Best Micro-entrepreneur of the year with Tk 5,00,000, Best Microfinance Institution of the year with Tk 3,50,000 and Most Innovative Microfinance Institution of the year with Tk 6,00,000. Besides, each will be given a crest and certificate.
The award will be given in March 2014.
Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Selima Ahmed, Shakti Foundation for Disadvantaged Women founder executive director Humaira Islam and Credit and Development Forum executive director Md Abdul Awal also attended the function.
-With New Age input
