Cottage and micro businesses cry for cash, marketplaces to revive

When this lockdown shut New Market or Banga Bazar in Dhaka, Fatema Akter in a Munshiganj village was in extreme stress as sales of her handcrafted textile goods also evaporated.

The numerous shops in those markets are the main outlets for her products.

"With sales of Tk5 lakh, I made a handsome profit even in 2020. But this year, I have already made a loss of Tk21,000 as I could not sell anything to the retailers in Dhaka," said Fatema, a skilled craft worker.

She said she used to get Tk800-Tk1,200 for crafting a saree and Tk400-Tk2,500 for stitching a nakshi kantha.

Lockdown has kept markets and shopping malls shut, putting a halt to supplies from the countryside, leaving micro and cottage entrepreneurs without work and income.

Demand for handicraft and cottage industry products has plummeted since the pandemic made inroads into the country in March last year. And a series of lockdowns has made it difficult for artisans to market whatever products they make in family workshops.

Fatema said her workshop has 65 workers, and all of them are in dire straits. More than a dozen women entrepreneurs in Munshiganj on the outskirts of the capital echoed Fatema about their financial troubles.

Many entrepreneurs in the district's Mollar Char, Khaleast and Sirajdikhan upazila have shuttered their businesses, while the pandemic-led crisis forced some others to switch to different professions.

Safia Khatun, president of a women entrepreneurs' platform, Mahila Kalyan Samity, said their product orders have evaporated because of Covid-19.

Safia said members of the platform usually produce block prints and batik fabrics, make bead jewellery and bamboo products.

Around 60 women – a number of them widows and physically challenged – work at Ekota Mahila Unnayan Samity in Munshiganj municipality.

"We came here to earn, but all of us are now in serious trouble as the demand for handicraft items and the market itself has crumbled," said Pakhi Begum of the Samity.

Aleya Ferdous, acting deputy director at the District Women Affairs Office, said they provided women entrepreneurs with low-cost loans and would continue all-out support in the future too.

Once the virus situation improves, Aleya said they would open a parlour and display centre to facilitate the sales of handicrafts and other items. Munshiganj Deputy Commissioner Kazi Nahid Rasul also said they would help the virus-hit women entrepreneurs.