Six enterprises were visited in Jashore and Kushtia, Bangladesh in order to see the impact of the loans that these enterprises received, which are backed by credit guarantee scheme developed by UNCDF and Bangladesh Bank.Tune in our dual-key webpage to follow these stories.

Jahanara Begum had to go through a long and arduous journey to become a successful entrepreneur. She started her business “Rafiu Boutiques & Handicrafts”, from her home and grew it little by little over the years. She has won many awards for being an inspiring women entrepreneur and her interviews were published across different media outlets.

Rafiu Boutiques & Handicrafts has 3 fixed employees who are female, and they are allowed to work from home if they want. Other than that, she has 12 managers (contractual) among which 4 are male and 8 are female. Under these 12 managers she has more than 1000 female workers (weavers, block-boutique designers) who are spread out across the different villages of Jashore.
Jahanara Begum has an impressive portfolio of both national and international buyers. Beaming with pride Jahanara Begum said:

“I have buyers in 55 districts of Bangladesh, 1 in London. I will be shipping to my buyer in London after 4^th September when her summer vacation ends.”

Jahanara Begum, Founder, Rafiu Boutiques & Handicrafts

Jahanara was an early adopter of reaching out to online businesses for collaboration. She currently has 8~10 buyers who operate pages and clothing business on Facebook. They buy the cloths from Jahanara at a wholesale rate and then sell those via their Facebook page. Rafiu Boutiques & Handicrafts has their own YouTube Channel and Facebook Page. They do not have any showroom.

When speaking with one of Rafiu Boutique’s employees Tumpa, we learnt that Tumpa has formal training from “Shishu O Nari Unnayan Kallyan Sangstha” on boutique design, block design, sewing and weaving. She trains the other workers if they require training. Ms. Jahanara Begum also trains the workers personally on how to sew, weave and do different boutique and block designs. During training period, she makes sure that the workers are well-fed.

COVID-19 Impact

When lockdown was imposed due to COVID-19, the biggest problems Rafiu Boutiques & Handicrafts faced were:
- financial problems
- transportation problem
- worker shortage

Before the COVID-19 Jahanara had around 700 contractual workers. When the pandemic started, she had to let go almost 200 contractual workers because she would not have been able to pay them. Since Rafiu Boutiques & Handicraft’s number of workers decreased, it’s productivity also decreased by approximately 25%.

COVID-19 Impact on Sales

Surprisingly, during COVID-19 Rafiu Boutiques & Handicrafts sales and number of orders increased. Jahanara thinks this is because of the fact that online clothing sales increased during the pandemic and since a lot of Facebook Pages buy their clothes in wholesale from Rafiu Boutiques, hence Jahanara’s sales and number of orders also increased. In her own words:

“I kind of struggled to meet the increased orders because my worker and productivity was reduced. I am thankful to God that most of my buyers are Facebook Pages who do their business online.”
- Jahanara Begum, Founder, Rafiu Boutiques & Handicrafts

COVID-19 Measures Taken by Entrepreneur:
When the pandemic started Jahanara instructed her employees and workers to stay home and maintain extra caution due to the coronavirus. Red Crescent Society Bangladesh Jahanara some financial assistance for COVID-19, which she distributed that among the workers who were most effected during the pandemic.

She also told them to go visit a doctor if they are feeling sick. In general, Jahanara Begum tries to give her workers advice bout menstrual health and tips on how to live properly during pregnancy.

COVID-19 Measures Taken by Workers:
We talked with one of Rafiu Boutique & Handicrafts employees called Tumpa, who has been working with Rafiu Boutiques ever since its inception. COVID-19 hampered by Tumpa’s children’s study and her husband’s business. She let us know that they had to go through a lot of financial struggles because of the pandemic. According to Tumpa, Ms. Jahanara Begum, her employer, helped us as much as she possibly can during the height of the pandemic.

Tumpa validated the fact that Ms. Jahanara Begum got financial assistance from Red Crescent Society Bangladesh which she disbursed among the workers. In order to stay safe from the coronavirus Tumpa and other workers always wear masks and sanitizes their hand frequently. They are also extra cautious to not let their children go outside the home during the pandemic.

CGS Impact:
Industrial Development Leasing Company (IDLC), which is the participating financial institution (PFI) for the CGS agreement between Bangladesh Bank & UNCDF, provided Jahanara a loan of BDT 800,000 at 7% interest rate per annum. She has to make monthly repayments and till date Jahanara has successfully made all the monthly repayments on time.

The amount is automatically deducted from her bank account every month, so Jahanara doesn’t have the hassle to go to the bank to make repayments.
After getting the loan, Jahanara was able to hire approximately 500 additional contractual workers and 6 additional managers, which led her to have a total number of more than 1000 contractual workers in the field.

With the additional workforce Rafiu Boutique & Handicrafts productivity increased by almost 50%. Recently Daraz.com.bd, one of the biggest online marketplaces in Bangladesh contacted Jahanara Begum and offered her to open a store on their website.

Rafiu Boutiques currently has 6-7 manual sewing machines. They are planning to buy more machines and create a mini factory of sorts if they receive additional funding. “My dream is to have a factory in my ground floor while I live in the upper floors of the building.” Jahanara added.