Handloom festival brings smiles to entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs who participated in the four-day Heritage Handloom Festival at the Shooting Club in the capital's Gulshan have received an overwhelming response from local and foreign visitors, with sales and buying orders surpassing their expectations.

"I hope my total sales will cross at least Tk2 lakh as I sold Tk1.5 lakh in the last three days," said Taharima Begum, a Chapainawabganj-based entrepreneur who was selling nakshi kantha, on Saturday, the last day of the exhibition. She is the proprietor of Noor Nakshi Kantha.

"I also received two export orders from Australian and American buyers at the fair. It's a huge achievement for me. Our traditional nakshi kantha will be spread to foreign countries," she told The Business Standard. 

The fair was jointly organised by the SME Foundation and the Association of Fashion Designers Bangladesh, in which at least 50 entrepreneurs took part. 

Another entrepreneur Esrat Jahan Chowdhury was selling jute goods. "Our products have a huge demand in Europe and America. But, we struggle to tap the opportunity due mainly to less familiarity. The fair helped us showcase our innovative items to local and foreign buyers," she, the owner of "Tulika" brand, said. 

"I received some export orders from France and other countries. Besides, the sales in the fair  are very satisfactory." 

Echoing Taharima and Esrat, several others also expressed their happiness as they found the fair very helpful. They became familiar with a lot of local and foreign buyers. It increased their brand value. 

Niranjan Saha, a Sylhet-based entrepreneur, added that the online initiative of the fair arrangement would boost his sales. "Usually, I used to sell Tk12 lakh per month. Now, many new customers have contacted me. I hope my sales will be higher thanks to the virtual familiarity." 

Buyers from home and abroad, government officials, envoys of different countries visited the 4th edition of the fair that started on 9 February. 

Entrepreneurs from different parts of the countries displayed traditional handloom products – Sonargaon's Jamdani, Mirpur's Benarasi, Tangail Tant, Sirajganj lungi, Nakshi kantha, Cumilla's Khadi, Rajshahi's Silk, Monipuri Tant and others. 

Association of Fashion Designers Bangladesh President Mantasha Ahmed told TBS that this edition of the fair was very participatory. "The fair sold products worth Tk50 lakh and received buying orders worth Tk28 lakh."

"The sales and orders are higher than the last three editions as this year we have arranged the fair both in-person and virtually."  

Last year, the fair took place on a virtual platform. 

"I hope the exhibition will help increase the popularity of our traditional goods at home and abroad." 

SME Foundation Managing Director Md Mofizur Rahman said the fair was a success. "Our main objective was to introduce handloom entrepreneurs with local and foreign buyers, reviving the industry on the verge of extinction, and promote entrepreneurship. 

The fair also featured online promotion, live fashion shows, documentaries projection, seminars and discussion programmes.