Women in start-up: A Journey towards Smart Bangladesh

Bangladesh on its mission towards a smart nation having a trillion dollar economy by 2041 kick started its journey with engaging more of its youth at higher value jobs and producing more technology entrepreneurs to create manifolds jobs for the growing number of knowledge workers.

The country has already emerged as the second-largest global source of online workers, while the tech industry believes this is a mere beginning of showcasing the talents here.

Despite starting and walking slower, start-ups in the country have proved their potential in scaling up, creating jobs and helping the development leapfrogging. Over 2,000 start-ups have already created work opportunities for some 15 lakh people.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last month announced that the government eyes 50 unicorn start-ups that would have billion dollar market value each by 2041 and each of them should create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Even though many reputed start-ups including Foodpanda, Shohoz, Prava, Sharetrip, Arogya, and Cholpori were founded and led by women, the tech industry is still reflecting the overall national scenario of lower share of women.

Women, despite making up half of the population, are lagging behind in the formal workforce participation (except for the apparel industry), SME enterprises, and also in corporate leadership.

According to the International Finance Corporation, 18% of the directors of the publicly listed companies in Bangladesh were women in fiscal 2021-22.   

Eastern Bank Ltd (EBL), a top tier private commercial bank that has special focus in gender equality, has recently organised a panel discussion at its head office in the capital where distinguished panelists shared their stories alongside views and thoughts on what are the hurdles for women entrepreneurs in start-ups and how to overcome them.

The session was moderated by EBL Head of Communications and External Affairs Ziaul Karim.

Here is the summarised version.