Change in men’s attitude accelerating women’s progress: Manjuma Morshed

Manjuma Morshed is a successful woman entrepreneur in Chattogram. She has been working for women's empowerment and education from the port city. Besides establishing herself as an entrepreneur, she is also promoting small women entrepreneurs to move forward in various ways.

Manjuma thinks that at one time men had a negative attitude towards women trying to become self-reliant, but in the last decade, that attitude has changed a lot, accelerating the advancement of women.

She told The Business Standard, "Today, women are taking all kinds of jobs. The main reason behind the progress is the change in the mentality of men. I have two business partners who are men. But in their behaviour, I never feel that I am a woman in any way."

Manjuma is the proprietor of the M&M Business Communication and Educational Institution and admission consulting firm 'Mentors' in Chattogram. She is also the country head of Winning Magnitude Bangladesh, an Institute of Higher Education in Malaysia.

She spent her childhood and adolescence in Iran as her father served as a physician there. She returned to Bangladesh when she was in 7th grade. She passed SSC and HSC from Shaheed Anwar Girls School and College in Dhaka. After passing HSC in 1996, she got married to Shamim Majumder, a businessman from Chattogram. After a break of study due to the birth of her son, she completed her graduation from Chattogram College in 2004. 

Sharing her story, Manjuma told The Business Standard, "When my son was a little older, I obtained my MBA degree from the University of Science and Technology Chattogram. Continuing study after having a child was very challenging. I started my career with an internship at Standard Chartered Bank and a job at BRAC Bank."

Manjuma said, "When I started working at BRAC Bank, I was not able to take care of my child and the job together. So, I quit my job. But, even after leaving the job, I kept looking for something to use my talent and willpower. As a result, I was appointed as assistant director (admission) at Asian University for Women. Later, I also served as the dean of the same university. After serving for six years in a row, I joined the renowned East Delta University of Chattogram as the director (network and placement)."

Manjuma left her job in 2016 intending to establish herself as a business person by utilising her job experience with the universities. She started her journey as an entrepreneur with the encouragement and inspiration of her husband.

She set up the educational institution and admission consulting firm "Mentors" franchise to facilitate higher education opportunities abroad for the students of Chattogram. At the same time, she took charge as the country head of the Malaysian organisation "Winning Magnitude Bangladesh".

Manjuma said Mentors has facilitated more than 100 students from Chattogram to pursue higher education in universities of different countries of the world. In addition, about 2,500 students have completed IELTS, IBA-BBA and GD from her institute. 

Manjuma said, "At first, Winning Magnitude had offices in Chattogram and Dhaka. In the first year after work started in 2018, we sent more than 100 students to Malaysia. Following our performance, Winning Magnitude's Bangladesh office was set up in Chattogram. I was given the responsibility of looking after six branches all over the country."

In addition to managing two companies in the education sector, in 2017, she founded M&M Business Communication which takes various initiatives to promote women entrepreneurs. Since 2017, M&M has been organising exhibitions with women entrepreneurs at the Radisson Blu Bay View Hotel in Chattogram.

The exhibitions include Winter Expo, Winter Exhibition and Pre-Eid Exhibition. Apart from Dhaka and Chattogram, women entrepreneurs and famous fashion designers from outside the country also took part in these exhibitions.

Manjuma said, "Many small women entrepreneurs do not have shops, but they make a living from what they sell. Our exhibitions serve as a platform for them."

"The biggest hurdle that women entrepreneurs face when it comes to borrowing is harassment. I have also been the victim of harassment. There are many such women. Despite a lot of guidance from the government, in reality, it is not very easy for women to borrow," she said. 

Manjuma called upon banks and financial institutions to simplify the rules for the disbursement of incentive loans to small and women entrepreneurs.