Home ›› 09 Mar 2023 ›› Governance
Due to convenience, women’s participation in mobile financial services (MFS) has been significantly higher compared to other financial service providers. It is reflected vividly in the latest Bangladesh Bank data as women currently possess roughly 43% of all MFS accounts in the country. As of December 2022, there were about 191 million registered MFS accounts in Bangladesh of which 81.2 million accounts belong to women.
It is noteworthy to mention that rural women outnumber women from urban establishments in terms of MFS account ownership because 56.67% of MFS accounts owned by women are from rural areas. Women now have better control over their finances because MFS providers like bKash promote financial inclusion at its core. As a consequence, after taking care of basic family needs, women can now have the opportunity to utilize the extra money for health, education of children as well as setting up their own business.
One such women entrepreneur is Kushtia’s Parvin Sultana who sews ‘Nakshi Kantha (handmade quilt)’ for a lifestyle brand. Sharing her story of becoming an entrepreneur, she said, “I was mostly working for a boutique shop located in Dhaka but during the coronavirus pandemic, there was almost no order from the shop. It was really hard for me that time to feed my family of seven. But my granddaughter who knows how to use Facebook posted a video of me sewing a kantha and asked whether anyone wants to buy it as part of helping my family.”
“Seeing the video on Facebook, a woman from Dhaka sent me some money in advance in my bKash account and also sent me a design for the kantha. It was just the beginning; after delivering a dozen of products successfully and uploading the videos of those products online, orders poured in from all over the country,” she said adding: “I had to employ five other women to finish sewing the quilts in time.”
Parvin said, surviving during the pandemic was possible because of internet and service like bKash, because she received all the orders through Facebook, delivered the products through a courier service and received the payments in bKash.
Another entrepreneur from Dhaka Fatema Akter Taima, who along with her friend Syeda Rehnuma, started a Facebook page based clothing store named ‘Fidato’ by the end of 2020, just before the Covid-19 pandemic started. “It was a hard decision to start own business leaving the job of clinical pharmacist at a renowned hospital in Dhaka. Within few months of setting up the business, the pandemic came as a threat to sweep away our dream,” said Taima.
She also said: “We were lucky in a sense that our product inventory was full before the lockdown started during the last week of March, 2021 and the delivery service was kept out of movement restriction, and the whole process was made possible as digital payment platform like bKash was in place.” Overcoming the pandemic shock, her store that mostly sells women’s clothing was ready to scale up soon. From last three years’ experience, she thinks that MFS like bKash was one of the biggest enablers of her business.
MFS like bKash has hugely benefited women from all walks of life by enabling them to open accounts from home, get remittances, receive government allowances, pay utility bills, pay fees of educational institutions, do business transactions, and transfer money from bank account or card to MFS account in a bid to save time.
A study – “Impact of Mobile Financial Services in Bangladesh - The Case of bKash” – by Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) found positive correlation between penetration of MFSs and women empowerment in Bangladesh. The study stated that mobile banking has contributed to women’s freedom of movement, family decision-making, participation in income-generating activities, and ownership over their jewelry and household savings. Another study “Closing the Gender Gap: Opportunities for the Women’s Mobile Financial Services Market in Bangladesh” by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Bangladesh Bank recommends increasing more women agents in MFS industry accelerates women’s financial inclusion further.Besides, the study also recommended that deposit and short-term loan facilities through MFS would further strengthen women’s empowerment. However, bKash has already introduced two financial products for its customers. MFS like bKash has been proven to be the most effective medium that guarantees freedom and empowerment in financial transaction for both male and female, and also spearheading the country towards Smart Bangladesh through digital financial inclusion.
