Mizanur Rahman
Entrepreneurs working with Joyeeta Foundation, which is aimed at supporting ventures by women entrepreneurs, are currently anxious over a severe financial crunch driven by low sales due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Entrepreneurs fear they wouldn’t be able to pay back their SME loan taken recently if sales keeping stroking lower notes for the rest of the Ramadan.
“We usually invest Tk 5 to 7 lakh for better return during Eid. But our sales have plummeted due to the pandemic. I am living on my deposits now. I have taken Tk 5 lakh bank loan for Eid-ul-Fitr business this year which I won’t be able to pay back if sales do not pick up,” Mukta Begum, who sells unstitched clothes, told The Business Post.
“Our customers prefer to buy clothes in early Ramadan. But this year we have just opened our shops. It is already late,” said another Joyeeta entrepreneur, Nasima Begum.
Nurjahan Begum is working for RahimaKhandaker for the past nine years. Nurjahan did not get her salary six months’ salary last year due to a prolonged lockdown situation. Rahima has been paying her since September last year despite low sales.
“Before the pandemic hit us, we had a sale worth Tk 4000 to Tk 5000 per day. This amount used to jump ten times higher during Eid,” Nurjahan said.
She, however, blamed a shift to online shopping platforms for low sales of her shop.
Another salesperson Tania Begum told The Business Post that the pandemic has shifted a lot of their sales online.
This woe is now a common phenomenon among Joyeeta members and this is why the foundation is now targeting online sales to cater to the changing environment.
Afroza Khan, managing director of the foundation told The Business Post that they plan to do everything possible for the betterment of women entrepreneurs and in this regard, they have organized an online Eid-Mela (sales exhibition). The exhibition began on Monday with cooperation fromAnondamela and UNDP.
Afroza Khan said that they are currently working on launching EJoyeeta, a uniform online platform, so that all the members can avail its facility with ease. She said that their member entrepreneurs will be provided necessary training for conducting business online.
