Women in Business
Gone are the days when men were the sole earning member of the family. To better cope with the ever increasing impediments in life and to prove their talents women have entered the workforce. That is the reason why the number of women entrepreneurs is rising all over the world; slowly but surely this phenomenon is also being seen in Bangladesh. Mrs. Irfat Ali, the Head of Operation, A&W**, Dhaka, is one of those few women in Bangladesh who has been successful as entrepreneurs.

Mrs. Ali’s schooling was in UK; she did her O & A levels and had her honours degree in Sociology from there. After coming to Bangladesh she wanted to do a master’s degree but did not find the offered programs suitable. Instead she enrolled in North South University and did her BBA major in marketing. Mrs. Ali was also looking after her family during this time and had two children before she graduated. After doing her internship in a buying house, she joined her husband’s company as the marketing director, who at that time was running a TV channel, Total Entertainment Network. It was then they decided to bring a franchise and since her husband was busy with his other businesses, he asked her to look after the plan. Not having any experience in this sector did worry her initially but she knew with proper training and learning tools she could definitely do well.

“When I started out,” Mrs. Ali says, “I thought being a woman would have its drawbacks.” But she found out that, especially in our country, the women are taken more seriously. Getting appointments faster and shown more respect than in other countries are some of the benefits of being a business woman in this part of the world. But she adds that one needs to prove oneself and just being a woman doesn’t give one the right to all the privileges. She feels that the members of her staff show her more respect than they normally would show a man. But she also knows if she cannot prove her capability and her skills they may, just as fast, put her down. “General people are aware that women are capable” says Mrs. Ali and she has seen that nowadays more and more women are making their mark in different fields.

Mrs. Ali hopes to venture in hotel and hospitality business and consultancy in the future and plans to open up coffee chains in Bangladesh. Nevertheless, because of the trainings that she has received, the huge amount of information she has learned and mostly because of the enjoyment she has gotten she wants to be associated with the food industry and sees herself, ten years from now, as the CEO of her own company which has at least three branches related, of course, to the food industry.

**A&W Restaurant, a popular US fast food chain, plans to open two more branches in Dhanmondi and Chittagong within nine months. Since the opening of the first outlet last December in Gulshan, the restaurant has gained significant popularity. And the success can be attributed to the quality of its food. Ninety percent of the ingredients are imported and these include chickens from Brazil, lettuces from Australia and spices from Thailand and the States. The restaurant has a seating capacity of 165 people at a time and remains open from 11:00 am to 11:00 pm on weekdays and until midnight on Thursday and Friday.

'Mobile Women' bridging digital divide
THE remote villages of Mongla are experiencing mobile phone frenzy. At the beginning of 2005, the Bangladesh organisation 'Development through Access to Network Resources' (Dnet) selected four women from remote villages, gave them a mobile phone and said: "Bring it to your neighbours. Call us in Dhaka and tell them to ask us anything they want to know about farming, education, health or law."

The project was so successful that the mobile network market leader GrameenPhone has approached Dnet and wants to supply 60,000 women with a mobile phone and set up just as many regional information centres all over the country based on the Dnet model. Ananya Raihan, the director in-charge of all Dnet activities, is very happy with the mobile women and their work. He pointed out that this service is far more valuable than just setting up an internet connection in a village. It is also a counselling line. Dnet tells people, how to implement the information they can acquire.

However, maintaining the information centres is the central problem. Raihan explains: "We are a research centre, we don't do business. We understand that there is a demand for this service. But we are not yet sure, how to finance the maintenance of the information and our central and regional call centres long term." At present, Raihan believes that implementation of Dnet's model by GrameenPhone should be taken slowly as the business case has not been sorted out as of yet.