Entrants's Name: Shamsun Nahar

Country: Bangladesh

Field: Economic Development

Innovation - idea: 1.Identify and select the person with positive challenging attitude, build the entrepreneur and enterprise management capacity of the selected applicants. 2.Make the personal and working life of the trained persons disciplined and systematic so that they can make their business profitable and acceptable to the local community. 3.Motivate the entrepreneurs so that they secure the consumers right

Innovation - why it is pioneering: I have been working on entrepreneurial capacity building of women entrepreneurs who received micro credit from different NGOs and gained knowledge and skill on investment, production and selling. Besides it works on development skills on seeking opportunity, consolidate resources start the business ventures, run them more professionally and make the enterprise profitable.

Strategy - how it achieves impact: 1.Entrepreneurship capacity building through training and business counseling 2.Make private and professional trained women entrepreneur’s life disciplined and systematic through forming savings group and attending weekly meeting, different conference, seminars and workshops, awarding the best women entrepreneurs. 3.Help initiate business ventures through providing micro credit, link with commercial banks for loan, link with different shops and take part in different national and international trade fairs for marketing of the produced products. 4.Involve community people through formation of community support committee, arranging bimonthly meeting and invite the community support committee members in different occasions in order to play a positive roles towards women entrepreneurs as well as Saptadinga activities. 5.Provide low cost health services through health insurance, reach health care services door to door. 6.Bring children to entrepreneurship development process

Strategy - growth plans: Entrepreneurship is the only way what can generate employment opportunity for huge number of unemployed people. It will happen when the fair trade is established. Through Saptadinga I am struggling for establishing fair trade. Aiming at this, I will institutionalize Saptadinga as an education institution. Besides I would like to write and publish training manual, literatures etc on women entrepreneurship development in order to disseminate my ideas to others. Furthermore I would like to work as resource person in different seminar workshop and member of trainer’s pool in order to motivate the entrepreneurs on the importance of fair trade.

Impact to date: I have developed 3500 women entrepreneurs since 1996. Among 3500 trained women I have linked 70 trained women entrepreneurs with a national commercial bank named Agrani Bank. The trained women entrepreneurs have set up their business ventures and are operating more professionally. They have appointed at least 10,000 unemployed people; in this way, they are contributing in the poverty alleviation of the country. The status of these women have uplifted in their family as well as in the society. My idea has been replicated in different national and international government and non-government organizations. Bangladesh Government has introduced entrepreneurship from grade nine. The authors of the book have taken the training manual written by me as reference. I have also published women entrepreneurship development training manual. The community people are also appreciating and helping Saptadinga runs this program.

Future impact: After 10 years, the women entrepreneurs who will receive training from Saptadinga will be able to establish and run environment friendly enterprises more professionally, will produce quality products as per consumers demand, will be able to generate employment opportunity of huge number of unemployed people, will sell the product at competitive price, will protect the right of laborers, in the end, they will contribute to establish fair trade. In this way these women will create their good will in the national and global market. As a result, the poor women who have entrepreneurial competencies will be self employed, dignified and honorable person in their family as well as in the society. I shall make Saptadinga as an institution in which the children as well as youth will study etrepreneurship and will become self employed person. Besides the students who will not have entrepreneural competentcies will make them skilled and dedicated person and will work for their employer.

Sustainability - resource base: Saptadinga received fund from different donor agencies in Bangladesh. At the moment BASIC Bank Limited is providing revolving fund. Agrani Bank is providing direct loan to the loan applicants forwarded by Saptadinga, for this service Agrani Bank is paying Saptadinga service charge. At the same time the training applicants is paying training fees. The community people are also donating as per their abilities. The students will study entrepreneurship on payment. Besides we shall establish marketing outlet in which we shall sell the products produced by the producers. In this way this activity will become sustainable.

Major challenge for the field: I find challenge in getting sincere dedicated and laborious worker who believes in changeing of the society.

Contact Information:

Name: Ms. Shamsun Nahar
Country: Bangladesh
Website: www.saptadinga.org