During the pandemic, Bangladesh has seen the rise of many ventures and businesses. Pandemic unlocked new opportunities which has paved the way for entrepreneurs to take the baby steps of their new businesses. As the lockdown caused the people to stay home, and many even suffered from financial losses, people started to materialize their passion and dreams into reality. Amid the pandemic, we have seen a tremendous demographic shift where the women who used to stay home or suffered from a job loss started doing business from scratch. Most of this business is a result of their hidden potential and pastime.

Moreover, the pandemic has created immense change in the buying behavior of the general people as these people prefer more to purchase online than buying from the traditional physical stores. As a result, women running their business on a tiny scale have been able to create a roar and attained economies of scale as they have started trading online and got a significant positive response. Women’s participation was significant support for some families where male earners lost their jobs or incurred financial damage due to the pandemic.

There are some fundamental reasons which facilitated women entrepreneurs to embellish their businesses. One of the core reasons was lockdown. When the lockdown was imposed in Bangladesh for the first time, no one could move from one place to another. The growing logistics companies like REDX and Paperfly helped women entrepreneurs to maintain their supply chain. Though the economy was closed during the lockdown, these types of businesses run by women entrepreneurs got a chance to flourish more. Many small ventures got a chance to expand their businesses. If we look into segments of women entrepreneurs, most of the businesses were related to foods, beauty care products, dresses etc.

As per BIDS surveys, approx. 13% of people lost their jobs during the pandemic time. Male earners were in the home and it was not easy to manage another job at that time. Women with hidden potentials got the chance to turn those potentials into reality. Looking back in pandemic times, there were many growing or new online pages that were mostly owned by women entrepreneurs. Usually, the pages were for customized cakes, beauty care products and dresses. By doing these businesses, women got opportunities to make their dreams true and the financial benefits that they ripped from those businesses have made them solvent during pandemic times.

Some Famous Online Shop by Women Entrepreneur in Different Segments

Lifestyle shop.com

Lifestyle Shop is a clothing brand online shop. It has popularity among women. They sold Organza, Chiffon, Aghanoor, etc., varieties of dresses. Their main customer segment is young women. Their products are of excellent quality. The owner has struggled so much to establish this online shop. Their price range starts from BDT 700 up to BDT 5000.

Luxe Items by Mou

This page is usually sold beauty care products. The owner is very famous for her trustworthy products. She is an energetic woman and always remains active on social media. Hard-working and passion for doing business have helped her increase sales in the past few years. During the pandemic, she has managed to survive and later expanded her business by introducing dress as a new product category.

BanglaShoppers.com

BanglaShoppers is another famous beauty care shop. This page sells makeup items, hair products, beauty products, shampoo etc. This shop is another trustworthy shop among women. The owner manages to do well during the pandemic time. She is very hardworking and later established a number of outlets in different places.

S.A Corporation (Pozo Beauty)

If you want exclusive and Bengali traditional dress, you should visit the Hur Nusrat page. The owner is a young and energetic woman entrepreneur who offers traditional dresses at a reasonable price. Especially their saree collection is so good that it can be segregated from other shops. She is one of the entrepreneurs who did very well during the pandemic. Now, she is thinking about the expansion of her business.

Women entrepreneurship is an untapped source of growth and poverty reduction. Asia is one of the most dynamic places for women entrepreneurs worldwide. During the pandemic, Academy of Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) helped Malaysian women entrepreneurs survive through the pandemic. Malaysian women survived and expanded their businesses through AWE mentorship. However, Bain & Co, Google and AWE foundation surveyed almost 350 women entrepreneurs and found that 54% had already made business shifts, including new product lines and services. Their decision helped them grow more during the pandemic time. Indian women thanked digitalization and multi-sector collaboration for saving them from losses in covid time. South Asian NGOs and Asian Development Bank offered long term loans to flourish their business more in pandemic time. So, pandemic was not something scary for them. It opened new ways of doing business and brought out untapped opportunities from their mind.

Women entrepreneurs are already doing very well in the recent time. This remarkable phase motivates them to grow and expand their business. But, still there is lack of proper training for women. Banks and different NGOs offer vocational training for women entrepreneurs to enable them to expand their businesses. Refinance scheme helped women to broaden their product lines and start sister concerns. Bangladesh is foreseen as a growing business place for women. Women are engaging with almost every industry which has a positive and remarkable impact on our economy of Bangladesh.