Started with empty-hand, now she is a successful entrepreneur

On March 8, 2015, the original news titled “শূন্য হাতে শুরু, এখন সফল উদ্যোক্তা” was published in the daily Prothom Alo in Bengali language. After reading the news, I felt motivated and immediately decided to translate it into English language. If you want to read the original one then click the link given at the end of this article.

The event took place 31 years ago. A young woman took a job in a garments factory to earn her bread. She began as a supervisor with a monthly salary of Tk. 800. Few days after she joined the work, she felt the urge of a change in her mind- it cannot go on like this. She must learn the job of sewing to progress. Taking permission from the authority, she started sewing. She kept getting promoted in her job because of her efficiency in work. Now, she moved to another dream. Having been more organized and experienced, she once left the job to set up her own business. She started empty-handed, but now she is a successful entrepreneur. She is Baby Hasan, the owner of a buying house named BS Apparels.

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With her hard work and talent, Baby Hasan has become one of the successful entrepreneurs. Almost fifty female workers are now working under her. Her organization exports apparels in many countries of the world and its yearly transaction is worth Tk. five crores.

She did not start her career with the aim of becoming a successful business woman. Like others, she also started working for life’s sake. In 1981, with her parents’ decision, she got married after passing SSC examination. One year after her marriage, she gave birth to a baby girl. Her husband’s financial condition was not that much good. So, she took the decision of doing a job to bring some relief in the family. At the beginning, her family members did not give her much encouragement, but they accepted it later on. Till 1991, Baby Hasan worked in the garments factory. Then she was promoted to the production manager’s post.

Recalling memories of that time, she turned determined in her face. She said, “I would work 14 hours a day. Work would start at 8 o’clock in the morning and I returned home at 10 o’clock at night. I never neglected my work. In the beginning, I did not have the aim to go such a long distance, but once I loved my work, I decided to reach a certain level.”

In the middle of 90s, she joined a buying house after leaving her job at the garments factory. Alongside, she also started a small business related to her profession. In 2000, she became a member of an organization of small and cottage industries. She did not have that much money in hand, so he went to bank. She opened a boutique shop named Bitonu at the K Block in Halishahar upon taking Tk. two lakhs on loan. That year, an organization for women named Women Entrepreneurs’ Association (WEA) was established in Chittagong. She also became member of that organization. Almost 20 members took part in a handicraft fair in Kolkata from that organization towards the end of 2000. The fair has opened her eyes. She said, “In that fair, I have come to know many things about business. It was that day the idea of business, I don’t know how, got conceptualized in my head. I became determined that I have to be successful in business.”

I started to establish a buying house in partnership in 2002. Then in 2009, she established another buying house in the name of BS Apparels. The size of this organization is increasing every year. Her son, Salahuddin Chawhuri, has recently joined the business along with Baby Hasan.

She wants to give credit to two other women for coming from zero to today’s position. One is her mother, Farida Khatun, and another is business leader Monowara Hakim Ali. Baby Hasan’s mother died in 1998 after suffering from illness. She is still struck by the pain that her mother couldn’t see her ultimate success. Though her home district is in Nangalkot of Comilla district, she was born and brought up in Chittagong.

Baby had to manage her family alongside her job. So, she did not have any leisure time. But she has no regret for that. She said, “It did not seem to me that job or business was tough for women. If women try, they can become successful in business or in their work.” While she was speaking, there was a smile of gratification on her face for the success she achieved in her life. She said, “When girls I know want to do job, I encourage them to get involved in business, because creating job, rather than doing job, is our main target.

Source:

Prothom Alo