staff reporter, Dhaka : BRAC Bank and SME Foundation have jointly conducted a comprehensive entrepreneurship development and financial integration programme for women entrepreneurs in Barishal.

The three-day intensive training programme is part of a series of entrepreneurship development training sessions to be organized in six Bangladeshi districts. The first training has already been completed in Rangpur.

The programme aims to assist aspiring women business owners based in rural and semi-urban areas in honing their managerial and entrepreneurial skills.

Swapan Kumar Das, Executive Director, Bangladesh Bank, Barishal Office, was the chief guest at the certificate-awarding ceremony held at BRAC Learning Center in Barishal on September 1, 2022. Md. Masudur Rahman, Assistant General Manager, SME Foundation; and Kayser Hasan, Senior Manager, Business Transformation and Product, BRAC Bank; were also present.

In the next month, the training programme will be conducted in Jashore, Bogura, Cumilla and Rangamati, with 30 up-and-coming women entrepreneurs taking part in each region. The entrepreneurs do not have to pay any fee for participating in the training programme.

Syed Abdul Momen, Deputy Managing Director & Head of SME, BRAC Bank, expressed, “Our sincere gratitude to SME Foundation for making us a partner in this programme. BRAC Bank has always been passionate about nurturing women SMEs in Bangladesh. This programme aims to help grassroots women entrepreneurs grow by up-scaling their businesses. We want the businesswomen of Barishal to make the best use of this course to become successful in business. It will ensure their readiness through getting finances from formal banking channel.”