Technological Support Lifts Bangladesh.pdf

Technological Support Lifts Bangladesh’s Entrepreneur ---- Marketing flowers to Consumers End Hafiza is one of 85 entrepreneurs who became self-sustained with flower cultivation in Jessore, Jhenaidah and Chuadanga districts. She is an owner of a nursery of 240 decimal of land; growing and sells different verities of flowers; Gerbera, Dalia, Chandra, Mollika, Inka, Gada, Easter, Lilium, Rose with Indian and Chinese varieties and -inducing flower; Estoma, all affordably priced. With the Technical support from AVC Project, Hafiza initiates coco dust as an improving technology for flower production from this year. Her production of long stick Chania roses on a research basis gains a good production in Jessore. Today she clears about US$700 in profits every month. It is enough to provide nutritious meals for her family and to pay for her children education. Hafiza has also accumulated assets worth approximately US$50000, more than tripling the value of her initial startup grant that she received in 1999.

No matter what exotic color with fragrance we cultivates, we all crave for selling the flowers at the end of the day Says Gothkhali, Jessore-based flower cultivator Hafiza Khatun, who founded a nursery almost seventeen years ago. After successfully running a nursery as a well-known floriculture entrepreneur and selling of flowers for multiple events in Bangladesh, Hafiza, 38, has now started to sell flowers through Bangladesh Flower Society with technical support from Agriculture Value Chain Project. With her husband, Hafiza as a woman entrepreneur at her area at the wheel of driving her business. Hafiza’s teams of expert women are engaging at nursery for cultivating different varieties of flowers that have the market demand nationally.

For the love of Flower While Hafiza’s nursery is creating a huge buzz around the Jessore, it was a rather common problem that led to its birth. An avid housewife and gourmet, Hafiza had studied up to Class VIII and lived in the southern part of Bangladesh that is very much popular for cultivating flowers to her father’s family background before finally settling down in Gothkhali Jessore, after being married. But living with her husband of the village meant battling with poverty to get a minimum standard of living that she wanted to avoid. After five years after being married I put my life’s savings into starting a nursery on 6 decimal of land at leasing from my neighbor. Almost unexpectedly, some microcredit organizations came on board, asking me to run a nursery inside their technical supports. Although everything was working just fine, I decided to do something more. Hafiza had always loved flower cultivation from her childhood and started researching the possibilities of starting something similar in Gothkhali, Jessore. She then trained herself with support from the microcredit organizations at modern technology on floriculture. She managed her husband to collect flower seeds from India and cultivated it on her 6 decimal of nursery land. This process took three long months and once the flower was ready to sell, a couple of obstacles awaited it. Flower market was not much flourished at the year 1999. I was afraid that our plan for initiating the nursery would backfire. At taking loan BDT 7000 from a microcredit organization made me anxious of finding a fixed place of selling my products. This meant having to haggle with customers, something we wanted to completely avoid. Hence, Hafiza started her nursery by selling her products flowers in bazar on weekly basis, a move which seems to have worked out quite well for her. Most people living in her villages were day laborers living in extreme poverty typically lack productive assets, regular income, collateral, and financial literacy. They are usually excluded from the safe and affordable financial services. Through this nursery, I can now relish familiar flowers in a new avatar. Our nursery pattern changes on the basis of the suggestions from the project personnel’s of Agricultural Value Chain Project since 2015 that drop their wishes with providing technical technologies. Not just service provider; we incorporate suggestions from our entire staff, including customer. How she do it The member in her team is divided according to their roles. The nursery has six people including the bed preparer, flower cutter, bag preparer; with a service staff, Md. Ismail Hossain, Manager, and Hafiza herself manages the nursery business in Gothkhali Bazar. The staff on the nursery are hired from the lesser privileged sections of society and are employed after undergoing the required training. This is Hafiza’s way of making women independent. It’s not always about fancy experienced personals; there are a lot of unskilled unemployed women who have so much untapped potential. I hire girls who have no previous work experience and come from backgrounds where they do not get a lot of opportunities. We consciously hire such women through foundations we have tied up with and train them, Hafiza says.

Under the AVC Project, Hafiza was selected as a project participants for promoting the modern technology for the catalyzing the market changes in flower sector. For promotion of her business, AVC facilitates market linkages with Bangladesh Flower Society. After becoming a member of the Bangladesh Flower Society, she participated in a training program on “Improved Cultivation and Postharvest Management” in Gothkhali organized by USAID’s AVC project. From this training, she learned about an efficient and environment friendly pest control method called integrated pest management (IPM). After the training, She uses environment friendly pest control method of Meheguni seeds to spray on flowers in her nursery. At the result; her nursery became pest free and the plants looked very fresh and lively. By maintaining the linkage, Flowers of her nursery is now available in Dhaka market. Women power The decision to make nursery was also Hafiza’s way of telling women and the world that it is possible! Before starting her own venture, Hafiza connected with various NGOs and in the field of flower cultivation. She is a strong crusader for women becoming financially independent, something she believes also results in emotional independence. Women of her community are also willing do flower cultivation as a source of income. However, getting here has not been easy and with every new day comes a new obstacle.

I have always worked all my life and cannot think of a reason why someone should not work. I don’t remember the last time I took a long break from work. I have two children and worked through my maternity. I think it is extremely important for women to be independent. If a woman is financially independent, she naturally exudes a happy vibe and becomes a more secure person.

The nursery functions well at producing different varieties of flowers maintain the viable standards at selling the flowers weekly in Gothkhali Bazar, very early in the morning. Flowers are now being distributed through BFS, at the national level as per the growing demands in day observation, corporate events, temples, churches, mosques, and wedding seasons. The response Hafiza has received within a short span of launching is indeed surreal. Invitations from different NGOs, INGOs, corporates, and educational institution with mails from people who send her clippings of press coverage nationally and globally. She became awarded as a best entrepreneur at Jessore district in 2008.In 2015, she was requested by the Royal University, Vietnam for her speech at Asia-Pacific Local Champion exhibition and Workshop from Bangladesh. From AVC project, she visited India to get an overview of commercial farming with improved technology of flower value chain. Challenges and the road ahead The biggest challenge for floriculture so far has been the absence of an exclusive policy for flower trading. It is still a very new concept to Bangladesh. It is quite a task dealing with people on the flower. It is perceived in a lot of ways. Hence, competition amongst each other is not a factor as it is still a small market in Bangladesh. But the need of the hour is for all nursery owners across the country to come together and press the government to make the space more regulated way at getting the fair prices as well as developing a mode of communication. AVC is working at the infrastructure development for the flower marketplace, at Gothkhali or Panishara. Bangladesh Flower society (BFS) and Gothkhali local society is working together to finalize the proper location for market place at Gothkhali.