Young entrepreneurs on rise in Chattogram

 
Most of the young entrepreneurs in Chattogram are interested in profitable business. They are highly interested to start a small business rather than jobs. Chattogram garments industry, poultry industry, tea industry, leather industry, sea fish industry and recent time online businesses are most profitable businesses in Chattogram.

Manisha Bosh was a schoolteacher, and the pandemic-led closure of educational institutions in March halted her income. Then she opened Padmalaya BD, a shop, and started selling Manipuri saris online. Manisha has been able to retain her financial solvency through the digital business of women swear.

Like her, around 7,000 e-commerce entrepreneurs started their businesses in the port city of Chattogram during the pandemic-led general holidays, and 70% of them are women. These entrepreneurs explored the alternative sources of income by selling products on digital platforms. Admin of Facebook-based digital e-commerce platform Chattogram E-commerce Family (CEF) Shagar Dey said the group currently has 57,000 members and around 10,000 of them are active. "Nearly 7,000 entrepreneurs, including women who lost their jobs, began e-commerce businesses during the pandemic. They returned to the driving seats of their respective families after bouncing back as e-commerce entrepreneurs," said Shagar.

He said CEF has organised a number of online program for the entrepreneurs and trained 220 persons since April.
The facebook-based digital e-commerce group admins and trainers are also connected to different national-level platforms and lead numerous upazila level sub-groups.He added, "The ongoing training focuses on keeping product prices affordable without compromising product quality. This has helped create buyers' confidence in the digital marketplace and the market in Chittagong is growing daily."

The new e-commerce entrepreneurs said they post the details of the products from their Facebook accounts and pages. Additionally, these accounts also highlight the details in Facebook-based e-commerce groups.  Buyers choose and order products from there. The products are then delivered to the customers by delivery persons or courier services. After receiving the items, the customers post reviews in the e-commerce groups - which give the entrepreneurs wide publicity and reliability. For Manisha, digital sales were a means to starting a business with minimal capital.

"I tried to promote traditional items, and therefore began the business with Manipuri saris of Sylhet. Eid-ul-Fitr-centric sales were the turning point for me," she told. Another entrepreneur Farjana Akter, a teacher of Chattogram Cantonment School, said she stepped into the e-commerce business in June with Tk20,000 in capital. 

Digital marketing, especially Facebook-based groups, helped develop my brand quickly. My capital quadrupled within just three months. "Digital marketing, especially Facebook-based groups, helped develop my brand quickly. My capital quadrupled within just three months," she told. Farjana said the delivery team that now supplies her products previously used to be in ridesharing services.