Shirin Akhter, a successful small entrepreneur

Shirin Akhter with husband Mohammad Helal Khan are active members of PBK residing at Kalidaira, Chormoddi, Bakergonj, Barisal. Together, they have a daughter. The family moved to Gazipur, Boardbazar in 2010 with the hopes to earn more money to overcome poverty. The duo started to work at a garment factory.

However, it was getting really difficult to run their household and daughter’s educational expenses with the limited wage they earned. After a year, they left their job at the garment factory and took up a job at a women’s bag making factory. However, they still did not earn enough money and were struggling financially.

Since the duo worked at a women’s bag making factory, they had learned all nitty-gritties and processes regarding making women’s bag making and soon planned to open for their factory. However, they did not have the capital that would make their dream into reality.

In 2010, Shirin Akhter opened her factory. During a samity visit, PBK’S field officer was introduced to Shirin Akhter who expressed her interest for a loan of BDT 1,00,000. Then the field officer investigated her case and ran background checks. After careful examination, Shirin Akhter was eligible for a loan of BDT 80,000. With this money, she bought a sewing machine and raw materials and started to make bags from her room.

After a year, she started to dream big and therefore asked the branch manager for another loan to expand her business. After careful examination, PBK gave her a loan of BDT 10,00,000. She bought two more machines and hired a worker. She not only repaid her loan back to PBK but saw success and was earning profits. Now she is running her eight loan of BDT 3,00,000 with PBK. Currently she has 10 workers. She also bought land of 4 decimal where she made her house and factory side by side.

Her daughter studies BA at Bhawal College. Her house has all modern facilities and furniture. She was very successful in upgrading her living standards. Alongside, she is continuing her repayments with PBK. She credits PBK for her success and is thankful to PBK for providing her with finances, enabling her to start her business that allowed her family to come out of poverty.