AN EXPERIENCE WITH SHAKTI
By Humaira Islam
T
he idea of working for the urban poor instead of rural first interested me after I read a research study called Situation Analysis of Urban poor (1989) in which it was observed that, the situation of the urban poor is far worse than that of the rural poor in terms of living conditions, employment, literacy, health and sanitation. Poverty and unemployment among other problems particularly affect women. In a vast majority of slums, housing structures are poor and disadvantaged people cannot escape the cycle of poverty. Women, who don’t enjoy a higher social position, legal rights and traditionally earn less than men, are particularly vulnerable. To tackle this problem, I founded the Shakti Foundation in 1992 with a group of men and women committed to alleviating poverty and bringing about a qualitative change in the lives of poor women. The Shakti Foundation provides access to credit and savings facilities for women living in the slums of different cities or towns of Bangladesh. It uplifts and empowers the poor through collateral-free loans at affordable costs.
The Shakti Foundation aims at improving the quality of life of the urban poor and to empower them socially and economically. What are the lessons that we can learn from it? We address our mission through an integrated credit based program. This program seeks to develop entrepreneurship among its project members. Therefore, a limited number of members qualify for the higher amount of loan. So, we introduced a new scheme called ‘Small Enterprise Development’ in 2004 as we foresaw that women have the potential to be involved in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). These women may have the sole endeavor to do business or they may do business by collaborating with male members of
their families. The organisation’s prime objective is to encourage women to become entrepreneurs so that they can become significant contributors in their family and bolster our socio-economic scenario. The objective of SMEs is to provide opportunities to project members in order to enable them to enter into small and medium markets. The experience clearly indicates that lack of capital is still the main problem; absence of marketing facilities, absence of a proper sale centre are some of the major problems. A few common barriers faced by women entrepreneurs is finding a way to balance time between their work and the family. Other limiting factor were machinery, equipment, technology and power supply. Micro, small and medium enterprises has a bright future for urban women. This sector can absorb a chunk of low skilled and less educated urban women. If the major barrier in marketing for women entrepreneurs are removed then a huge number of women will be able to lead the sector and contribute to the nation’s economy. The success of women as entrepreneurs have been reflected in their socioeconomic developments. Economic solvency can bring changes in the homestead and the enterprise; speak of their untiring efforts and the urge for a better life. Increase in individual income is also an increase in the family income, and it provides the family members access to a better life-style, including education and
health for the children. Modernization of the work-place, introduction of new technology for increased production, increase of workers, along with the increase in the purchasing power upgrades their status both socially and economically. Increased self-confidence through participation in trade and generation of income had blessed most of these women with a home and a prosperous future. The poor women who live in slum area have shown that they have the capacity to establish and run enterprise. Therefore, the important role of poor women entrepreneur is to recognize at every stage and to accelerate this sector with proper attention the public and private sectors should come forward to support this sector for the greater interest of the nation. Today, the Shakti Foundation is one of the top eight micro finance institutions according to the Microcredit Regulatory Authority. The organization has received national and international awards in recognition of its extraordinary performances in the country’s micro finance sector. At present the number of members who are involved with the organisation is 433,750 women across 53 districts in Bangladesh. Ashoka Fellow Humaira Islam is the Founder Executive Director of the Shakti Foundation for Disadvantaged Women, a widely acknowledged and successful micro finance institution. 17