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Mixed experienceA jute-goods manufacturer in Kamalganj, Maulvibazar, in a Daily Star report

From 50 workers to 15, from export toys to bags for the home market

Before March 2020 the factory made jute toys for export and employed 50 people. After the pandemic the workforce fell to 15 and the product changed to bags for the domestic market; no lender would advance credit because her bank account showed too little turnover.

This woman entrepreneur ran a factory in Kamalganj, Maulvibazar, making toys out of jute, all of it for export markets, and employed 50 people before March 2020. When the pandemic closed that market she had to shrink the business hard, and the workforce fell to 15. To stay open she changed the product itself, switching from toys to various kinds of bags for the domestic market. Repeated attempts at a bank loan came to nothing: by her account no lender responded because the volume of transactions in her bank account was too small. She has been running the factory on money from her family instead. The report gives no capital, start year or current sales figure.

Lessons

  1. 1.When the whole output goes to one export market, the factory shrinks to a third the day that market closes
  2. 2.A small unit that runs on cash shows little turnover in its bank account, and that alone is enough for lenders to refuse

Published with the person's permission, without revealing who they are.

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