Grameen Trust

Case Study 1:

Akash Chowa Beauty Parlor—The Parlor with “Sky-High” Ambition

Lovely Begum, a 31 year old Nobin Udyokta (New Entrepreneur) supported by Grameen Trust, is the founder and owner of the Akash Chowa Beauty Parlor which is located in Chandpur.  Her one-stop shop parlor offers clients a vast number of services ranging from hair care and facials to bridal makeup.  She also makes and sells quality stone bags to her fashionably sensed customers and provides clothing tailoring services.

 Lovely Begum is the daughter of Nurjahan Begum, a Grameen Bank borrower of the Bagadi Centre who has received a total of 320,000 BDT (equivalent to USD 4,102) in support of her attempt to better the lives of her family members.  One of the prime examples of how Grameen Bank has changed Nurjahan Begum’s life is that it loaned her 100,000 BDT (equivalent to USD 1,282) which she used to build her house.  

Lovely Begum got married at the age of 13 while she was studying in Class X. She gave birth to a baby boy. Her husband who is a Technician faced financial difficulties to bear the family expenditure. Lovely Begum, who witnessed how Grameen has helped her mother become financially stable, also wanted to make an independent living. To that end, she attended a beautician course. She opened up a small beauty parlor soon after.  Lovely Begum felt that by opening her beauty parlor, she could lessen the financial burden of her husband. After starting the business on a small scale, she soon realized that she would need a bigger investment to attract more customers with more quality services.  During that time she met the unit manager of Chandpur Sadar unit of Grameen Trust and heard about its Nobin Udyokta program.  She presented her business plan at Grameen Trust’s 6th Internal Executive Design Lab and confidently talked about the services she offers at her beauty parlor. She also showed the samples of her handmade stone bags which got lot of appraisal from the audience. GT invested BDT 100,000(equivalent to USD 1,282)  to expand her business.

Akash Chowa Beauty Parlor is renowned in Chandpur  area for its quality services. With the investment from GT, Lovely Begum added qualitative facial creams and other accessories of beautifications as per the local demand which has made it possible for her to earn a monthly profit of 15,000 BDT with projections of this amount growing in the near future.  With her income, she is able to provide a better standard of living for her families. 

Lovely Begum has high ambitions. She named her beauty parlor as `Akash Chowa' which literally means “touching the sky” . This is a reflection of her dream that she cherishes from her childhood. She would like to be on the top as a successful entrepreneur. She dreams of opening chain parlor throughout Bangladesh with her own brand name `Akash Chowa'  and creating job opportunities for the youth.

Case Study 2:

 SUMON: An IPS Maker

Sumon Deb Nath, a single 29 year old entrepreneur who passed HSC, started a small electronics business at the tender age of fifteen.  With the help of Grameen Trust, this Nobin Udyokta (New Entrepreneur) was able to expand his own electronic business, titled, `New Shoborna Electronics'. He is the proud maker of the Green Micro IPS generator.  After working with a wide array of electronics, Sumon knew that he was especially efficient with generators so he decided to focus all of his energies on making IPS generators with his own name brand.  He knew that in order for his goal of creating one of Bangladesh’s most energy-saving and popular generators to become a reality, he would need more money so that he could buy the highest quality parts instead of the medium quality ones that he was accustomed to.  After seeing his mother Lakhi Bala Nath receive loans from Grameen Bank and better her life as well as the lives of his siblings, Sumon knew that turning to the socially responsible Grameen Trust would be his best bet.

He presented his business plan at Grameen Trust’s 6^th Internal Executive Design Lab.  The proposal was appreciated and Sumon was able to receive an investment of 1,50,000 BDT (equivalent to USD 1,923) from GT.  Combined with 3,00,000 BDT (equivalent to USD 3,846) of his own, Sumon knew that his dream would soon become a reality.  Sumon buys IPS parts mainly from Nababpur, Dhaka and some small parts from Chandpur. After assembling full functioning generators, Sumon ship them to Chittagong.  Small IPS are sold with a six month warranty and big or high-voltage IPS are sold with a two year warranty.  These warranties give buyers confidence in Sumon’s products and encourage positive word-of-mouth too.

Sumon started his own business fifteen years ago with  initial capital of 20,000 BDT (equivalent to USD 256).  Today his business, after receiving support from Grameen Trust, generates monthly income of more than 25,000 BDT (equivalent to USD 320).  His brother is working as his staff. By employing his brother, Sumon is providing an income source for him and also giving him insight on the type of work needed in order to become a successful entrepreneur in the future if he wishes to do so.  Sumon is hopeful in expanding his business by assembling generators on a large scale and thus employing more staff which will contribute to society at a higher level. 

 Case Study 3:

Tusar Kanti Saha, a Nobin Udyokta

Tusar Kanti Saha is an innovative Nobin Udyokta (New Entrepreneur) supported by Grameen Trust. He is the son of  Ms. Minoti Rani Saha who has been a proud member of Grameen Bank, Ramrasdi, Puran Bazar Branch of Chandpur since February, 2006. He and his family faced a lot of hardships as he lost his father in his childhood. He has one brother and one sister.  Due to financial crisis, Tusar took the responsibilities of his family at his early age and was not able to continue his study after H.S.C.

Tusar started his business of producing candles, agar-bati etc. with the capital he received from his mother to improve the financial condition of his family. Gradually, he has expanded his business with the increased loan that his mother received from Grameen Bank. He took part in GT Social Business workshop held at Chandpur.

Tusar presented his business plan “M/S Shanti Chemical Works” at the 26^th Executive Design Lab, on August 24, 2014. This is a business of producing candles, agar-bati, golapjol and puffed rice packing on which he puts his own brand name. He also makes a good quality of “Jhal Muri” which is very popular in his area.

In 2009, Tusar started working as a worker in an Agar-bati factory in Chandpur to earn for his livelihood. He was paid 4000 taka per month as salary. He is very sharp and hard working and soon learned the process of producing candles, agar-bati, golapjal(perfumed water)  and puffed rice packing. In 2011, he left his job and started his own business with a small capital. Initially he used his savings amount and the Grameen Bank loan of his mother as business capital. He named his factory as ‘M/S Shanti Chemical Works’.

Tusar received BDT 250,000 (Two hundred fifty thousand) from Grameen Trust as equity investment for the expansion of his business. He has a dream to create job opportunities especially, for the women of Chandpur through his business. Grameen Trust’s equity has enabled him to expand his present business and employ four more women for this business. He plans to create more employment opportunities for women in his locality slowly but steadily.

 Case Study 4:

Md. Faruk, a Promising Nobin Udyokta

Md. Faruk Hossain is a highly promising Nobin Udyokta (New Entrepreneur) supported by Grameen Trust. He was born in 1983 in Singair, a small village in Manikgonj district of Bangladesh. Faruk is the only child of his parents and comes from a very low income family. His father, Late Bashiruddin ,  had a grocery shop. He died in 2001. His mother, Ms. Razia, has been a proud member of Grameen Bank, Joymontop branch, Manikgonj, since August 1996. She took 5.000 BDT as first loan which she invested in her husband’s business.

Faruk was a very bright and studious student. He completed his Master degree from Dhaka College in 2009. Besides studying, Faruk used to help his father to run his grocery shop since his student life. After the death of his father in 2001, they had gone through very hard time and faced financial difficulties to maintain his family as well as bear the cost of his education. Faruk decided to start his own business to help his family and earn for his higher education and livelihood. He began his career with Polli Phone business in 2002 with the capital received from his mother.  Over the years, Faruk's business has grown steadily. He sells mobile SIM card, mobile accessories and provides the services for mobile recharge, bKash etc. He also has a small digital studio. He is the seller of LP gas cylinder and has `rent a car' business.

Faruk took part in Grameen Trust’s first Social Business workshop on October 31, 2013. He presented his business proposal “Faruk Community Information Centre”; a cyber café business at the 13^th Yunus Centre Design Lab on March 15, 2014 to expand his business in a new location, nearby a school and include new products.  He proposed to provide internet facilities to the local people, printing and scanning services for local students and create opportunities for researchers to access internet, provide telecommunication services for the expatriate families and create employment opportunities for others.

GT invested BDT 450,000 to the Faruk Community information center. With the investment from GT, Faruk bought computers, printers, scanners, photocopy machine and webcams. He also invested in interior decoration. He added new services to provide better IT services to local people including students, expatriate families considering the growing demand in IT sector. He has employed two staff in his business.

Faruk's dream is to become a successful entrepreneur in Singair as well as in Bangladesh and provide best quality IT services to his customers.

 Case Study 5:

Sharna Twinkle Craft Ltd- Abdur Rahman

Mr. Abdur Rahman started his `Saree business' (lady's dress) on a small scale in 1990 with a small capital received from his mother, Ms. Sara Khatun, who has been a member of the Balla branch of Grameen Bank in Kalihati, Tangail since 1988. He has two brothers and three sisters. He completed his Bachelor degree in Social Science (BSS) from Kodotia Saadat College in Tangail.

On April 19, 2014, Mr. Md. Abdur Rahman presented his business proposal for `Sharna Twinkle Craft Ltd' at the 14^th Social Business Design Lab and got spot approval because of his innovative and creative ideas. GT invested Tk. 300,000 to this project. His business has grown gradually and become a steady source of income for his family. Besides saree business, he has a medicine shop, named M/s Fahad Medical Hall.

With the new capital from GT, Abdur Rahman  began to produce high quality `sarees', with attractive/stunning designs and colors, namely Baluchori, Daba, Anarkoli, ButiNaxshi, Check Naxshi, Grameen Check and Gamsa Check, etc. This attracted a number of new clients, expanding his business rapidly. He always tries to be creative and deliver new products to meet the varied demands of the clients.