Md Fazlur Rahman

The central bank has set up a separate desk at its Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Special Programmes Department, exclusively for women entrepreneurs.

“Women entrepreneurs will receive services directly from the desk just by making a phone call or visiting the desk in person,” said an official of the bank.

He said most women entrepreneurs do not know which banks are offering what types of products or the interest rates. The central bank will help them with information from its database.

“We will also give the contact addresses and numbers of concerned bank officials to entrepreneurs, so that they can carry on further communication,” he said.

The central bank official said Bangladesh Bank's services do not end there. “We will follow up on every case. We will contact the banks that were referred, to know whether the entrepreneurs received answers to their queries or not.”

“We will also help them find trade licences, and the types of things they need to do to run a business smoothly,” he said.

News: The Daily Star / Bangladesh/ jan-30-2011