How rural women are driving Bangladesh’s economic engine
Across rural Bangladesh, women entrepreneurs are transforming adversity into opportunity, building successful businesses that strengthen families, communities, and the national economy
When the sun peeks over the dew-covered fields in the morning, a new chapter of struggle begins in many lives. From there, the deeply rooted stories of farmers and entrepreneurs take shape.
Many of them step beyond the country's borders and mark their footprints in the global market. Across the country, countless vulnerable women have found support and opportunity through such efforts. Through their work, they are creating stories both at home and abroad.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), women now account for nearly 44% of the country's total labour force. Stories like those of Pritilata from Chattogram and Masuma from Thakurgaon continue to strengthen that figure.
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Masuma's meat pickle wins global markets
In a quiet corner of Koigari village in Bogura, life once became extremely difficult for Masuma Akter (33). In 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, her husband lost his job, leaving the family in severe financial distress. With two children to care for, she took the responsibility of supporting the household.
Masuma gathered her venture capital by breaking open her daughter's clay savings bank. From there, she took Tk 300 and left the remaining fifty bucks for her daughter. She began an online business selling potato chips. That small step marked the beginning of a new chapter, which later grew into a unique brand.
As the business began to grow, she needed more capital. Tk10,000 was provided by her mother, who was observing her efforts. At one point, when the chips and clothing businesses began to decay, Masuma found inspiration in an old family recipe for beef pickle that she had received from her mother-in-law. She decided to try something new.
The first batch of beef pickle, made from just two kilograms of meat, was sold online. From this sale, a new brand called RM Food Corner was born.
The journey expanded from here. Masuma gradually increased the production of meat pickles, while various government and non-government organisations extended support for her along the way.
Today, Masuma produces and sells around 600 kilograms of meat pickle every month. From this, she earns a profit of roughly Tk350,000. Her products have now crossed national borders, reaching customers in 17 countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. Orders mainly come through online platforms, and most buyers are members of the Bangladeshi diaspora.
Masuma told The Business Standard that she has been exporting pickles since 2021. Currently, she exports 150 to 200 kilograms of pickled meat every one or two months. "I do not have my export licence yet, so I use the licence of a known brother," she said, adding that demand for the product is strong overseas.
This year, together with three friends living abroad, she has helped establish a company called Desh Bangla Distributor in New York, United States, to expand the business. According to Masuma, the company has signed an agreement to jointly market 18 of her products there.
The pepper woman of the hills
Once, Pritilata Waddedar became the first female martyr in the struggle against British colonial rule, earning the title of a heroic daughter through her sacrifice. Nearly a century later, another woman named Pritilata, who belongs to the Tripura community in Koila village of Mirsarai upazila in Chattogram, has written her own story of courage. Black pepper cultivation not only broke her free from poverty, but also made her self-reliant.
Pritilata Tripura, a woman from the hills, was not particularly familiar with the long history of spices. At the age of 47, she now clearly understands their economic value. But at 47, she understands their economic value well, which is why she chose to cultivate black pepper; a crop still uncommon in the area.
She stepped into the fields herself to sustain her family, as her husband showed little interest in farming and she needed to support their two daughters and son. Initially, she would cultivate paddy, lemons and ginger by herself. In 2018, with support from a local non-government development organization, she started growing black peppers.
Explaining what encouraged her to try black pepper farming, Pritilata said the crop offers excellent yields and higher profits. In the beginning, she planted four black pepper saplings on each of 125 poles. After three years, the plants began to bear fruit in 2021. That year, she sold 25 kilograms of black pepper. Last year, her sales rose to 40 kilograms.
In total, she earned around Tk300,000 last year from selling black pepper and other crops. Since then, there has been no looking back. Using cuttings from her pepper plants, Pritilata is now helping expand black pepper cultivation across the hills, with nearly 400 farmers in the area taking it up through her initiative.
Masuma's cheese goes global
Masuma Khanam, a housewife from the Nishchintapur area of Thakurgaon, is now one of the district's successful entrepreneurs through her cheese production business.
She established a small cheese factory by renting a facility from a local private organisation in Nishchintapur. Masuma said the factory began its journey by producing cheese using just 27 litres of milk. Over time, demand for the product grew in Dhaka.
Today, the factory produces cheese using around 2,500 litres of milk each day. From the business, Masuma now earns about Tk180,000 a month. Her factory employs 13 women and two male workers.
Inspired by her success, Masuma's children have also entered the cheese production business. They have set up cheese factories in Pabna, Bogura and Thakurgaon. One of her younger son's factories has received ISO certification and now produces various dairy products.
Through her business, Masuma has purchased several plots of land in Thakurgaon town. The successful entrepreneur now wants to work for the empowerment of women in northern Bangladesh.
Currently, about 23 women entrepreneurs in Thakurgaon are involved in the cheese production industry. They currently export their products to countries including Canada, South Korea, and India. As new income opportunities emerge, the number of women entrepreneurs in the region continues to grow.
Reshma's fight for identity and success
Suraiya Farhana Reshma from Sherpur in Bogura is now 40 years old. But her journey of struggle started when she was a 14-year-old eighth grader, as her family married her off. Reshma's husband was addicted to drugs and gambling. After enduring four years of hardship in the marriage, she returned to her mother's home.
The constant questions from people about her father and husband eventually pushed her to rethink her life. Speaking to The Business Standard, Reshma said with regret, "In this society, it feels as if a woman has no identity beyond her father or husband. I became determined to build an identity of my own."
This determination drove Reshma to try something new. In 2014, she received training from the Department of Youth Development and started producing vermicompost in the land she inherited from her grandmother. What began with only four rings has now grown into three large production plants.
Under her own brand, Reshma Krishi Udyog, she now sells organic fertilisers across the country.
At present, Reshma produces around 250 tonnes of vermicompost every month on her land. She sells about Tk2.5 million worth of fertiliser each month. Alongside running her business, she also trains local youths in poultry farming, vermicompost production, and marketing.
Her initiative has created employment for 25 people, and she has also helped arrange jobs for another 16 women. In recognition of her work, Reshma has received several local and national awards.
A second start at 51, built on fish scales
Even four years ago, Marzina Khatun (55) from Ranigram in Pabna Sadar upazila worked as a domestic helper. Today, however, she has become an entrepreneur through an innovative initiative, proving that it is never too late to start anew.
Her breakthrough came at the age of 51, when she began collecting and processing fish scales and fish waste from her home. What started as a small effort has since grown into a steady source of income for her family.
Marzina told The Business Standard that her husband and her son, who has a disability, now run a small fish business in the local market. They buy wet fish scales and waste from the market, bring them home, clean and dry them, and then sell them to traders. By selling the processed fish scales, the family now earns more than Tk30,000 a month.
With this income, Marzina, who once had no assets to her name, has been able to buy land and build a semi-brick house. She has also started fish farming in her pond and purchased one bigha of land beside her home.
Looking ahead, Marzina hopes to expand the fish-scale business further and create employment opportunities for women in her village.
Happy Rema's mixed cropping success
Happy Rema, a 40-year-old Garo woman from Pirgacha village in Tangail, has become a source of inspiration in her community. Together with her husband, Celestin, she once practised conventional farming, which brought only limited income.
In 2021, with support from a local non-government organisation, she received training on mixed cropping, crop production and improved farming practices.
The training transformed her approach to agriculture. She now cultivates several crops on the same land at different times of the year, including G-9 bananas, lemons, sweet pumpkins, pineapples, papayas, ginger and turmeric. As a result, she can sell different crops throughout the year and earn higher profits.
Happy now earns around Tk30,000 a month from her farming activities. She now influences her neighbours to adopt modern farming practices.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) Labour Force Survey 2024, women account for around 44.2% of the country's total labour force. Across agriculture, small enterprises, handicrafts and the service sector, women are playing a vital role in keeping the rural economy active.
For many of the women, entrepreneurship did not begin in youth but in the middle of life, after years of struggle and quiet resilience. Yet those late beginnings turned into stories of remarkable success. Together, they show that the courage to start matters far more than the age at which one does.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) Labour Force Survey 2024, women account for around 44.2 percent of the country's total labour force. Across agriculture, small enterprises, handicrafts and the service sector, women are playing a vital role in keeping the rural economy active.
Over the past five years, the Rural Microenterprise Transformation Project (RMTP) has been working to strengthen value chains by supporting skills development, technical training, market access, branding, certification and financial assistance. The project is funded by PKSF, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Danida.
Across the country, more than 600,000 small entrepreneurs have received direct financial and technical support through the initiative.
According to PKSF, women make up 56 percent of the RMTP project participants. Among these members, 60 percent have received support in areas such as technical training, technology use, online marketing, branding and certification. As a result, entrepreneurs' production has increased by 66 percent, their income has risen by 49 percent and profits among small entrepreneurs have grown by 41 percent.
PKSF Managing Director Md Fazlul Kader said the organisation is committed to women's economic empowerment as a foundation for inclusive and sustainable growth. "Our programmes currently involve around 21 million participants, of whom 93 percent are women. We are working to ensure that women can move beyond survival and progress towards prosperity through skills development, technology expansion and improved market access. On this occasion, we honour the capacity and contribution of women across Bangladesh and renew our commitment to building an economy where no one is left behind."
