Women Entrepreneurship In Bangladesh

The number of women is nearly half of the total population in Bangladesh, and an essential part of nation 's human resources. For this reason, bringing women to engage in income-generating activities have now become a major concern for the policy makers. Empowering women economically is a fundamental and unavoidable part of development dialog. In recent years, like other developing countries of the world, Bangladesh has been focusing on the most underprivileged group in the societyÑ the women.
Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of Bangladesh is contributing significantly to commercial banks to promote women entrepreneurship in Bangladesh. Various helpful policies are initiated to promote women entrepreneurship.
The number of female entrepreneurs

The amount of loan disbursement to women entrepreneurs by private commercial banks (PCBs) stood at Tk. 2865.48 crore in 2013, which was Tk. 1384.22 crore in 2010. The amount of loan disbursement to WEs by specialized banks (SPBs), state-owned commercial banks (SCBs) and foreign banks (FCBs) stood at Taka 168.05 crore, 140.07 crore and Taka 42.0 crore respectively in 2013 as compared to Taka 105.09 crore, Taka 203.59 crore and Taka 59.56 crore respectively in 2010.
5.1.6.1 Information of Women Entrepreneurs
It has been observed that 54.1 percent of WEs started their business by self-motivation, as they wanted to become economically independent. About 76 percent of WEs have education level in between literacy and secondary, and 45 percent of WEs had no business experience. Most of the WEs operate the business under a single ownership, and 54.3 percent of them have own land.
It has been found that all most half portion of the women entrepreneurs received loan for micro industries followed by the cottages and small industries. About 68 percent of enterprises located in urban

5.1.6.3 The Role of Banks in Promoting Women Entrepreneurship
From the study of the survey it is found that the majority of the women entrepreneurs lag behind to ask for help from bank officials for business due to the lack of knowledge of how to get them and for the uncomfortable feeling to communicate with the male bank officials. Evidences show that women entrepreneurs who have takes advice from the bank are running their business positively.
There is a continuous decrease in the rate of interest on a bank loan for the women entrepreneurs. 12% of the total women entrepreneurs has received a rate of interest less than or equal to 10% in 2009 which increased to 30% in 2013, due to the increase of term loan through women dedicated schemes of the banks. It proves a positive response to the policy of refinancing scheme of Bangladesh Bank. Only 39% of the total entrepreneurs provided collaterals against loans and majority of them kept the lands as