Credit Worthiness of Women Entrepreneurs in Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladesh is a densely populated country which is also belongs to the least developed countries. About half of the populations of this country are female. There was a time while these large numbers of women were engaged only with homemaking or reproduction and earing of children. Women in significant number are now seeking employment outside the bounds of their homes in nearly all fields. Some of the women are coming to entrepreneurship. From the very beginning they have been facing different problems to access to institutional credit facilities. This is because of the lack of capacity of the women entrepreneurs in the one hand and lack of confidence to the women entrepreneurs by the financial institutions on the other hand. Different wings of the government, Bangladesh Bank, SME Foundation, Financial Institutions, NGOs, trade bodies and public-private partners are striving to eliminate these problems. Now a days credit worthiness of the women entrepreneurs are increasing as a result of the government initiatives, role of SME Foundation, activities of the different trade bodies, products/services offering by the Financial Institutions especially by the commercial banks, and more importantly change in the mind set of society in favor of the actual and potential women entrepreneurs.