Munni Barua is quite a familiar face to many people of Sabujbagh area in the capital. Known as ‘bKash Didi’, her struggling story of becoming a successful entrepreneur has recently gained prominence beyond the border of the country.
The life chronicles of Munni, a female agent of bKash, was featured in a short documentary by renowned international television network CNN, reads a press release.
In the documentary, Munni was seen sharing her experience about how a woman overcame all socio-economic hurdles to take responsibility of her family. She also talked about how she found fortune becoming an agent of bKash, the largest mobile financial service (MFS) provider in Bangladesh.
She said, “I am a familiar face in the locality. But I wish more people would appreciate my journey of how far a woman can go utilising her willpower for the wellbeing of her children and herself.”
Apart from setting up own business with firm determination, she also succeeded in enrolling her two children into Jahangirnagar University.
Munni came to Dhaka with her family back in 1996. With the income of her husband’s grocery store, their life was going well. But following the untimely death of her husband in 2012 from a stroke, she and her two children suddenly fall into darkness.
“On those days, I faced a lot of barriers while running the shop. Eventually losing the shop, I even had to sell groceries on a roadside cart,” she said with a grim face.
She continued, “Later, I started working as a bKash agent, and my days started to look brighter. Being a bKash agent, now I have the opportunity to help people to make their transactions more easy, secure and convenient. You do not have to go to the bank, you do not need to stand in line, and transactions can be done anytime – day or night.
“With bKash, people can instantly send money to the recipient, and come to us for cashing out and cashing in as required. This service, which is within the walking distance of anyone’s home, has made people’s life very easy.”
Munni also told CNN, “Many call me ‘bKash Didi’ because they get my help to transact their money even in the odd hours in case of emergency. Whoever comes to my shop, I try to provide various types of financial service promptly, keeping in mind that the transaction might have some urgency.
“I also advise and respond to the queries of people regarding different services of bKash. This is how bKash has brought changes in my life. Apart from financial stability, I even managed to get my children admitted to one of the best public universities. Everyone says, ‘Didi, you are very fortunate’.”
Like bKash Didi, there are about 330,000 bKash agents within walking distance of people’s homes all across the country. Known as ‘Human ATMs’, these agents are delivering seamless financial services at the doorsteps of bKash’s 67 million customers, said the press release.
This strong agent network not only created employment opportunities for a large number of people, but is also contributing to the improvement of their quality of life.
Besides providing cash in, cash out services, bKash agents are also providing various services to the customers like utility bill payments, withdrawal of salary and allowances, withdrawal of remittances as well as informing customers about other services like digital nano loans, savings, insurance etc.
One can watch the CNN documentary on Munni Barua at A Digital Transformation in Financial Services.
