The Coca-Cola Foundation (TCCF), in partnership with United Purpose, on Sunday launched 30 new Women Business Centres (WBC), 15 in Sunamganj and 15 in Gopalganj, to improve the wellbeing of women in those area by creating a sustainable business model for 40,000 women entrepreneurs in those regions.
The plan is to cover 15,000 new women producers in remote Haor regions of Sunamganj, 15,000 women producers in Gopalganj and 10,000 women producers in Dewanganj and Bakshiganj upazilas of Jamalpur, according to a press release.
Since 2015, The Coca-Cola Foundation and United Purpose have empowered over 100,000 women in Bangladesh, through 70 WBCs spread across Jamalpur, Khulna and Bagerhat.
This new chapter of WBC will be similar to that of the last five years.
The primary goal of these centres is to support women and empower them to overcome the daily obstacles.
At the same time, people come to the WBC to pay their electricity bill, pay their taxes, make photocopies of documents, click pictures etc.
Sometimes children from nearby schools can come over to buy their stationeries and buy packaged food items.
The announcement of the launching of new WBCs was made at a virtual seminar held by The Coca-Cola Foundation and United Purpose.
The seminar was conducted to share the experiences and findings of the previous women business centres’ success stories.
The Chief Guest at the event was Dr Shaikh Muslima Moon, additional director, Department of Women Affairs, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs.
The Women Business Centre program in Bangladesh has transformed the lives and empowered 100,000 women. The impact of the program has inspired TCCF to continue empower women and provide them with opportunities, said a Coca-Cola Foundation spokesperson.
Coca-Cola Foundation’s WBCs have not only helped women individually but they have had a positive impact on the community too. Women here are now more confident, they feel happy to be able to do meaningful work as well as contribute to their family, said Bilkis Begum from Igenipara WBC of Madarganj in Jamalpur.
“The success stories of these women entrepreneurs have encouraged us to expand our operations and launch many new WBCs across Bangladesh. Hopefully, these new centers and their newly linked WBC retail outlets will create even greater levels of impact than we’ve seen to date,” Sriramappa Gonchikara, country director, United Purpose.
