Sabina Begum wakes early in the morning and walks instinctively to a tiny room next to her home. She unbolts the factory; double-checks machinery and raw materials and takes a deep breath to begin a new day.

Making a mark in man

She prepares for the manufacturing process that will include choosing the fabric, matching sewing thread colours, setting designs and logos for sun caps that she and her fellow mates will make for the day.

The sun caps are displayed for sale at various outlets in some cities. They mainly attract the urban crowd with the stylish designs and also benefit those who want to avoid sunburn.

The caps are also exported to India and Nepal.

But the society at large was not facilitating the smooth flow of her business, primarily because Sabina wanted to make a mark in a man’s world.

“When I initially planned to begin a venture of my own, I faced many obstacles, the main being the unwillingness of my family,” said Sabina, a winner of ‘Citi Microentrepreneurship Award 2008′.

A further three were awarded in other categories: Best Woman Micro Entrepreneur, Best Innovative Micro Entrepreneur and Best Micro Finance Institution.

Citi Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Citigroup, and Shakti Foundation for Disadvantaged Women co-organised the programme to recognise the successes and contribution of micro-entrepreneurs and micro-finance institutions that focus on poverty alleviation.

In an interview, Sabina revealed she started her career a decade ago, as a sewing helper at Continental Garments, a readymade garments factory.

After working for a couple of years, she was promoted to supervisor at the garments factory. Apparently, she was not too happy with her performance. The reason behind her low motivation was because she had to contribute long hours of hard work in return for a poor package.

Sabina eventually quitted.

Having only some technical know-how on the garments trade, she decides to start something closely related to that sector.

In 2003, Sabina started her own tiny factory for producing caps, using waste fabrics that were collected from Dhaka Export Promotion Zone’s (EPZ) garment factories. She also had some personal contacts at different garment factories, which she utilised for getting information on the annual waste fabrics auction.

“At the outset, it was tough coping with everything at work; collecting raw materials from the EPZ, dealing with workers and finding potential buyers to market my products,” Sabina told The Daily Star.

“Buyers were initially sceptic about the quality of the caps I produced, as I was a fresher in trade. But somehow I managed to juggle everything at once,” Sabina said.

Sabina was overwhelmed by the positive responses, as the quality of her caps was excellent and the prices are reasonable. Wholesalers started coming to her factory to purchase products as their need because of the low price.

In five years, Sabina proved her family wrong with her success. Currently, the annual turnover of Sabina’s factory is around Tk 12 lakh with clear signs of growth.

Being a hit in local markets, Sabina’s products are now being exported abroad.

“I have exported 3,000 sun caps to India and another 1,700 pieces to Nepal this year. Responses are satisfactory,” she said. She has more orders from Nepal, up her sleeve.

Her hard work earned her fame and fortune and now a few members of her unwilling family also work for her. This is because she values hard work and pays in time.

People now swarm in for advice and plead to be employed to her organisation.

Sabina became a byname for hope for people in her locality.

However, she still cannot rise to her potential because she operates her business in a nation where the national economy is not that strong and women’s status is still below her male counterparts.

“I still face problems collecting waste fabrics from the EPZ waste auction. Being a woman, I often have to pay more,” Sabina said.

“Besides, my business needs investment for expansion. I will thereby be able to employ more women,” she said.

She now intends to wisely spend her prize money on machinery, business expansion and creativity.

Sabina now dreams of opening her own garments factory, where she can help more women through employment. The problems she faced in the past will not be repeated.

Sabina is determined to be more stringent about salaries and overtime.

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