Phone Loan
I am just getting started in preparing some stories for the TIP-related (TIP-inspired) course that I am developing. One of the first venues for the course would be at the American University. When the details are in (along with needed approvals), those details will get posted here also. In the meantime, enjoy the first of the stories I am putting together - to illustrate how doing business and doing good mix. - Sri
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TinyURL
By Robert Rothery (rrothery@adb.org)
Senior Procurement Specialist
It is 6 am in Barigaon Village in Bangladesh, and Halima Begum is opening her shop. Her first customer is waiting�not to buy goods, but to use her telephone. The telephone is a second business, augmenting her family's income by 1,000�1,500 taka (US$20�30) per month.
At 8 am, Ms. Begum leaves the grocery store to her husband and goes home to tend to other responsibilities, taking the phone with her. Her customers know where to find her. And if she receives a call from an overseas worker wanting to contact a relative in the village, she can take the phone to her customer. It is a state-of-the-art cellular phone and completely portable.
Throughout rural Bangladesh, village women have gone into the telephone business. For the first time their villages have ready access to the outside world, and it has really changed daily life. In Chhoto Chandrai Village, Dilwara Begum says business people use her phone to order supplies and follow up on deliveries. The phone is a source of additional income to her family and has brought financial solvency. It has also helped the village community to grow closer. In nearby Chhoybaria, Anwara Begum's husband is kept happily occupied helping manage her phone service. Profits are used to stock their grocery shop.
The village phone has drastically improved the risky business of receiving remittances from abroad�so much, people say, that it has made their community financially viable.
Read Article
TinyURL
By Robert Rothery (rrothery@adb.org)
Senior Procurement Specialist
It is 6 am in Barigaon Village in Bangladesh, and Halima Begum is opening her shop. Her first customer is waiting�not to buy goods, but to use her telephone. The telephone is a second business, augmenting her family's income by 1,000�1,500 taka (US$20�30) per month.
At 8 am, Ms. Begum leaves the grocery store to her husband and goes home to tend to other responsibilities, taking the phone with her. Her customers know where to find her. And if she receives a call from an overseas worker wanting to contact a relative in the village, she can take the phone to her customer. It is a state-of-the-art cellular phone and completely portable.
Throughout rural Bangladesh, village women have gone into the telephone business. For the first time their villages have ready access to the outside world, and it has really changed daily life. In Chhoto Chandrai Village, Dilwara Begum says business people use her phone to order supplies and follow up on deliveries. The phone is a source of additional income to her family and has brought financial solvency. It has also helped the village community to grow closer. In nearby Chhoybaria, Anwara Begum's husband is kept happily occupied helping manage her phone service. Profits are used to stock their grocery shop.
The village phone has drastically improved the risky business of receiving remittances from abroad�so much, people say, that it has made their community financially viable.
posted by Infinisri @ 10:46 PM
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