Rural Bangladeshi Women as Entrepreneurs through Formal and Informal Community Support

Abstract

Bangladesh is a developing country where more than half of the population is in the agriculture industry. The target village, “Aggaonagar,” is one of the poorest in the country. The women are traditionally housewives, but due to worsening flooding on the crops, the women are attempting to establish businesses to help their families financially. This paper shows various ways that NGOs, such as BRAC and CARE, and businesses, such as Coca- Cola, are attempting to help budding female entrepreneurs through theater, support of key family members and village leaders, and step-by-step business planning. I have also included some other success stories from case studies as well as possibilities. In the end, I will include some recommendations as to how I, or another applied anthropologist, would monitor and/or evaluate the projects.