MADE IN BANGLADESH

Photo: Prabir Das

Sitting among the red hot chilli pepper, yellow turmeric and brown cumin, Selina Akhter looks like the mistress of the spices. Living in the outskirts of Rajbari, Selina and her team produce different spices, puffed or dried rice (muri, chira, khoi), pickles, ghee and many more ingredients that are crucial to good cooking.
If you want to enjoy this service, you can consider paying a visit to Joyeeta. “We run a small women's organisation called Antaranga Mohila Samity where we used to produce different agri-commodities and supply them to various vendors around the country”, says Selina while packing some turmeric and chilli powder for her customers. “At last we have a platform through Joyeeta where we can sell our products directly, not through any intermediary.”
Like Selina, Shima Akhter from Manikganj also holds her own corner at Joyeeta offering different handmade and hygienic food and spices for the customers. “We work with a small organisation called Esho Kicchu Kori Mohila Shomity where we produce most of these food items and spices back in Manikganj. Some items which we cannot produce for example, brown sugar, we collect it and keep it in our store so that our customers can get a one stop solution in Joyeeta.
Joyeeta's tagline is 'Bangladesh under one roof'. It is a venture launched by the Bangladesh Government where products made by creative women from across the country are displayed and sold under the supervision of the Department of Women Affairs of Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs.
“Like the tagline my stall offers products from all over the country-nakshikanthas from Rajshahi and Jamalpur, cushion covers from Kushtia, bags and dresses from Mymensingh”, says Rubiya Helal, while she opens up a nicely adorned nakshikantha before her customers.
Occupying the top two floors of Rapa Plaza in Dhanmondi, it is a shop where you can get products that are made using traditional techniques and skills. Joyeeta has an extensive collection of deshi products, which includes jute, paper, glass, bamboo, cane, wood, metal, leather, home textiles, home accessories, clothes and food. On the top floor, it has a food court which serves sweet and savoury snacks and also a kids' zone where you can leave your children to play while you shop.
Joyeeta is a Bengali word which connotes victory of women. It links over 139 craft based rural women's organisations and give them access to modern urban markets, thereby creating an opportunity for sustainable rural women employment, and preserving country's traditional handicrafts. All of the products you see around this outlet are natural, craft based and affordable.
“Organisation is an important step for voice representation”, says Md Shamsul Alam who is working on deputation in Joyeeta as an Accounts Officer. “But it is not enough to be organised unless such organisation is effective, one that is truly representative of its members and their work; Joyeeta attempts to do that.”
“Joyeeta's stalls are operated by registered women's associations following corporate culture and with the motto of profitability,” Alam says.
There are 16,000 women's associations in Bangladesh that are engaged in various handicrafts and food production. After conducting a survey among all of these organisations the primary consultant board of Joyeeta selected 180 of them, based on their nature and standard of craft production and also through a lottery.The project was under intensive supervision of a consultant team consisting of five members - experts in different sectors like designing, product quality, marketing. The Government's role is to facilitate the initiative by providing physical facility, training and technical knowledge support and publicity. The rent of this 24,000 square feet area of Rapa Plaza is split among the government and the entrepreneurs, where the government pays 60 percent of the rent while the stall owners pay the rest.
At the time of inauguration on November 16, 2011, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina envisioned that gradually every district and sub district would house a Joyeeta to support and facilitate the grassroots women entrepreneurs to showcase and market their own arts, crafts, products and services. In order to translate the dream into reality, the Government is working on establishing “Joyeeta Foundation” so that joyeeta gets a legal and constitutional shape. “We have already registered with RJSC (Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms) as a foundation, however we are yet to get our own land to establish our outlet,” Alam opines. “Also, we need manpower and an extensive fund to make Joyeeta into a foundation, we are still working on it. Every member-stall had to give 50,000 taka in two installments as a member fee which has been preserved for the foundation.”
Joyeeta boasts of a stable supply chain between the suppliers and the buyers, “Previously most of us used to market our products through an intermediary party or to different urban boutique shops. We had to wait for fairs to display our works, but now we own our respective shops and can claim a fair price.”
However, most of the shop owners share the same concern regarding publicity and marketing of Joyeeta. “During any religious festival we are overwhelmed with customers, however around the year we don't have too many of buyers, mostly because people don't know about this shop's existence,” informs Bibi Fatema, a stall owner.
“From agriculture to traditional crafts, rural women sustain the informal sector in a variety of ways,” says Samia Hasan, a school teacher who is a regular at Joyeeta. “I believe it is our responsibility to encourage this kind of initiative more and more so that these women can strive to do even better. I often buy household accessories and food items from Joyeeta and encourage others too.”
Joyeeta is making a journey towards preserving and promoting traditional crafts with the message “Made in Bangladesh.” Joyeeta not only provides its members a space to exhibit their products, it also provides them training to brush up their designing skills to increase the aesthetic appeal of their products.