Supportive leader and entrepreneur Lovely Begum

Lovely Begum is the president of this Meghla women group since its formation which is located in Mollapara Amtala area of ​​Jessore town. The total members of the group are 21 and it was formed in 2016. Lovely’s father is a van driver. Due to the large number of family members, it became difficult for him to run his family with less income. Although Lovely had a dream after finishing class-V but her father gave her marriage with Korban Ali.

Since her marriage, husband Korban Ali used to drive a rickshaw or a van. Two years after the marriage, Lovely became mother of a daughter. She decided to sew net bag in sewing machine at home to meet up the need of her family. Accordingly, Lovely rented a sewing machine from a neighbor by Tk. 150 per month. Lovely had to work tirelessly day and night as her husband could not meet the family’s basic needs.

In the process, Lovely became the mother of her second daughter. As the number of family members increased, shortages started in the family. She was trying to increase her income. She got a job of making net bags. Lovely then gave birth to a son. In the meantime, in 2017, she came to know about IED organization. After hearing about IED’s activities, she consulted with some women in the area and formed a group. She became more aware through discussions on women abuse, child marriage, dowry, women’s rights and importance of women’s income in group meetings. After receiving leadership development training from IED, she started dreaming a new and wanted to educate her children and fulfill dreams.

Lovely later took the initiative to do business inspired in the group meetings and received entrepreneurship development training from IED and got the idea to do business. She took a loan of Tk. 20,000 from BRAC and set up shop in the area. The shop sells tea, biscuits and cakes. After a while, as the sales in the shop increased, she started selling breakfast and delicious foods like onion fry, potato chop, puri, singara, etc.

She pays Tk. 4,000 per month for shop rent. In all, she makes profit of Tk.1200 to 1400 per day. At present, her shop has a capital of Tk. 1, 00,000.  Lovely did marry off her eldest daughter. Now her youngest daughter is studying in class-IX and the boy in class-V. Lovely has become aware of her rights from group meetings. In addition to business, Lovely also plays a leading role for organize women group. If any member of the group is in danger, she goes ahead. She goes there when there is any torture with women in the area. She cooperates everybody, including the group members, for mobilizing public and private services and facilities. Everyone in the area loves and respects Lovely for her helpful work. Lovely considers herself a successful woman in this transformation of herself. So today she has become aware of women’s rights and values. She has arranged the disability allowance for her sister-in-law by contacting with the city social service and disability development foundation. She thinks this change in her life would never have been possible without the help of IED. Lovely is grateful to IED.