In Dhaka:
Shazia Ahmed
Phone:  +88 337 5266, ext. 145
E-mail:  sahmed15@ifc.org


Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 22, 2007—IFC Advisory Services for South Asia—the SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility—and the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Bangladesh today signed an agreement to provide support for women farmers and entrepreneurs in the poultry sector. The project includes a series of training workshops that are designed to enhance technical and business management skills. There are also guidance sessions to help women entrepreneurs improve their businesses.  The initiative will increase productivity and generate income for women in the sector.

The poultry sector in Bangladesh is growing rapidly.  The current market size is $1 billion with about 150,000 small and medium enterprises. The sector employs some 5 million people, yet there still is a strong, unmet demand for poultry products. To help women benefit from opportunities in the sector, IFC will organize workshops at key locations across the country.  The project will also provide training and develop a training curriculum that will help people become independent trainers.

“There is a lot of interest from women to invest in the poultry sector, but they lack the necessary skills.  I hope that by delivering both technical and business management training, this project will address this issue and encourage women to set up poultry-related enterprises,” said Nasreen A. Mintoo, President of the Women Entrepreneurs Association.

“Our aim is to help women entrepreneurs develop the necessary skills to scale up and remain competitive in a commercially viable, sustainable way,” said Deepak Adhikary, Deputy General Manager and Head of IFC-SEDF Bangladesh.  IFC’s role is to help address the needs and market gaps in the private sector to promote economic growth.  This initiative is part of a larger strategy to develop Bangladesh’s agribusiness sector.

About IFC
IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, promotes open and competitive markets in developing countries. IFC supports sustainable private sector companies and other partners in generating productive jobs and delivering basic services, so that people have opportunities to escape poverty and improve their lives. Through FY06, IFC Financial Products have committed more than $56 billion in funding for private sector investments and mobilized an additional $25 billion in syndications for 3,531 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC Advisory Services and donor partners have provided more than $1 billion in program support to build small enterprises, to accelerate private participation in infrastructure, to improve the business enabling environment, to increase access to finance, and to strengthen environmental and social sustainability. For more information, please visit www.ifc.org.

About the IFC SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility
IFC-SEDF is a multidonor funded facility managed and operated by IFC.  One of 11 such programs managed by IFC worldwide, the facility is set up to promote the growth of SMEs in the region.  IFC-SEDF is jointly funded by IFC, the governments of the Netherlands and Norway, the European Commission, DFID (UK), CIDA (Canada), and the Asian Development Bank. It provides increased access to finance and quality business development services to projects in Bangladesh, Bhutan, northeast India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. IFC-SEDF also works to create a business-enabling environment and supports value addition to firms through sector development, advisory services, capacity-building programs, training, and research.