Songjukta for Women Entreprenuers

Updated on August 8, 2022
by Songjog Foundation

EMPOWERING WOMEN ENTREPRENUERS

Songjog Women Empowerment Project or Songjukta works to empower the underprivileged and marginal women in society. The foci of Songjukta are to train and develop women entrepreneurs and market the products of marginal women entrepreneurs. Songjog: Connecting Women believes in empowering women and ensuring their financial independence can eradicate gender discrimination and violence against women. Welcome to Songjukta. Ami Songjukta will assist you through skill development training and business counseling. Songjukta will also help you to market your products and increase sales. Over time, Songjukta is trying to break the taboo regarding menstrual health by ensuring that girls receive proper education about their health and access to sanitary products. Songjog Zakat Fund is funding Songjukta.

EMPOWERING WOMEN

WHAT SONGJUKTA DO

Songjukta came forward to help an acid-crime survivor-woman who wanted to work and earn her own. During this pandemic, many women became self-reliant with the help of Songjukta, and Songjog Shop marketed their products.

EMPOWERMENT BY TRAINING AND RESOURCE DONATION:

Songjukta IT training and tailoring center- Songjukta recently started this initiative for women at Panchagar. Md. Daiyan Nafis Prodhan is supervising this project. Songjukta sent sewing machines and laptops to Panchagar as training materials.
Roktodane Netrakana, a local blood donation initiative, learned about Swapna trying to meet both ends during this pandemic. Her husband and mother-in-law had been struggling to survive. Swapna wanted a sewing machine to contribute to her family financially, so Roktodane Netrakana reached out to Songjog: Connecting People, and Swapna got her sewing machine.
Rehana Khatun from Satkhira got burned in a bonfire when she was a child. Because of her deformed look, she could not get married. She works in a nearby house as a seamstress. She wanted a sewing machine on her own and to be self-reliant. Songjukta came forward and donated her a sewing machine.
Songjukta and FRIENDS foundation collaborated and donated sewing machines at Feni, Netrakana, Ulipur in Kurigram, Dimla in Neelfamari, and Hatia. Songjukta solely donated sewing machines at Brahmanbaria and Panchagar.
On June 23, 2021, Songjukta donated a sewing machine to Shefali Begum in Deviganj Upazilla, Panchagar district. Shefali Begum’s husband had been unemployed during the covid pandemic. She learned to sew, but without a sewing machine, she couldn’t fulfill her dream. Songjog: Connecting People came forward to be beside Shefali Begum. Shefali Begum is helping Snogjog and the earth by planting more trees.
On June 13, 2021, Songjukta donated an electric sewing machine (Juki brand) in Panchagar. In Panchagar, women will be receiving training in sewing and computer literacy through Songjog: Connecting People.

On May 14, 2021, Songjog and FRIENDS Foundation donated a sewing machine to Rahima Begum of Fulgazi Upazilla, Feni. Local Songjog Volunteer Tutul Sutradhar learned about Rahima. She learned sewing a few years ago. With covid induced financial crisis, she and her husband were struggling. With the sewing machine, she became self-dependent
On May 11, 2021, Jahinur Begum from Putimari, Chilmari Upazilla, Kurigram district, received a sewing machine from Songjukta. She had a dream of being a seamstress and trained for two months in sewing. But her plan failed to get real for lack of a sewing machine. Rabiul Islam from Songjukta came forward, and he brought a sewing machine from Ahmed Javed Jamal of Songjog: Connecting People. Jahinur Begum has her sewing machine now and working for her dream.
On May 9, 2021, Jesmin Akhter from the Jessor district received her sewing machine. Songjog Zakat Fund funded it.
On March 30, 2021, Songjog bookstall bought a sewing machine with its earned money at Chilmari Thanahat Government A.U. Pilot High School’s bookfair and donated it to Afrin Akhter. Afrin Akhter lives in Khariz Golna union, Jaldhaka Upazilla, Neelfamari.
On March 8, 2021, Songjog pledged to empower 50 women to celebrate the 50th birth anniversary of Bangladesh. Songjukta conducted a three-month-long sewing training at Ward 26, Mohadepur, Nurpur, Choto Nurpur, Rail gate Station. Arifa Jahan Bithi supervised the training along with Khairul Hasan Sifat, Manish Agarwal, Mohammad Safakat Rabby, and volunteers of Rangpur Songjog.
On March 2, 2021, Moni Das at Netrakana received a new sewing machine from Songjukta. Her previous sewing machine stopped working. As a result, she couldn’t contribute financially to her family. Her sick husband could barely earn by rickshaw pulling, so she had to work at other people’s houses with her disabled child. Roktodane Netrakan learned about her struggle and reached out to Songjog. Songjukta donated a new sewing machine and kickstarted her journey.
In March 2021, Songjukta donated 17 goats, one cow, five hens, two sewing machines, one tubewell in a remote village in Dimla.
In March 2021, Songjog: Connecting People took the initiative “Self-dependent 26 on March 26”. Through this initiative, women donated their unutilized sewing machines in various corners of Bangladesh to women who would utilize those.
On January 16, 2021, Syed Kamrul Huda, managing director of Arunima Group, donated two electric sewing machines to Songjog: Connecting People. This effort was a success thanks to Supervisor-Engineer Sanjay Kar of Contour Garments and Anis Ansari of Songjog. A woman in Rangpur received one sewing machine, and she was under Arifa Jahan Bithi’s supervision. She later sewed about 100 Bangladesh national flags with the machine. Suchona Hossen received the other sewing machine they had been utilizing to sew jute products

EMPOWERMENT BY MENSTRUAL HEALTH AWARENESS:

About 3.2 million women work in garments factories. Rezwan Ahamed Noor Shabbin, a cofounder of Songjog and entrepreneur of Vertical Innovation Limited, made sanitary napkin vending machines where women can get pads by a simple punch card system. Shabbin’s Jyoti Foundation aims to educate girls on their menstrual health and ensure awareness about sanitation. So far, about 18,000 girls and women are getting free pads during work hours or school or college times.

Songjukta and Jyoti jointly took the initiative to provide free sanitary napkins amounted to 1,00,000 in taka for a year. Riyadus Muslimat Women Madrasa is the first institution for this initiative. Jyoti provided a free sanitary napkin vending machine to this Madrasa. Slowly, Songjukta will cover several schools and colleges. Songjukta has targeted 10000 girls’ and women’s sanitary napkins for a year.

On October 7, 2020, Songjukta took the initiative with the help of SMC Enterprise to distribute free sanitary napkins among the girls of Madhyanagar Girls’ School and College. Dahuk, a rural alliance development and research-based organization, came forward to spread awareness about menstrual health and collaborated with Songjukta and SMC Enterprise. Reza Shaon, the founder of Dahuk, said that menstrual health is still taboo in remote villages. He wants to spread more awareness through sanitary napkin donation and free health camps across the country. Shahadat Hossain, cofounder of Songjog: Connecting People, said that girls of Panchagar, Sunamganj, Netrakana, Barisal, Kishwarganj are receiving free sanitary napkins from Songjukta. He also added that 750 girls in Sunamganj received free pads.