ekShop appears to be change maker in Marufa’s life

Marufa Begumhas changed her fate by selling products on a digital marketplace named ekShop.

News Desk

Marufa Begum, a mother of two children, has changed her fate by selling products on a digital marketplace named ekShop, overcoming hard days to lead a happy and prosperous life.

 Begum, hailed from Dakhin Ajodhapur in Rangpur sadar upazila, had to face financial hardship about seven years ago when her husband had a sudden heart attack and simultaneously he underwent a bypass surgery.

But, this obstacle could not stop Begum, rather offer strength to confront her hard time. Instead of giving up hope, she prepared herself to fight her ordeal of struggle.

At one stage, she came to know about a training programme of Aspire to Innovate (a2i), which gave her a ray of hope for leading a new life.

She received training on crafts and started making handmade bags, sandals, wall-mates and floor-mate from jute, and supplying her products to local showrooms for sale.

Later, she was informed by the trainers of the programme about an online market place ‘ekShop’.

Then she began selling her products at fair price using this virtual platform.

This ‘ekShop’ helped Begum offsetting her tough time, helping her to be one of the marginal entrepreneurs who are selling their goods at home and abroad using the e-platform.

Mentioning her monthly income of Tk 10,000 to Tk 15,000, she said, “Now, I am able to spend money for education of my children. My son is now studying at honour’s level and my daughter is studying at a college".

Begum expressed her gratitude to the government and a2i for introducing the training programme and ensuring digitisation in all sectors of the country.

 To develop an efficient ecosystem for the e-commerce industry, a2i project director Dr Dewan Muhammad Humayun Kabir said the government has taken the initiative to establish an integrated e-commerce platform - ekShop.

“ekShop is the world’s first integrated rural e-commerce platform. It has gathered all major e-commerce players and brought them to the country’s last-mile with integration in a single platform,” he said.

Rural and urban traders are being able to connect and collaborate with major e-commerce and logistics players in facilitating shipment, he added.

He said ekShop’ utilises union-level delivery points to enter hard-to-reach areas and leverages government and human resources to make a decentralized supply chain.

 “It provides sellers a single point entry to all e-commerce platforms,” he added.

‘ekShop’ also taps ESCROW, a financial arrangement, to temporarily hold some money before final transaction to ensure maximum security for an e-commerce transaction, Kabir said.

By democratising access to market and finance, he said ekShop has led disadvantaged entrepreneurs to turn the previously complex and expensive e-commerce service into much more convenient.

The 'ekShop model' has received many international recognitions, including the 2020 WSIS champion award, 2019 APICTA award, UN facility fund competition award in 2019, and BRH catalytic fund winner in 2020, the a2i project director said.

He said ‘ekShop’ is touted as the logistic backbone of the e-commerce industry in Bangladesh.

The specialised digital business platform for rural women was introduced to empower the community through women entrepreneurship, Kabir said.

“This service is provided from the rural physical digital centres from where people of remote areas can purchase or trade products," he added.

"ekShop is internet-based e-commerce platform which is also helpful for women's economic empowerment by strengthening market systems," he said.

Kabir mentioned that ‘ekShop’ focused on penetrating to rural areas with the support of over 10,000 entrepreneurs and 25,000 micro-merchants.