From homemaker to handicrafts entrepreneur | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Food
    • Habitat
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Thursday
December 07, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Food
    • Habitat
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 07, 2023
From homemaker to handicrafts entrepreneur

Bangladesh

Jobaer Chowdhury
23 August, 2022, 11:00 am
Last modified: 23 August, 2022, 11:06 am

Related News

  • Case filed against 3 in Ctg for illegally burning old batteries, polluting environment
  • Mayor Rezaul summoned for campaigning in favour of AL’s Ctg-11 candidate
  • Wealth of Whip Samsul Haque, wife multiplied 41-fold since 2008
  • 3-storey building tilts in Chattogram
  • Ctg AL leader 'conceals' party identity to vie in next polls

From homemaker to handicrafts entrepreneur

How a Ctg woman turned to handicrafts to make a fortune during the pandemic

Jobaer Chowdhury
23 August, 2022, 11:00 am
Last modified: 23 August, 2022, 11:06 am
Orpita Barua. Photo: Courtesy
Orpita Barua. Photo: Courtesy

Little did Orpita Barua know when she decided to make her daughter a swing, which the four-year-old craved for during the pandemic lockdown, that her life was going to transform dramatically from being a homemaker to a handicraft entrepreneur.

One day in May 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic forced lives within the four walls of home, Orpita's daughter Adrika saw a swing in the house next door and she was adamant that she wanted it. Orpita decided to make it at home and asked her husband Suman Barua, a bank officer, to buy ropes. She then made the swing for her daughter and Adrika was over the moon.

Chattogram resident Orpita went on to post pictures and videos of her handmade swing on the Facebook page WE (Women and e-Commerce). And that was the beginning. She received multiple orders in a few hours. She delivered 50 swings in just 28 days.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Photo: Courtesy
Photo: Courtesy

Orpita and her husband utilised their time at home to the fullest and made Tk1.5 lakh, which turned the homemaker into an aspiring entrepreneur.

"I learned the rope skills during my school and college days as a scout. Some people from the North Bengal region used to stay in our house on rent and they also did rope work. Using those experiences, I made the swing for my daughter," Orpita Barua told The Business Standard.

Throughout the rest of 2020, Orpita made and sold swings, plant hangers, curtains and wall mats. Back in 2018, she used to sell handmade jewellery on an online platform. However, her decision to sell handicrafts made with ropes during the pandemic on the Facebook page Knot Art BD made her an entrepreneur.

Photo: Courtesy
Photo: Courtesy

As customer demand continued to grow, she set up a factory on Zakir Hossain Road in Khulshi in February 2021. She also opened a showroom in partnership to sell various products, including bamboo and cane furniture there.

That same year, she participated in entrepreneurship training through an online platform. The trainer, Kyle Baack, a US citizen, visited Orpita's page and ordered about 200 fruit hammocks. In October 2021, Orpita shipped the order, worth about Tk1.5 lakh. That year she sold a total of Tk10 lakh worth of products.

Photo: Courtesy
Photo: Courtesy

Orpita slowly expanded her business and currently employs 10 workers.

Apart from rope-made products, Orpita also produces furniture with bamboo, cane and board. She sources ropes from the northern region of the country while bamboo, cane and related raw materials come from Bandarban, Hathazari and Karnaphuli river areas.

Her range of products includes sofas, beds, baskets, mirror frames, vases, table lamp sheets, tea tables, bamboo blinds, children's toys, baby dining chairs and other handicrafts.

Kyle Baack, the trainer turned US-based customer, was extremely satisfied with the first shipment of fruit hammocks and expressed her interest in buying three-stain plant hangers made of rope, lamp shades, trays and jars made of bamboo.

Orpita has sent her US buyer the samples of these products.

Photo: Courtesy
Photo: Courtesy

Orpita completed BBA from a private university in Chattogram and later did evening MBA from Chattogram University. Currently she is completing a diploma course on fashion designing.

Her husband's unwavering support is behind her progress, she said.

"My parents are both government employees. Initially I was also thinking about government jobs. But, in reality, going to Dhaka with the baby and appearing for the exam was very challenging. So, I decided to do something myself. That swing order during the pandemic changed the course of my life," Orpita said. "My husband also gives time to the business after his office. He takes care of the accounts."

Suman Barua told TBS, "My wife takes care of the children and the family. She basically sacrificed her own career for the family. So now, I try to cooperate with her in the business."

Photo: Courtesy
Photo: Courtesy

"My wife is one of those who turned their entrepreneurial dreams into reality, that too at a challenging time," Suman Barua said, visibly proud of his wife.

Top News

Chattogram / entrepreneurship

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • File photo of Russian Ambassador to Bangladesh Alexander Mantytskiy. During his tenure as the Russian ambassador to Afghanistan he speaks during a news conference at the Russian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 25, 2016. Photo: REUTERS
    Russia does not recognise 'illegal' sanctions by western countries: Ambassador
  • Photo: AP
    'Classic Russian propaganda,' US says on Moscow's claim of interference in Bangladesh's domestic affairs
  • BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir
    HC denies Fakhrul's bail, issues rule asking why he should not get bail

MOST VIEWED

  • Bangladeshi RMG exporters alarmed as buyers tag conditions over trade restriction fears
    Bangladeshi RMG exporters alarmed as buyers tag conditions over trade restriction fears
  • Illustration: TBS
    Troubled banks categorised, new deposits, loans barred for weakest
  • File Photo of the US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas. Photo: Collected
    US Ambassador Peter Haas holds meeting with Biman officials
  • Bank deposits in Bangladesh surge on higher interest, lower investment
    Bank deposits in Bangladesh surge on higher interest, lower investment
  • Photo: AFP
    Bangladesh lose 4 wickets after decent start in first session
  • Illustration: TBS
    Cenbank doubles limit for sending remittances to MFS accounts

Related News

  • Case filed against 3 in Ctg for illegally burning old batteries, polluting environment
  • Mayor Rezaul summoned for campaigning in favour of AL’s Ctg-11 candidate
  • Wealth of Whip Samsul Haque, wife multiplied 41-fold since 2008
  • 3-storey building tilts in Chattogram
  • Ctg AL leader 'conceals' party identity to vie in next polls

Features

Hamas-Israel war: What really happened on 7 October?

Hamas-Israel war: What really happened on 7 October?

6h | Panorama
UN workers arrive to distribute aid to Palestinians, who have fled their homes due to Israeli strikes and take shelter in a UN-run school, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on 23 October 2023. Photo: Reuters

When UN and its agencies lack much agency

6h | Panorama
Sketch: TBS

How Khan Farhana built a 300,000-strong LinkedIn community

17h | Pursuit
Photo: Courtesy

Fostering emotional intelligence and classroom harmony: The power of a complaint box

17h | Pursuit

More Videos from TBS

Messi named Time Magazine's 'Athlete of the Year'

Messi named Time Magazine's 'Athlete of the Year'

2h | TBS SPORTS
What is 'obstructing the field' out?

What is 'obstructing the field' out?

21h | TBS SPORTS
When Farooki is hero

When Farooki is hero

20h | TBS Entertainment
Losing uteruses to the climate crisis in coastal Bangladesh

Losing uteruses to the climate crisis in coastal Bangladesh

4h | TBS Stories
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net