View the webinar deck here
Among the different sectors affected by COVID-19 in Bangladesh, the effects of this global pandemic have been particularly acute on small and micro-enterprises. As a part of our Rapid Research Response (RRR) program, we conducted a large-scale survey in collaboration with Monash University to see how these small firms are doing during these unnerving times.
BIGD conducted a webinar titled “Effects of COVID–19 on Small Firms: Evidence From Large Scale Surveys of Owners and Employees”, where Dr Asadul Islam, Professor at the Department of Economics, Monash University and Atiya Rahman, Senior Research Associate, BIGD, shared findings from the study. Dr Ahsan H. Mansur, Chairman, BRAC Bank; Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Research Director, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD); Dr Kazi Iqbal, Senior Research Fellow, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS); were present as panelists.
Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, Senior Advisor, BIGD; Dr Narayan Das, Senior Research Fellow, BIGD; Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Research Director, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD); Dr Kazi Iqbal, Senior Research Fellow, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), among others, also spoke at the webinar moderated by Dr Imran Matin, Executive Director, BIGD.
In their presentation, Asadul Islam and Atiya Rahman warned that if this gender disparity is left unaddressed, it can put women’s empowerment in Bangladesh into jeopardy. They also made some key recommendations, which include paying special attention to certain highly vulnerable sectors, such as beauty parlours and hotels, and increasing the accessibility of the government stimulus package. Moreover, drawing on the positive impact of the BRAC’s OHS training on the enterprises, they emphasized the importance of up-scaling such initiative.
