BRAHMANBARIA: Easy bike owner, who used to pull rickshaw in the capital and could hardly manage livelihood, now leading life blissfully with the grace of interest free loan scheme by Bashundhara Group, country’s leading business conglomerate.

The fortunate one is Firoz Mia, resident of Khoshakandi village under Banchharampur Upazila of the district.

The circumstances had been changed with hard working Firoz, who was ill paid for his intensified labor in past days and doesn’t require to think about livelihood from driving rickshaw.

He gratefully conveyed gratitude to Ahmed Akbar Sobhan, Chairman of Bashundhara Group, for providing easy interest free loan scheme.

Bashundhara Group helped him to fulfill his dream and break the vicious chain of extreme poverty.

Expressing joy, Firoz Mia said, “It was hard to live with my family as we had nothing but a hut and no land to cultivate but now we living well enough than woeful past days”.  

He was the only earning member in his six members’ family. There was a lack of work opportunities. The maximum hustle derived him to move capital to pull rickshaw.

In 2006, an opportunity peeped to his fortune and got an interest free loan of Tk 5000 from Bashundhara Group. He utilized the money and started a business of puffed rice by a joint effort with his wife Renu Begum and made a good profit.

They paid the repayment and got an amount of Tk 7500 loan from Bashundhara Group.

Firoz bought a rickshaw with the money and Renu continued the business. Their days of sufferings were no more and they took a piece of land of 30-decimal on lease.

After that they got a third term loan from Bashundhara Group and took 15-decimal land more to cultivate.

They paid back their installments and got a loan at fourth time. Firoz Mia bought an easy bike with the money.

Bashundhara interest free loan scheme is working as a foundation of their dream and hundreds of family is being benefited through the process.

The main facility of this service is the debt installments can be paid after 3-month time period without interest or service charge where other NGOs charged interest in a weekly based process.

People are being entrepreneurs by this interest free loan project of Bashundhara Foundation. The scheme was started in 2005 and proving loans to 33 fields to underprivileged people.

Bashundhara Group has already provided the amount of loan of Tk 4, 83, 85,000 in 72 villages of the district in bid to eliminate poverty.

BDST: 1706 HRS, SEP 15, 2013
AIA/MJM/AKA/SRS