For the Daily Star/Bangladesh
Since its inception in the early 2000s, social media platforms like Facebook have mainly been used by people to stay connected with their friends and family. However, with time, Facebook has vastly evolved from being just a social media platform, to being a versatile business platform.
With its access to wide user data, Facebook can create customised ads dedicated to attracting particular user groups. Upon being convinced by the ads, the user only needs to send an order to the advertiser, and the product gets delivered to the user’s doorstep. As such, shopping in the chaotic city of Dhaka has become much easier. Interestingly enough, a large number of the Facebook-based business ventures have been formed, and are run and managed by women, which directly and indirectly contributes to women’s empowerment in the country.
According to Statista, Bangladesh has an internet penetration rate of 18 percent (2017), which is increasing year-on-year due to government and non-government initiatives. In the major cities, social media literacy also remains high among different age groups, starting from primary school students to our retired parents and even grandparents. Statista also ranked Bangladesh among 15 countries with the highest Facebook users (2020). As such, young women entrepreneurs of the country were quick to jump into action and utilise the opportunity. Apart from ease of marketing, business platforms based on social media come with several other advantages, which particularly benefit women entrepreneurs.