Aarong works for social development and women empowerment

Mohammad Tarequzzaman

Aarong, which means ‘village fair’ in Bengali, has been working towards BRAC’s mission of poverty alleviation through economic development and human capacity building, with a specific focus on the empowerment of women.

Mohammad Ashraful Alam, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Aarong gave an interview to the Daily Tribunal recently. While he was giving the interview, he said that Aarong has been pursuing the above mission over last four decades. And he gave answers to some questions.

The Daily Tribunal : Aarong has been able to reach the goal with which it was established in the long run or not?

Mohammad Ashraful Alam : This ethical brand began in 1978 as a humble means to empower rural artisans to rise above poverty. Our aim is to achieve large scale,enabling women and men to realize their potential and bringing positive changes through economic and social empowerment. Besides, we have been working to uphold our traditional crafts and portray in our products. Our founder Sir Fazle Hasan Abed had a vision to make Aarong as a global brand. We are working to achieve this dream soon.

The Daily Tribunal : Aarong has only 25 retail outlets across the country which is very less. Is there a possibility to expand the sales center?

Mohammad Ashraful Alam : Aarong has 25 retail stores across Bangladesh in which 14 retail stores are in Dhaka and 11 retail stores are out of Dhaka. At present we have over 100 fashion and lifestyle product lines. We are in the process of continuously increasing our outlets. We opened outlets in Feni, Rangpur and Jessore even during the pandemic situation. We will launch one more outlet in Faridpur soon and we are preparing to open many more retail stores across Bangladesh. We have a plan to open Aarong’s outlets in most of the districts within thenext five years. Besides, customers across all over Bangladesh and 6 countries outside Bangladesh can get our products through our e-commerce website, app, and social media. We are continuously working to expand our online services for the customers, he added.

The Daily Tribunal : What is the new collection of ‍Aarong this Durga Puja?

Mohammad Ashraful Alam : Durga Puja is one of the largest festivals of our country. We give additional effort to develop new designs considering the color, cut, fit and comfort. Our customers will get new and attractive designs in Saree, SKD, Panjabi and kid’s products. We also brought new designs in jewellery and leather products as well. Our sub brands TAAGA and TAAGA MAN hasalso Launched new designs for this festival. This Puja collection that not only upholds the main essence of the celebrations but also enables people to celebrate in style with their families and friends.

The Daily Tribunal : At what stage would you like to see Aarong after ten years as a Chief Operating Officer (COO)?

Mohammad Ashraful Alam : As I mentioned before we are continuously working to achieve the vision of our founder and we want to see Aarong as a responsible global brand with its outlet presence in number of countriesin next 10 years.

The Daily Tribunal : What kind of initiatives has Aarong taken on BRAC’s 50th anniversary?

Mohammad Ashraful Alam : As we know Aarong is the flagship social enterprise of BRAC, we are also a big part of this celebration. The celebration has been started from this year. We are engagedatmost of the activities of BRAC on the occasion of its fifty years celebration. On this occasion Aarong changed the branding of the shopping bag, decorated our outlets with engaging communication materials. We participated in different programs with our stalls where we offered hands on experience of our crafts. Our artisans made 80 square feet long Nakshikantha where we represent all of BRAC’S social welfare activity from microfinance, BRAC education, women’s empowerment, gender equality, disaster risk management, access to healthcare. In total 16 projects were demonstrated. It gives a holistic overview of BRAC’S development programs at a glance. BRAC has planned to wrap up this fifty years anniversary celebration with a grand carnival at Army stadium in March 2023where Aarong will be present with multiple number of activities and representations.

The Daily Tribunal : There are allegations that Aarong sells products at high prices. How much do you agree with the complaint?

Mohammad Ashraful Alam : Aarong has been making products considering the need of our valued customers. We always keep our price reasonable and affordable for our customers. We sell our product at the same price across all the outlets and e-commerce. He added that 50% of the surplus that Aarong makes goes to BRAC’s development programme and rest of the surplus Aarong uses for its expansion and further development.

The Daily Tribunal : What initiatives have Aarong taken in social development and women’s empowerment?

Mohammad Ashraful Alam : From the beginning of Aarong’s journey in 1978, it has always been in upfront of social development and women’s empowerment.  Since, Aarong’s initiative was dedicated to creating economic opportunity for disadvantaged artisans and rural women through the revival and promotion of their traditional handicrafts. Today Aarong has become the foundation for independent cooperative groups and family-based artisans to market their craft, both within Bangladesh and internationally. Every woman who works in Aarong-owned production facilities is also a beneficiary of BRAC’s multifaceted development programmes with access to microcredit to develop income-generation activities in addition to their regular wages. In keeping with BRAC’s business model, 85 per cent of the artisans employed by Aarong are women. From its inception, Aarong focused mainly on women artisans, by taking many initiatives such as providing them health security schemes, microfinance loans, legal support and awareness, wash awareness and latrine support, educating them on the importance of education, savings, gender awareness, family planning, combating child marriages and so on. These activities enabled them to take charge of their lives and make improvements for themselves, their families and their communities. Aarong also supports the women producers by giving them raw materials on credit and other supports. It is also significant that most of our employee working in Aarong outlets are women.

Mentionable that, Aarong has carved out a unique market segment for handicrafts, reviving Bangladesh’s rich heritage and impacting the lives of more than 325,000 people through 650 small entrepreneurs and the Ayesha Abed Foundation. The foundation acts as Aarong’s production hub, where artisans find employment and access to many well-being programmes such as financial subsidies for health expenditures, access to micro-credit and saving instruments, legal aid, day care for working mothers, awareness on rights and access to government benefits, and gratuity payments upon retirement. Its growing presence outside of Bangladesh – through fair-trade networks and the online shop– continues to broaden the market for Bangladeshi crafts globally, creating more opportunities for artisans to protect their age-old art and livelihoods.