LightCastle Organizes the Inaugural Workshop for Meta’s #SheMeansBusiness Program

As a part of the scale-up of Meta’s #SheMeansBusiness program in Bangladesh, LightCastle Partners organized the inaugural workshop in Dhaka on November 17, 2022, in collaboration with Aspire to Innovate (a2i) of the ICT Division and Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BWCCI).

A total of 27 Dhaka-based female entrepreneurs from a range of industries, including food, fashion, and education, participated in this one-day program. Participants received training on how to use Meta’s digital tools to increase the resilience of their businesses.

Mrinmoy Sobhan and Mustafa Hamid, two Meta-certified trainers on the LightCastle team, led the workshops. Everyone who attended the workshop received a certificate at the conclusion.

As part of the closing ceremony, Dr. Dewan Muhammad Humayun Kabir, Project Director, a2i, ICT division, addressed the attendees and expressed his delight at the program’s introduction in Bangladesh and hoped that it will help close the country’s digital divide.

This workshop marks the start of the scale-up of the #SheMeansBusiness program in Bangladesh. The ‘#SheMeansBusiness’ initiative from Meta is being implemented in Bangladesh by LightCastle Partners in collaboration with the Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BWCCI) and the ICT Division’s Aspire to Innovate (a2i) program.

Through the program, LightCastle and its partners will give female entrepreneurs the knowledge, contacts, and technology needed to launch and expand their ventures. The global campaign ‘SheMeansBusiness’ is presently operating in 38 nations. More than a million women have received training worldwide from Meta and its network of partners.

Additionally, to create further opportunities for enterprises, LightCastle, a2i, and BWCCI will also support policy advocacy among pertinent stakeholders for digital commerce.

LightCastle Partners, A2i, and BWCCI will conduct 24 physical training sessions across 7 divisions in Bangladesh during the first year of the scale-up. The scale-up will also include virtual workshops to enable participants from anywhere in Bangladesh to access the training sessions.

To further promote learning, LightCastle and its partners will develop on-demand educational content that female entrepreneurs can access whenever they want. The #SheMeansBusiness program’s first year aims to positively impact 10,000 female-run businesses in Bangladesh.