Entrepreneurs face a terrific situation and struggle to balance their business because the pandemic collapsed every industry, and many founders are frustrated. The true fact is that do you know that 90% of the flower business has collapsed?
Imagine a part of the country covered with flowers of all types, employing thousands of farmers and merchants who rely on a multimillion-dollar flower trade each season. Now, consider a devastating pandemic that drives people to stay at home and leads to a severe economic slowdown. Then there was Amphan, a category five super cyclone that demolished infrastructure and uprooted trees in the blink of an eye.
Following this, an agribusiness owner shared his words that represent the current scenario of entrepreneurs in Bangladesh.
Zahir Uddin Md. Babor, CEO of Fiber Agro Ltd and Colors Event Management, stated that agricultural businesses, including the flower industry, were devastated by the Covid-19 epidemic. It was difficult for him as a retailer since he couldn’t get flowers to markets because all types of transportation were shut down earlier, and consumers couldn’t pick up flowers straight from the field or farm. As a result, most retail flower businesses have closed, and many flower-related events have been canceled.
Hence, it was undoubtedly a double loss for him since he couldn’t sell his flowers to markets or customers, and he had to pick all of the flowers and discard them at his own expense.
He further said, “In the blink of an eye, the flower industry fell by 80%–90%. I have never seen such a financial impact on the floral industry in my 12 years of expertise”, also added, “but, as a responsible businessman, I couldn’t abandon my employees and other stakeholders, and I attempted to help them to the best of my abilities. The COVID Pandemic was a year of uncertainty and pessimism for me, and I’d want to forget about it.”
Indeed, it is time to save entrepreneurs to save the economy. When all is said and done, though, the courageous and hardworking people remain cautiously optimistic. As Bangladesh prepares for a fresh Omicron wave, the country’s flower capital wishes for a brighter day when flowers may once again beautify the country.
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