By IANS
Dhaka : A Bangladeshi ice-cream vendor, who hit upon the idea of manufacturing ice-cream sticks on a pleasure trip to India, was adjudged Best Innovative Micro Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 by Citi Foundation.
Mohammed Anwarul Islam’s life changed when he saw a factory producing ice-cream sticks during his visit to India in 1992.
“At that time I was involved in making ice-cream sticks manually from bamboo. So, I decided to buy one machine manufacturing the sticks,” recalled Islam, 38, at the award giving ceremony Saturday.
Battered by poverty and hunger, Islam started his struggle in his childhood by cleaning dishes at a local restaurant. Later, he started attending a school but was forced to give up education after completing the primary level.
He started his career as an ice-cream vendor. “I took the ice-cream box on shoulder and started selling ice-cream at neighbourhood villages. But it was too heavy to carry,” he said
Citi Micro Entrepreneurship Awards were introduced by Citi’s philanthropic arm Citi Foundation in 2005 to recognize entrepreneurial skills and the best practices of individual micro entrepreneurs and micro finance institutions in Bangladesh.