Caption: Supriya Mallick explains the business and benefits of Guti urea to Ambassador Mozena and his wife. Left to right: Ambassador Dan W. Mozena; Ms. Ishrat Jahan, AAPI project coordinator and IFDC resident representative; Mrs. Mozena; and briquette shop owner, Mrs. Mallick.
On May 10, U.S. Ambassador Dan W. Mozena visited the briquette shop of Mrs. Supriya Mallick in the Kathaltata Bazaar of Dumuria Upazila, Khulna District. She is a housewife and an entrepreneur; her husband is both a fertilizer sub-dealer and farmer. Mrs. Mallick attended an AAPI project farmers’ training program where she learned that AAPI is helping rural entrepreneurs, especially women, engaging them to establish small businesses by providing the Guti urea briquette-making machines at a reduced price. She purchased the machine with the assistance of the AAPI field staff and the field staff of the Bangladesh Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in December 2011. She recovered her initial investment of Tk. 38,000 within one season and is expecting to make more profits in coming seasons.