Proparco, the private sector financing arm of Agence Française de Développement Group (AFD Group), has supported Ananta Group, a leading apparel producer in Bangladesh, with a $13.8 million loan to strengthen its international competitiveness.
With this loan, Proparco supports Ananta Huaxiang Limited (AHL), a subsidiary of Ananta Group in Bangladesh, to increase its sweater manufacturing capacity through the expansion of its production facility located in Narayanganj, Bangladesh.
This operation will allow AHL to emerge as a large volume sweater manufacturer and strengthen its competitiveness in the international market, said Proparco on Thursday.
“It gives us immense pleasure to support AHL, a responsible actor in Bangladesh’s garment industry committed to gender diversity,” said Diane Jegam, Regional Director – South Asia, Proparco.
By supporting the growth of a job-creating company committed to the well-being of its employees, women empowerment as well as the sustainable use of resources, Proparco is supporting the largest exporting sector of Bangladesh, said Jegam.
“This partnership with Proparco will greatly support our vision of sustainable factories scoring high on environmental and social compliance standards,” says the Managing Director of the Group, Sharif Zahir.
Moreover, he said, the new capacity expansion financed by Proparco has been completed in record time and the factory is already in operation employing a gender balanced workforce and contributing to the export earnings of the country.
“Further, we are delighted to work with Proparco and look forward to grow this partnership in the coming year.”
Bangladesh is the second largest ready-made garment exporter in the world after China representing 81% of Bangladesh’s total exports and employing 4.4 million workers.
AHL ranks among the top 10 sweater producers in Bangladesh exporting mostly to Europe for various international brands.
With this project and the increase in high-end sweater manufacturing capabilities, AHL will be better able to serve its customers by producing over 10 million pieces of sweaters by 2023 at a higher quality level and price points than before.
Due to the quality of AHL’s working conditions and its various commitments towards women empowerment, the project qualifies for the 2X Challenge, a global gender finance initiative that Proparco has been contributing to since its launch in 2018.
The project also addresses 3 SDGs: SDG#9 by developing operations at best standards, SDG#8 due to above average salary package, and to SDG#5 due to the women-dedicated program that will be implemented.
Source: United News of Bangladesh