A three-hour boat ride away from Itna is Khaliajuri sub-district. There, the villages are small stranded islands and only raised houses manage to stay above the onrush of monsoon waters. Himadri Sarkar is a resident of one of these islands. She was introduced to bKash around two years ago.  Other than using the most basic services, Himadri has turned her bKash wallet into a savings account. “When we dealt with hard cash, there were no savings. I could not keep tabs on our expenses and money just seemed to slip away. Now I can save,” she says about her deposit scheme with BRAC Microfinance.

During monsoon, her husband goes fishing to distant areas and sends her the daily income through bKash. She also receives BDT 10,000 in remittance from her brother in Oman. Himadri had never received any money as remittance before bKash since the closest bank is almost four hours away. With fast and easy financial services through bKash, Himadri has managed to take control of her finances and change her family’s situation for the better. She now has a booming poultry business and has also managed to buy a boat for the family with her savings.