Khaleda Begum Luna, Sylhet, Bangladesh

Writer: Shangida Islam Dipti 

“I wanted to do something with my own hands that would allow me to earn and create opportunities for four or five other people.” 

For Khaleda Begum Luna, entrepreneurship was never simply about running a business. It was about creating the kind of opportunity she had wished to see for women around her. 

Today, Luna runs Liana’s Dream, an online business specializing in women’s handmade three-piece dresses, clothing, and crochet products. But her journey to becoming a women entrepreneur in Bangladesh began long before she officially started her business in 2020. 

Growing up in Sylhet, Luna learned handicrafts from her mother. Her father, who worked as a government officer in youth development, also gave her the opportunity to attend different employment-oriented training programs. Through those experiences, she came close to seeing the struggles of disadvantaged women. 

Those experiences stayed with her. 

“I realized that it was very important for women to become financially independent,” she recalls. 

Even as a student, Luna had already decided that she wanted to become an entrepreneur alongside her studies. She established a training centre and tailoring business, hoping to create employment while helping women develop practical skills. However, her mother’s illness, the birth of her eldest child, and eventually joining a school job forced her to sell the business. 

For a while, entrepreneurship had to wait. 

But the dream did not disappear. 

In 2020, Luna returned to business and started Liana’s Dream with a vision that went beyond selling clothes. She wanted her enterprise to become a source of income and skills for women who had limited opportunities. 

The beginning was difficult. 

People around her questioned why an educated woman would leave a job to start a business. Her family had no previous business background, so she had to learn many things on her own—from sourcing raw materials and managing capital to understanding the world of online business. 

Capital was another major obstacle. 

“People thought a job was a safer and better choice. Business was not seen positively,” she says. 

Yet the support of her parents, sisters, and husband gave her the strength to continue. She also received business guidance through organizations including WE and the Women’s Chamber of Commerce. 

Then came COVID-19. 

Her offline business was almost forced to shut down. Instead of giving up, Luna used the crisis as an opportunity to learn. She took online business training from home and moved her business from offline to online. 

That decision changed the direction of Liana’s Dream. 

“COVID taught me that if you can adapt to changing circumstances, you don’t have to stop. To survive, you have to keep developing your skills.” 

Today, five people work with her business. Her primary customers are middle-class homemakers and working women, while her products have also found buyers among Bangladeshi expatriates. Although she does not yet directly export her products, her ambition reaches far beyond Bangladesh. 

Her five-year goal is clear: to grow from creating employment for five people to creating opportunities for 50 workers, while taking Bangladeshi handmade products to customers around the world. 

But the hardest chapter of her entrepreneurial journey was not COVID. 

It was losing her mother. 

After her mother’s death, Luna had to manage her children, household responsibilities, and business largely on her own. There were moments when she wondered whether she could continue. 

She did. 

“Sometimes I felt that perhaps I would not be able to continue. But I never gave up. I kept asking Allah for help, and by His grace, I received it.” 

For Luna, entrepreneurship has taught her far more than how to run a business. It has taught her resilience, courage, risk-taking, and the importance of staying committed when circumstances become difficult. 

She believes aspiring entrepreneurs need three things above all: perseverance, the courage to face risk, and honesty. 

Her message to women is equally powerful: when a woman takes a step toward employment or entrepreneurship, society should not pull her back. It should help her move forward. 

Because when one woman becomes financially independent, she can create opportunities for many more. 

One of Luna’s most memorable experiences came from an expatriate customer who, after hearing about her reputation and receiving positive reviews from relatives, placed a large order for dresses for family members. The customer’s trust reminded Luna why she had started in the first place. 

Looking back at the girl she once was, Luna has only one message: 

“Keep working hard. There is no substitute for hard work.” 

To her, an entrepreneur is someone who continues moving toward a goal despite knowing that risks exist; someone who refuses to stop trying. 

And perhaps that is the real story behind Liana’s Dream. 

It is not only the story of a woman who built a business. 

It is the story of a woman who turned her own dream of earning through her hands into a larger dream: helping other women stand on their own feet.