The private sector needs to recognise the trained workforce from the vulnerable groups and engage them more to raise productivity in the long run, said Suzanne Mueller, chargée d'affaires of the embassy of Switzerland to Bangladesh.

Mueller made the comment at a conference styled "Entrepreneurs' Conference: talk of the survivors' entrepreneurial initiatives" at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka yesterday.

"For a win-win solution, the private sector needs to acknowledge the skilled workforce from the vulnerable groups and recruit them more to increase productivity for the longer period," she said.

Through the Ashshash Project implemented by Winrock International, the Swiss embassy has equipped more than 4,000 trafficking survivors with various market-led skills and entrepreneurship development support and employed them in local and national job markets since 2019, of which more than 70 per cent were women.

The conference aimed to provide a unique opportunity for established entrepreneurs, the private sector, the financial sector, social enterprises, fair trade organisations, NGOs/INGOs, and government agencies etc, to exchange business and access services-related information and build bridges with rising entrepreneurs.

Abu Hena Mostofa Zaman, joint secretary to the public security division of the home ministry, inaugurated the event.

Quazi Mortuza Ali, senior vice-president and head of digital post banking of Bank Asia; Naaz Farhana Ahmed, president of the Dhaka Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Mirza Nurul Ghani Shovon, president of the National Association of Small & Cottage Industries of Bangladesh; Monoara Eshrat, director (joint-secretary) of the department of women affairs at women and child affairs ministry, and Nina Etyemezian, associate vice-president at Winrock International, were present.