Representational Image. -Freepik

NAOGAON, April 17, 2025 (BSS) – Making ‘topi’ (skullcap) has become a buzzing profession for the women in rural areas of Mahadevpur and Niamatpur upazilas of the district.

Prayer caps made of awesome design are being sold in different parts of the country as well as gaining popularity in the Middle Eastern countries.

About 30,000 women in the district are employed in the cap-making profession which annually fetches foreign exchange worth around Taka 100 crore every year.

Women from every family in Mahadevpur and Niamatpur upazilas are busy in crafting beautiful caps in between their household chores. Their busyness increases ahead of any religious festival particularly Eid.

School and college going female members of a every family join hands with elders in drawing designs and sewing caps day and night.

Anjuara Begum of Khosalpur School Para in Mahadevpur Sadar Union told BSS that they do not have much land property except their homestead. Her rickshaw puller husband was the sole bread earner of the four-member family. Her income from cap designing helped them brining financial comfort to some extent.

Anjuara has bought her husband an auto-rickshaw from her income. Their two children are studying now in school.

Their daughter Kavita helps her mother in designing and sewing caps. The mother and daughter earn at least Taka 3,000 per month. 

In a mango orchard in Khosalpur village of Mahadevpur upazila, 10-12 women were seen working together in designing caps. They are housewives, but they design and sew caps during their free time round the year.

Although there is a demand for caps round the year but requirement increases during the month of Ramadan and Eids. A woman earn Taka 25 for drawing design of a cap while Taka 200 to 350 for both designing and sewing.

Khorshed Alam of Madhuban in Mahadevpur upazila supplies fabrics of the caps. He said the expatriate citizens of Naogaon, Noakhali and Feni, who are working in Middle East, are mostly involved in cap business. They collect the caps from remote villages by their agents.

Afzal Hossain of Sidain village in Niamatpur upazila told BSS that his two daughters were studying in college and high school. But, their education jeopardised due to financial constraint. At that moment, his wife Julekha got the job of weaving caps. Now, the family earns at least Taka 5,000 a month by sewing caps.

Cap traders Moslem Uddin and Delwar Hossain have been living in Saudi Arabia for a long time. They told BSS that about 30,000 women from 45-50 villages in Mahadevpur, Niamatpur, Dhamairhat and Patmitola upazilas of Naogaon are working on designing and making caps. 

Their designed caps are sent to different countries in the Middle East. Depending on the fabric and design, each cap is sold in Middle East market at Taka 1,000 to 1,500.

Jiban Ahmed, owner of Ayman Handicrafts in Naogaon told BSS that women are engaged with manufacturing of the caps while men work for marketing. Currently, more than 6,000 women of the district are working in this profession.

We had a target of exporting caps worth about Taka one crore to Oman during the last Eid-ul-Fitr, he said adding that most of the caps were sent to Oman.

Shamim Akhter Mamun, Deputy Manager of Naogaon BSCIC Industrial City, told BSS that the cap making industry provided about 30,000 women with job. Local entrepreneurs and businessmen are also earning huge amount of foreign exchange every year.

BSCIC has a plan to provide necessary technical training to women in this area. If entrepreneurs want to expand their business further, they will be provided with all kinds of assistance to get loans on easy terms, he said.

Naogaon Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Abdul Awal told BSS that it is nice to think that prayer caps made in Naogaon are being exported abroad. Thus, the poor families are recovering their financial hardships. Their efforts are incomparable.