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All businesses

Filter by capital, district and kind of work. Every number uses the same units, so you can compare businesses side by side.

203 businesses

Light manufacturing & workshop

Tiles and marble fitting

Laying tiles and marble on floors, walls and bathrooms. Tiles run Tk 55-170 a piece and the statutory minimum for a tile man is Tk 1,105 a day in town, the highest on any site.

Capital
৳30k – ৳2.5 lakh
People
2 – 8
First income
7 – 30 days
Editorial estimate
Agriculture & farming

Strawberry farming

A winter crop fruiting in 72-75 days at Tk 400-1,000 a kilo, but about Tk 4 lakh goes into just 30 decimals and the fruit keeps only two or three days.

Capital
৳4 lakh – ৳12 lakh
People
2 – 12
First income
72 – 75 days
Practitioner verified
Retail & wholesale

Shoe and bag shop

Retailing shoes, sandals, school bags and belts. School shoes Tk 559-1,999 and school bags Tk 279-996; unsold odd sizes are the biggest loss in this trade.

Capital
৳2 lakh – ৳9 lakh
People
1 – 3
First income
15 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Semai and noodle making

Cutting flour dough into vermicelli and noodles. Most of the year's sales fall at Eid-ul-Fitr, and the same flour makes anything from Tk 80 loose semai to Tk 1,600 ghee-fried lachcha.

Capital
৳3 lakh – ৳25 lakh
People
3 – 25
First income
45 – 100 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Household plastic goods moulding

Moulding buckets, mugs and chairs from melted plastic. The market is worth about Tk 50,000 crore, but RFL's own store sells a 30-litre bucket at Tk 193, which virgin resin cannot match.

Capital
৳6 lakh – ৳50 lakh
People
4 – 30
First income
90 – 240 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Motorcycle servicing

Servicing motorcycles and selling parts. Bangladesh has 4,980,747 registered motorcycles, and 86 percent of all 2025 vehicle registrations were motorcycles.

Capital
৳50k – ৳5 lakh
People
1 – 5
First income
10 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Masonry and building contracting

Contracting the labour of brickwork, casting and finishing. Dhaka construction runs Tk 1,800-3,000 per square foot of plinth area, and the statutory minimum for a mason is Tk 940 a day in town.

Capital
৳50k – ৳5 lakh
People
3 – 25
First income
15 – 60 days
Editorial estimate
Agriculture & farming

Malta and orange farming

Orchards of green malta and orange. National output went from 17,000 to 84,000 tonnes in six years, and local malta in Dhaka has fallen to Tk 80-120 a kilo.

Capital
৳90k – ৳3 lakh
People
1 – 4
First income
730 – 1,095 days
Editorial estimate
Agriculture & farming

Jujube (kul) farming

Low cost, low disease, fruit within a year. Tk 2,500-3,000 a maund at the orchard, Tk 120-200 a kilo retail in Dhaka, and a season running January to April.

Capital
৳70k – ৳2.5 lakh
People
1 – 5
First income
365 days
Practitioner verified
Home & local services

IPS and battery sales and servicing

A shop that installs IPS units and replaces batteries. The machine sells once, the battery every 18-30 months - and the battery is most of the price of the set.

Capital
৳2 lakh – ৳6 lakh
People
1 – 4
First income
15 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Agriculture & farming

Hydroponic farming

Growing vegetables in water without soil. One Dhaka rooftop setup cost about Tk 2,00,000, and outside Dhaka there is still almost no commercial buyer.

Capital
৳4k – ৳2 lakh
People
1 – 3
First income
45 – 120 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Honey processing and bottling

Buying raw honey from keepers, straining and bottling it under your own label. Bottled honey runs Tk 800-2,100 a kg, but a BSTI CM licence is compulsory and the sample test alone is Tk 7,500.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳8 lakh
People
2 – 6
First income
45 – 150 days
Editorial estimate
Agriculture & farming

Flower farming and florist

Growing rose, gerbera, gladiolus and marigold for the Godkhali or Gabtoli wholesale mokam. One bigha of roses costs about Tk 150,000, and the whole year's income turns on the price on a few festival days.

Capital
৳1.2 lakh – ৳3.5 lakh
People
1 – 5
First income
60 – 90 days
Market quote
Home & local services

Easy-bike charging station

A garage charging the batteries of easy-bikes and battery rickshaws. Electricity in the LT-D3 class costs Tk 9.09-14.20 a unit, and commercial charging from a residential connection is prohibited.

Capital
৳1 lakh – ৳5 lakh
People
1 – 3
First income
30 – 90 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Dry fruit and nut packaging

Buying nuts and dates by the sack and selling them in small branded packets. Wholesale almonds run Tk 1,150 and cashews Tk 1,600 a kg against Tk 1,200-2,600 in packets. No BSTI CM licence, but a packaging registration certificate is required.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳10 lakh
People
2 – 8
First income
20 – 60 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Coconut oil making

Turning coconuts into copra and crushing it for oil. Ordinary coconut oil sells at Tk 800-1,000 a litre and virgin at Tk 2,420-3,180, and both need a BSTI CM licence.

Capital
৳2 lakh – ৳12 lakh
People
2 – 8
First income
45 – 150 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Home and office cleaning service

Deep-cleaning flats and offices. In Dhaka a bathroom is Tk 1,225-2,250, a full home Tk 5,100-9,200 and floors Tk 3.5-10 per square foot.

Capital
৳30k – ৳3 lakh
People
2 – 10
First income
7 – 30 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Car wash and servicing

Washing, interior cleaning and polishing cars. Online platform rates in Dhaka run Tk 1,790-5,700 per car, and a pressure washer starts at Tk 7,250.

Capital
৳60k – ৳6 lakh
People
2 – 6
First income
15 – 60 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Biscuit and chips making

Making and packing biscuits, toast and chips from flour, sugar and oil. BSTI certification is compulsory, and the shop credit cycle is the real constraint.

Capital
৳4 lakh – ৳40 lakh
People
4 – 30
First income
45 – 100 days
Editorial estimate
Agriculture & farming

Papaya farming

Fruit within six to seven months. About Tk 50,000 a bigha to grow, a wholesale rate of Tk 20-65 a kilo, and Tk 2 to 2.5 lakh of papaya possible off a bigha.

Capital
৳50k – ৳2 lakh
People
1 – 4
First income
180 – 240 days
Practitioner verified
Agriculture & farming

Guava orchard and floating market

Canal-side guava orchards selling at the Bhimruli floating market. A maund fetched Tk 1,000-1,200 in 2026, but a ten-bigha orchard was yielding three to five maunds a day instead of ten, and with no cold store the rest rots.

Capital
৳50k – ৳5 lakh
People
1 – 8
First income
365 – 730 days
Editorial estimate
Agriculture & farming

Cashew and coffee farming

Cashew and coffee orchards on hill land. Farmers get Tk 180-200 a kg for raw cashew and Tk 350-400 for raw coffee, but the first crop comes three to four years after planting for coffee and four to five for cashew.

Capital
৳50k – ৳5 lakh
People
1 – 6
First income
1,095 – 1,825 days
Editorial estimate
Retail & wholesale

Stone and sand trading

Buying river stone and sand and selling it into construction. A 100-cubic-foot tractor load costs Tk 8,000 at the Panchagarh pit head while Dhaka pays Tk 123-125 a cubic foot for local three-quarter stone, and the gap is freight and lease tolls.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳15 lakh
People
2 – 20
First income
30 – 365 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Buffalo curd and dairy

Raw buffalo milk set in clay pots. In Bhola milk costs Tk 150/kg and the curd sells at Tk 200/kg, so about Tk 50 a kg is left, and getting the milk at all is the hardest part.

Capital
৳80k – ৳4 lakh
People
1 – 5
First income
7 – 30 days
Editorial estimate