Filter by capital, district and kind of work. Every number uses the same units, so you can compare businesses side by side.
92 businesses
Light manufacturing & workshopRecovering metals from discarded phones, televisions, fridges and computers. The Hazardous Waste (E-waste) Management Rules 2021 make Department of Environment registration and clearance compulsory; operating without it carries up to two years in prison or a Tk 200,000 fine or both.
Digital & B2B servicesRunning organised tours. It is not lawful without registration from the Bangladesh Tourism Board, and the 2024 rules require a Tk 300,000 non-refundable fee, a Tk 1,000,000 bank solvency certificate and a Tk 50,000 security deposit with the application.
Digital & B2B servicesStoring, packing and delivering online sellers' parcels and collecting the cash. Couriers charge Tk 55-190 a parcel, and a marketplace must pay its seller within 10 days of receiving the money.
Digital & B2B servicesBuying and selling foreign currency notes under a Bangladesh Bank licence. On 21 September 2026 the dollar was bought at Tk 125.60 and sold at Tk 126.60 — one taka a dollar. Doing this without the licence is a criminal offence carrying up to seven years in prison.
Retail & wholesaleRetailing toys and gift items. In September 2026 online toy prices ran from Tk 58 to Tk 3,815. Imported toys carry 25 percent customs duty, and most of the year's selling happens in the few weeks around Eid and Pohela Boishakh.
Retail & wholesaleA shop selling imported cat and dog food, litter and accessories. Dry food runs Tk 487 to Tk 1,900 a kg (21-09-2026). Customs duty on pet food is 25%, and demand is still mostly confined to Dhaka.
Retail & wholesaleA retail shop selling cable, switches, sockets, holders, lamps and fans. Fifty of the 315 products on BSTI's mandatory certification list are electrical, and selling uncertified cable brings a fine and a sealed shop.
Retail & wholesaleA retail shop selling paint, cement, rod, pipe, sanitary ware and tools. On 12-03-2026 a 50 kg bag of cement was Tk 475-520 and 60-grade rod Tk 87,000-88,500 a tonne, and these prices move week to week.
Retail & wholesaleBuying frames and lenses and assembling spectacles over the counter. A complete ordinary pair retails at Tk 649 to Tk 5,400 (online prices, 21 Sep 2026). No BSTI certificate is needed; the trade licence is the only paper.
Home & local servicesEmptying septic tanks and clearing drains. One Dhaka firm puts its starting price near Tk 7,000. But people die doing this work, from the gas, inside the tank.
Home & local servicesA centre teaching short computer courses. Course fees run Tk 3,000-10,000 a trainee, but issuing a recognised certificate needs BTEB affiliation and Tk 450 per trainee paid to the board.
Home & local servicesA private primary school up to grade five. Registration fee Tk 8,000-15,000, a fixed deposit of Tk 25,000-100,000 in the reserved fund, and registration valid for five years.
Home & local servicesA dental chamber or clinic. It cannot lawfully be run without a BDS degree and BMDC registration: practising without registration carries up to 3 years in prison or a Tk 1 lakh fine.
Home & local servicesInstalling rooftop and ground solar. In September 2026 a grid-tied 10 kW plant listed at Tk 449,000-700,000, and net metering now allows a system up to the consumer's full sanctioned load.
Light manufacturing & workshopPrinting PVC banners, panaflex and stickers on a digital printer and building LED signboards. Published Dhaka rates run Tk 18 a square foot for a PVC banner, Tk 380 for a panaflex sign and Tk 1,470 for an LED sign; the real capital is the printer, at Tk 340,000 to Tk 1,250,000.
Light manufacturing & workshopMelting scrap aluminium or buying sheet and spinning it into pots, pans and karai. Ordinary cooking pots are not on BSTI's list of 315 mandatory products, but domestic pressure cookers are (BDS 1752:2006).
Food processingAn espresso machine and imported beans. A cup sells from Tk 50 to Tk 400, but a shop moves 70-100 cups a day - customers sit for hours over a single cup.
Food processingMilk split into chhana, pressed into paneer. 8-10 kg of milk makes 1 kg of paneer, which sells at Tk 900-1,200 a kg - the whole business is the gap between the two prices.
Agriculture & farmingGrowing agar trees, driving nails into them to force the resin, and selling the wood or the attar. The first money arrives 8 to 16 years after planting, and exporting needs a CITES no-objection certificate from the Forest Department.
Agriculture & farmingKeeping buffalo on the chars or in a bathan herd and selling the milk. A buffalo gives 4 to 8 kg of milk a day and buffalo milk fetches Tk 80 to 130 a litre, but only in districts where there are curd and sweet makers to buy it.
Agriculture & farmingBreeding guppy, molly, goldfish and angelfish in concrete tanks or aquariums and selling the young. The country has one wholesale market that matters, Katabon in Dhaka, where a survey counted 40 shops.
Agriculture & farmingFattening mud crab in brackish-water pens or boxes and selling on to a depot and an exporter. Bangladesh shipped Tk 867.88 crore of crab in FY2024-25, almost all of it to China, and when China shuts the door a Tk 2,000 kg crab falls to Tk 300.
Food processingA small shop selling burgers, sandwiches, rolls and fries. Lower capital than a restaurant, but exactly the same licence stack - trade, food safety, fire, environment and VAT.
Retail & wholesaleWholesaling medicines to pharmacies. DGDA licenses it separately - Tk 10,000 new, Tk 5,000 renewal, valid two years - but no pharmacist is required.
