Filter by capital, district and kind of work. Every number uses the same units, so you can compare businesses side by side.
43 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.
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).
Light manufacturing & workshopBringing weak lead-acid batteries back with electrolyte correction and slow charging. Breaking batteries open and smelting the lead is a completely different trade - an offence without Department of Environment clearance, and only 7 of about 1,100 such operations in the country hold one.
Light manufacturing & workshopA unit pressing mosquito coils from sawdust and insecticide. BSTI certification is compulsory and the Department of Environment will not clear a site in a residential area.
Light manufacturing & workshopMaking children's toys from the offcuts a furniture workshop discards. Wooden craft items sold at BSCIC's fair between Tk 100 and Tk 3,000.
Light manufacturing & workshopMaking clay pots, planters and terracotta showpieces. Bijoypur's work is exported, but with no gas the kilns run on firewood and part of the output is spoiled.
Light manufacturing & workshopA factory making vests, socks and sweaters from jhut cloth. Pabna has about a thousand units making 180-200 million pieces a year, but with the land route to India closed 65 percent of the workers are idle.
Light manufacturing & workshopA unit making corrugated cartons and boxes. Small parcel cartons retail at Tk 24-40 each, and the 350,000-400,000 parcels moving daily are the biggest market.
Light manufacturing & workshopMelting old shoes and waste plastic into cheap sandals. Bangladesh has 300-400 such factories making over a crore pairs a year, and they retail at Tk 100-500 a pair.
Light manufacturing & workshopTwisting jute fibre into rope and twine. In September 2026 raw jute was about Tk 86-99 a kilo while finished twine listed online at Tk 390 a kilo - that gap is the business.
Light manufacturing & workshopContracting land filling, pond filling and earth cutting. Fill sand is Tk 8-12 a cubic foot in Dhaka, and lifting soil without permission means a fine up to Tk 10,00,000 and the excavator confiscated.
Light manufacturing & workshopCasting concrete posts and pillars in moulds. It shares a mixer with concrete block making, and the rising price of rod and cement is the main risk.
Light manufacturing & workshopLaying 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.
Light manufacturing & workshopMoulding 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.
Light manufacturing & workshopContracting 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.
Light manufacturing & workshopA roadside shop repairing bicycles, rickshaws and e-rickshaws. It can start from about Tk 15,000 of tools and stock, and customers pay cash when the job is done.
Light manufacturing & workshopHand-weaving mats from murta strips. In Jhalokathi one mat takes four to five days and sells for Tk 1,000-3,500, and the GI certificate has not raised that price; the weaver is still tied to the mahajan's advance.
Light manufacturing & workshopSplitting bamboo and cane into kula, baskets, cages and tourist crafts. A good bamboo costs Tk 400-500 and makes 15-20 kula in five days; a poultry cage earns the maker Tk 180 and the shopkeeper sells it at Tk 200.
Light manufacturing & workshopSequin, bead and zari handwork on sarees and three-pieces, done at home. The mohajon supplies every material; the piece rate is Tk 700-800 a saree and one saree takes at least fifteen days.
Light manufacturing & workshopMaking batik and tie-dye sarees and three-pieces at home with wax and dye on cotton. Cumilla shops sell batik sarees from Tk 500 to Tk 1,700, and one karigar can finish about ten sarees a day.
Light manufacturing & workshopHand-embroidered layered quilts. In Jamalpur one kantha costs Tk 1,600-1,800 including wages, goes to Dhaka wholesalers at Tk 2,000, and sells in Dhaka shops for Tk 4,000-5,000.
Light manufacturing & workshopSoaking and boiling agarwood to draw off fragrant attar. Barlekha's Sujanagar has about 250 units, attar sells at Tk 6,000-10,000 a tola by grade, and nearly all of it is exported.
Light manufacturing & workshopMachine-stitching thread designs onto cloth as a job for others. The customers are cap factories, boutiques and saree workshops. What takes fifteen days by hand, the machine does in hours.
