Skip to content
  • Our data is copyright protected — copying without permission is prohibited
  • We handle no money, ever
  • No business is promoted for payment
  • Tell us if something is wrong — we check and fix it

All businesses

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

192 businesses

Retail & wholesale

Model pharmacy

A DGDA-accredited pharmacy. 300 sq ft, air-conditioning, a pharmacy-grade fridge and a Grade A pharmacist are compulsory; the drug licence runs two years.

Capital
৳5 lakh – ৳25 lakh
People
2 – 5
First income
45 – 180 days
Editorial estimate
Retail & wholesale

Vegetable retail and supply

Buy at the wholesale arat at dawn, sell retail all day. On 14 Sept 2026 in Dhaka, potato was Tk 15-20 wholesale against Tk 25-30 retail, and onion Tk 24-42 against Tk 45-55.

Capital
৳10k – ৳1.5 lakh
People
1 – 3
First income
1 – 15 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Candle and soap making

Small-workshop candle and soap making on low capital. Soap is on BSTI's mandatory certification list and cannot be sold without a CM licence; candles are not on the list.

Capital
৳20k – ৳4 lakh
People
1 – 10
First income
19 – 94 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Bedsheet and home textile

Weaving bed sheets and home textiles on power looms for the wholesale haats. One loom makes 8-15 pieces a day, and a plain double bed sheet set retails at Tk 389-489.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳15 lakh
People
3 – 12
First income
30 – 75 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Cattle feed mill

Grinding and blending bran, broken rice and cake into granular cattle feed for farmers. Company feed is Tk 55-60/kg while inputs run Tk 38-62/kg, so the gap is thin. Operating without a DLS licence carries a Tk 50,000 fine.

Capital
৳2 lakh – ৳15 lakh
People
2 – 8
First income
30 – 75 days
Editorial estimate
Digital & B2B services

Digital marketing agency

A client's ad money is not your revenue - the retainer is. Bangladesh runs about Tk 7,400 crore a year of digital advertising at 15 percent VAT, and bKash on Facebook ad accounts is ending the middleman income.

Capital
৳50k – ৳4 lakh
People
1 – 15
First income
15 – 90 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Tailoring and small garment unit

Trousers stitch for Tk 600: Tk 220 to the karigor, Tk 90 other costs, Tk 290 to the shop. One karigor does five trousers or ten shirts a day. The real money is sub-contract work, and its rules just tightened.

Capital
৳60k – ৳8 lakh
People
1 – 30
First income
15 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Chanachur and snack making

Goods go to shops on credit and the money comes back in 15-30 days, so working capital is the limit, not the machine. Branded chanachur is Tk 300-333 a kg; a small maker has to sell at Tk 200-250.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳8 lakh
People
2 – 12
First income
30 – 130 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Computer and compose shop

Income comes from government service applications, not from typing. The fixed land-service charges are Tk 200-300 for a mutation, Tk 100-150 for a porcha and Tk 20 for a printed dakhila.

Capital
৳60k – ৳3 lakh
People
1 – 4
First income
7 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Barber shop and salon

Chair count, daily customers and rent decide everything. A Dhaka haircut is Tk 120 and a shave Tk 80-130, against one blade of material at Tk 6-23.

Capital
৳25k – ৳4 lakh
People
1 – 8
First income
7 – 30 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Tea stall and small cafe

About 250 cups come out of a kilo of tea leaf, and a cup sells for Tk 5-30. Tk 20,000 buys a stove, a cylinder, cups and a week of stock - not a shop deposit and not a fridge.

Capital
৳20k – ৳1.5 lakh
People
1 – 3
First income
7 – 30 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Coaching centre

A room, benches and someone who can teach; the capital is close to nothing. But government orders close every coaching centre for two to three months a year around the public exams.

Capital
৳20k – ৳2 lakh
People
1 – 8
First income
7 – 30 days
Editorial estimate
Retail & wholesale

Clothing and boutique shop

A shop selling fabric and ready-made clothes. Cotton runs Tk 300-700 a yard in Dhaka, and most of the year's takings arrive in the last ten days of Ramadan.

Capital
৳1 lakh – ৳8 lakh
People
1 – 5
First income
15 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Beauty parlour

Hair, skin and makeover services. In Dhaka an at-home facial starts at Tk 820 and a party makeover runs Tk 2,350-2,950. Starting at home costs little; taking a shop costs a great deal more.

Capital
৳20k – ৳5 lakh
People
1 – 6
First income
7 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Small bakery

Making bread, biscuits and cake and supplying local shops. A sack of flour went from Tk 2,300 to Tk 3,100 in a year, and BFSA registration at Tk 1,000 is compulsory.

Capital
৳2.5 lakh – ৳20 lakh
People
3 – 20
First income
30 – 90 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Plastic scrap collection and recycling

Buying, sorting and reselling discarded plastic. The margin is Tk 2-20 a kg, and Dhaka scrap shops pay about Tk 22 a kg at the door.

Capital
৳80k – ৳6 lakh
People
2 – 8
First income
15 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Jute handicraft

Making bags, pots and showpieces from jute. Tk 2,000 of scissors and rope starts it by hand, but an export order needs a workshop, and ten machines cost about Tk 500,000.

Capital
৳2k – ৳10 lakh
People
1 – 40
First income
7 – 120 days
Practitioner verified
Light manufacturing & workshop

Ice factory

A plant making ice for fish preservation. A can sells for Tk 120-300, but a 125 kg can needs eight straight hours of power, which makes load-shedding the whole risk.

Capital
৳15 lakh – ৳1 crore
People
5 – 25
First income
90 – 240 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Paper bag and packaging making

Buying waste paper, folding bags by hand and supplying shops. Khaki bags sell at Tk 135-140 a kg and white at Tk 80; 60 kg of paper costs Tk 7,500 and yields 70 kg of bags for Tk 2,300 profit.

Capital
৳10k – ৳60k
People
1 – 20
First income
3 – 15 days
Editorial estimate
Retail & wholesale

Stationery and book shop

A stationery and book shop with photocopying. A 204-page exercise book is Tk 68, a 300-page one Tk 169, and white paper Tk 34-40 a dista. Textbooks come free from the government, so the season's money is in exercise books and photocopies.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳8 lakh
People
1 – 4
First income
15 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Small shoe making unit

A small unit making sandals and shoes for wholesalers. Sandals sell at Tk 250-700 and leather shoes at Tk 1,200. Bhairab alone has 3,500-5,000 units employing about 25,000 people.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳10 lakh
People
4 – 20
First income
30 – 90 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Fruit juice and drinks

Making and bottling fruit juice and fruit drinks. A litre retails at Tk 80-90. Selling without a BSTI CM licence draws fines - recently Tk 30,000 to Tk 1,00,000.

Capital
৳5 lakh – ৳30 lakh
People
4 – 20
First income
90 – 180 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Frozen paratha and samosa

Making raw paratha, samosa and singara, freezing them and selling them in packs. Retail is Tk 12.5-19 a paratha and Tk 8.6-9.4 a mini samosa. The cold chain from factory to shop is the real condition of the business.

Capital
৳3 lakh – ৳15 lakh
People
3 – 15
First income
45 – 90 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Concrete block making

Making and selling cement-sand-chip blocks. A hollow block sells for Tk 32-50 and replaces five bricks. The deadline for 100 percent block use in government work expired in June 2025 and was missed.

Capital
৳12 lakh – ৳45 lakh
People
3 – 12
First income
30 – 90 days
Market quote