Filter by capital, district and kind of work. Every number uses the same units, so you can compare businesses side by side.
202 businesses
Food processingPopping paddy into khoi and boiling sugar or gur into batasa and kadma. Wholesale sugar is Tk 102-103 a kg and batasa sells at Tk 190-300. Very low capital and no BSTI CM licence.
Home & local servicesCutting keys, mending locks and opening jammed doors. A key is Tk 25-200 and a house call Tk 250-500; a good day brings a thousand, a bad day nothing.
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.
Food processingSeparating milk into butter and ghee, with chhana or yogurt from the skim. One maund (40 kg) of milk gives 1.25 kg of ghee; cost about Tk 2,900 against Tk 3,040-3,260 of sales - a 5 to 11 percent margin.
Home & local servicesA motor driving training institute. A BRTA licence is compulsory, registration costs Tk 15,000, and only 152 schools are registered in the whole country.
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.
Food processingBaking cakes, pastries and cupcakes for the counter and to order. The display case carries the spoilage risk; the decorated order cakes carry the margin.
Agriculture & farmingDense fish farming in tanks. High output from a small space is possible, but in Thakurgaon one farmer put in Tk 4 lakh and sold only Tk 60,000 of fish.
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.
Agriculture & farmingGrowing capsicum from November to February. Dhaka retail is Tk 220 a kilo for green and Tk 400 for coloured, but total national output is only 475 tonnes a year - the buyer base is narrow.
Food processingBuying loose tea at auction, blending and packing it under your own brand. The 2026-27 Chattogram auction averages Tk 280.88 a kg while packet tea sells at Tk 428-650.
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.
Food processingTreating water and selling it in jars and bottles. BSTI certification is compulsory, and most of the margin sits with the retailer and distributor rather than the plant.
Food processingMaking ice cream, kulfi and popsicles from milk, milk powder and sugar. BSTI certification is compulsory, and one break in the minus-20-degree cold chain ruins the stock.
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.
Retail & wholesaleSelling and fitting tyres and batteries for cars and motorcycles. Car tyres Tk 11,000-29,000, bike tyres Tk 1,750-15,650, bike batteries Tk 1,050-1,950.
Food processingBuying winter tomatoes and cooking them into bottled sauce and ketchup. Sauce sells at Tk 320-430 a kg, and the BSTI sample test alone is Tk 11,100 for ketchup and Tk 12,200 for sauce.
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.
Agriculture & farmingA 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.
Retail & wholesaleRetailing 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.
Food processingCutting 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.
Digital & B2B servicesSavings groups and small loans. An MRA certificate is compulsory, and new applications have been suspended since 4 November 2024. The service charge ceiling is 24 percent on the declining balance.
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.
Home & local servicesServicing motorcycles and selling parts. Bangladesh has 4,980,747 registered motorcycles, and 86 percent of all 2025 vehicle registrations were motorcycles.
