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.

151 businesses

Agriculture & farming

Bamboo cultivation

Planting bamboo clumps and cutting culms year after year. Nothing can be cut for the first 3-4 years after planting; after that a culm fetches Tk 100-250 in the village and Tk 125-350 wholesale at the market.

Capital
৳15k – ৳3 lakh
People
1 – 4
First income
1,095 – 2,920 days
Editorial estimate
Agriculture & farming

Ornamental fish farming

Breeding 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.

Capital
৳1k – ৳15 lakh
People
1 – 4
First income
90 – 120 days
Editorial estimate
Agriculture & farming

Vegetable seed production

Growing seed, not vegetables. BADC's 2026-27 schedule prices bottle gourd seed at Tk 1,050 a kg, tomato at Tk 2,600 and hybrid tomato at Tk 26,000 — and selling it needs a seed dealer registration costing Tk 2,000.

Capital
৳50k – ৳5 lakh
People
2 – 10
First income
150 – 300 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Veterinary medicine and service

Selling animal medicines and giving treatment. Treatment needs Veterinary Council registration, the establishment needs Council recognition, and the licence to sell medicine comes from DGDA.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳8 lakh
People
1 – 4
First income
60 – 150 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Fast food and burger shop

A 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.

Capital
৳2.5 lakh – ৳15 lakh
People
2 – 8
First income
30 – 90 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Watch and clock repair

Repairing wristwatches and wall clocks. The national watch market is over Tk 300 crore, but Patuatuli sells watches from Tk 30, so cheap watches are never repaired.

Capital
৳5k – ৳1.5 lakh
People
1 – 2
First income
7 – 30 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Resort and cottage

Running a small resort or cottage in a tourist area. Sajek fills completely in peak season, but the season is short and one 2025 fire destroyed 94 resorts and cottages.

Capital
৳8 lakh – ৳2 crore
People
3 – 30
First income
180 – 540 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Mosquito coil manufacturing

A 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.

Capital
৳4 lakh – ৳40 lakh
People
5 – 40
First income
90 – 270 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Biriyani shop

Selling kacchi, tehari and morog polao by the plate. Almost the entire cost is meat - the raw material in one pot of shahi mutton kacchi is Tk 13,265-15,054.

Capital
৳3 lakh – ৳25 lakh
People
3 – 15
First income
30 – 90 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Wooden toy making

Making 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.

Capital
৳20k – ৳3 lakh
People
1 – 10
First income
30 – 120 days
Editorial estimate
Retail & wholesale

Sports goods shop

Retailing bats, balls, jerseys and rackets. Children's bats Tk 109-511, English willow Tk 2,250-3,190, footballs Tk 484-1,200. Demand follows schools, clubs and the tournament season.

Capital
৳2 lakh – ৳9 lakh
People
1 – 3
First income
25 – 60 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Shoe repair

Stitching, soling and polishing shoes. A polish is Tk 30 in Sylhet with Tk 400-500 on an average day; one launch-based repairer takes Tk 700 some days and under Tk 200 on others.

Capital
৳2k – ৳30k
People
1 – 2
First income
1 – 7 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Security guard service

Supplying guards on contract. The service charge is Tk 9,000-10,000 per guard while wages are Tk 8,000-15,000 - that gap is the whole business.

Capital
৳5 lakh – ৳30 lakh
People
10 – 200
First income
60 – 180 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Poultry feed mill

Mixing maize, soybean meal and bran into poultry feed sold in 50 kg sacks. Sacks run Tk 3,000-3,669, and both a Department of Livestock Services licence and a BSTI CM licence are compulsory.

Capital
৳8 lakh – ৳60 lakh
People
4 – 20
First income
45 – 150 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Mehedi and bridal service

Henna design and bridal styling for weddings, gaye holud and Eid. In Dhaka festival mehendi is Tk 1,225-1,625 and bridal Tk 3,900-5,525 per person.

Capital
৳3k – ৳50k
People
1 – 4
First income
1 – 30 days
Editorial estimate
Retail & wholesale

Children's clothing shop

Retailing clothes for children aged 0-12. Panjabi sets Tk 260-985, frocks Tk 150-650. Children outgrow clothes, so stock turns over far faster than in an adult boutique.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳7 lakh
People
1 – 3
First income
20 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Key and lock service

Cutting 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.

Capital
৳3k – ৳40k
People
1 – 2
First income
1 – 7 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Hosiery unit: socks and vests

A 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.

Capital
৳2 lakh – ৳25 lakh
People
5 – 100
First income
30 – 90 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Driving school

A motor driving training institute. A BRTA licence is compulsory, registration costs Tk 15,000, and only 152 schools are registered in the whole country.

Capital
৳4 lakh – ৳20 lakh
People
2 – 8
First income
45 – 120 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Carton and box making

A 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.

Capital
৳3 lakh – ৳30 lakh
People
4 – 30
First income
45 – 120 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Cake and pastry shop

Baking cakes, pastries and cupcakes for the counter and to order. The display case carries the spoilage risk; the decorated order cakes carry the margin.

Capital
৳2 lakh – ৳15 lakh
People
2 – 10
First income
30 – 90 days
Editorial estimate
Agriculture & farming

Biofloc fish farming

Dense 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.

Capital
৳3 lakh – ৳4 lakh
People
1 – 3
First income
150 – 180 days
Practitioner verified
Agriculture & farming

Aloe vera farming

Cutting aloe leaves and selling them to companies. About Tk 50,000 a bigha to grow and Tk 1.5-2.5 lakh of leaves, but the only buyers are a few pharmaceutical and juice companies.

Capital
৳50k – ৳2 lakh
People
1 – 6
First income
90 – 120 days
Practitioner verified
Light manufacturing & workshop

Rubber and plastic sandal making

Melting 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.

Capital
৳2.5 lakh – ৳25 lakh
People
3 – 25
First income
60 – 180 days
Editorial estimate