Filter by capital, district and kind of work. Every number uses the same units, so you can compare businesses side by side.
111 businesses
Light manufacturing & workshopSmall-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.
Digital & B2B servicesA 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.
Food processingGoods 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.
Home & local servicesChair 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.
Home & local servicesHair, 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.
Food processingMaking 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.
Light manufacturing & workshopBuying, 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.
Light manufacturing & workshopMaking 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.
Light manufacturing & workshopA 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.
Light manufacturing & workshopBuying 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.
Retail & wholesaleA 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.
Food processingMaking 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.
Food processingMaking 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.
Home & local servicesA shop that washes, dries and irons clothes. In a mofussil town it is Tk 10 a garment and Tk 1,000 on a hundred-garment day, but load-shedding drops that to Tk 300-400.
Light manufacturing & workshopCutting, folding and binding paper into exercise books. A 300-page khata sells online at Tk 169 and a 120-page one at Tk 75, while a packet of paper costs Tk 100-150 more than a year ago.
Food processingCooking and serving for three to five hundred guests at events. The booking advance comes first, but catering services carry 15 percent VAT, not the restaurant's 5 percent.
Agriculture & farmingFarming bagda and golda in embanked saline ponds. Fry has gone from Tk 1,300-1,700 to about Tk 3,000 per thousand this season and southern hatcheries have fallen from 78 to 37.
Light manufacturing & workshopPrinting designs on cloth. Low capital, but every design and every colour needs its own screen, so the per-piece cost climbs steeply as the order gets smaller.
Light manufacturing & workshopBuilding beds, wardrobes and tables to order. An MDF bed starts near Tk 12,000 and a solid teak king bed runs to Tk 1,80,000 - but the timber is paid for first and the money comes after delivery.
Digital & B2B servicesA small team taking foreign client work and routing the money home legally. Income tax and VAT are both waived and legal-channel earnings carry a 2.5 per cent cash incentive - but the first year pays close to nothing.
Retail & wholesaleAuctioning farmers' fish on commission. The rate is about 3 per cent, and holding suppliers means giving interest-free advances - the money is in volume, not margin.
Home & local servicesShooting stills and video at events. Packages start at Tk 15,000, while a workable camera, lens and tripod cost about Tk 105,000.
Retail & wholesaleA shop selling phones, accessories and repairs. There is almost nothing in a handset — accessories and repair labour are what keep the shop open.
Retail & wholesaleA shop selling rod, cement and sanitary fittings. Rod is Tk 92,500-94,500 a tonne and up 10 percent in a year, but the bigger question is when the contractor's credit comes back.
