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All businesses

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

83 businesses

Retail & wholesale

Betel nut trading

Buying betel nut from households and selling at the hat, or soaking and drying it to sell later. In Lakshmipur in October 2025 a kaun fetched Tk 2,500-2,800 and a pon Tk 150-250.

Capital
৳1 lakh – ৳25 lakh
People
1 – 8
First income
1 – 240 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Nakshi kantha embroidery

Hand-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.

Capital
৳20k – ৳2 lakh
People
1 – 25
First income
30 – 365 days
Editorial estimate
Agriculture & farming

Dairy cattle farm

Rearing milch cows and selling milk daily. Milk Vita pays Tk 45-47 a litre and the open market about Tk 55, against a farmer-stated cost of roughly Tk 32.5 a litre. Output halves for three monsoon months.

Capital
৳2.5 lakh – ৳12 lakh
People
1 – 6
First income
7 – 60 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Sound and light rental

Buying mics, sound boxes and lights and hiring them out by the day. A one-day mic hire with vehicle was Tk 1,200 in Bhermara, of which Tk 500 is the equipment. Written permission is now required under the 2025 noise rules.

Capital
৳1 lakh – ৳4.5 lakh
People
1 – 4
First income
7 – 30 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Sewing and handicraft training

Teaching sewing and handicraft on a few machines at home. The fee comes at the start of the course, but the government runs six-month trade courses for Tk 300-1,000, and that is the price to beat.

Capital
৳15k – ৳2 lakh
People
1 – 3
First income
30 – 90 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Private tuition and home tutoring

Teaching at the student's home or in your own room for a monthly fee per student, with almost no capital. More than three-quarters of Bangladeshi students use a private tutor or coaching centre.

Capital
৳500 – ৳8k
People
1
First income
7 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Book publishing and printing

Turning a manuscript into a printed book and getting it to market. White writing paper is Tk 34-40 per dista, and keeping a press requires a declaration before the District Magistrate.

Capital
৳2 lakh – ৳50 lakh
People
2 – 20
First income
60 – 240 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Diagnostic centre

A centre for blood tests, X-ray and ultrasonogram. It needs a DGHS licence, with an annual fee of Tk 15,000-50,000 by category and location.

Capital
৳8 lakh – ৳1.5 crore
People
3 – 15
First income
90 – 365 days
Editorial estimate
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
Food processing

Chira (flattened rice) mill

Roasting paddy in hot sand and flattening it into chira. A village mill charges about Tk 8 a kg to flatten a farmer's own paddy, while chira retails at Tk 70-80 a kg.

Capital
৳60k – ৳5 lakh
People
2 – 5
First income
30 – 90 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
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

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

Seed, fertiliser and feed dealership

A farm input shop selling seed, fertiliser, pesticide and feed. The fertiliser margin is fixed by government at Tk 2 a kg today, rising to Tk 3 from 1 July 2027.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳25 lakh
People
1 – 5
First income
30 – 180 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
Light manufacturing & workshop

Notebook making

Cutting, 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.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳7 lakh
People
3 – 15
First income
15 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Agriculture & farming

Fish nursery and fry

Nursing hatchery spawn into fingerlings and selling them to fish farmers. On a government farm's 2026 targets, spawn runs about Tk 1,900 a kg and fingerlings about Tk 250 a kg.

Capital
৳2 lakh – ৳22 lakh
People
2 – 12
First income
60 – 365 days
Editorial estimate
Agriculture & farming

Broiler poultry farm

Raising day-old chicks to live birds in about a month. Farm-gate prices swung from Tk 110 to Tk 198 a kg during 2026 against a production cost of roughly Tk 140.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳6 lakh
People
1 – 3
First income
32 – 60 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Screen printing and t-shirt

Printing 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.

Capital
৳50k – ৳4 lakh
People
1 – 6
First income
15 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Digital & B2B services

Freelancing agency

A 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.

Capital
৳60k – ৳4 lakh
People
1 – 10
First income
90 – 365 days
Editorial estimate
Retail & wholesale

Fish wholesale arot

Auctioning 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.

Capital
৳2 lakh – ৳15 lakh
People
3 – 12
First income
15 – 60 days
Editorial estimate
Agriculture & farming

Mushroom cultivation

Spawn packets on indoor racks yield in 25-30 days. Cost is Tk 80-90 a kilo against Tk 250-300 selling, but outside Dhaka finding the buyer is the real work.

Capital
৳25k – ৳5 lakh
People
1 – 3
First income
25 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Retail & wholesale

Mobile and accessories shop

A shop selling phones, accessories and repairs. There is almost nothing in a handset — accessories and repair labour are what keep the shop open.

Capital
৳1 lakh – ৳5 lakh
People
1 – 3
First income
10 – 30 days
Editorial estimate