Filter by capital, district and kind of work. Every number uses the same units, so you can compare businesses side by side.
131 businesses
Light manufacturing & workshopDrying water hyacinth and weaving it into trays, baskets and doormats. In Jhenaidah 800 women do this at home at Tk 20 a piece, 12-15 pieces a day, about Tk 3,000 a month, and the goods go to 82 countries.
Home & local servicesTeaching 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.
Food processingCooking pickles, pitha and meals at home and selling them through a Facebook page. A jar of pickle sells for Tk 150-465, and the 2026 food safety rules now require packaged-food registration at Tk 1,000 for three years.
Digital & B2B servicesBuilding and running websites for local clients. A simple site is Tk 8,000-15,000, e-commerce Tk 16,000-25,000, with maintenance at Tk 3,000-8,000 a month.
Home & local servicesSmall repairs at home - fans, wiring, taps and pipes, furniture. A job on a platform runs Tk 300-805, but the platform's commission rate can go up to 30 percent.
Home & local servicesControlling insects and rodents in homes, restaurants and warehouses. Annual contracts make the income predictable, and the work is illegal without a licence.
Light manufacturing & workshopProject work designing and building out flats, offices and shops. Materials are bought up front while payment comes in stages, so unpaid balances are the main risk.
Light manufacturing & workshopTurning 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.
Retail & wholesaleA 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.
Retail & wholesaleBuy 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.
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.
Light manufacturing & workshopWeaving 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.
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.
Light manufacturing & workshopTrousers 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.
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.
Food processingAbout 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.
Retail & wholesaleA 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.
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.
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 & workshopHand-woven sarees on a wooden loom. Sarees sell from Tk 1,500 to Tk 300,000 while a weaver earns about Tk 4,590 a month, because the margin stays with the mahajan.
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.
Light manufacturing & workshopA 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.
