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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.

145 businesses

Light manufacturing & workshop

Sand filling and earthwork

Contracting 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.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳15 lakh
People
3 – 20
First income
30 – 365 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Jar water and drinking water plant

Treating 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.

Capital
৳8 lakh – ৳50 lakh
People
3 – 15
First income
45 – 100 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Ice cream and popsicle making

Making 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.

Capital
৳2.5 lakh – ৳30 lakh
People
2 – 12
First income
45 – 100 days
Editorial estimate
Retail & wholesale

Tyre and battery shop

Selling 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.

Capital
৳2 lakh – ৳15 lakh
People
1 – 4
First income
20 – 60 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Tiles and marble fitting

Laying 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.

Capital
৳30k – ৳2.5 lakh
People
2 – 8
First income
7 – 30 days
Editorial estimate
Retail & wholesale

Shoe and bag shop

Retailing 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.

Capital
৳2 lakh – ৳9 lakh
People
1 – 3
First income
15 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Semai and noodle making

Cutting 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.

Capital
৳3 lakh – ৳25 lakh
People
3 – 25
First income
45 – 100 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Motorcycle servicing

Servicing motorcycles and selling parts. Bangladesh has 4,980,747 registered motorcycles, and 86 percent of all 2025 vehicle registrations were motorcycles.

Capital
৳50k – ৳5 lakh
People
1 – 5
First income
10 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Masonry and building contracting

Contracting the labour of brickwork, casting and finishing. Dhaka construction runs Tk 1,800-3,000 per square foot of plinth area, and the statutory minimum for a mason is Tk 940 a day in town.

Capital
৳50k – ৳5 lakh
People
3 – 25
First income
15 – 60 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

IPS and battery sales and servicing

A shop that installs IPS units and replaces batteries. The machine sells once, the battery every 18-30 months - and the battery is most of the price of the set.

Capital
৳2 lakh – ৳6 lakh
People
1 – 4
First income
15 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Digital & B2B services

Insurance agent

Commission-only work with almost no capital. Life agents may take up to 35 percent of the first year's premium, and individual agency in non-life insurance closed on 1 January 2026.

Capital
৳500 – ৳15k
People
1
First income
30 – 90 days
Editorial estimate
Retail & wholesale

Gold and jewellery shop

Buying and selling gold and silver at the BAJUS-fixed rate. 22-carat was Tk 19,970 a gram; the shop earns from a 6 percent making charge and a 15-17 percent weight deduction on old gold.

Capital
৳50 lakh – ৳2.5 crore
People
2 – 6
First income
30 – 90 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Dry fruit and nut packaging

Buying nuts and dates by the sack and selling them in small branded packets. Wholesale almonds run Tk 1,150 and cashews Tk 1,600 a kg against Tk 1,200-2,600 in packets. No BSTI CM licence, but a packaging registration certificate is required.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳10 lakh
People
2 – 8
First income
20 – 60 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Home and office cleaning service

Deep-cleaning flats and offices. In Dhaka a bathroom is Tk 1,225-2,250, a full home Tk 5,100-9,200 and floors Tk 3.5-10 per square foot.

Capital
৳30k – ৳3 lakh
People
2 – 10
First income
7 – 30 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Car wash and servicing

Washing, interior cleaning and polishing cars. Online platform rates in Dhaka run Tk 1,790-5,700 per car, and a pressure washer starts at Tk 7,250.

Capital
৳60k – ৳6 lakh
People
2 – 6
First income
15 – 60 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Biscuit and chips making

Making and packing biscuits, toast and chips from flour, sugar and oil. BSTI certification is compulsory, and the shop credit cycle is the real constraint.

Capital
৳4 lakh – ৳40 lakh
People
4 – 30
First income
45 – 100 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Shitalpati mat weaving

Hand-weaving mats from murta strips. In Jhalokathi one mat takes four to five days and sells for Tk 1,000-3,500, and the GI certificate has not raised that price; the weaver is still tied to the mahajan's advance.

Capital
৳10k – ৳80k
People
1 – 5
First income
12 – 365 days
Editorial estimate
Agriculture & farming

Cashew and coffee farming

Cashew and coffee orchards on hill land. Farmers get Tk 180-200 a kg for raw cashew and Tk 350-400 for raw coffee, but the first crop comes three to four years after planting for coffee and four to five for cashew.

Capital
৳50k – ৳5 lakh
People
1 – 6
First income
1,095 – 1,825 days
Editorial estimate
Retail & wholesale

Stone and sand trading

Buying river stone and sand and selling it into construction. A 100-cubic-foot tractor load costs Tk 8,000 at the Panchagarh pit head while Dhaka pays Tk 123-125 a cubic foot for local three-quarter stone, and the gap is freight and lease tolls.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳15 lakh
People
2 – 20
First income
30 – 365 days
Editorial estimate
Agriculture & farming

Lemon and pineapple farming

Lemon and pineapple orchards on hill slopes and fallow land. A hali of lemons is Tk 20-30 in Dhaka in September and Tk 100-120 in Ramadan; Madhupur pineapple is Tk 20-25 each wholesale.

Capital
৳41k – ৳1.8 lakh
People
1 – 6
First income
400 – 730 days
Editorial estimate
Digital & B2B services

Software and app reselling

Installing point-of-sale and accounting software in small shops. The competition is free apps - TallyKhata alone has about 4.7 million registered traders - so the income comes from hardware and service.

Capital
৳60k – ৳2.5 lakh
People
1 – 6
First income
7 – 60 days
Editorial estimate
Digital & B2B services

Online grocery delivery

Taking grocery orders on an app or page and delivering to the door. Sugar leaves about 7 percent and bottled oil almost nothing - and the cost of delivery has to come out of that.

Capital
৳1 lakh – ৳8 lakh
People
2 – 10
First income
7 – 30 days
Editorial estimate
Digital & B2B services

Dropshipping and reselling

Selling online without holding stock, shipping by courier and collecting cash on delivery. Courier is Tk 60-180 plus 1 percent COD, and a returned parcel adds 50 percent of the delivery charge - which is where the profit goes.

Capital
৳20k – ৳2 lakh
People
1 – 4
First income
3 – 30 days
Editorial estimate
Digital & B2B services

Video editing service

Editing product videos and content for others. The customers already exist - 200,000 online merchants on Pathao and 300,000 on Steadfast; the main capital item is one editing computer.

Capital
৳62k – ৳2.5 lakh
People
1 – 6
First income
90 – 365 days
Editorial estimate