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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

Bedsheet and home textile

Weaving 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.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳15 lakh
People
3 – 12
First income
30 – 75 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
Light manufacturing & workshop

Tailoring and small garment unit

Trousers 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.

Capital
৳60k – ৳8 lakh
People
1 – 30
First income
15 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Chanachur and snack making

Goods 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.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳8 lakh
People
2 – 12
First income
30 – 130 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

Barber shop and salon

Chair 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.

Capital
৳25k – ৳4 lakh
People
1 – 8
First income
7 – 30 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Tea stall and small cafe

About 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.

Capital
৳20k – ৳1.5 lakh
People
1 – 3
First income
7 – 30 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

Clothing and boutique shop

A 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.

Capital
৳1 lakh – ৳8 lakh
People
1 – 5
First income
15 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Home & local services

Beauty parlour

Hair, 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.

Capital
৳20k – ৳5 lakh
People
1 – 6
First income
7 – 45 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Small bakery

Making 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.

Capital
৳2.5 lakh – ৳20 lakh
People
3 – 20
First income
30 – 90 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
Food processing

Fruit juice and drinks

Making 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.

Capital
৳5 lakh – ৳30 lakh
People
4 – 20
First income
90 – 180 days
Editorial estimate
Food processing

Frozen paratha and samosa

Making 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.

Capital
৳3 lakh – ৳15 lakh
People
3 – 15
First income
45 – 90 days
Editorial estimate
Light manufacturing & workshop

Concrete block making

Making and selling cement-sand-chip blocks. A hollow block sells for Tk 32-50 and replaces five bricks. The deadline for 100 percent block use in government work expired in June 2025 and was missed.

Capital
৳12 lakh – ৳45 lakh
People
3 – 12
First income
30 – 90 days
Market quote
Home & local services

Laundry and dry cleaning

A 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.

Capital
৳25k – ৳2.5 lakh
People
1 – 4
First income
7 – 30 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
Food processing

Event catering

Cooking 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.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳8 lakh
People
5 – 25
First income
14 – 30 days
Editorial estimate
Agriculture & farming

Duck farming

Free-range duck keeping on the haor. About 60 eggs a day per 100 ducks, feed at about Tk 2 per duck per day, and a hundred eggs selling for Tk 1,200-1,300.

Capital
৳1.8 lakh – ৳2 lakh
People
1 – 3
First income
150 – 180 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
Light manufacturing & workshop

Wooden furniture workshop

Building 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.

Capital
৳1.5 lakh – ৳12 lakh
People
2 – 10
First income
30 – 90 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
Home & local services

Photography and videography

Shooting stills and video at events. Packages start at Tk 15,000, while a workable camera, lens and tripod cost about Tk 105,000.

Capital
৳85k – ৳4 lakh
People
1 – 6
First income
7 – 30 days
Market quote
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