Started by posting a rice-reaper video on Facebook; now sells Tk 70-80 lakh of farm machinery a month
A young man in Rangpur began at 21 by selling a Chinese hand reaper through Facebook videos. Within a few years a three-person rented office became a 55-staff business that has sold machines to more than 40,000 farmers.
A young man in Rangpur started selling farm machinery at 21. According to Prothom Alo, he enrolled in a polytechnic diploma in 2014 but could not sit the final exam in 2017 for lack of money. At a training programme he met an importer of Chinese hand reapers for cutting rice, and he began promoting the machine with videos on Facebook. It was harvest season and people responded; the first order came from Sylhet and earned him Tk 1,500. In a few months he sold about 80 machines. When stock ran out he went looking for investors and importers; today 16 importers and investors work with him. In 2018 he launched a website and sold about 500 power tillers in one month. That year he brought his wife into the business; they began with a one-room rented office in Rangpur town, three people in all including one more staff member. Now there are 55 staff and a warehouse and showroom on 10 decimals of land. Direct servicing started in 2022, with video-call support when needed. Today about Tk 70-80 lakh of machinery is sold each month to more than 40,000 farmers, across 350 kinds of products. Including contract maize and potato farming, the business turns over about Tk 10 crore a year.
Lessons
- 1.You can start without a big shop: pair one product with the season's demand and test the response with a video first.
- 2.Sales stop when stock runs out, so build a network of importers and investors early.
- 3.After-sales servicing and video-call support build buyer trust and help the business grow.
We published this with the person's permission, without revealing who they are.
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