From a Tk 400-a-month studio worker to his own computer and printing shop; now Tk 30,000–40,000 a month after costs

A young man from Chandpur town left school after class eight because of poverty and in 2006 took a job at a photo studio for Tk 400 a month. In 2007 he began learning computers on a friend's machine and later did photo editing. In 2012 he took a loan from an organisation in his wife's name to buy his own computer, and repaid the instalments with small printing jobs done at home. From 2015 to 2019 he worked at printing and contracting firms; his last salary was Tk 15,000. He lost his job during the Covid pandemic. In the lockdown he took Tk 5,000 owed to him by a friend, brought hand sanitiser and other protective items from Dhaka, and supplied them to private organisations. Later he rented a shop in the municipal market at Kadamtala for Tk 1,000 and started 'MI IT Center'. He began with his own computer; an older acquaintance bought a printer, and with another person's help furniture was taken on credit from the next shop. People he already knew gave him orders for billboards, signboards, visiting cards, ID cards, receipts and school and college work, alongside online application services. He works from 9 am to 11 pm every day. Once monthly orders ran to Tk 5–6 lakh; they have dipped over the last few months, and he now earns Tk 30,000–40,000 a month after costs. The shop has also given work to one more young man.