Two BUET students' venture: online courses plus printed books, claiming over 250,000 book sales in two years

According to Future Startup, ASM Anas Ferdous grew up in Dinajpur and saw first-hand how students outside Dhaka lacked good teachers, books and coaching. In 2019, while still undergraduates, he and his BUET classmate Shamiur Rahman founded Hulkenstein Limited. Several online-learning players already existed, but in their view these mostly served urban students with reliable internet. Many families share one device among several children, and students prefer printed books for deep study. So instead of going fully digital they took a hybrid route: online courses plus printed books from their own publishing imprints. They started with Class 6–10 and SSC preparation, then added Dakhil, HSC, university admission, BCS and bank-job preparation and online mock tests. They introduced feedback-based courses, mentorship courses and admission courses tailored to specific universities. To get printed books to remote areas they partnered with Rokomari, the country's largest online bookstore. A community of over one million YouTube subscribers and 500,000 Facebook followers is a major marketing channel. The company claims to serve over one million students daily and to have sold over 250,000 books in two years. The report itself asks whether it can keep quality as it expands and whether it can generate enough cash flow to fund expansion while keeping prices competitive.