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What workedA handmade soap maker in Narsingdi, in a Prothom Alo report · Started in 2007

60,000 taka to start, and 50,000 soaps a year going to Japan

He began making soap by hand in 2007 with 60,000 taka. A first Japanese order in 2009 was worth USD 5,000 for about 50,000 pieces; the unit now exports around 50,000 soaps a year and employs 13 people.

This maker at Khanipur in Palash upazila, Narsingdi, began making soap by hand in 2007 with 60,000 taka of capital. His first export order came from Japan in 2009, worth USD 5,000 and covering about 50,000 pieces. He now makes 15 varieties, among them neem, rose, coffee, moringa, lavender, saffron and aloe vera, using olive, coconut, castor, rice bran and sunflower oils in place of the palm oil that goes into commercial soap. The report says he exports around 50,000 soaps a year, with Japan the largest market and shipments also going to the USA, the UK, Qatar and Dubai, and that thirteen people work at the unit. In 2020, during Covid, the factory was moved from Old Dhaka to Narsingdi.

Lessons

  1. 1.One export order in 2009 has carried the business for well over a decade: the hard part is finding the first buyer, not the tenth
  2. 2.A foreign buyer came for a different specification, not a lower price: using other oils in place of palm oil is what set the product apart

Published with the person's permission, without revealing who they are.

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