A Tk 2.2 lakh home noodle unit; first Ramadan brought Tk 5.5 lakh of lachha semai sales

After losing a large part of his savings on the stock market, a young man from Patharghata, Chattogram, took Tk 1.5 lakh from his eldest paternal uncle, bought a noodle-making machine from Narinda in Old Dhaka and set it up at home; the total investment was Tk 2.2 lakh, and the year was 1998. The factory was in 600 sq ft of the house, where he, his brother and three workers worked; sales representatives from his father's business helped sell the products. On a businessman's advice, he started making lachha semai on the roof. The lachha on the market at the time was oily, so they dried theirs in a dryer, and it caught on. In the first Ramadan, Tk 5.5 lakh worth of lachha was sold, for a profit of Tk 50,000 after all costs. When demand fell after Ramadan, rather than shut the factory he started making chanachur; when it did not sell in PP bags, branding it in plastic jars boosted sales. Gradually adding products, he later moved into exports; at the time of the report, 500–550 workers worked in three factories, and exports the previous year were worth about Tk 28 crore.