Success and failure stories

Five days without internet, and not one order

She sells her own designs through a Facebook page. During the five-day internet shutdown of July 2024 no orders came at all, and the page's reach was broken.

From 16 lakh a month to 4, with the same page and the same audience

Started on an 18,500-taka phone bought by selling a cow, the page reached about 3 million followers. Platform income was 16 lakh taka in January 2025 and 4.14 lakh by March.

Capital

৳18.5k

Started in 2023

20,000 taka of capital, 30,000 taka of training

She started on 20,000 taka borrowed from her brother, while a three-month course alone cost 30,000. Planned in 2006, registered and expanded in 2009.

Capital

৳20k

Started in 2006

From 600-700 a day down to 200-250, with 3,000 taka of rent

Key cutting once brought 600-700 taka a day; now it brings 200-250, against 3,000 taka of rent.

From 25 paisa a job to 10 taka: forty years that put a son through a master's

A job once paid 25 paisa to 2 taka; forty years on, his minimum is 10 taka. On that he put his son through a master's and educated and married off his daughters.

Haircut and beard for 30 taka: a roadside barber takes 250-300 a day

What costs at least 60 taka in a salon costs 30 at the roadside: 20 for a haircut, 10 for a beard. The day brings 250-300 taka, and six people live on it.

Price past 5,000 taka a maund, and not an onion in the arot

Onion prices at Santhia rose from 3,200-3,400 to 5,000-5,400 taka a maund in ten days, but supply dried up: a hat day that normally brings ten trucks brought half of one.

2,600 taka of vegetables on a hired van, and half as much money sent home

A van hired at 30 taka a day carrying 2,600 taka of vegetables returns 400-500 taka if it all sells, but the money sent home has fallen from 8,000-10,000 to 4,000-5,000 a month.

500-700 taka of vegetables a day, 100-150 taka of profit

Twenty-five years of hawking vegetables from a pushcart: 500-700 taka of sales a day, 100-150 taka of profit, stock bought fresh each morning.

Capital stuck in the credit book, and nothing left to restock with

Goods go out on credit from this school-side grocery but the money does not come back, leaving the owner unable to restock.

A 15-year-old shopkeeper, 4,000-5,000 a month, his own schooling paid for

A village grocery run by a boy who cannot walk brings 4,000-5,000 taka a month, covering his school costs and part of the household.

Four taka on a pen, five on a notebook: 10,000 taka of sales leaves 3,000-4,000

Notebooks from March 2023, paper pens from November: sales of 9,000-10,000 taka a month now leave 3,000-4,000 after a 500-taka shop rent and other costs.

Started in 2023