Success and failure stories

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

No chemicals, six days of Ramadan idle, and hand output down by half

A shortage of imported chemicals shut 10-12 shoe factories in Bhairab. Handmade output fell from 20-24 pairs a day to 10-12, and orders halved.

Gas from 26 to 30 taka a cubic foot, and a 30,000-taka bill every month

This attar still in Sujanagar makes about 12 tola of attar a month at 6,000 taka a tola, against a gas bill alone of 30,000 taka. Tea factories pay 11.93 taka per cubic foot; this trade pays 30.

One 10,000-taka machine, 1,000 candles a batch, and no second machine in nine years

A home candle unit in Dighinala turns out 1,000 candles a batch on 250 taka of material and sells them for 600. It carries the household, but nine years on there is still one machine.

Capital

৳10k

Started in 2011

15,000-16,000 taka spent a month, 8,000 left, and 15 families still at the wheel

More than 200 families once worked clay at Taleshwar Kumarpara in Bagerhat; about 15 remain. One potter spends 15,000-16,000 taka a month on the work and is left with roughly 8,000.

A lakh taka of mats a month before Covid, now not even 30,000-40,000

A weaver of forty years saw monthly sales fall from about 1 lakh taka to under 30,000-40,000, and his artisans from 30 to five. A shitalpati artisan never made more than 200-300 taka a day, so many left the trade.

A bamboo costs 150-200 taka while a basket still sells for 150

About 50 artisans still work bamboo in Kora Pakratel village, Debhata. A basket costs 70-80 taka in materials and sells for 150, two a day; another artisan buys a woven tabra at 180 taka and sells it at 200.