Success and failure stories

A 3-4 taka margin flips to a 2-3 taka loss, with 100-plus trucks stuck at the port

Demand at the Hili land port halved in four or five days, leaving more than a hundred loaded rice trucks unsold and turning a 3-4 taka per kg margin into a 2-3 taka loss.

Twenty betel nuts: from 700-800 taka down to 200-300

The supari harvest in Indurkani was better than last year, but the price for twenty nuts fell from 700-800 taka to 200-300.

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.

Two and a half crore taka of fish in a three-hour market

The Dipnagar market, started in 2009, turns over 2 to 2.5 crore taka between 6 and 9 a.m. each day, including around 40,000 kg of pangash.

Started in 2009

From 40-50 book shops down to 10-12 in New Market

New Market once had more than 40-50 book shops and now has 10-12, six of them closing since 2019; the survivors have shifted their shelves to stationery.

A day's 60,000-70,000 taka of sales is now barely a month's

What this 45-year-old secondhand book shop once took in a single day it now barely takes in a month, and the Moghaltuli-Dharampur shops are down from about ten to four.

Potato bought at 26-27 taka is selling at 12-13

Eight truckloads of potato bought at 26-27 taka a kg now fetch 13 wholesale, 12 for graded stock out of store and 9-10 ungraded.

A 6-8 taka loss on every kilo, and 95,000 sacks still sitting in store

Potatoes stored in the hope of a rise cost 18-19 taka a kg all-in while the market fell to 11-12. Of 125,000 sacks stored, about 95,000 were still unsold.

Fire takes the saree shop and both godowns, and the loss figures do not agree

A canal-side saree shop and both its godowns burned in Bhola. The owner put the loss at 25-30 lakh taka; the Fire Service put it at 15-20 lakh.

40,000 taka of capital, over four lakh five years later

A cloth business run from home in Bera municipality started about five years ago with roughly 40,000 taka; the capital is now over 400,000.

Capital

৳40k

50,000 taka online, and the first batch of kurtis gone in 26 days

A kurti label started on Facebook with 50,000 taka sold out its first batch in 26 days, and after roughly a decade online opened a shop at Mirpur 11.5 on 11 May 2025.

Capital

৳50k