Real experiences, published anonymously and with permission.
The owner of a garment factory in Mirpur, Dhaka, in a Prothom Alo report
Light manufacturing & workshopDhaka
Started in 2009 with 26 lakh taka of second-hand machines. Exports peaked at 41 lakh US dollars in 2023 and fell to 17 lakh by 2025; the factory closed in August 2026 with nine months of rent unpaid.
The owner of a garment unit in Sherpur, in a Prothom Alo report
Light manufacturing & workshopSherpur
She began with 10 taka in hand and a sewing machine bought on installment. A 1998 training course and a 25,000-taka loan became a training centre, and the business now carries about 50 lakh taka of investment, 200 workers and about 1 lakh taka a month of her own income.
A jackfruit-biscuit maker in Sreepur, Gazipur, in a Prothom Alo report
Food processingGazipur
Two months into trial production the biscuits sell 20-25 kg a day at 850 taka for a one-kg box, but buyers call them too sweet, too fragile and too expensive, and BSTI says jackfruit biscuit is not on its biscuit standards list at all.
A husking rice mill owner in Adamdighi, Bogura, in a Prothom Alo report
Food processingBogura
A conventional husking mill spends about 2,400 taka a maund to produce rice that sells for 2,250, losing 150-200 taka on every maund. In the upazila 233 mills have closed and about 7,000 workers have lost their jobs.
A chanachur hawker of 42 years in Kishoreganj, in a Prothom Alo report
Food processingKishoreganj
Two or three taka a day saved out of a 15-taka labourer's wage made 120 taka: 30 for a tin, 70 for a saucepan and 20 for stock. Forty-two years on it has bought three shotok of land in town, a house and two master's degrees.
A muri maker in Ishwardi, Pabna, in a Samakal report
Food processingPabna
Chemical-free muri fried from dheki-husked rice with only salt and water sells at 160 taka a kg locally and 200 in Dhaka and Chattogram supershops, against 60-70 taka for machine-made packet muri; one woman earns 15,000 taka a month from frying.
A muri fryer in Kachua, Bagerhat, in a Dhaka Post report
Food processingBagerhat
Paddy at 1,500 taka a maund plus 200 to mill it, and 24 kg of muri from a maund: 75 taka a kg to make against 90 wholesale and 100 retail. At least 50 families have left the trade in four or five years.
An ice cream factory owner in Manikganj, in a Prothom Alo report
Food processingManikganj
A small factory ran for years under a name close to a well-known brand, with an unearned BSTI mark and no ingredient list, until a mobile court fined it 100,000 taka.
A woman trained in catering in Shyamnagar, Satkhira, in a Prothom Alo report
Food processingSatkhira
Catering training taken in 2022 never became work, because there was no money for equipment or ingredients. A survey of 2,000 trained women found 44 percent had set up nothing six months on.
A trained food-corner operator in East Sheorapara, Dhaka, in a Prothom Alo report
Food processingDhaka
A food corner handed to five trained women opened in May and closed in June, with only one still trying to keep it going. A survey found 44 percent of trained women had set up no work six months after training.
A food hotel owner in Jamalpur, in a Shomoyer Alo report
Food processingJamalpur
A plot bought for 350,000 taka in 2022 became a food hotel now taking 8,000-9,000 taka a day; the report gives no net profit or staff count.
Two dried-mango entrepreneurs in Chapai Nawabganj, in a Prothom Alo report
Food processingChapai Nawabganj
In their first season two entrepreneurs made 700 kg and 300 kg of dried mango and sold the lot, at 2,400 and 2,000 taka a kg. A maund of ripe mango yields only about 4 kg dried.
