Success and failure stories

Tk100,000 fine for labelling Tk1,200-a-kg ghee at Tk1,800

A ghee business in Bhangura, Pabna, was fined Tk100,000 by a mobile court for printing a higher price and selling Tk1,200-a-kg ghee for Tk1,800; samples were also taken for quality testing.

From five decimals of napier at home to 17 bighas, earning Tk 90,000 a month from grass

A Palashbari, Gaibandha day labourer who lost his land to a manpower broker planted napier on five decimals at home in 2004. Selling grass and milk, he grew to 17 bighas and nets Tk 90,000 a month.

Started in 2004

A 15-person team serving one client since 2012 lost 80% of income after AI

A freelancer since 2011 ran a team serving one foreign company from 2012; when AI took over the design, image editing and project work, the business was lost and income fell over 80%.

Started in 2011

A flower plot started with Tk 6,000 earned Tk 1.5 lakh a year, until Covid left blooms unsold

An Ulipur, Kurigram grower leased 50 decimals and started with Tk 6,000, earning about Tk 1.5 lakh a year. With no buyers during Covid he had to strip flowers to save the plants and could not repay loans.

Capital

৳6k

Ghee and chhana earn about Tk300 a maund, yogurt nearly Tk1,800 — so a Ghosh village shifts

In a Ghosh neighbourhood of Mirzapur, Tangail, over a hundred families separate milk to make ghee, chhana and yogurt; one maker reckons ghee plus chhana earns just over Tk300 per maund of milk, yogurt about Tk1,800.

Land leased at Tk 10,000 a kani, grass sold for Tk 70,000, over Tk 40,000 left after costs

A farmer in Karnaphuli, Chattogram leases five kani to grow fodder grass, feeding his own cattle and selling the rest; the area's big dairy herd is his market.

After a Tk 74 lakh cyclone loss, chrysanthemum saplings now earn Tk 18 lakh a year

A Jhikargacha, Jashore grower left rice and jute in 2001 to plant roses and dahlias on one bigha. After cyclone Amphan wrecked his sheds for a loss of about Tk 74 lakh, he focused on chrysanthemum saplings and now nets about Tk 18 lakh a year.

Started in 2001

200 floating seedbeds a season, each costing Tk 6,000 and selling for Tk 8,000–9,000

In Nazirpur, Pirojpur, contract makers build water-hyacinth floating seedbeds to farmers' orders. Each leaves a margin of about Tk 2,000–3,000, but hyacinth that used to be free now costs Tk 5,000–6,000 per bigha.

Fry ate a third of his costs; raising his own, he now earns Tk 10–12 lakh a year

A Nachole, Chapainawabganj fish farmer made little profit for seven or eight years buying fry. After training he has raised his own fry from eggs for two years, and sales of surplus fry cover his costs.

Two vans in 1983; now 600 vehicles, 700 branches and nearly 10,000 staff

A courier started with two vans in 1983 now runs over 700 branches in all 64 districts, with a see-through bag for e-commerce parcels and a separate mango service.

Started in 1983

Ten floating beds cost Tk 35,000; Tk 60,000 of vegetables sold by mid-season

A farmer in Satla beel, Uzirpur, Barishal spent Tk 35,000 building ten floating beds and had sold Tk 60,000 of vegetables by the time of the report, expecting Tk 70,000–80,000 in all.

Capital

৳35k

Half a kilo of fry in a Tk 500 leased pond grew into an award-winning hatchery

A former fisherman and bicycle fry seller in Gouripur, Mymensingh leased a derelict pond for Tk 500 a year to start in fry. He built his own hatchery in 2005 and won the national fisheries award in 2023.

Started in 2005