Success and failure stories

A 22-worker cashew plant shut within two months for lack of raw nuts

A cashew processor in Ishwardi, Pabna, with 250 kg/day capacity had to stop production two months after opening because he could not find raw nuts; with limited capital he could not stock a year's supply.

Ran for

2 months

Started in 2021

A Bandarban plant processes 4 tonnes of cashew a month and sells packs at Tk1,300 a kg

A mid-sized Bandarban plant buys local raw cashew, processes and packs it in nine steps and sells nationwide; it is signing contracts with growers to secure supply.

First big loss in 30 years at a Chalan Beel shutki yard as puti prices halve

A freshwater shutki producer at Chalan Beel kept his yard running into Boishakh on money borrowed from a village lender; when exports to India stalled and prices halved, he took a heavy loss and cut his workers from 30–40 to 12.

Rowing into the haor for internet, $400 in four months, now $2,000 a month

A young man from the Mohonganj haor in Netrokona failed after a first course paid for with a Tk 4,000 loan; after learning Google Ads and web analytics he now earns about $2,000 a month on Fiverr.

Capital

৳4k

Started in 2021

From $3 to $15 an hour, $600 a month from one client, and a team of 10

A Chattogram university student who could not afford a Tk 15,000 course opened an Upwork profile with writing as her only skill; she went from $3 to $15 an hour and now subcontracts to a team of 10.

Sagar banana on sharecropped land: Tk 1.5 lakh cost, Tk 3.5–4 lakh a year expected

A betel-leaf grower in Hoanak, Maheshkhali, Cox's Bazar, planted Sagar banana on 150 kora of sharecropped land; he spent about Tk 1.5 lakh and expects Tk 3.5–4 lakh a year.

Capital

৳1.5 lakh

A 'dental surgeon' with no BMDC registration: six months in jail and a Tk 1 lakh fine

A man ran a dental clinic in Halishahar, Chattogram, with no degree and no BMDC registration. A mobile court jailed him for six months and fined him Tk 1 lakh.

An owner's 34 boats, only 10–12 hired a day as bridges take the passengers

A boatman who manages an owner's 34 boats at Sadarghat says only 10–12 are hired a day even at the height of the monsoon, as bridges have cut river crossings.

Tk 25,000 a camera in 2003, 10,000 sold a year; now a 16-lakh-a-year market

A marketer who began selling CCTV in 2003 saw cameras move from an elite purchase to a consumer product; a Dhaka IT shop's CCTV sales rose 60% after the lockdown.

Started in 2003

Over an acre of bamboo on flood-sanded land, each pole Tk 70–250

A farmer in Kalikapur, Madaripur Sadar turned land ruined by flood sand into a bamboo grove of over an acre; he sells each pole for Tk 70 to 250.

Tk 25–26 lakh of bamboo sold, then a pest at the shoot tips forced a switch to lotkon

On 7.5 acres of family land in Ghatail, Tangail, a grower sold about Tk 25–26 lakh of bamboo, then a pest at the shoot tips that could not be sprayed that high pushed him to replace the grove with lotkon.

A Tk 25–30k dinghy rents for Tk 120 a day; one local owner has 40

On the Buriganga, dinghy owners rent boats to boatmen for Tk 120 a day, Tk 3,600 a month per boat, but ownership is held by the locally powerful and boatmen also pay ghat levies.