Success and failure stories

90,000 taka of a wife's savings, and 8 crore taka of turnover a year

A shoe label started in 2021 with 90,000 taka of the wife's savings, selling on Facebook and its own website; it now has two Dhaka showrooms, about 90 staff and annual turnover of around 8 crore taka.

Capital

৳90k

Started in 2021

Five lakh chargers a month and 80 percent of the market, undone by an undated guarantee card

Started in 1996, this charger and battery business was selling about five lakh chargers a month by 2010 — roughly 2.5 crore taka of sales and about 80 percent of the national market. Its six-month replacement card carried no date, so old products kept coming back for free replacement indefinitely.

Started in 1996

500 boxes at 99-120 taka, and 30-40 lakh to build the kitchen

A commercial kitchen in Tejgaon cost 30-40 lakh taka to set up and sends out about 500 boxes a day at 99-120 taka each, taking around 10 lakh taka a month. With oil up from 115 taka to 170-180, home kitchens have had to lift their meal price from 80-90 taka to 110.

Capital

৳35 lakh

Started in 2021

From yogurt as a hobby to 310-330 kg a day, with demand still 50 kg ahead

Some 620-650 litres of milk a day become 310-330 kg of yogurt. Eight lakh taka went into the factory, five lakh into distribution vehicles and six lakh into land, and demand still runs about 50 kg a day ahead of supply.

Started in 2018

Four days without trucks, and 20,000 maunds of mango rotted in the arots

Baro Bazar in Khulna normally moves 9,000-10,000 maunds of mango a day; a four-day curfew took sales to zero and about 20,000 maunds rotted in the arots. One wholesaler was left with 1,500 maunds and another with 700.

Beef at 595 taka brought 50 lakh on day one, and 695 ten days later

With the market at 700-750 taka a kg, this shop opened Ramadan selling beef at 595 — more than 50 lakh taka of sales on the first day and 50 cattle slaughtered on one Friday. Ten days in, the price had to go up 100 taka to 695.

80 lakh taka into one coffee shop, and another's day going from 2,000 taka to 30,000

One Bashundhara coffee shop took about 80 lakh taka to build. Another was taking 1,500-2,000 taka a day when it opened in January 2024 and now takes 20,000-30,000.

Capital

৳80 lakh

5,000 taka and a Facebook page, now 16-20 lakh taka of sales a month

Started in 2019 with 5,000 taka and a Facebook page, at first reselling cakes sent down from Dhaka by launch. It now has four outlets across Patuakhali and Barguna, 35 staff and monthly sales of 16-20 lakh taka.

Capital

৳5k

Started in 2019

From a six-seat tin shed to five storeys, feeding 700-800 people a day

Goat biriyani at 200 taka a plate and chicken polao and kachchi at 180, with 700-800 people eating there each day across lunch and dinner. It began in 1974 as a tin shed seating six and is now a five-storey building with 25 staff.

Started in 1974

Gold advanced to a workshop never came back, and both 6-crore cheques bounced

Thirteen traders in Hazari Goli handed gold and cash advances to one casting workshop between 9 and 12 October, an exposure they put at about 60 crore taka in total. Both of the 6-crore-taka security cheques he had given them bounced.

Chira at 40-42 taka a kilo, muri next door at 45-50, and the grocers stopped asking

At the Fatulla wholesale market chira moves at 40-42 taka a kg while muri fetches 45-50 wholesale and 50-70 retail. A maund of rice yields 28-30 kg of muri, and with demand shifting the chira mills are going quiet.

A 20 kg basket of lachcha from 1,300 taka to 2,400, and orders halved

Inputs rose about 40 percent, so a 20 kg basket of loose lachcha had to go from 1,300 taka to 2,400 — and wholesalers cut their orders. Annual output of about 20,000 tonnes was heading for 12,000 or less, with about 40 of roughly 200 factories already shut.