Success and failure stories

A decade-old print works sold at a loss, 45 workers down to 17

A ten-year-old screen printing works in Mirpur that printed cloth for export garment factories was sold at a loss in November 2020 as orders fell away; the new owner has no work either and has kept 17 of the 45 staff.

A one-lakh first attempt failed; the second started in a drawing room and reached 3,000 square feet

The first attempt in 2009, on one lakh taka borrowed from an uncle, did not survive. She restarted in 2013 in a drawing room in Uttara with two employees and second-hand equipment; the centre has grown from 500 to 3,000 square feet with 23 staff.

Capital

৳1 lakh

Started in 2009

A month without a single guest and seven staff let go, once the ships stopped

Tourist ships on the Teknaf-Saint Martin's route stopped from 16 November, in the middle of the season. This hotel had no guest in a month and laid off seven staff; all 36 residential hotels and 40 cottages and bungalows on the island closed.

A month and a half of losses, and foreign bookings made a year ahead cancelled

Srimangal has about a hundred hotels and resorts. Tourism began falling as soon as the quota protests started; foreign guests who book six months to a year ahead cancelled, putting the November-to-February peak season at risk.

Started with 30,000 borrowed taka and three machang huts; capital is now about 8 lakh

She left an NGO job and started in February 2024 beside Kaptai lake with three machang huts and 30,000 taka of borrowed money. A Krishi Bank loan took the overnight huts to seven, and her capital now stands at about 8 lakh taka.

Capital

৳30k

Started in 2024

In the 1990s a watch was a gift of status; now only wall clocks come in

This repairer in Satkhira has fixed watches for decades and is known locally as the watch doctor. With mobile phones ending the wristwatch market, only a little wall-clock work now comes in, and a two-person household lives on it.

Fifty-seven years in the trade, 9am to 8pm, and 300-500 taka a day

He opened his own shop around 1975 and ran it about fifteen years, until the landlord demolished the building. He now works from a small table under an umbrella by the road, taking 300-500 taka a day.

Started in 1975

From 1,500-2,000 taka a day to 600, with the rest of the day in the gas queue

After a fire at the floating LNG terminal off Maheshkhali, gas supply in Chattogram broke down. Refuelling that once took 20-30 minutes now means four to six hours in a queue, and one driver's daily takings fell from 1,500-2,000 taka to 600.

A self-built rig charging easybikes for 110,000 taka, and still no income figure

After two unpaid years learning at an electricity office, he assembled a charge controller, DC motor, dynamo and circuits of his own to charge easybikes. Getting it working cost 110,000 taka.

Capital

৳1.1 lakh

Started at 14, two years in another man's garage, now five workers and 15,000 a month

Both his legs have been non-functional since birth; at 14 he chose motorcycle repair and spent two years learning in someone else's garage. His own workshop now has five workers, brings 15,000 taka a month and supports a household of seven.

Three weddings booked, then everything stopped, with the capital locked in a rented office

He set up an event management business after graduating and rented a furnished office near his home. Three weddings were booked when COVID-19 stopped everything, and his savings and borrowings are now tied up in a business with no work.

The same two mandaps, but the work fell from 60,000 taka to 20,000

Last year each puja mandap meant about 60,000 taka of work; this year it came to about 20,000. The same two bookings, but no chairs, tables or fans were needed.