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Bangladesh is your typical frontier market: largely unexplored, fast-growing (6% growth), young (60% of the population below 30), and large rural population (72% of their 160 millions).
The infrastructure is not yet there too, with only 50 million mobile subscribers and a tiny 10 million people having an access to the Internet. Of course these statistics will change fast thanks a very dynamic economy, and the efforts of the local telcos such as GrameenPhone with its « Internet for all » roadmap, targeting some 50 million Internet users within the next 5 years.
Bangladesh has other assets, such as a strong garment industry, a huge diaspora of 12 million people working in Asia and the Gulf countries, as well as more than 250 million Bangla speakers across South Asia. We’ve seen for instance a startup offering a women-centric platform working in Bangla with 2m page views per month a few months after their launch.
Bangladesh startup ecosystem is very young. Two years ago, nothing really existed, until a handful of friends with background in the garment and media industry decided to help local entrepreneurs go digital.
The documentary Startup Dhaka (2013) is the first milestone of this ecosystem trying to assess its own resources. A year later, it became both an online magazine and the main support of the first tech conference, Innovation Xtreme, with speakers coming from Malaysia, Singapore, Egypt, Pakistan, Nepal, India. Today, Startup Dhaka has turned into a pan-Asian resource for entrepreneurs and has a new name (SD Asia), showing things go really fast, with an authentic ambition to go beyond the borders of a small but dense country.
When visiting Dhaka, one cannot be startled by the energy of the population and its entrepreneurial mindset, so it’s definitely a market you want to check and visit.
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PROS
- An untapped market of 160 million people today, making it the 7th biggest country in the world, and highest population density
- 6% GDP growth over the last 10 years, same figure forecasted until 2016 at least
- 300 million speak Bengali, in Bangladesh, India, and in the diaspora (about 6 million, mostly in Golf countries and Asia)
- 60% of the population is below 30, with average age 23.5 years old
- Industrious, hectic and hard-working population at home and abroad
- Home to Prof. Yunus social innovation experiments, including micro-finance with Grameen Bank
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CONS
- Low-lying, flood prone territory, where water can cover up to 75% of the Bangladesh territory
- 144th poorest country in the world, at the level of Cambodia or Mauritania
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TOP STARTUPS IN BANGLADESH
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NewsCred is a social media and news marketing platform that transforms user’s brands into an always-on newsroom
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Shajgoj is a women-focused website in Bengali with more than 2M pageviews per month
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Solaric provides affordable renewable energy by innovating appropriate technology with de-centralized billing system
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LightCastle Partners aims to simplify complex business decisions by providing data-driven solutions
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Bongo offers on-demand video on the web and mobile through their world’s largest Bangladeshi entertainment catalog
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Zuum Zuum is a lifestyle e-commerce platform that provides high quality products at reasonable prices
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TOP PEOPLE TO KNOW IN BANGLADESH
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Fayaz Taher
Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer
Startup Dhaka
Serial entrepreneur, investor, mentor and a startup community advocate from Bangladesh and the current CEO of Fortuna
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Mustafizur Khan
Founder and CEO
SDASIA.CO
Actively working in startup scene in Bangladesh for possible investment in tech startups and involved in building the startup community
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Samad Miraly
Executive Director
Olympic Industries Limited
Executive Director at Olympic Industries Limited, a publicly listed FMCG manufacturing firm. Also co-founded a co-working space, The Wave
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Sajid Islam
Founder
Hubdhaka
Organizer at Startup Weekend Dhaka and Founder at hubdhaka, a meeting, events and co-working space
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Markus Adaktusson
Director of Communications
Grameenphone Ltd.
Director of Communications at Grameenphone, working on the « Internet for all » program. Previously Director Communications in Telenor Sweden
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Riyad S.A. Husain
CEO and Founder
Magnito Digital
Founder and CEO of Magnito Digital, one of the leading full service digital marketing agencies of Bangladesh
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BANGLADESH
| GDP (in billions USD): | 162 |
| GDP per capita (in USD): | 1,033 |
| Population: | 166,280,712 |
| Population in 2050 (est.): | 250,155,280 |
| Internet Penetration: | 24.5 % |
| Mobile Penetration: | 5 % |
| Banking Penetration: | 40 % |
| Credit Card Penetration: | 1 % |
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LINKS & RESOURCES
- Innovation Xtreme: Let’s go visit Bangladesh’s nascent startup ecosystem</li>
- Startup movies #2: Startup Dhaka (Bangladesh)
- Shajgoj, a online community platform for Bangladeshi woman, in Bengali language
- Bangladesh startup ecosystem in 2015: from branding to capacity building
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