Business
The World's 10 Self-made Youngest Billionaires in 2021
Becoming a billionaire is everyone’s dream. Who doesn’t like to live a life of luxury with access to all the amenities there can be? However, the path to becoming a billionaire isn’t easy. And that stands true even more for people who are self-made billionaires. The sheer effort and odds that requires to be defied are truly commendable. Let's take a look at the world’s 10 self-made youngest billionaires in 2021.
Austin Russell
The 26-year-old CEO of Luminar Technologies is the youngest self-made billionaire on the Forbes list for 2021. He’s also received the prestigious fellowship by the billionaire investor Peter Thiel in 2012 to drop out of college and start his own venture. His tech firm, Luminar Technologies develops optical sensors for autonomous vehicles. As of 2021, companies like Toyota and Volvo have used Lidar-based technology in their cars.
The billionaire shot his way to the list after his company started trading in NASDAQ in December 2020 through a SPAC merger. He is currently valued at 2.4 billion dollars.
Read The 7 Most Promising Tech Startups in Bangladesh
Ritesh Agarwal
The story of Ritesh Agarwal is a truly fascinating case of rags to riches. Ritesh had a very humble beginning and dropped out of college in 2011 to pursue his plans of budget accommodations. Soon after in 2012, he got accepted into the Peter Thiel fellowship program and launched his own company, OYO rooms in 2013.
Since then, it has been a smooth sail for him. By the end of 2018, OYO rooms were valued at over 1 billion dollars. Soon after in 2019, Ritesh tripled his stakes in the business through share purchases and in the process saw his valuation rise to 1.1 billion dollars. Currently, he is the second-youngest self-made billionaire in the world.
Evan Spiegel
The CEO of Snap Inc., Spiegel is more commonly known as the founder of the popular social media platform Snapchat. He jointly developed the app with two of his classmates, Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown when he was studying at Stanford.
Soon after its initial release in 2012, the app grew by leaps and bounds reaching over 1 million users by the end of 2012. The popularity of the platform continued to grow and Spiegel became the youngest billionaire for the year 2015 in Forbes List after Snap Inc. went public. He is also one of the youngest CEO of a publicly traded company. Currently, his net valuation stands at 11.1 billion dollars.
Read Digital Currency: Benefits and Risks of the Cashless Economy in Bangladesh
John Collison
John Collison is the cofounder of Stripe, a financial service that primarily operates for the digital payment in e-commerce platform as well as building different application programming interfaces.
John and his brother started with their first venture, Shuppa, and Auctomatic which was a software company primarily developing tools for e-bay back in 2008. They co-founded stripe in 2010 which received funding from CapitalG and General Catalyst. The company was also backed by Elon Musk and Peter Thiel in its initial days. The investment made the company to be valued at over 9 billion dollars which took John’s net worth to 1.1 billion dollars. He was the youngest self-made billionaire on the Forbes List of 2016.
Bobby Murphy
Bobby Murphy is the co-founder of Snap Inc. along with Evan Spiegel and Reggie Brown. Originally belonging to the same Sigma Kappa fraternity at Stanford University, Murphy and Spiegel first had a failed venture called Future Freshman which worked to advise the new graduates on career choices.
Later both of them worked on a photo disappearing app called Picaboo which later became Snapchat. Murphy spearheaded the engineering division of Snapchat as well as working with the Snap Labs team to develop the spectacles, their flagship camera glasses. At the time of the IPO, Murphy and Brown both had over 45% control of the share. Murphy is currently estimated to be worth 10.2 billion dollars.
Read Top Insurance Companies in Bangladesh in 2021
Mark Zuckerberg
Probably the most well-known name on the list, Mark Zuckerberg is an American media magnate and the founder of Facebook. Zuckerberg was born in White Plains, New York. Since his early days, he showed a glimpse of his talents through various activities. When kids his age were busy playing games, Zuckerberg was into making them. He entered Harvard with a keen interest in software development. However, he soon dropped out to pursue the development of Face Smash which was renamed Facebook later on.
Today Facebook Inc. controls several social media sites like Instagram and Whatsapp that drive the largest share of social media traffic in the world. Zuckerberg was the youngest billionaire in 2007 and with a net worth of over 117 billion dollars, he is currently the 5th richest person in the world.
Dustin Moskovitz
Dustin Moskovitz was one of four co-founders of Facebook. He was born in Gaines Florida and attended Harvard with a major in Economics. However, he left Harvard just after two years to work full-time for Facebook in Palo Alto.
In its initial days, Moskovitz was the first chief technology officer of Facebook and subsequently, the vice president of engineering. He led a team of engineers who designed the interface of the platform and gave it a shape as we all know it to be today. He also played a key role in developing the mobile version of the platform. Moskovitz left Facebook to pursue other ventures and in 2011, he was the youngest self-made billionaire based on his 2.34% stake at Facebook. Currently, he is valued at 19.2 billion dollars.
Read Online Business: How to Get Started from Home?
Nathan Blecharczyk
Nathan Blecharczyk is the co-founder and chief strategy officer of Airbnb. Blecharczyk was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard. Initially, he started his career as an engineer at Opnet technologies. He along with Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia came up with the idea of Airbnb. Though initially failing to raise capital, the project came into the attention of the Y combinator and was soon fast-tracked into their seed funding program.
Blecharczyk played a key role in the development of the initial interface of Airbnb and soon after transitioned into the position of CTO of the organization. Blecharczyk is currently valued at 13.3 billion dollars.
Pavel Durov
Pavel Durov is an entrepreneur from Russia who is also the founder of the popular social media platform VK. Since being removed from the position of CEO of VK, he is known for his continued effort to ensure the data safety of the users which is believed to be the reason for his fall out with VK. Durov was born in Leningrad and attended St Petersburg University.
After his dismissal from VK, he went on to become a citizen of St Kitts and Neves. He then founded the end-to-end encrypted messaging platform Telegram. Currently, Durov is valued at 17.2 billion dollars which are largely driven by his control of Telegram.
Read Ways of Affiliate Marketing while Staying in Bangladesh
Patrick Collison
The co-founder of Stripe and brother of John Collison, Patrick Collison is a key stakeholder of Stripe. Born in Ireland, Collison had a knack for software and AI from his early days. He decided to participate in the 40th Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition with his AI-powered project called Issac.
The innovative ideas continued with the foundation of Shuppa and later Auctomatic. Collison later attended MIT and has been a key figure in the development of Stripe. Currently, he is valued at 11.4 billion dollars.
Bottom Line
With Forbes estimating a new billionaire being made every 17 hours, it's only natural that young people would take a stride in this list. However, this list consists of people that defied all odds to establish themselves on the global map as well as contribute to the social causes.
Read The Difference between a Startup and a Small Business
Taxation of Bangladeshi Freelancers in 2021
With over 650,000 freelancers in the country, the popularity and freelancing as a full-time profession have been on the rise in Bangladesh. The process got even more traction due to the pandemic and people losing jobs. For many, using their skills on an online platform has made way for an extra earning scope and in some cases, the only source of income. But with all that said, taxation is something that many freelancers do not consider while getting started on with freelancing. From the context of Bangladesh, freelancing doesn’t guarantee you a stable income and the job you’re going to get isn’t also regular. So, do Bangladeshi freelancers need to pay tax in 2021? Let's find out.
Taxation Law in Bangladesh
Before we dive into the details of the taxation law, the answer is no, freelancers in Bangladesh don’t need to provide tax against their income in Bangladesh as of right now. But the situation is soon going to change and it's something that you should prepare for.
The scope of taxation is huge and multidimensional. For relevancy, we will take into consideration the individual income tax that is in place in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has a no-tax threshold of up to 300,000 BDT and the minimum tax rate over the threshold amount is 5% going all the way up to 25%. So does the individual tax law apply to freelancers?
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State of Freelancing Earning
The individual taxation law doesn’t apply to freelancers in Bangladesh. Diving into the matter, we found two root causes.
First, most of the freelance work in Bangladesh happens through a middleman. That is, an established freelancer often outsources jobs to the relatively inexperienced freelancers in the country from freelancing platforms. There is often no proper official contract for this type of freelancing work. The jobs are also not listed as the outsourcers aren’t listed as an organization or a company. As a result, it becomes difficult to trace these incomes and bring them under taxation.
The second issue has to do with job regularity. Of the 650,000 freelancers in Bangladesh, some 200,000 of them gets the regular job. Even beyond that, only a handful of established and successful freelancers earn a taxable amount. In addition to that, the lack of a proper framework regarding freelancing has also been one of the reasons behind the proper estimation of freelancers and their earnings in Bangladesh.
Read Ways of Affiliate Marketing while Staying in Bangladesh
Taxation Law for Freelancers
In the income tax ordinance of 1984, it was clearly stated that if anyone who’s a Bangladeshi citizen provides service to a foreign organization or a person and receives monetary compensation, a 10% income tax will be imposed on the said earning. But according to the money law of 2018, anyone providing software or online service to any foreign entity or individual will not have to pay any tax. This applies to all the Information Technology Enabled Services or ITES. Almost all of the freelancers of Bangladesh are ITES providers in different freelancing platforms.
However, that isn’t the end of the problem. Due to the absence of PayPal, most of the freelancers of Bangladesh are forced to take their payment in dollars to their bank account through wire transfer. This is done through the Payoneer platform. However, since the bank doesn’t treat these transactions as service earnings from foreign entities, a 10% source tax is applied to them. As a result, even though the government has tax exemption in effect for the freelancers, the source tax still applies which ultimately drives down the earning of the freelancers.
The situation has been like this for quite some time now but due to exponential growth in the sector, and the growing surge of freelancers in the country, the government has decided to bring the freelancers under taxation. However, the move isn’t drastic and the entire sector will have tax exemption till 2024. That is, the freelancers will not have to provide any tax until 2024.
Read Passive Income Ideas in Bangladesh in 2021
Future of Freelance Taxation
To make the process of listing freelancing easier as well as get proper certification, the government has decided to introduce smart ID for freelancers. The smart ID feature, which is the first of its kind in Bangladesh will enable the government not only to track the earning but also bring all the freelancers into a single platform. The government plans on various developmental opportunities for the freelancers as well as skill generation to better compete in the international market.
Another scope of the ID is that from this year, the government would require freelancers to get a TIN certification. A TIN certification enables the freelancers to be government enlisted as well as legalize their earning. Even though the freelancers aren’t required to pay tax up until 2024, they will need to submit returns to the income tax division.
A comparative study found that the pay gap between freelancers depending on experience and the service sector is very high. Some freelancers may earn more than a million BDT in a single month whereas some can’t manage 10,000 BDT even. The case of high earners in Bangladesh is very low with the majority of the freelancers earning less than 15,000 BDT per month on average. Since there isn’t any proper framework regarding taxation rates for freelancers, it can be expected that the non-taxable ceiling of income should be higher than the individual income tax ceiling in existence.
Read Top 10 Free Online Digital Marketing Courses in 2021
Bottom Line
Near about 65% of people in Bangladesh are below the age of 25. With a young population like ours, the scope of skill development and outsourcing the skills can be a promising end to reduce economic disparity in the country. Rather than going after traditional jobs, the youths can be encouraged to develop skills and start freelancing. With experience and proper skills, it is possible to earn a huge amount to address personal needs as well as contribute to the economic development of the country.
Growth opportunities in Asean: Singapore, Malaysia top destinations for Chinese companies
Most Chinese companies focusing on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) expect to see their businesses grow in the region over the next 12 months, according to a survey commissioned by Standard Chartered.
The survey, conducted in April among senior executives at 43 China-based companies, revealed that the same companies consider Singapore and Malaysia as the best markets for expansion opportunities in the region.
Around 60% of respondents say they are focusing on expanding in Singapore to capture sales and production opportunities, second to Malaysia at 65%, and followed by Thailand's 53%.
About 47% of Chinese corporates are also keen to tap into Singapore as a major regional procurement hub, and 44% of them indicate that they are looking to build a regional research and development or innovation centre in the country, as they look to expand across Asean.
Also, 56% of the companies prioritised access to the large and growing Asean consumer market as the most important drivers for expansion into the region.
Around 53% of companies found local government incentives and support for project sustainability and stability to be important, while 51% saw a reliable supplier base as one of the key reasons to look into expansion in the Asean region.
Also, 47% of the companies said the network of free trade agreements (FTAs) make Asean the ideal base to access the global markets.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is also expected to attract more investments in the region with 88% of respondents planning to increase investments by at least 25% over the next three-five years.
Also, the same companies identified the risks within the region, with 70% citing the Covid-19 pandemic or other health crises.
Around 67% of companies consider the region's geopolitical uncertainty and trade conflicts, while another 67% view the slow revival of the region's economies and drop in consumer spending as areas of concerns.
However, to mitigate the risks and challenges, 58% of respondents say they have considered executing digital transformation programmes, while another 47% have looked at driving sustainability and environmental, social and governance initiatives.
Another 44% of companies say they are looking into the possibility of entering new partnerships and joint ventures to increase their market presence when entering the region.
The survey was conducted for Standard Chartered's "Borderless Business: China-Asean Corridor" report, which explores potential opportunities for cross-border growth between both regions.
Top 10 Free Online Digital Marketing Courses
As we move forward in the digital era, one thing is increasingly becoming certain. The future is technology. In this era where everything is occurring digitally, the marketing strategy of almost anything has to mold to the changing scope. Be it personal branding or product promotion, digital marketing is an important tool that you need to master to stand out from the increasing tech vying crowd. So what are the best free online digital marketing courses? Let's find out.
Top free online digital marketing courses
Fundamentals of Digital Marketing
This course is offered by Google. What better way to learn about digital marketing than from the self-proclaimed home of the internet? The digital course offered by google goes through some of the basic concepts of digital marketing. Moreover, a certification from google can be a good addition to your profile.
The course duration is 40 hours long with 26 modules. The modules are designed in such a way that you can complete them at your own ideal pace. You will get detailed ideas about developing a web presence, how to build an online store, local networking, mobile marketing, planning business strategy, and many more.
Read US offers free online course for education professionals
Inbound Marketing Certification Course
This course is offered by Hubspot Academy. The course is a 4-hour ling module designed to teach digital marketers the intricacies of inbound marketing. This module is geared towards digital marketers with a basic level of understanding of marketing. The module consists of 10 different lessons encompassing 34 videos as well as 9 different quizzes.
You will get a comprehensive idea about blog post creation, promotion in social media, nurturing leads, understanding strategic alignment of marketing and sales, etc. successful completion of the course will land you an industry-grade certification to be added to your resume.
Read: The Difference between a Startup and a Small Business
Diploma in E-Busines
Many of you have heard of the Massive Online Open Course or MOOC. The business course offered by Alison is one of the first major MOOC platforms founded back in 2007. The diploma in e-business offers a range of marketing-related learning suing the Google Analytics as well as Adwords. It also offers SEO, understanding metrics of revenue generation as well as comprehensiveness and engagement metrics of a website.
The course takes about 6 to 10 hours to complete and you get access to several video tutorials to complement your learning. There is a final assessment at the end of the module which you need to pass with 80 or above. You will receive an evaluation report of your performance, however, the only downside here is that you will have to pay 20 dollars to get the certificate.
Read Online Resources for Homeschooling Children during Quarantine.
Learn Digital Marketing
This is another free course that you can avail from skillshare. The course mainly focuses on shortcut ways to learn the basics of digital marketing. The course is designed to give you tips and tricks on how to manage marketing platforms, generate leads as well as use social media platforms for marketing.
This free online digital marketing course also focuses on keyword research and SEO. The course module is free to access on the platform which offers you two months of free access. However, you do not get any certification for this course.
Online Marketing Manager
The online marketing manager course is geared towards the intermediary level. People who already have some experience in digital marketing or know the basics can benefit the most from the course. The course is a 24-hour long module offered by LinkedIn learning. You can avail of the course for free through the trial.
This course focuses on the best practice regarding digital marketing as well as advertisement details that should come in handy while developing advertisement plans. There are a total of 11 modules that will integrate google software as well as social media platforms to give a better hands-on learning experience. upon completion of the course, you will receive an industry-grade certification from LinkedIn.
Read Free Online Graphic Design Courses to Enhance Your Skill during Quarantine.
Marketing and Digital Media
This is a course offered by Coursera, one of the leading platforms for digital learning. The course is offered in collaboration with the University of Illinois. The total length of the course is 15 hours. The course is part of a seven-part series of digital marketing courses offered by the same university.
You will be learning in detail about the optimization process of digital assets, and different types of marketing procedures. The gripe with this course is that you can complete it for free in the audit mode. But you will need to sign up for the paid version if you want a professional-grade certification. We included this course in this list because it is one of the only free courses available on digital marketing that is accredited.
Read Where to Find Online Courses during Coronavirus Home Quarantine.
Digital Marketing Course
For the people living in Bangladesh, the learning and earning development project of the ICT division is a great scope to learn digital marketing for free. It is part of an initiative of the government to empower the youth through digital skills and making way for earning online. The digital marketing course is a 150 hour long extensive training with a placement guarantee upon completion of the course.
The course focuses on several key marketing tools and how to implement them. it also focuses on the KPI measurement as well as tracking progress. The 19-day long project is complete with core building, hands-on training as well as a final assessment. You will get a certification from the ICT division upon successful completion of the course.
Read Coronavirus Tips: Free Online Yoga Courses for Stress Relief and Better Immunity.
Free Digital Marketing Basics Course
This is a course offered by Udemy. The digital marketing basic course is a 21 lesson long course offered natively through the in-house instructors of Udemy. There are over 24 video tutorials as well as study materials included with the modules. However, like the Coursera platform, the course is free if you learn through an audit. You will also miss out on key features like access to communication with the instructors as well as professional certification. Those are available on the paid variant of the course. However, it is still a great choice to understand the basics of digital marketing.
Read: Digital Currency: Benefits and Risks of the Cashless Economy in Bangladesh
Strategies of Digital Marketing
The financial investment publication giant Forbes has dived into its platform to create a digital marketing course. The course features extensive modules on strategies involved in digital marketing. The main scope of this course is to teach you to differentiate between what works in digital marketing and what doesn’t. It will also help you to better generate ideas about the SWOT of each strategy and how to analyze them. you can avail of the course for free but the certification would require you to sign up for the platform.
Beginner Guide to Online Marketing
This is another comprehensive course offered by Quicksprout University. The course was developed by Neil Patel, a prominent and well-known digital marketer. The course has a total of 13 different guidelines that focuses to develop your understanding of the digital marketing processes and trends and how to excel at formulating strategies. There is no fixed time limit to complete the course and you can do it on your own preference. However, you will not be receiving any course certificate upon completion.
Read Graphic Designer Salaries: How Much Can You Earn from Graphic Design?
Bottom Line
Our everyday life and activity are increasingly becoming dependent on technology. The interconnected nature and ease of communication make use of tech and digital platforms reliable and secure. In the current world, Digital Marketing has become an essential part for anyone wanting to develop a career in ICT. Beyond the general scopes of becoming a developer, digital marketing can provide a good earning opportunity for anyone willing to put on the effort. Though the free courses on digital marketing aren’t as comprehensive as the paid ones, they can still provide you a basic understanding of the strategies and how to implement them.
The 7 Most Promising Tech Startups in Bangladesh
Startups have been around for quite a while now in Bangladesh. The success of several startups has prompted many to venture into the field and take a dig at the market. However, the success of a startup depends on the idea, effort to realize the idea, and considerable risk intake. The high risk has caused many startups to fail. Yet there are some glaring examples of startups that are defying odds to make a change in the existing market process. Let's have a look at the 7 most promising tech startups in Bangladesh.
Pathao
One of the prominent startups of Bangladesh is Pathao. Founded in 2015 by Fahim Saleh, Hussain M Elius, and Shifat Adnan, the company is a major startup that changed the ride-sharing and delivery service landscape of Bangladesh. Initially, the company started its service as a parcel delivery platform through riders.
In 2016, the company started its ride-sharing service as well. The popularity of the platform grew instantly and in 2018, the valuation of the company stood at 100 million dollars. It was also the time the company reached a million registered user mark. Currently, Pathao operates in Dhaka, Gazipur, Chittagong, Sylhet, and Kathmandu.
In its initial days, the company received funding from RC Ventures, Alter Global, Provident Growth, and other firms.
Read The Difference between a Startup and a Small Business
bKash
Another prominent startup of Bangladesh is bKash. Back in the 2000s, mobile banking platforms were getting considerable traction. Two brothers Kamal Quadir and Iqbal Quadir wanted to introduce a similar platform in Bangladesh and to that end, they started holding talks with Sir Fazle Abed of Brac Bank. In July 2011, bKash came into existence as a joint venture between BRAC bank and Money in Motion LLC of USA.
bKash has been a key player noting that over 70 percent of the people lived in the rural area of Bangladesh and most of them were unbanked. bKash tapped into this need and initially started as a money transaction platform through mobile. With time, they have established other services like bill pays mobile top-up and payment to another e-commerce platform as well.
Today, almost 22% of the adult population of Bangladesh uses bKash with daily transactions of over 4.5 million times. bKash also gained investor from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as well as equity hold from Ant Financial. Due to the paradigm shift created by bKash in the banking sector, the platform was awarded the most innovative invention of Bangladesh in 2018.
Read Some Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs in Bangladesh in Diverse Sectors
ME SOLshare
One of the common gripes with developmental opportunity in Bangladesh is that the majority of the people lives in a rural area. Even though Bangladesh has made considerable strides in HDI, access to basic features like electricity is still a costly affair for many. To that end, ME SOLshare Ltd. ventured out to provide an affordable solar panel for electricity solution to the rural community of Bangladesh.
The technology introduced by ME SOLshare is revolutionary considering the peer-to-peer grid system where electricity from one home can be shared to another and excess energy can be sold as well. This not only helps people to illuminate their homes but also provides them with a scope to earn from the venture.
ME SOLshare has received backing from Sangam Ventures, Social Alpha, and Free Electrons and has been able to raise over 2.8 million in funding.
Read Online Business: How to Get Started from Home?
Zantrik
Most of the successful startups that you will see aren’t limited to traditional business models. Rather the idea is to better approach the client base with a solution that disrupts the market. For most of us, we go to a mechanic for an issue with our automobiles and bikes. But what if it's not in a state to be moved by itself?
The founder of Zantrik tapped into this necessity and created a platform where the automobile mechanic will come to you. suppose if your car or bike breaks down in the road, the company can send a technician in 30 minutes. You can also make use of their partner garages to get your cars or automobiles fixed or checked. They are currently available on both iOS and Android platforms. The company has managed to raise over 72k dollars in funding from black diamond ventures.
Read Passive Income Ideas in Bangladesh in 2021
ShopUp
The boom of e-commerce platforms in Bangladesh has been remarkable in recent years. Most of these e-commerce ventures are limited to run their business through F-commerce and social media platforms with manual handling of orders. ShopUp wanted to make changes to this existing process by introducing a software solution that will enable businesses to automate the ordering and product delivery process.
The cheap availability, as well as usability of the software, made ShopUp an instant hit among that retail online merchants. Since its foundation in 2016, the company has managed to garner over 28 million dollars in funding and has been one of the leading tech startups in Bangladesh.
Read Small Business Ideas for F-commerce Startups in Bangladesh during Pandemic
Gaze Technology
Silicon valley of the US is famous for all the tech and AI-related startups. It is almost like a hub for AI development. However, Gaze technology is an AI-driven tech startup right here in Bangladesh. with access to limited resources and funding, the company has been determined to make its mark in using AI and API integration to make Bangladesh safer. The company works to develop real-time tracking, facial recognition technology as well as a vehicle tracking technology.
The company has worked with Dhaka Metropolitan Police to make traffic monitoring easier by integrating AI in the recognition system. The company aims to grab the international AI-led recognition market which is estimated to be valued at over 50 billion US dollars. Gaze raised seed money of over 830 thousand dollars to develop their AI venture.
Read Zero Investment Business Ideas to Try Amidst the Pandemic
Sheba.xyz
One of the most promising startups in the e-commerce sector has to be the Sheba.xyz venture. Whereas most of the e-commerce platform focuses on a specific niche of product or service, Sheba.xyz decided to incorporate everything under one roof.
The primary focus of Sheba is addressing the daily necessity of people. Whatever you might in your daily life, you will find it on the platform. From home shifting to the beauty salon to laundry service, everything will be brought to your doors. This not only made the life of people easier but also propelled the platform to one of the top e-commerce sites of Bangladesh with high client satisfaction and retention rate. The platform received an initial investment of 70 thousand dollars from Microsoft and Facebook.
Read Top FMCG Companies in Bangladesh: At a Glance
Bottom Line
The tech startup scene in Bangladesh is still in its nascent stage with more and more companies waiting to have their breakthrough moment. However, the ones that we mentioned here have already been successful in creating a model that would effectively make them useful for the people and grow at a profitable rate. These startups can work as inspiration for others to develop their strategies to better generate ideas and processes.
The Difference between a Startup and a Small Business
If we look around we see businesses that have seen exponential growth in a short period. Popularly termed as startups, these businesses are getting more and more popular as it works centering an idea and leveraging on the success of the efforts encompassing the idea. As the business efforts of startups keep rising, many people liken and often confuse a startup as a traditional business. But that’s not the case as there is a significant difference between a startup and a traditional small business. Let's look at them from the context of Bangladesh.
What is a Startup?
A business model that is designed to rise significantly – that is the easiest way to define a startup. However, the process is much more complicated and there are a lot of underlying factors that determine whether a business is a startup or not.
The most comprehensive way to put forward the idea of a startup would be a business model that focuses on exponential growth in a short period. The model would also have to be repeatable and scalable, that is to say, the business would sustain the initial growth and build on it as time passes. For a startup, there is no limit to the opportunities and as a result, the risk involved with startups are also very high.
Read: Digital Currency: Benefits and Risks of the Cashless Economy in Bangladesh
Notable Startups
In recent years, Bangladesh has seen a surge of startups. Some of them have been successful in making their mark and scale up their operations, but others not so much. The key driving factor remains the same here with priority in operation and execution of the plan.
Pathao is arguably the biggest startup in recent times. the company started its journey in 2015 as a ride-sharing platform. Today Pathao is one of the key players in the transportation sector of Bangladesh with the motto of “Moving Bangladesh”. one of the main characteristics of a startup is its scalability and Pathao is a prime example of how to scale up a startup. Rather than sticking to ride-sharing, the platform now offers food delivery service, parcel as well as grocery delivery service. This range of services means Pathao can effectively capture the market as well as create a disruption in the existing system.
Read Small Business Ideas for F-commerce Startups in Bangladesh during Pandemic
The story is somewhat for other successful startups as well. Bkash, a concern of Brac Bank has revolutionized the mobile transaction system and has been an important milestone in the endeavor to promote digital transactions.
The story of Shohoz and Foodpanda is similar to that of Pathao. These are effectively the same business model specializing in the service front for an increasingly online-centric client base. Other ventures like Sheba.xyz, Daraz, Chaldal has also had a significant contribution to change the overall market processes in their respective business areas. Some of these ventures operate as local startups and some are part of a foreign startup that has ventured into the Bangladeshi market.
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Renowned Startups in the Overseas Countries
For foreign startups, the case is similar to Bangladesh as well. The startups that are doing well or are scaling up their business ventures are practically the ones that focus more on the customer end features rather than initial growth. It is to be noted that customers are the key and once there is sufficient engagement within a service it becomes even easier to secure funding.
Startups like air garage that lets you share your garage space operate on a similar business model to the ride-sharing platform. Other successful ventures like Chime, Petal, Verkada, and Dispatch all work on the principle of ensuring end-user satisfaction. This is also a key difference between a startup and a small business as the scalability of the startup depends grossly on the engagement of the clients.
Read Online Business: How to Get Started from Home?
What is a Small Business?
Small business is a form of traditional business approach. Unlike startups, the intention of small businesses is not to disrupt the market or ensure quick growth by introducing a new idea. Rather the focus is to build on an existing system and grow slowly. Small businesses are often associated with entrepreneurs with limited scope and funding. You might have an idea that is not revolutionizing to be a startup, rather an idea that simplifies an existing system and can become a compliment for that market system.
Most of the successful small business eventually ventures out as conglomerates or industries. Though this is a general presumption and this is not the case always. In the context of Bangladesh, all the successful businesses of the present-day started as small businesses. With the availability of the internet and marketplace access in social media platforms, it is now easier than ever to run a small business with virtually no investment.
Read Some Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs in Bangladesh in Diverse Sectors
Difference between Startups and Small Business
We will highlight some key points of difference between startups and small businesses.
Growth Opportunity
The initial growth is the prime focus of startups. The strategy here is to capitalize on the idea to capture the market as fast as possible. This gives them better leverage over the customer and creates links with other services to scale up the business.
However, a small business focuses on building a client base over time and follows the traditional route of business advancements. A small business might never aspire for growth to the level of startups and that is completely acceptable due to the nature of the operation.
Business Strategy
The business strategy of a startup is growth-oriented. The main idea here is to generate growth at the fastest pace possible.
This is not the case with small businesses. As a traditional business model, the requirement here is not to break into a completely new market to create disruption, rather find a suitable customer base and cater to their needs.
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Final Goal and Risk Involved
The end goal of a startup is to make sure the business can be scaled up multiple times. in the process, the business strategy might shift gears multiple times until the desired model is achieved. As a startup continues to build on the model, it eventually unveils itself as a company or a corporation. Due to changing strategies, the risk involved is also very high with startups.
For a small business, the case is completely different. Here the end goal is neither to scale up nor to become a company. It can be something as simple as passing the business down to an heir or changing ownership. The need for scalability doesn’t concern a small business and as a result, the risk involved with small business is also very minimal.
Bottom Line
To sum up things, startups and small business both have their limitations and prospects. Though the growth opportunity of startups may seem lucrative for many, it is not easy to come up with such an idea to be scaled drastically to ensure easy profit. However, small business holds much better prospects if you are willing to put in the effort and see it pan out over a long course of time as the risk involved is minimal.
Read Top Baby Products based eCommerce Sites in Bangladesh
Walton opening branches in 6 countries
The Walton Hi-Tech Industries Ltd has decided to open branches or liaison offices in six countries, including India, Nepal, the UAE and South Korea, for market expansion and technology sourcing.
The company has also decided to apply for the enhancement of foreign currency limit to operate the proposed Foreign Branches/Liaison Offices subject to approval of Bangladesh Bank, Walton said in a statement.
According to Dhaka Stock Exchange data on Monday, Walton shares went up 1.61 percent to Tk 1,269 till noon.
Read Walton AC free for writing slogan or tagline
The Board of Directors also has decided to invest US$500,000 in Walton Corporation United States of America to purchase ordinary shares and preferential shares subject to approval of Bangladesh Bank and other relevant regulators.
The mentioned company will provide imports, exports and procurement services in North America.
The company sources said its profit increased 34 percent year-on-year to Tk 34.14 a share in July-March period of the 2020-21 financial year.
Read Walton crosses 2020 exports during Jan-March 2021
Ji'nan to hold ‘Dialogue Sessions of 2021 for Executives from Multinational Corporations (Ji'nan) & China-Japan Industrial Innovation and Development Exchange Conference’
The "Dialogue Sessions of 2021 for Executives from Multinational Corporations (Ji'nan) & China-Japan Industrial Innovation and Development Exchange Conference" will be held in Ji'nan, the capital city of Shandong Province, from May 27 to 28.Shandong is one of the provinces in China that are most closely related to Japan in terms of economy and trade. In China, it ranks second in population and third in economy. As its capital city, Ji'nan is the political, economic, cultural, technological, educational, and financial center of Shandong Province.According to Ji'nan Investment Promotion Bureau, this event will be jointly hosted by the People's Government of Ji'nan, Investment Promotion Agency of the Ministry of Commerce, and Department of Commerce of Shandong Province. The event aims to facilitate practical-minded exchanges and cooperation with Japanese multinational corporations, well-known companies, and international business organizations in areas such as health, environmental protection and carbon emission reduction, smart manufacturing, and digital economy.
Also Read: China committed to remain engaged in future developmentDuring the event, the organisers will hold 4 ("1 plus 3") major activities. "1" represents a themed activity aiming to advertise the new opportunities of cooperation between Ji'nan and Japan to the attendees. Fortune 500 companies, well-known multinational corporations, and industry leaders from Japan such as Sumitomo, Marubeni, Sojitz, Panasonic, Fuji, Canon, and Mitsubishi, international organizations and business associations like Japan Management Association and China-Japan Digital General Chamber of Commerce will attend the activity.On the site, there will be signing ceremonies of key projects and the opening ceremony of China-Japan Medical Innovation & Development Centers in Ji'nan and Kyoto. "3" represents three parallel activities to negotiate exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and Japanese companies in areas like health, environmental protection and carbon emission reduction, and digital manufacturing. During the event, Japanese companies will also be invited to visit major industrial parks.Starting from this year, Ji'nan plans to hold the "Dialogue Sessions for Executives from Multinational Corporations (Ji'nan) & China-Japan Industrial Innovation and Development Exchange Conference" regularly on Thursday and Friday of the last week of each May. We hope to see all sectors of Japan to come to learn about and invest in Ji'nan in order to open up a broader space for cooperation.Source: Ji'nan Investment Promotion Bureau
Digital Currency: Benefits and Risks of the Cashless Economy in Bangladesh
The modern-day monetary transaction has its roots in the barter system of ancient times. Over the course of thousands of years, physical money has become an integral part of our daily life – until the idea of replacing cash with digital currency was propagated.
The idea of replacing cash has been around for a long with cheques and bonds. However, the true idea of replacing cash has not been possible to implement up until recently with the advent of Mobile Financial Services and cryptocurrencies. Let's take a look at how they are impacting the economy of Bangladesh and what are the prospects and risks of a cashless society.
What is Digital Currency?
Digital currency is a form of currency that is available only in electronic form. That is, the transactions will take place virtually without any physical interaction. The idea of digital currency was popularized in 2009 after the initiation of Bitcoin by a certain unidentified individual named Satoshi Nakamoto. Harnessing the blockchain mechanism, Bitcoin slowly gained traction and today it is one of the leading cryptocurrencies in the world.
The individual Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum are stored in an e-wallet from which transactions can be made digitally. Currently, more and more organizations are opening up to crypto transactions as it is secure and an effective monetary system against cash-based transactions.
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State of Digital Currency in Bangladesh
However, the popularity of cryptocurrency is also a headache for central regulatory authorities like Bangladesh Bank. Cryptocurrencies are decentralized monetary systems meaning they are not regulated by any central bank or government. The valuation of cryptocurrency is solely dependent on the stock market fluctuations. The lack of control over the system makes many central Banks skeptical about its usage as well as long-term implication in the economy. As a result, Bangladesh does not allow the mining or transaction of any form of cryptocurrency.
However, with the increasing popularity and adoption of cryptocurrency, we are only putting ourself at disadvantage for not making use of the potential posed by the system. Currently, the market capitalization of Bitcoin alone stands at over a trillion-dollar, several times more than the GDP of Bangladesh. It is to be noted that a large population of Bangladesh is still unbanked. And without the inclusion of people in the banking system, it's nearly impossible to move forward with the idea of a cashless society. So what is the answer of Bangladesh to this? How are we trying to keep with the increasing trend of digital transactions?
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The answer is Mobile Financial Service. With over 47 million internet users and 165 million mobile subscribers, Bangladesh is rapidly moving into the age of the internet and digitalization. Leading banks tapped into this opportunity to introduce Mobile Financial Services like Bkash, Nagad, and Rocket.
The platforms aim to bring micro banking to the unbanked and make a transaction to various sectors a matter of a few taps on phone. Almost all the leading business including government channels now accepts payments through these MFS which is complementing the idea of a digital currency to some degree.
Read Small Business Ideas for F-commerce Startups in Bangladesh during Pandemic
Top Baby Products based eCommerce Sites in Bangladesh
The pandemic has brought a drastic change in our lifestyle. Whether it's wearing a mask or maintaining social distance, we have adopted many things that weren’t a common practice before. The change is seen in our shopping habits as well and baby care products being an essential need for many households, it was a matter of time before people shifted to e-commerce platforms. Countless e-commerce sites sell baby products. But how do you know which ones are reliable? In this article, we will take a look at the 8 best Bangladeshi e-commerce sites to find baby products in 2021.
Some Popular Bangladeshi eCommerce Sites to Find Kids and Baby Products in 2021
Baby Care
Babycare.com is one of the premier baby product shops in Bangladesh. The e-commerce platform was founded back in 2012 when there were hardly any e-commerce sites in the country. However, over the years, the company built its trust and customer base and has been recognized as a PLC in 2018.
You can find all sorts of baby products on their site. The site is well categorized and you can navigate as per your requirements. The products section has categories for toys, food, diapers, dress, skincare, etc. there is also a separate mother’s care section and fresh fruits section which is pretty handy as well.
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Baby Shoppers
Another pioneering e-commerce site for baby products is babyshoppers.com.bd. Baby shops have a wide range of products to completely ensure the overall care of your baby. The company was founded with the motto that every child is special. Over the years, baby shoppers have established themselves as the one-stop solution for all your baby care needs.
Their website is very intuitive and categories are also detailed. You will find everything related to baby care, some you didn’t know you needed even. They have a range of delivery options inside and outside Dhaka that you can avail of.
BD Baby Mart
BD Baby Mart has been a reputable baby care name for two reasons – their on-time delivery and the range internationally. The company boasts of working with over 100 foreign brands to source its products. So naturally, you will be able to get the best for your baby without worry.
The pricing of the site is also reasonable, nothing that will break your bank. The site is also extensively categorized and you can avail of the live chat feature to get a better understanding of a product. they provide cash on delivery inside Dhaka and full or partial payment for products delivered outside Dhaka.
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