The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has omitted the requirement of tax return documents for bank loans up to Tk 20 lakh. The revenue board issued a notification in this regard today with immediate effect, which will be continued till June 30, 2023. The budget for the fiscal year 2022-23 made it mandatory to show tax return documents to get services under 38 categories. Of them, tax return documents were made mandatory for bank loans of over Tk 5 lakh. Read: NBR dreams to cross revenue Tk3.0 lakh crore in FY 22 As per the revised directive, NBR has relaxed conditions, after requests from business organizations, as small entrepreneurs were facing difficulties in showing tax-related documents. Bangladesh Bank has increased the ceiling of loan disbursement to cottage, micro, small and medium entrepreneurs (CMSMEs). But loan distribution at the rural level became slow due to mandatory tax return documents for loans. Considering the situation, the revenue board omitted requirement of showing tax return document for loan of up to Tk 20 lakh if the borrower has no taxable income. Read: Income Tax Wing of NBR racing to meet target in last 4 months of fiscal

Munshi Sohag Hossen, who once peddled a van and worked in a shop to pay for his studies, has now turned into a young IT entrepreneur in Magura. Sohag, a 24-year old youth, still lives with his family at a Gucchagram house in Hazrapur Union under Magura Sadar. He went to India to pursue graduation in IT in Gujarat Technological University getting Indian ICCR scholarship in 2016. After completing graduation in India, he returned home in 2020 with a dream to be self-reliant by working in the IT sector as the digital sector of Bangladesh witnessed an impressive progress in recent years. To meet his dream, he developed a firm named ‘Pollitechs’ in Magura Sadar, which changed his life. While talking to Sohag recently, it was learnt how a permanent house helped his study and the digital revolution made him an IT entrepreneur. His family led a refugee life, losing their home and all assets in river erosion in Noakhali in the early 1980s. Then they shifted to Magura in 1986. His mother Shakhina Begum finally got a house in ‘Gucchagram’ made for homeless families in the 1990s.

Entrepreneurship is a key ingredient for economic growth and development. However, it is often difficult to start and grow a new business in developing countries like Bangladesh due to several factors, including the lack of capital, access to resources, and poor infrastructure. These challenges often lead to low rates of entrepreneurship and slow economic growth. To overcome these barriers and promote entrepreneurship Bangladesh Youth Enterprise Advice & Help Centre (B'Yeah) has been working with the young generation of Bangladesh. However, the entrepreneurship scene in Bangladesh has grown significantly over the last decade. Stimulated by a growing generation of young entrepreneurs, the concept of entrepreneurship has become more popular in recent decades. Further, the startup culture has boosted in Bangladesh, with many new ventures seeking to take advantage of the emerging technologies. Government involvement also accelerated this trend. Further, many non-government organizations are also helping startups. Additionally, Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are also getting a boost from various organizations such as B'Yeah. This article will go through the details of Bangladesh Youth Enterprise Advice & Help Centre and how they are helping the youth. Read How to Become an Entrepreneur without Money or Skills? What is B'Yeah? Bangladesh Youth Enterprise Advice and Help Center (B'Yeah) is a non-profit organization that aims to convert job seekers into an entrepreneur and create more jobs in the job market. B'YEAHhelps entrepreneurs' ideas into a reality through a one-stop supporting platform. B’Yeah was founded in 2007. It is one of the most prominent organizations supporting young entrepreneurs through training, access to capital and mentorship, and more. B’Yeah works with teenagers and young adults aged 18 to 35 who wish to establish or expand their business but lack the education and necessary training. The organization has developed a plan of holistic support to help young people start businesses by providing them with education, mentorship, financing solutions, business development support, and many others. Read Entrepreneur Vs Wantrepreneur: 8 Ways to Tell Them Apart Background, History, and Purpose of B'YEAH In spite of the apparent improvements, running a business is not easy in Bangladesh. Many individuals face numerous challenges. Further, the global economic situation is not favorable toward aspiring young business people. Access to knowledge and other resources is often a challenge. This is where B'YEAHcomes in. A number of prominent organizations have been working in Bangladeshi entrepreneurial development in the past several years. In the last several years, some of the organizations have helped accelerate the Bangladeshi economic system as a whole. Unlike other organizations, B’Yeah doesn't focus on all types of entrepreneurships. Instead, they focus on youth entrepreneurship in Bangladesh. The history behind the B'YEAHwas simple. Bangladesh doesn't have a great ecosystem to start any business. Hence, newcomers don't find enough confidence to deploy their ideas and don't want to start a business. As a result, the young generation tends to seek employment in a saturated job market. As a consequence, the number of unemployed young adults increased over time. B’Yeah just wanted to help those people who have impressive ideas to start a business. Read The SWAP story of Bangladesh's first reCommerce startup How is B’Yeah Helping Boost Youth Entrepreneurship Scene in Bangladesh? B’Yeah continues to develop methods and solutions by taking into account the obstacles and complexities that young business people face. Keeping those in mind, they systemize the efforts at empowering young businesspeople. While the majority of entrepreneurship programs and initiatives work with urban entrepreneurs, B’Yeah works with the marginalized and opportunity-deprived young people. The first step in the intervention is reaching out to potential people who are engaged in either improving their own business or wish to start their new business with an eye to reaching disadvantaged populations. B'YEAHemploys strategic alliances with organizations like UCEP, The Hunger Project, BEST, and others to support its outreach campaign. Hence, the reach out allows B'YEAHto talk to young entrepreneurs and successfully empower them to turn into successful entrepreneurs. Read Mushroom farming: The story of a jobless youth becoming an entrepreneur in Jashore Through B’Yeah outreach, young people can participate in workshops that teach the basics of business planning, give them a basic understanding of business plan preparations, and more. The aspiring young entrepreneurs can fill out the free workshop forms to enlighten themselves. B’Yeah has put together in-person workshops and a series of hands-on training courses that explore the many facets of entrepreneurship. In addition to its initial workshops, the training programs teach the core knowledge required to start and implement a business. The training programs are most in business development, business plan, growth, marketing, finance, management, networking, legal aspects, and more. Moreover, to educate the entrepreneurs on the acquisition of knowledge and access to guidance, the B’Yeah has created an industry-specific mentorship program, where mentors work directly with young entrepreneurs. The program has quite strongly supported young entrepreneurs. Read ShopUp Raised $75 million, Largest Series B Funding for a B2B E-Commerce Platform in South Asia Over time, B’Yeah has developed several determined trainers, advisors, stakeholders, founders, business professionals, and mentors. B’Yeah has also been working to develop programs and interventions to help young aspiring entrepreneurs gain knowledge and the capacity to access markets, finance, and funding. Over the years, they have helped around 4200 young people, trained more than 2000 potential entrepreneurs, helped create more than 300 business plans, created a work environment for 250 businesses, and created more than 1500 new employment opportunities. Moreover, the network has built more than 100 volunteers and created over 1400 market linkage opportunities for different businesses.  What are the Future Plans of B’Yeah ? The B’Yeah states that while it scales its ongoing training and mentorship programs, it goes deeper into offering more comprehensive support to startup founders at all levels, including the leaders of social enterprises and environmentally friendly enterprises. Read Common Challenges faced by Startups in 2022 In order to encourage young entrepreneurs in Bangladesh to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), B’Yeah has introduced a business competition called Bangladesh Youth Enterprise Competition and an impact incubator program, the B’Yeah Impact Incubator and Accelerator. The organization aims to offer such training frequently for betterment of the entrepreneurs’ future. Final Words Despite the positive contributions that the B’Yeah has made over recent years, they have a long way to go as they need to focus on building a sustainable action plan.

Foysal Ahmed, a 26-year-old villager, was happy to share his success story in farming mushrooms and earn handsomely. In the two years since the youth from a low-income family took to mushroom farming he earned Tk. 1.5 lakh in profit from an investment of Tk. 3 lakh. “Mushroom is a profitable business and I’m earning well. From spawn to harvest, it needs only 25-30 days and that continues for three months,” said the youth From Darajhat village in Bagharpara upazila of Jashore district. Read: Betel leaf cultivation is uplifting farmers in Jashore’s Abhaynagar Foysal, an Imam of Chatiantala Dakhil Madrasha, was so determined to change his fate that he sold his mobile phone and a goat to collect capital for starting the cultivation in his own backyard. He resorted to YouTube to know about the cultivation process. At first he made 1000 beds of mushrooms in 2020 and got a profit of Tk 20,000 which made him enthusiastic in continuing the business. Mushrooms are edible fungus and eaten as vegetable.

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much,” said Helen Keller, an American author. Marjina Begum, a resident of Bamoner Hat village in Ulipur upazila, has proved that stunning results can be achieved in groups and teams as Helen Keller said. Marjina, in her early 40s, not only reshaped her own destiny but also changed the course of the lives of 360 other poor women. Her greater goal of beating poverty and living a better life saw success when he started stitching ‘Nakshi Kantha’, a traditional embroidered quilt. Read: Boat makers in Shariatpur struggle to keep their craft alive The journey of Marjina, a mother of two, was not that easy to become an entrepreneur. But her dedication and determination helped her reach the great goal. She started her venture with five small sized quilts three years back, and earned some money from those that encouraged her to achieve greater feats. Marjina then engaged a few more women from her neighborhood in making ‘Nakshi Kantha’ and started selling those. In pursuit of a common cause, Marjina shared the profit with the women she had engaged.

Starting a small business in a country like Bangladesh can be a difficult task. Traveling around the globe to sourcing wholesale products, arguing with shopkeepers over prices, stockpiling products, looking for customers' homes in the city's alleys for delivery, and much more! Now, if you are told that you can get all the solutions from online business sourcing to delivery without any investment by downloading a free app on the phone! Isn't that cool? More than 6 lakh entrepreneurs have already succeeded in their online business using a single platform. There is a platform where you can get a huge collection of more than 1 lakh wholesale products spread across the country sitting at home! ShopUp has accomplished this impossible task. Now, they have raised $75 Million in new funding to reach more people in Bangladesh as well as abroad. Read Vroom App: End-to-End Platform for Car, Automobile Related Services in Bangladesh What is ShopUp? ShopUp works toward bringing different small and medium traders under one roof. In addition, ShopUp connects the manufacturer with the wholesaler, further, the wholesalers are connected with the retailer and the retailer with the buyer. ShopUp offers a variety of online business services, including promotion of products, timely delivery of products, and high-quality packaging. Besides the website, the platform also has three apps in the Google Play Store. Afeef Zaman, Siffat Sarwar, and Ataur Rahim Chowdhury launched the ShopUp in February 2016 with the aim of turning the country's potential entrepreneurs, especially women, into successful entrepreneurs by using various services of Facebook and information technology. Read ToguMogu: One Stop Solution for Bangladeshi Parents Before that, Ataur Rahim Chowdhury, who has passed Computer Science and Engineering from East-West University, started the smashboard, which used to work with query management through social media. During that time Ataur came to know about the various problems of product delivery services of e-commerce companies in Bangladesh. He discussed the matter with his friends Afeef Zaman and Siffat Sarwar, who graduated from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) of Dhaka University. All three agreed that the solution to the delivery problem would change the face of Bangladesh's e-commerce business. Soon after, they started ShopUp in a small office in Lake Circus, Kalabagan. In the beginning, they used to provide service on managing Facebook pages as well as order and manage products. Later, they added the merchant delivery service. Gradually ShopUp also started giving loans to entrepreneurs for business development. Later, the company also launched a mobile app. That's how today's ShopUp was started. Read 7 Local Startups Get Tk 150m Funds from Startup Bangladesh Limited How ShopUp works? ShopUp works through a few simple steps, but you will need to put some effort into it. However, you can find out whether the product has been delivered or not from the ShopUp app, sitting at home. ShopUp will do all the work for you, which can make your business successful easily and hassle-free. Firstly, you will need to install the app on your phone. Register in a few easy steps and get more than lakhs of wholesale products for boys and girls, including fashionable dresses, cosmetics, gazettes, and accessories. Download pictures of your favorite products and share them on your business page or do online marketing. When the customer places an order, you will need to place the order in the app and enter the delivery address. Fill out the delivery details, selling price, and other relevant information. You can find out the real-time updates and payment details of delivery through the app. Profits on full-week sales will go directly to your bKash account next week. Read Digital Healthcare Startups in Bangladesh: An Overview ShopUp services ShopUp offers different types of services to make the business easier. Services include delivery, shop management, and ShopUp assist. Own delivery service Delivering products on time to buyers is a challenge for any entrepreneur. That is why ShopUp has its own delivery service to provide entrepreneurs the opportunity to deliver products all over the country quickly. Shop management services Entrepreneurs have to update their Facebook pages regularly to make their products attractive to buyers. But everyone cannot do that on their own. Hence, ShopUp has shop management services to solve the problem. The service provides the opportunity to create a business-friendly page on Facebook as well as add up-to-date information. Read An Overview of Shuttle: A Promising Mass Transit Startup in Bangladesh Shop Assist There is no substitute for product promotion to reach online business buyers. But due to a lack of direction, many people cannot promote the product properly. Many also annoy the buyers by promoting the same product over and over, which later becomes a threat to the business. ShopUp Assist can give a solution to that. Through the service, an entrepreneur can post product promotion or page promotion on Facebook. Even if you need a credit card for that, ShopUp offers the opportunity to pay through a bKash account. To accelerate the business, ShopUp has three additional services, Mokam, REDX, and Baki. ShopUp delivers daily necessities to the grocery store in the neighborhood in 24 hours through the B2B business app Moka. For this, the startup has entered into agreements with various product manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers. Read Top 10 Co-working Spaces in Dhaka Apart from that, the products are delivered to the traders through REDX. Launched last year, RedX is currently serving 493 Upazilas. And small traders can buy products on credit through the Baki service. How did they start raising investment? Over the last 4 years, ShopUp raised investments in several steps. Their investment came from an Angel round in 2017, and they raised $120k. Next, the company proceeded to the seed round in 2018 and received $1.6 million funding from Omidyar Network, USA. After that, ShopUp participated in three more seed rounds in 2019 and raised $4.2 million in total. Their second largest investment came in October 2020 from Flourish Ventures, Sequoia Capital India through Series A, and the company received $22.5 million. Finally, ShopUp raised $75 million last week from the Series B round. Read Angel Investment 101: Is It the Right Track for Your Startup? How did ShopUp raise $75 million from Bangladesh? Basically, when a new venture shows good results in the market with initial capital, they become eligible for Series A investment. After that, they can proceed to Series B investment. ShopUp has proved its ability through footprint in all 64 districts in Bangladesh and Bengaluru, India. As a result, they received $75 million from Series B financing led by Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures. The investment also includes, from "Proses- the investment arm of Naspers, Pierre Omidyar's family office, as well as existing investors Sequoia Capital India, VEON Ventures, and Flourish Ventures." As a Series B, it is the largest investment in any startup based in South Asia. Read The 7 Most Promising Tech Startups in Bangladesh

With over 150 million startups in the world, the space for standing out in a specific market is becoming more and more saturated every day.  About 137,000 startups are being found daily in the world today. This begs the question of whether it really is a smooth sail all around for startups? Do all of them go on to become multi-million-dollar ventures? Surely not. In reality, a startup faces several challenges that can become daunting to overcome. In this article, we will talk about such common challenges faced by startups. What is a startup? According to Investopedia, a startup is a company in its first stage of development or operations. These companies are founded by entrepreneurs who want to introduce a product or service in the market based on its demand. The initial phase of the product or service requires several trials and errors associated with R&D, marketing, business model, and cost of operation. As a result, these companies work as a high-cost- limited revenue venture in their initial stage. To compensate for the high cost, there are different stages of fundraising to ensure smooth business operations. Read: Seed Fund Raising for Startups: Things to Know About Top 7 common business challenges faced by the startup founders High competition The high number of startup competition across the globe means there are lesser and lesser opportunities for emerging startups. Most markets are already saturated. In addition to competing with existing startups, there is also competition from multi-industry conglomerates. Whether it’s a B2B or B2C, every startup faces high competition in every phase including seed fundraising and market cap generation. As a result, they are forced to be more aggressive in the market and their strategies. Read Angel Investment 101: Is It the Right Track for Your Startup? Lack of Consistency Every business venture bears a strategic goal with expectations and startups are no different. A positive growth curve shouldn’t give a false sense of expectations. It's important to set realistic goals in the initial phase of any startup. The initial growth won't be consistent if there is no sustainability. And this is where most startups fail. They fail to maintain consistency in their effort to ensure sustainability. There is no room for complacency and consistent effort is the only deciding factor. Read: The 7 Most Promising Tech Startups in Bangladesh Lack of Planning A startup needs to have a business plan which would outline the expectable and inputs. While most startups have a business plan they often don’t include all the key areas. Many first-time entrepreneurs think that they will plan things as the business progresses but that’s a wrong move. Key details like R&D, skilled staff, sales, funding should all get equal priority while planning. While faced with an issue, the target shouldn’t be damage control, rather there should be an appropriate plan of action to tackle every issue. Read The Emerging Logistics Tech Startups, Courier, Delivery Services in Bangladesh The players A startup needs manpower. You need to have a working team to run your business top to bottom. Whether it’s your employees or investors, you need to be careful about who you hire and who you get as your investor. Communication, team playing, and skills are important factors to be considered when it comes to hiring candidates. Hiring the right people can be a tricky task considering the sheer number of eligible candidates out there. What you can do however is thoroughly assess their skillset and mentality. Cross-check whether these are the exact skills you are looking for and whether this can be a long-term partnership. Having an industry-related investor can be a huge advantage in this regard. They might be better qualified in assisting with the hiring process. Read Digital Healthcare Startups in Bangladesh: An Overview Financial Factors Startups are high-cost low revenue ventures in their initial days. Needless to say, the adjustment in this disparity comes from the investors. If you compare seed funding with venture funds, the amount might be small but it still tends to be a large sum. So naturally, there arises the need for financial management. A startup constantly requires the investment of money until it reaches the growth and scaling phase. Many startups fail to make it to this stage because of a lack of management and cash burnout. In addition to having a business plan, it's important to have a strong financial model as well. Considering the limited resources and fierce competition, financial management is a crucial make-or-break aspect. Read:7 Local Startups Get Tk 150m Funds from Startup Bangladesh Limited Scaling up Suppose your startup has done everything right up until the growth phase. You can expect the customer base to increase rapidly with increased demand for the product or service. This naturally calls for scaling up. However, scaling up isn’t just about adding a few more employees. You need to consider a lot of factors as you scale up. You need to formulate a strong HRD, look after your supply chain and product sourcing. In addition to that, there is the aspect of widening the distribution channel and revenue management. Without proper handling, all of these might become too much to keep track of and the business would crumble even before taking off properly.   Read An Overview of Shuttle: A Promising Mass Transit Startup in Bangladesh Time management A startup isn’t a one-man thing. As a business grows, there will be a lot of decision-making needs that are honestly impossible for a single person to micromanage. However, many entrepreneurs think that micromanaging is the only way to ensure organizational growth. A micromanager often overlooks key decisions while focusing on lesser important ones. As a result, business growth is hampered. As startups build teams, it's important to delegate tasks to the team. This not only enables a business to be more proficient, but the time utilization will help a business edge out its growth. Read: The SWAP story of Bangladesh's first re-Commerce startup Bottom Line So far we have discussed some of the most common startup business challenges. While there might be a boom in startups in the world, managing these startups are no easy task. As an entrepreneur, you’ll have to put in a lot of effort. The room for mistakes and complacency is next to zero. Many startups fall victim to these common mistakes we outlined above. A startup should definitely focus on its priorities and end goals all the while preparing to face challenges head-on.

While many people want to start a business, they don’t know where to start. The intention is there but the knowledge to execute isn’t. Moreover, there is always the looming factor of money and experience required to run a successful business. But what if we told you that you don’t need either of these to get started on your dream business. Sounds too good to be true? Read along to find out. The beginner’s dilemma As a young and potential entrepreneur, several factors negate your entry into the business. There are a lot of things that essentially work as a constraint to your initiative. Many people go into business studies with an aspiration to learn about the quirks of business and startups. But the intensive programs of business schools end up feeding more about business processes, rather than how to get started. Societal pressure is also something that puts constrains a business. Starting a business is like taking a huge leap of faith since there is no guarantee that you will be successful with your venture. The uncertain future of business is also something that deters people from getting into the business. However, it's always about taking the first step. You don’t have to have a game-changing idea or tons of money to get started. And, you do not require much experience to be an entreprenur. All you need is perseverance and determination to make things work. You won't see success overnight. Rather it’s a continuous process that will come as you progress. Now the question is, what steps should you follow to get started? Especially if you don’t have the money or skills. Read:The Difference between a Startup and a Small Business How to get your business started with no money or skills Think of an idea This shouldn’t come as a surprise. All the great startup businesses had one amazing idea which they perfected to make a profitable business model out of it. However, those are mostly chance encounters or results of years of market analysis. Considering you're neither lucky nor have the time to read market briefs, you can still work out an idea. Firstly, think of your daily life. What constraints are you facing? Is there a better way to do it? Is there anything that can ease up the process? This is a great starting point to generate an idea. Most successful startups started from an idea developed from personal constraints. Something created to address a personal issue can also be turned into a business to solve others' issues. You can also talk with your friends and families to get their input. Follow the emerging startup business trends as they might inspire you to get started on your hustle. Whatever you think of, make sure you can future-proof it. Read:Angel Investment 101: Is It the Right Track for Your Startup? Find the product-market fit Thought of a viable idea? That’s half the job done. Now you have to perfect the idea to make a viable product that can serve your potential customer. This cycle generally starts with developing an MVP or market viable product. You might be thinking, where are you going to get the money to invest in R&D? Truth is you don’t have to.  All you have to do is understand your market, look for the demand of your product, identify your potential client base and see whether there is a profit curve or not. Undercut your competitor Regardless of the brilliance of your idea, it's almost certain that you will face competition. What you have to do is to analyze their product and undercut them. Find out details about product quality and pricing. Take their product and compare it with yours. Fix all your lacking and put on a competitive price. That way you will always stay ahead in the market. Read:Investment Guide: How Bangladeshi Youths Can Invest money and Create Wealth? Develop a plan of action Remember we talked about developing skills as you go? For that, you need to set up a clear goal for your business. Every business has a clear mission and vision which motivates the company in its growth. Make sure you have a business plan set up so that you can compare your progress and see where you stack up against your goals. Get a co-founder Look at all the successful businesses around you. Hardly any of them are the product of a single mind. A co-founder will not only serve as a valuable strategic input to your business but also be a potential investor. This can be a great way to raise some cash for the MVP we talked about earlier. If you aren’t so keen on the idea of having a co-founder, you can always look for the investor within your family members and friends. This can be a great financing option if you are going with a small business idea. Read 8 Mistakes to Avoid in a New Ecommerce Startup in Bangladesh in 2021 Crowdfunding Remember how we talked about an idea to solve your personal constraint? In addition to solving your problem, it can be a solution for a great many people. And that is where crowdfunding comes in. there are a lot of crowdfunding sites where you can showcase your MVP to get investments. Many niche-based businesses use crowdfunding to kickstart their business idea. Find an angel investor If nothing else works, you can always look for angel investors. Angel investors are a wealthy bunch of people who invests in an innovative business idea. You can find someone to invest a hefty amount in exchange for equity in the business. To learn more about angel investment and how it works, you can read our blog here. Read:Saving vs. Investing Money: Know the Pros and Cons Bottom Line Money and skills are important to run a business, but it's not the definitive need to start one. While we tried to outline some basic steps to get you started on your dream business, you should still be aware of the risks that come with entrepreneurship. If you are motivated enough, you can be sure to write a successful rag to riches story of your own.

Monwara Begum’s five-year journey from being a homemaker to a successful entrepreneur began with three cows. Her dream journey began in 2016 when she convinced her husband to buy the cows to get milk to meet the family’s requirements.   Read: Over 90 lakh cattle sacrificed this year on Eid-ul-Azha: Livestock Ministry A small cowshed was made for the cattle at her Sreepur village in Boalkhali upazila of the district. Five years down the line, that cowshed has been replaced by a bigger “Pure Dairy Farm” of 31 cows. “Five years ago we bought the three milch cows just to meet the milk requirement of our family,” said Monwara. “Then I started selling the surplus milk to neighbours.” Read Dumuria farmers dump paddy, switch over to vegetable farming

reCommerce may be a new term in Bangladesh, but it's not at all a new concept -- just that it's undergoing a transformation in this country. A unique retail concept, reCommerce or reverse commerce refers to the buying and selling of pre-owned goods. In Bangladesh, the buying and selling of used electronic products are very common but there aren’t many reliable platforms for the same. Even there is hardly any reliable platform for the second-hand trade of other items like furniture or bikes. This is where SWAP plugged a crucial gap. Let's look at the rise of SWAP, Bangladesh's first official reCommerce company. What is the reCommerce model? We are all familiar with eCommerce platforms where used products are sold. Some of the eCommerce websites offer a C2C solution where a client can advertise their used products. A reCommerce model follows the same principle except for the business or the platform itself acts as the buyer in this regard.  As a client, one would sell one's product to a reCommerce platform, which would, in turn, resell the same to its customers. In the context of Bangladesh, SWAP is the first of its kind to offer a service like this. The story of SWAP SWAP was founded in 2020 by Parvez Hossain. An ambitious entrepreneur having vast experience in the industry, Parvez is the acting CEO of the startup. After graduating from the University of Dhaka, Parvez started his corporate career with British American Tobacco. He subsequently served at Rahimafrooz for a brief period before starting his first entrepreneurial venture, Livewire. Read:20 Most Promising Education Start-Ups in Bangladesh Livewire is an offline shop that sells different smartphones and their accessories. Currently, Livewire has more than 15 outlets across Bangladesh. The potential of a secondary electronic market where people sell their used smartphones and other gadgets is what sparked the idea for SWAP. In addition to smartphones and accessories, Parvez created a platform where one can sell any type of used goods. From daily essentials to furniture to motorcycles, you name it, it's available on SWAP. In less than two years, SWAP has been able to build a considerable market space, thanks to its innovative strategies and unique appeal to consumers. Read:An Overview of Shuttle: A Promising Mass Transit Startup in Bangladesh What sets SWAP apart? Even though SWAP is the first reCommerce website of Bangladesh, the concept of selling used goods in the online market, especially in the F-Commerce segment is not new. Instead of a C2C approach that is prevalent in F-Commerce and other similar platforms, SWAP offers a C2B approach. This helps a client to avoid a lot of unnecessary hassle associated with selling a product. Whether it’s the unending negotiation processes or compromising personal information for product sale, none of these is involved in SWAP making it easier for clients to sell their products. The all-in-one nature of SWAP is helpful for buyers as well as they are getting the best price of a range of used products under a single domain, rather than having to scour from group to group in F-Commerce. The current state of SWAP The pandemic has hit businesses across sectors. As a startup, SWAP wasn’t spared. Even though the company was founded amid the pandemic in 2020, the extensive planning and preparations that went behind SWAP meant that the business would survive the pandemic. The sales and intended impact have taken a hit, however, the platform is still performing well and with backings from its angel investors, looks to be on track to break even soon. Read: Top 7 Truck Rental Apps in Bangladesh Parvez attributes the success to the team behind SWAP. The core team currently has 46 members. One of the angel investors to the startup, Tanvir A Mishuk, who also happens to be the managing director of Nagad, personally oversaw the selection process of the first core team that enabled SWAP to get the right people in the right position. As a startup, the margin of error is less and the right choice helps in ensuring that every move is made for the growth of the company. Future Prospects With a monthly GMV of over 1 million dollars, SWAP is already outperforming its initial estimate in just 14 months. The main challenge though is to maintain the core team as there have been several changes since the initiation. SWAP is also looking past the simple C2B model where product selection won't be limited to selling or buying used goods. Rather there will be exchange opportunities as well. To that end, SWAP has partnered with OEMs such as Oneplus, Samsung, Realme, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi as their official exchange partners.  Rather than reaching out to customers through traditional marketing methods, the platform has partnered with well-known tech shops like Gadget and Gear, Shumash Tech and Rio International. In addition to the smartphones and smart gadgets segment, the company is already working on furniture exchange, with a bike exchange programme in the pipeline. Being part of the cohort of the Accelerating Asia programme, a prominent seed grooming programme for promising startups, the business under the able leadership of Parvez is moving in the right direction. Key strategic relations and partnerships have helped the startup reach its targeted customer base and operate with an end goal in mind. Read: Entrepreneur Vs Wantrepreneur: 8 Ways to Tell Them Apart Bottom Line The tech startup scene itself is still in its nascent state in Bangladesh and the concept of reCommerce wasn’t even heard of. Yet a three-year-long plan and strategy have set up SWAP as one of the most promising eCommerce platforms of Bangladesh. With its expected growth trajectory, the platform would soon emerge as one of the leading eCommerce sites in Bangladesh.