By Maimun Ur Rashid Mustafa
The Startups that are the building blocks of Bangladesh
If you live in Dhaka, chances are that you have spotted the bright red helmets of the Pathao drivers on the roads. Homegrown startups such as Pathao have launched a wave of revolution in Bangladesh in the form of a thriving startup culture where every new entrepreneur with an unique idea aspires to be the next Husain M. Elias.
From humble beginnings in residential garages, like the compact office spaces of companies like Google, Apple, Alibaba and Amazon to the global conglomerate of today, these companies have captured the imagination of millions. Now having some locally grown heroes to look up to and a favorable government policy, the future for startups seem both enticing and intriguing. Nevertheless, is it that easy for startups to turn out to be overnight successes? Do all products get immediate financing and support? To comprehend these questions, the entrepreneur-to-be needs to be familiar with some basic terms.
Let’s start off with the definition of a startup itself. A simple Google search would show the meaning to be ‘a newly established business’. While in Bangladesh we are more acquainted with technology startups, i.e. ones that are reliant on building apps, startups have further reach than the IT firms littering Dhaka now. It is important to discuss both the general and localized version of the concept. This raises the second issue, why are startups booming? The answer may not be that straightforward or universal as the question itself.
ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD
A snazzy website does not equal to a successful startup. The company needs several things starting from and not limited to: qualified co-founders, getting the company incorporated, paying your taxes, knowing how to make pitches and being willing to work your back off. It will not be easy. With time and hard work coal can be transformed into a diamond. Simply creating a fancy product with an even fancier interface which lacks a complete business mix will halt the enterprise’s prosperity.
FAILURES PAVE THE WAY FORWARD
A successful and upcoming entrepreneur with a unique concept, Al Amin Sarker Tayef, the CEO of Barikoi Technologies Limited is providing locational data service which helps find addresses in Dhaka. Interestingly, Tayef had some interesting stories to share about his journey.
Tayef began his first startup venture, AmarBike with a family friend. He describes failure as being the best teacher. “We did the incorporation of AmarBike and were one of the first motorcycle taxi companies with 50 rides a day. What we did wrong was we did not believe in the tech or expand according to the need of the app. We thought people would be encouraged to use the app through mere word of mouth and thus didn’t spend any thought on marketing the app,” said Tayef.
KNOW THAT YOU WILL NEED TO SCALE TO SURVIVE
Finding investors is quintessential. Pathao could grow massively with its $10 million fund headed by Indonesian Super App giant, Gojek. Whether it is participation in an accelerator program or match funding from local or international grants or loans, without funds the startup cannot size up its operations and will not be able to retain its competitiveness.
WORK EXPERIENCE COUNTS
Nobonita Roy, another young businesswoman talks on this issue. Roy, who has co-founded Grumpy Fish, a customized retail clothing firm as well as HashTech, a digital media production firm, is finishing her MBA at Dhaka University. Roy started her entrepreneurial journey two and a half years ago, but she credits her success to having started as an executive when she was only in her first year of undergraduate studies. As a management trainee and then a copywriter, she learned the ins and outs of the business before starting her own venture. That experience taught her to anticipate the needs of both ends of the spectrum; the employer and the employee.
DO NOT SELL YOURSELF SHORT
This heading can be very easily misconstrued. It is very convenient to assume one may be speaking about not compromising on high salaries or not wanting to give away shares in the company easily. But in the context of startups, it is quite the opposite. The enthusiastic entrepreneur must realize that the company is bigger than them. Hence on the contrary, the young businessperson would actually be selling themselves short if they define themselves by only the potential profit margin figure or the share they own in the company, as opposed to the actual growth of the startup itself. The firm needs to start playing for the long run, invest in its human capital and once the product takes off the money will eventually start to flow in.
OF UNICORNS AND DREAMING BIG
A unicorn is a privately held startup company valued at over $1 billion. In November, online credit provider, ShopUp announced that it raised USD $1.62 million in seed funding led by Omidyar Network, the impact investment firm established by Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay. This round of funding also had other major participants, such as angel investors from Facebook, Google, Amazon, Grab, some leading global banks as well as a grant from UK AID. However, the path to be the next Mark Zuckerberg may not always as easy as it seems. While many incubators and funds have been established, the rate of growth of startups too have grown exponentially. Thus competition vying for the same financing opportunities have levelled up many fold.
SOLVE UNIQUE LOCAL PROBLEMS
Do your market research before starting something, because trust me when I say, knowledge is power. Tayef advises,”Go for the problem and not the solution. More importantly, do not get attached to the solution. That is why we choose to work on Barikoi. Location is something at the base of the pyramid. One thing we all have in common is location. It is a mixture of virtual and reality. Not any other company is as granular.” Similarly, in recent times, online real estate firm, bproperty.com, introduced VR technology for many of its properties, thus allowing customers to explore potential sites from their homes which helped in bringing a new angle to the local real estate scene. Former FBCCI President Abdul Matlub Ahmad comments, “It is only new technical startups that we see. We also need those who build new things. We need concepts and business opportunities for Bangladesh. We should not be followers but pioneers. We should not lean towards foreign ideas but create technologies more suitable for Bangladesh and the world.” Before starting on the next ‘big’ idea, my advice for the entrepreneur would be to take a stroll around the city to get a better feel of what the country is in need of. Our market is big enough and there are enough local problems that require addressing. Beginning to solve local problems are more important than the international ones for the aspiring startup enthusiast.
LIGHTS OF MANAGERS WILL GUIDE YOU HOME
A good management team with a proper group of advisors are key for a stable growth strategy of a firm. Partners and staff who bring in expertise and knowledge about specific parts of the enterprise help in expanding sustainably. The next light bulb moment can come about through the interaction of many minds from different backgrounds and not from a select few people. With a few of these logical steps, young entrepreneurs can be on their way to a home run in making their start up the next success story.
