The farmers of Bangladesh are our real heroes. They are the ones who work relentlessly to produce the food that is served on our plates every single day. But how often do we think about their struggles while we enjoy our lavish meals sitting in fancy restaurants? Even today the farmers are exploited by many dishonest businessmen. Here’s where I wanted to make a difference. My entrepreneurial story attempted to solve the challenges of exploitations and hardships incurred by our farmers
I started SACO Enterprise in Barguna in 2014. Previously, I was associated with the SACO NGO which aims to solve various social problems. While working there, I noticed that our local farmers could produce huge amounts of mung beans, which would then get transported to Munshiganj for processing in large factories. After processing, beans came back to Barguna where it was getting sold at a higher price. I identified the gap of not having a mung bean processing factory in our region, which led to higher prices. Hence, my decision was to start a factory in Barguna.
First, I bought a piece of land with the help of one of my relatives. Next, I focused on my would-be customers. Earlier, consumers were getting duped into buying inferior quality pulses at very high prices. To change this practice, I signed contracts with local farmers in my region to provide me with their best quality pulses. Presently, my enterprise maintains a network of 2,000 farmers in the entire Barguna district.
This is how I work: from each region, I select one lead farmer, who collects the produce from the farmers in that region and sends it to SACO for processing in return for a commission. By doing so, it protects both the farmers and the consumers from deception and troubles.
In 2018, it came to my notice that many Japanese businessmen were purchasing pulses from our farmers in Barguna. Upon inquiry, I found out that the Japanese make sprouts from these pulses which are rich in proteins, and distribute them in the schools of Japan. This gave me an idea to introduce sprouts in Barguna and work towards solving the problem of malnutrition. But here’s the scary part: I had no idea what sprout is and how it is produced!
While conducting initial research on this, I came into contact with an Indian sprout producer, who was eager to help me learn the procedure. And as they say, the rest is history. To make sprouts widely available in Bangladesh, I sought help from PKSF who later helped me organize many workshops across different regions to promote my sprout initiative. Through PKSF, I got introduced to LightCastle’s investment readiness program. Last year, I was able to secure investments worth 10 lacs taka from an impact investment firm operating in Bangladesh. Subsequently, SACO also became the runner-up of Bangladesh Nutristar in 2018, a nation-wide competition organized by Sun Business Network, GAIN, and won prize money of 1 lac 50 thousand taka. These investments, among other sources of support, have accelerated my business aims higher.
For what it’s worth, my journey hasn’t been all smooth. Along the way, there were many hurdles that I had to overcome. The shortage of labor supply and the adverse climate of Barguna impacted my growth potential. Coronavirus hit me hard, too. The pandemic stalled my business just at the peak season of pulse cultivation. At that time, I was trying to survive by selling the sprouts. Due to higher humidity in the southern region, it takes longer to dry the pulses, driving up production costs. If I had access to improved technology, I believe this pain point could be cured.
Right now I am planning to shift my factory to the District Shilpa Nagar plot and start an auto mill there. This factory will have machinery developed with the latest technology. To establish this factory, I figure I will need roughly around 30-35 lacs. It is my goal now to raise the requisite investment and establish my dream factory.