Everything that I have now, is because of the help I got from many people around me. WorldFish, LightCastle Partners, and many other organizations have helped me to understand more about the fish feed business. It is because of their encouragement that I could start Shahin Fish Feed. Before that, I was an entrepreneur struggling to find ways to expand my business.

Since 2001, I have been involved with the nursery business. I learned about the fish business as my father also owned a nursery. However, I decided to start my own business. I had no capital on my hand at that moment. So, all of the investment came from the loan that I got from a local bank. The manager trusted me and sanctioned the loan. I am forever grateful for that. With that Tk. 25,000 loan, I stepped into the battlefield.

I started my business with minnow and fingerlings. Having previous knowledge about fish culture, I did not encounter any major drawbacks. Within 6 months, my business became huge, and I had a total of 28 ponds in my possession. Gradually I gained more experience and opened a hatchery to explore new possibilities. I dedicated it to my mother and named it ‘Ma Hatchery.’ Even though the total cost of starting the hatchery was around Tk. 10,00,000 – Tk. 12,00,000, I was delighted to finally expand my business.

Life was going as it should be. Until I had to face the most devastating repercussions of the pandemic. Those were the most turbulent times of my career. Prices of day-to-day commodities almost tripled in our locality. From groceries to fish medicines, nothing was within our budget. Still, we had to survive. The production costs increased, and so did the price of all the fish. The demand fell rapidly, and every fish farmer faced serious consequences. Some had to shut down their business, others incurred huge losses. In all of these, I did not lose hope and managed to pull through somehow.

As the next batch of production is not due until the start of next year, we still don’t know if the market is stable or not. If we don’t get enough profit from this production, it will be very hard for us to do business. I had to take several loans when I started my fish feed mill. It took me a lot of courage to start that business, and it has been going well for the last 6 years. However, now, everything depends on how the market will operate after a few months in the post covid situation. I can only hope for the best and do my part diligently. Let’s see where the Almighty takes me.