Wasiul Haque Bhuiyan is the founder of Ohmtech Electronics, a small but growing manufacturer of electronics products based in Dhaka. Armed with a telecommunication engineering degree and a penchant for tinkering, Wasiul transformed his frustration with unreliable charger lights into a thriving business venture.
Ohmtech Electronics, born from a hobby, has built a small but growing business in Bangladesh's challenging electronics manufacturing sector. Through innovative products like Magic Light and Jumbo Light, Wasiul not only addresses the immediate need for reliable lighting but also pushes the boundaries of local electronics manufacturing. His journey from solving a household problem to building a sustainable small manufacturing business offers valuable insights into entrepreneurship, innovation, and the potential of small-scale manufacturing in Bangladesh.
Mohammad Ruhul Kader: Please tell us about your background and journey to what you are doing today.
Wasiul Haque Bhuiyan: After completing my schooling at Maple Leaf International School, I went to the University of Malaya in Malaysia where I studied telecommunication engineering.
After coming back to Bangladesh, I looked for a job for a while but couldn't find anything meaningful and suitable. While doing that, I started working on some electronics products out of hobby and that's how I created my first product Magic Light, and eventually Ohmtech Electronics came into being.
I started the business out of personal passion and hobby, and then we turned it into a business eventually.
Ruhul: When did you start working on the first product?
Wasiul: I started working on the first product in 2014 and started marketing the product the same year. Since I studied telecommunication engineering, it is close to electronics. Moreover, I was interested in electronics, so I started working on it.
Ruhul: Your first product was Magic Light. Why did you feel that magic light could be an interesting product? How did you come up with the idea and execute it?
Wasiul: Around 2013-14, load shedding was a huge problem in Bangladesh. Hour-plus load shedding was not uncommon in Dhaka. There was a huge demand for charger lights in those days.
We had several charger lights in our house but most would not last long. We would buy one after another and none would last long, a maximum of one or two months.
When I came back from Malaysia, I found that we had some 8 charger lights but none worked. One day during load shedding, I couldn't find one light that would work. I tried all eight but none lasted long enough. Then I thought, let me try to make a charger light and see how it goes. Making a charger light is not a big deal, so I made one.
After making it, I faced another problem: finding the charger light is an issue. Load shedding happens suddenly and sometimes it is difficult to find the light. From that problem, I thought I would add something to this light that would make it function automatically when there is a load-shedding. That's how it became a magic light. I added a sensor so that it lights up automatically when it is dark.
I was facing problems myself and was creating solutions for them. It was a very good experience that I made a product and it worked. Moreover, it was an automatic light and it would light up wherever it is as soon as the current is gone.
Relatives and family members who saw it suggested that I market it and sell it and that there could be a market for it. My family comes from a business background. Everyone kind of inspired me. They probably didn't mean it and thought that I wouldn’t seriously do it. But I took it seriously and started to turn it into a product.
My father was in the business of plastics and he gave me the initial support. I didn't have experience in the plastics industry but later, plastic and electronics came together to produce a magic light.
I tend to do everything properly. I insist on doing things legally and systematically. So I registered the business in 2014 before starting to sell the product.
Ruhul: Since your father had a plastics business, you already had access to some raw materials?
Wasiul Haque Bhuiyan: Of course, I received support from my father, not only in terms of raw materials but also regarding business registration and all.
Ruhul: How does your manufacturing work?
Wasiul: Manufacturing these products needs a separate and large industrial setup. So we manufacture from other people. We do the design and assembly and we manufacture parts from different partners. We make the body and other parts from third parties and manufacture circuits at our own place.
Ruhul: When you finally launched in May 2015, what was the market response?
Wasiul: Long story short, initially I didn't sell online and via the internet. I started selling through offline channels. The challenge was that retailers would take a long time to pay for products. We had to go through a long struggle with this.
In the first few years, I went through these challenges. We didn't make much money. Most of the money would go to bad debt.
Ruhul: Did you have any other product at the time?
Wasiul: No. We had only one product at the time.
Ruhul: I think your product has more users outside Dhaka today.
Wasiul: Yes. Now most of our users come from outside Dhaka. In those days, it was mostly Dhaka because people didn't know much about these products.
Ruhul: There are other similar charger lights in the market both from local brands as well as Chinese companies. How does your product compare with theirs?
Wasiul: In those days, the sensor-based automatic function was the major difference from other products. Now there are many more differences. We have improved the product significantly.
Ruhul: Over time, how much has the product evolved?
Wasiul: In manufacturing, launching one product is quite expensive. As a result, we launched products quite slowly but product improvement has been quite dramatic.
Our magic light is still in operation and it is an entirely different product today. With the quality we provide today, we don't have any comparable competitor in the market in the charger light category. For instance, we use a lithium polymer battery, we use an overcharge protection circuit that stops charging automatically once it is fully charged, the product is much more durable.
Our magic light lasts many years. We provide a one-year warranty but these lights work perfectly for 2-3 years without any problem. The battery is long-lasting. The current product is quite different. Although the outside package and body are the same, we have significantly improved the product.
Ruhul: Does this product have any solar energy features?
Wasiul Haque Bhuiyan: No, this one doesn't have any solar energy features. However, we launched another product in 2020 called Jumbo Light and it has a solar feature. It has a lot of additional features. It has a solar feature, it has a motion sensor—where it would get on as soon as you come in front of it and get off once you leave. It has a security alarm system where if you use it in security mode and keep it in any place and if anyone goes before it, it would play an alarm as well as light up. You can lock it on the wall, so you won't be able to snatch it up. This is the second product we launched towards the end of 2019.
Ruhul: How many products do you have now?
Wasiul: We currently have three products in the market. Magic light, Jumbo light and latest released BeamBuddy.
Ruhul: What are the features of Jumbo Light?
Wasiul: Similar to Magic Light, it would light up automatically since it has a sensor. It has a motion sensor so if there is no one, it would automatically shut down. Jumbo Light has a long backup. You get service for 12-15 hours at a time. You don't need to charge it frequently. Nobody needs 12 hours of backup light. The one I use, I charge once every 15-20 days.
The additional feature of Jumbo Light is that it has a security feature. Since many people use it in Khamar (farms), if there is anyone around the Khamar, an alarm goes off and it lights up. It also has solar charging facilities. You can charge it with any 12-volt panel directly. You can directly charge from electricity of course. It has an overcharge protection circuit. It also has a built-in power bank where you can charge your mobile phones, etc.
The new product BeamBuddy is more focused on design. It is a product for people who have a high interest in design.
The first product was simple to use and would work automatically. The second was feature-rich. The third one is rich in design. For people who prefer beautiful products, this one is for them.
Ruhul: You started with solving your problem and then you expanded into other problem areas. What problems were you trying to solve during this period?
Wasiul: When I launched the first product, I started to get a lot of requests from people for various features. I thought about how I could incorporate as many features as I could into one product and offer a meaningful solution to people.
For instance, electricity is a challenge in many places where my products go. People use solar in many of these places. I thought I could incorporate these relevant features into a single product.
Jumbo Light came from that inspiration. Acute load shedding is a challenge in many places. Many khamaries use our product and if we add a motion sensor and alarm, it becomes an excellent security product. You can attach it to the wall, so it wouldn't be easy to take it off. Many people want a lasting backup. Based on all these different queries, we have created the Jambo Light.
Ruhul: How many customers do you serve now? Where do your customers come from?
Wasiul: We sell some 100 pieces per month. Our customers mostly come from outside Dhaka. However, Bangladeshi expatriates buy my products for their villages. People living in the Middle East and Southeast Asia order most often and mostly for their villages. We sell products all over Bangladesh.
Our products are unique. For instance, there are not any lights like Jumbo with so many features and such high quality.
Ruhul: How does your distribution work?
Wasiul: Our marketing is mostly on social media. We also sell through online marketplaces such as Daraz and others. Many people buy products from us wholesale. We call them resellers.
Ruhul: What does your pricing look like?
Wasiul: The current price for our magic light is BDT 750, Jumbo is 1550 and BeamBuddy is priced at BDT 990
Ruhul: How big is your team and how does your operation work?
Wasiul: We are four people now. We have two people in production, one person looks after supply and delivery and one person looks after marketing and distribution.
Ruhul: What are the challenges now?
Wasiul Haque Bhuiyan: Although we don't have a lot of direct competitors, there are many products in the broad category we operate. We also fall in the unique product category. People who like unique products buy our products. Finally, people who need charger lights, buy our product.
In the charger light category, we have a lot of competitors and you can find these products are quite cheap. Cheap for two reasons: 1) low quality and because many of these products are Chinese and they are made in large quantities bringing the price down. So the charger light market is quite competitive. People usually prefer cheap products. So this is a difficult market.
The second challenge is that when you are in a unique category of products, your design matters. Your looks need to stand out. Since our plastic production is done by a third party, we struggle with quality and design. Large companies can design very good products but many third parties don't have the strength to offer a similar level of sophistication.
We are strong on the electronics side but design is something where we struggle.
Ruhul: What's your future plan?
Wasiul: Along with making our products, we also work as a manufacturing partner for companies who need electronics products manufacturing support. We plan to expand that business in the coming days.
Similarly, on the product side, along with features we also want to focus on design and looks. We are trying this in our new BeamBuddy product, fewer features, and more usability.
Ruhul: How does your manufacturing partnership work where you support other companies and manufacture products for them?
Wasiul: There are a variety of demands and needs. For instance, you are a laser printer company where you make showpieces from wood and you want to add electronics features to these products, we help companies to do that. Companies that don't have electronics expertise from other industries but want to add electronics features, we help them to do it.
Wasiul Haque Bhuiyan: Manufacturing is quite a challenging industry in Bangladesh across sectors. There are many challenges. Finding parts is a challenge. We can't find many parts and have to make do with whatever is available. Moreover, in many instances, when you purchase a part, you can't find the specifications. This makes it difficult for us to judge the quality of parts.
Ruhul: Is the high availability of Chinese products at a cheap rate a challenge?
Wasiul: Our products are very different from what is available in the market and people who buy our products will eventually come back and buy our products.
We have been on the lookout for export opportunities. If we could export and find new demand, we could manufacture at scale and it would bring down our price. It will create a virtuous cycle for us. We have a vision that we want to export.
I think there are two approaches to starting companies in this sector. One, large scale, many products, and a huge industry. Second, you start small and grow gradually. There are many challenges in this sector. I didn't start big. My investment is limited. I started in a small way. We have always tried to operate frugally and strategically. So we are not in loss and operate profitably. If I had started big but without enough product lines, I could have been in the red. Growing a business takes a long time in this sector. Companies like Walton took a long time to grow. So I prefer slow and steady growth.
Ruhul: How can we encourage more small manufacturing businesses?
Wasiul: I think having more of these businesses would have been excellent for the country. This would have created more opportunities and solutions. I would invite people who are interested in new things and innovations to come and work in this space.
