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4 Founder Interviews On The Reality of Being a Founder and How to Start and Grow a Business in Bangladesh

Our latest collection of founder interviews, featuring founders of Halda Valley, Inspira, ToguMogu and Dorik, contains everything you need to know to start, build, run a startup, and actually enjoy it, including struggles of early days, how products and ideas evolve, what to avoid, how to navigate growth, and inspiration to keep you going and offers rare insights into personal growth, doing work that matters to us and much more.

Building a Maternity and Parenting Platform in Bangladesh with Dr. Nazmul Arefin Momel, Co-founder and CEO, ToguMogu

Dr. Nazmul Arefin Momel
Dr. Nazmul Arefin Momel

Dr. Nazmul Arefin Momel is the co-founder and CEO of ToguMogu, a Dhaka-based maternity and parenting platform that provides parenting services and products from pregnancy to kindergarten. Founded in 2017, ToguMogu has built a comprehensive solution for parents and kids from content for pregnancy to kindergarten, reliable shopping, to consultancy and services such, finding nearby daycare and schools, among others. 

ToguMogu says its parenting app provides a 360-degree solution for parents. It also runs an e-commerce marketplace where it sells everything related to parenting and kids ranging from baby products, books, stationery, and additional items for parents. It also connects parents with third-party services like expert consultancy, caregiving services, baby and family photography services, etc. The company aims to become the ultimate family health and wellbeing platform in Bangladesh for parents and kids. 

In this fascinating interview with Future Startup, Mr. Nazmul tells us about his background, founding and building a parenting and kids services platform from scratch in Bangladesh, talks about the state of ToguMogu, the early days of ToguMogu, and how the company came to where it is today, how ToguMogu work as a product and company, and its ambition going forward, discusses his experience of building a team, growing the business, shares his take on dealing with challenges of being a founder and much more.  

Read the full interview here


Mizanur Rahman
Mizanur Rahman

“We have been trying to build something like this for years”: An Interview with Mizanur Rahman, Co-founder, Dorik

Mizanur Rahman is the Co-founder of Dorik, a Sylhet-based low-code/no-code website building platform serving global customers. Launched in 2019, Dorik has seen excellent growth within a short period. 

We recently had an opportunity to speak with Mr. Rahman about his journey, making of Dorik, and his take on low-code/no-code trends and entrepreneurship. Below is the transcript of the conversation, lightly edited for clarity.

The conversation is intellectually empowering and offers fascinating insights into how Dorik came into being, how the company has grown over the past months, the state of Dorik’s business today and ambition going forward, designing products people want, and much more. We thoroughly enjoyed doing the interview and we hope you enjoy it as much.

Read the full interview here. 


Shamim Khan
Shamim Khan

On Building Halda Valley Food and Beverage Ltd, Entrepreneurship, and Life: An Interview with Shamim Khan, Founder and Managing Director, Halda Valley Food and Beverage Ltd

Shamim Khan is the Founder and Managing Director of Halda Valley Food and Beverage Ltd. The tale of Halda Valley began in 2002, when Nader Khan, Managing Director of PNL Holdings Limited, one of Bangladesh's most prominent corporate houses, acquired Halda Valley Tea Estate with an intention to add greater value to Bangladesh's tea sector. 

Today, the company produces high-quality specialty teas for millions of tea lovers in Bangladesh and across the world. Shamim Khan, son of Mr. Nader Khan, joined the family business in 2016, following in his father's footsteps, and is now the Managing Director of Halda Valley Food and Beverage Ltd. Mr. Shamim, a physician turned entrepreneur, has since expanded the business and established Halda Valley as a consumer brand in Bangladesh.

In this wide-ranging interview with Future Startup’s Ruhul Kader, Mr. Shamim talks about his path to entrepreneurship, the difficulties he encountered in transforming from a doctor to a full-time entrepreneur, how Halda Valley came into being, the early days of building the company, delves into the making of Halda Valley Food and Beverage and how the company has grown from a typical tea manufacturer to a prominent tea brand with a unique concentration in specialty teas, shares how Halda Valley has evolved over the past years, how the company established its competitive edge in the market, the operational mechanics of the business, the state of Halda Valley today and its ambition going forward and much more. 

Read the full interview here.


Muntasir Tahmeed
Muntasir Tahmeed

On Growing Inspira, The Business of Consulting, and Venture Building with Muntasir Tahmeed, Managing Director, Inspira Advisory and Consulting Ltd

Muntasir Tahmeed is the co-founder and Managing Director of Inspira Advisory and Consulting Ltd, a Dhaka-based research and consulting firm that helps bi-lateral donors, UN agencies, and Nonprofits to design better-informed, data-driven interventions. Founded in 2015, Inspira has experienced excellent growth within a short period of time and has quickly become a leading player in the space.

In this wide-ranging interview with Future Startup’s Ruhul Kader, Mr. Muntasir offers an insight into his journey, the making of Inspira, and the ecology of building a research and consulting business in Bangladesh. We talk about his path to entrepreneurship, how Inspira came into being, the early days of building the company, delve into the making of Inspira and how the company has evolved and grown over the past years, discuss the operational mechanics of the business, the state of Inspira today and its ambition going forward, his take on the ecology of the consulting business in Bangladesh and lessons from his entrepreneurial journey so far and much more.

Read the full interview here.  

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