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Despite commendable progress in the social and economic inclusion of women in Bangladesh, there remain significant gaps in women’s – Labor force participation Entrepreneurship Economic autonomy Female financial inclusion can have cross-cutting effects, improving gender equity in all areas. Accessible, affordable, and appropriately designed financial products are key to creating opportunities for women and empowering […]

Access to finance is a major impediment to MSME growth in Bangladesh. Despite the presence of approximately 60 banks, 34 NBFIs, 760 MFIs, and 17 alternative investment firms in Bangladesh, MSMEs frequently struggle to attract capital that is in line with their needs and characteristics, and as a consequence, quite often fail to develop to […]

Bangladesh more than tripled its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the last decade, standing out as one of the top 10 fastest-growing economies in the world. World Bank reports the country’s real GDP growth to have accelerated over time since independence, reaching a remarkable 6.4% growth on average in the 2010s. Moreover, not only is […]

Apparel Sectors’ Growth Trajectory in Bangladesh The apparel sector of Bangladesh started its journey in the late 1980s and gradually became the backbone of the country’s economic success story. Over the past decades, the industry has rigorously contributed to export earnings, foreign exchange earnings, employment creation, poverty alleviation, and women’s empowerment. While the phase-out of […]

Going up the Ladder: From Least Developed Country to a Developing Country Bangladesh is set to graduate from its status as a Least Developed Country (LDC) in November 2026. After 46 years of being enlisted in the category, the country has met all three criteria as assessed triennially by the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) of the United Nations, […]

Bangladesh’s Healthcare Sector: An Overview Strides in healthcare sector in Bangladesh have simultaneously been one of Bangladesh’s key drivers and indicators of economic and social development since its inception. Average life expectancy has grown from 52 years in the 1970s to 72 years today, the maternal mortality ratio has reduced by 67 percent since 1990, […]

The global economy has been undergoing turbulent times over the last couple of years, spearheaded by the pandemic-induced slowdown in 2020 and the resulting supply chain disruptions wrought about by travel restrictions and lockdowns. While the pandemic has receded—facilitated by the invention, mass production, and distribution of vaccines in record time—a number of geopolitical challenges have disrupted economic recovery. The advent of […]

This letter was first published in the Bimonthly Newsletter of September 2022 Dear Friends and Patrons: The global economy has been undergoing turbulent times over the last couple of years, spearheaded by the pandemic-induced slowdown in 2020 and the resulting supply chain disruptions wrought about by travel restrictions and lockdowns. While the pandemic has receded—facilitated […]

The “Building Skills for Unemployed and Underemployed Labor” (B-SkillFUL) program is a Swisscontact project, funded by the Embassy of Switzerland in Bangladesh. LightCastle Partners, one of the Business Development Services (BDS) providers of the B-SkillFUL program, hosted a day-long Corporate Connect Event for MSMEs in Gulshan 1, Dhaka on the 7th of September, 2022. A […]

About PoultryTechBangladesh: The commercial poultry sector has witnessed impressive growth since the early 1990s through formalization and large-scale investments. Over the last twenty years, the poultry sector has grown in tandem with rising consumer demand, which has contributed to further strengthening of the value chain through the introduction of poultry integrators. The Netherlands is internationally […]

LightCastle Partners recently prepared a whitepaper titled “Bangladesh Shrimp Sector: Transitioning Towards Sustainable Growth” that discussed the value chain analysis, recent export trends, bottlenecks for growth, the potential of Vannamei farming, and the future prospects of the Bangladesh shrimp sector. Subsequently, a webinar was organized on August 22, 2022, to share the key findings from […]

Infrastructure a Key Catalyst In the first part of the discussion on the Investment Climate of Bangladesh, the country’s economic resilience, growing investment portfolio, and thrust sector opportunities were discussed. Along with it, the past decade has been characterized by substantial investments in infrastructure, which have been key to industrialization and the logistical integration of […]

Resilient Economic Growth Bangladesh’s rise from the ruins of its war of independence, 50 years ago, has been nothing short of remarkable. In 2020, Bangladesh surpassed India’s, GDP per capita, and is now the second-largest economy in Southeast Asia as well as the 41st largest in the world. The middle and affluent class in the country […]

A Brief Historical Emergence of the Shrimp Industry in Bangladesh In the early 1970s, the beginning of commercial shrimp farming started in Bangladesh with 9 fish processing plants being set up in Chittagong and Khulna and that gave rise to the present export-oriented shrimp industry. Since then, commercial shrimp farming slowly started to gain popularity […]

Executive Summary Bangladesh is often overlooked with MENA funds flowing into Pakistan and India securing its own focused funds, attributed to its country size. Additionally, Bangladesh is also isolated from ASEAN. However, the country, home to 165 Mn people, is one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, with a GDP per capita higher than […]