Introduction

Handicrfts businesses are getting wider and very much popular because of their cheap price and
uniqueness. Bangladeshi handicrafts are known all over the world for their rich variety, elegance,
grace and skilled craftsmanship. Our main target is to produce handicrafts products by using the
abundant human resource in rural areas (women) and sell those through our official outlet within
market price. Another important thing we will be focusing on women empowerment. For making
the products we will be using rural poor women who doesn’t have any job or work. By this plan
we can hope to achieve a potential profit as well as women empowerment.

The name of our business is “ARSHI-A touch of Bangladesh”. We will be keeping 3 shops
which will be located at Baily road, dhanmondi and uttara. Our main head office will be situated
at kuril. All business plan will be operated from here. Our handicrafts products will include bags,
mats, jute products, wall hangings, potteries etc. All the products will be designed by us with
unique features and advantages.

The main focus is our business is to offer something attractive within cheaper price. In
Bangladesh, our main competitors will be Aarong. We will be serving more than them and also
with cheaper price. Our Mission is given below-

Mission- Our mission is to provide authentic and unique designed handicrafts products with a
very cheap price and another side is contributing socially by empowring rural women. As our
tagline is “A Touch of Bangladesh”, we will provide high quality traditional products with
uniqueness. It will help to increase our market growth as well as profit.

Dhaka city will be the next target as huge portion of people are interested to buy handicrafts than
the rural people. Our products will be for all types of people but main focus will be on women
and kids as they are more tend to buy those.

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Executive Summary

Our report was about handicraft product business and also focused on empowering women. We
gave the name of our business as “ Aarshi”. We will have three showrooms all over Dhaka. In
Dhanmondi (Metro Shopping Mall) , in Baily Road ( Capital Shiraj Center ) and in Uttara (
Mascot Plaza). We will lease each shop from each of the malls. Initially we won’t have any
owned plants but as business will grow we will make it. Our focused area is empowring women
through our business. We will hire rural poor women as workers who doesn’t have any job. They
will do each of the stage of our business like product designing, collecting from the local area,
sending to the warehouse. Our main competitor is Aarong but indirect competitors also may
arise.

The report is devided into several parts. In the first part we have discussed a brief information in
the introduction part. Then we gave the PESTEL Analysis. Then we focused on Industry
Analysis and followed by Description of the venture. Then we have Production plan,
Operational planing, Marketing plan and Organizational plan. We have also given The
Assessment of Risk and finally The Financial Plan. At the end of the report we concluded by
giving a summary.

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PESTEL Analysis

Political Analysis

The Bangladeshi government plays an important role in molding the economy of the country,
either directly or indirectly. As indicated by the constitution of Bangladesh's Article 123(2)(a),
the following election is to be held in the time period starting from 25th October 2018 to 31st
December 2018. If the opposition comes in power, there might be changes in government
policies, but it will not any significant effect on our business. The major contenders for power
are the two most significant political parties in Bangladesh- Awami League and Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP), currently the former is in power. They support in making the businesses
grow, as it will help the economy. However, as the opposition gives strikes and blockades, it will
affect the business. The property rights are well developed, as well as other laws. However, there
is corruption present in some areas, like the government. Bribing is sometimes needed to make
certain things work in the system, in favor of the organization. There are no pending legislations
which will affect the business. As the election took place recently, there will not be any kind of
political factors which might change and affect the business significantly.

Economic Analysis

In spite of all the political chaos, the Bangladeshi economy is sustaining macroeconomic stability
and pushing ahead. The key exchange rates are stable enough, except for the USD, as USD is
growing in comparison to Euro. BDT has appreciated by 17.6% against Euro in the Fiscal Year
2015. According to BBS, the per capita income of Bangladesh has increased to $ 1,314 from $
1,190. Thus, the consumers’ disposable income is rising, and it will continue to do so. According
to the World Bank, the unemployment rate in Bangladesh is 5% as of 2014, as well as 40% of
the total population being underemployed. This will help to find labors and transform them in
order to create a skilled workforce. Also, there is an abundance of labor, so it will be relatively
inexpensive to hire labors. Both the consumers and businesses have easy access to credit, as long
as they can show proper paperwork, and this is helpful for our business. The result of
globalization is the increased competition coming from foreign countries. However, thanks to the

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distinctive practices which will be followed by the organization, it is safe enough to assume that
it can take on the competition. Inflation might be a factor which may affect the business, as it is
predicted to rise in the near future.

Social Analysis

The population of Bangladesh is 166,280,713 estimated as of July 2014. The population growth
rate is 1.6% and is still growing. Bangladesh is a densely populated country with variety of
choice of products. Handcraft products are mainly categorized as home decorating accessories
and is demanded worldwide. From the ancient time handcrafted beautiful and sophisticated
products are used for home decor, accessories and even clothes. But as the trend has changed so
much the demand for handmade products has lessened. New generation likes elegant products
with unique designs that’s why we aim to give them what they desire. Our products will be
different from market products because of the authentic process of making those products with
unique designs.

10-20 years ago women were not that much regular in job sector. But now a day more women
are emerging in this sector even women from rural areas are taking microloans and trying to do
something from their home. We are aiming to empower women through our business which is
the new trend and people are positive toward such kind of works.

In Bangladesh there are four types of religion: Islam, Hindu, Christian and Buddhist. Religion
can effect a society in a great way but as for our business religion won't be any problem. Because
this kind of jobs are done by everyone and in every religion so we do not have to worry about
relational clash or such.

Technological Analysis

We aim to capture market with moderate price and unique quality. As we are entrepreneurs and
we don't have that much fund we plan to market and promote our products through our Facebook
page, Billboards and TV commercials.

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Our main competitor is ARONG and other deshi stores which are already in the market operating
well off. They have the high end machines to produce jute products and such in a large scale
which is a big threat for us. We don't have those technologies to use in our business because of
the shortage of funds and so they poses us a big threat. Government is recently focusing on
empowering rural people and encouraging to participate by giving microloans, sewing machines
etc to encourage women. We can show our business plan to government and take the advantage
of subsidiary because we also are empowering women though our business. In that way we can
price our product more economically.

Infrastructure can effect a business in a good and a bad way. We will be giving orders to rural
women who will be working from their home. So collecting our products from them is a hassle
for us and also costly. We will appoint one collector for each area to collect our products and
send it to our main branch. This is a time consuming and costly process for us. But as we are in a
initial stage we can cover the cost and later on plan to use upgraded technologies to benefit our
business.

Environmental Analysis

Making handicrafts products doesn’t affect environment at all. We are focusing on Eco friendly
products as most of the raw materials will be from nature and products will be made manually
rather than using any electrical machine. The type of work and procedure will be completely by
hand and using simple tools. For making the products mainly we will be using bamboo, jute,
clothes, wood, paper, cane, cottons, clay, thread and other needed things like glue, glitters, and
colors and so on. These are the things doesn’t make any toxin so it will be friendly for the
environment. We will keep a supervisor to check if the waste materials are controlling or not.
Wastes from the woods, bamboo and jute will be used for recycling. They can provide huge fuel
management process. People nowadays are very much conscious about environmental pollution
issues so we have to be careful about this. Moreover as our future plan is to export our products
in developed countries we have to maintain the international standards and also will comply with
all the applicable law and regulations that are maintained for the environmental safety. Any

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negligence of the environmental laws and rules can make a very bad effect on our business
image as well as the social and international standards.

Legal Analysis

There are many legislations and laws for doing any business. These can impact the business in
accessing imports/ exports, quotas, taxation and so on. We will be following each of them for our
business safety issues and for keeping the brand image. In Bangladesh, we have to follow the
antitrust law. This can help to prevent the business from competitions and strives for
sustainability. We will do another important thing which is copyright our brand nationally and
internationally legal person so that others cannot steal our brands or products. Though our
employees working procedure will be so simple and by hand but still, for health and safety issues
we will be following the law. If we see any injury during working period then we will provide
her proper treatment for our own cost. Then we will maintain proper and justified salary or
wages which fulfill the minimum standard law.

Industry Analysis

Future outlook and trends

From the ancient time handicraft products are being used in our country. Though technology has
been taken a huge place nowadays but still, handicrafts products are demandable in present and
future market because of their lower price and authentic design. In foreign country handicrafts
products are more demandable and future market is bright there. As our future plan is to export
them this can make a flourished economic profit for us as well as for our country also.

Analysis of the competition

In every business has competitors. We have also so many competitors. After analyzing the
market industry and doing market research we have devided into 2 types.

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  Direct Competitors: Though we are expecting to be a dominant brand in Bangladesh but
there are already many leading brands are present. They are our direct competitors.
Aarong, Deshal, K- Craft are some of them. Aarong is the most renowned and
demandable brand from all of them. So our main direct competitor is Aarong.
 Indirect Competitors: Our indirect competitors are other non-market little handicrafts
business shops. They are doing this for a long time. Charukola Institute is one of them.
These non-branded shops are our indirect competitors as they are doing business for a
long time and established a good image.

Market segmentation

We will be targeting the following group of people as our potential customers:

Geographical Segmentation

The organization will target locations such as Dhanmondi, Baily Road and Uttara, and it will
also cover all the other places nearby.

Demographic Segmentation

The organization is targeting a market which falls in the income group of the following: 0-
10,000; 10,000-20,000; 20,000-30,000; 30,000-40,000; 40,000+.

Behavioral Segmentation

Based on behavioral segmentation, the organization is targeting the people with different buying
habits. According to usage rate, the organization will target the people with medium to low usage
rate. According to user status, the organization will target the potential customers, as well as
customers using competitors’ products. According to buyer involvement, the organization will
target the people with low involvement.

Target Market

Aarshi’s products are more authentic and unique designed. We are expecting to be a leading
brand in the industry and will provide best designed handicrafts with a cheaper price for each and
every one.

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Market size
Initially our market size is small but and if the production and market growth move faster and
make profit, we will expand our market locally and also export them in abroad like USA and
UK.

Market Growth Rate

Bangladesh has very huge demand for exporting products to other countries. So, it has a very
high market growth rate which will flourish our economic sector and increase market share.

Key Success Factors

Some factors which will be able to make the organization into a successful one are:

Availably of labor at lower costs: As there is an abundance of availability of labor, the

organization can use this to its advantage and then employ workers at low costs.

Low barriers to entry: As this industry does not possess any significant barrier to entry, it will be
easy to set up a business and operate in order to make profits.

Description of the Venture

There will be 3 showrooms all over Dhaka. The places are-

 Dhanmondi- Metro shopping mall

 Baily road – Capital Shiraj centre
 Uttara – Mascot plaza

We will lease each shop from each of these malls. These are well known shopping malls where
people go for shopping on a regular basis. We have chosen these three malls because of their
location and popularity. We want to attract maximum consumer and the location of these three
malls will enable us to do so. This three location almost covers the half of the Dhaka, this is the
biggest benefit we will get if we establish our showroom here. Also these three buildings are
maintained by experienced authority, so we don’t have to worry about the cost of state,
maintenance, renovation and so on.

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Product

There will be variety of products. Among those main products are mentioned below-

 Nokshi Katha
 Clay products- Vase, Wall Decorations, Jug, Pots, Mugs
 Hand work designs on – cushion covers, bed covers, pillow covers, table covers
 Dress for both men and women
 Show piece
 Carpets
 Jute products- Bags, Mats
 Wicker baskets

Size of the business

Aarshi initially will be a small business as it won’t have any production plant. It will have only 3
showrooms and one warehouse which will also act as the head office of the business. As it is
aiming for penetrating the market with cheap market price, its production will be adequate
enough for fulfilling market demand and satisfy customer wants. Arshi aims to product 1000 unit
of each product initially for the market.

Office equipment and personnel

In each venture it will have enough amount of equipment to fun the showroom successfully.
Each show room will have computer, cash receipt printer, credit card puncher, security camera
and so on. The number of personnel for each showroom and warehouse are given below.

Category Number of Personnel

Manager 1
Sales man 3
Quality inspector 2
Security Guard 2
Total 10

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Background of entrepreneurs

Owners of this business have management and marketing skills are all of them are marketing
majors. But Arshi is a very new business so its owners need to know the in and out of handicraft
business to make it to the top.

Production Plan

Manufacturing Process

We will start our manufacturing process from buying raw materials from the local suppliers.
After that we will send it to the worker home so that raw materials will be useable for the
designing. Here their job is to wash off, cut down for suitable shape and make the products
according to the designs we provide them.

As we mentioned before that our business focus is also about empowering women so all the steps
of the making a product will be done by rural women who are extremely poor and does not have
any job.

Physical Plant

As we are in the initial stage of our business, we could not afford for establishing our own plant.
If we somehow even manage to establish that, it will increase our risk as we won’t have
sufficient capital to run the business. But as the business will grow, we will definitely make our
own plant to process our products and unique designing.

Machinery and equipment

We won’t have any physical plant of our own so there is no need of much equipment. We will
need hand sewing machine which we will provide to the workers. Also Still, we need some
equipment to run the business as in Dhaka city we will have some own showrooms. For those we
will need some showroom equipment’s as in air conditioners, Tv, lights, some dummy’s etc.
There will be needed office equipment as we will maintain an office.

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Names of Suppliers of Raw Materials

Basically we will buy our raw materials from the local suppliers. They do not have any exact
name. We own self will buy those randomly.

Operational plan

Description of company’s operation

In general operational plan means activity of a company for the purpose of generating the profits.
We plan to operate from the head office which will also be the warehouse of the company. We
are going to have its own outlets at different location inside the Dhaka city. We are going to use
direct channel for our company for the purpose of selling. In this way, we can have complete
interaction with our customer.

Our day to day operations will be to achieve projected sales which will be communicated with
the managers and sales persons of our show rooms.

Flow of orders for goods

As we will be having our own stores situated in Dhaka customers can directly purchase from our
store as well as from our website where they will be able to choose their desirable colour, size
and design.

At first, we’ll collect the products from our workers. It will be collected by our local collector
and then will be sent to our warehouse. From warehouse all the products will be sent to the
showrooms. So our flow of goods can be summarized as worker’s house from local collector
from warehouse to the customer through our official outlets.

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 Worker's
home

Local
Customers
collector

Official
Warehouse
outlets

Technology Utilization

Technology has become one of the important aspect of business presently. People uses internet
more than they used to. Apart from just using internet for viewing information people now order
through internet. So, internet has definitely become an important and viable market place.
Currently, more than 6.5 percent of total population uses internet according to World Banks
provided data. So, Arshi we are going to utilize the digital arena of marketing to gain more
customers‟ attention. We are going to use the Social Media advertisement to popularize our
brand using right strategy. Facebook has a very good frequency of getting view from customers.
As for our business it is easier to let the possible future customers know about our brand and
product along with promotions that are going on. Using technology for the advertisement is not a
no frills any more. It has become sort of mandatory for us. Using advance technology inside the
store for security is also something important for our shop. We will be using high quality CCTV
camera for the security purpose.

Usage of technologies-

 Maintaining records of sales

 Taking order and keeping track of records
 Inventory management and recording

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  Maintaining communication with customers

Market Plan

The process of analyzing one or more potentially interesting marketplaces in order to determine
how a business can optimally compete in them. The market planning process typically results in
a marketing strategy that can be used to enhance sales for the business producing it.

Pricing

Price is something that the customers are willing to pay in exchange of the product. As Arshi is a
new entrant and want to capture the greatest amount of market share by providing good quality
product with minimum price, so cost based pricing will be followed. Arshi will have the
minimum profit to get the production running with the maximum quality.

Distribution

Distribution part is the core heart of marketing stage where products are move from the factory
or production place and go to the customer’s hand in an authentic way. We will start our
distribution by collecting the products from each worker’s house. As we mentioned before that
our raw materials will be sent to the worker’s home. This task will be done by our local
collectors. Our next step is to send the products to the warehouse and meanwhile our quality
inspector will check all the products if any products are broken or damaged. Then finally, all the
qualified products will be sent to our showrooms. As our products will be so unique with a lower
price, we will use both the pull and push strategies. This will make our products so innovative
that will beat the Aarong. We hope, by implementing these steps we will obtain our desired goal.

worker's Local
Warehouse Showrooms Customers
house collectors

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Promotion

The main focus of promotions is to let people know about our product. We will mainly use print
media for our promotional activity.

 Bill board
 Newspaper and magazine advertisement
 Social media
 Radio commercial
 Website
 Pham plates

=>Bill board promotions

Bill boards are helpful for reminding about Archi’s product when the customer is waiting in
traffic or maybe waiting for his bus to arrive. Large billboards with Arshi’s ads will placed in
busy areas such as motijheel, rampura, badda, bashundhara residential area, dhanmondi and so
on. There will a large budget for billboards only.

=>Newspapers and Magazine advertisement

Newspaper and magazine will help us to reach customers like housewives and others who don’t
go out that much. Newspaper and magazines will help us reach the customer’s house. There will
be front page ads of Arshi once every two weeks.

=>Social Media

Now a days Facebook is a very popular medium for promotion. Most of the people use Facebook
and young generation are very much familiar to this social media site. Arshi will have its own
Facebook page. From there it will promote its products. Also arrange competitions and make
customers participate so that we can create relationship with the customers. Customers will be
rewarded with Arshi’s product. It will also act as a sample to them so that they at least once try it
and then if they get satisfied they’ll come to buy again.

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=>Radio commercial

There will be promotions on radio as well because radio is also a popular medium these days.
Teenage boys and girls use this medium a lot also others. There will be promotions of Arshi at
night because after all day people tend to tune to the channel to listen to radio. So that time of the
day is the most appropriate for the promotion. Also Arshi will sponsor one show of Radio Amar.
They’ll promote out brand by that show as well.

=>Website

Arshi will also have its own website. There all the products will be displayed and customer will
be able to choose their desired color, size, design of the product. Home delivery service will also
be provided.

=>Phamplates

Phamplates will be distributed in front of schools, universities, shopping malls.

Product forecast

Initially Arshi’s products will be produced in workers house. In future we plan to produce the
products in our own manufacturing plant. We also have plan to add more products to our
business and export it outside the country.

Controls
The change in demand of market will be studied at the beginning of every year in the form of
marketing research. For controlling the marketing activities, we will focus on relationship
building with the suppliers who supply raw materials. Customer satisfaction is something which
is not in the hands of the producers, so what we can do is ensure our quality for customer
retention and good word of mouth. Ultimately, goodwill of customers can be earned, and that
will help in consumer generated marketing.

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Organizational Plan

Form of Ownership

Our business will be a partnership business. We will be holding general partnership where each
partner will invest equal capital and also they will face the same personal liability.

Identification of Aarshi’s partners

1. Anika Tabassum
2. Salman Rashid
3. Tahmina Mosharaf Priya

Authority of principals

Anika Tabassum, Salman Rashid and Tahmina Mosharaf Priya all of them will be holding same
authority. Anyone can provide any opinion regarding the business and also the dissolution of the
partnership. They also have the same authority to decide the distribution of money in various
sectors. All the partners will decide which suppliers to choose. Any decision will take place by
mutual agreement of all the partners.

Background of Management Team

All the partners are current students of North South University in BBA. For now the main focus
of the business is to sustain in the long run, increasing the shareholders equity and in future
expand the in abroad.

Current HR System and Management Policies

 Recruitment

The organization will ensure that the recruitment and selection of employees and workers are fee
from any sort of bias, reasonable, and open to all applicants. Those sort of information will be

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completely disregarded which might cause discrimination or biasness towards the candidates,
including religion, race, cultural background, and any other individual characteristic. As women
empowerment is being focused on, the production workers will be the one where the
organization will specify that women will be needed. Otherwise, all other workers to be recruited
will be open to both the genders. External recruitment will be implemented. Advertisements will
be placed in newspapers like Prothom Alo and the Daily Star in order to attract a pool of
candidates.

 Selection

Face to face interviews will be conducted by the organization in order to select the best fit
candidates for the organization. A structured set of questionnaire will be followed, in order to
judge the candidates equally. The candidates who score the highest will be selected for the
organization.
The organization will take 40% well experienced workers and 60% moderately experienced as
well as inexperienced workers.

 Training

The organization will provide on the job training to the inexperienced and moderately
experienced workers. The trainers will be the well experienced workers who are skillful enough
to teach others as well. This will save some costs as the organization does not need to go to any
external source for receiving training.

 Compensation

The organization will provide the basic wage to the workers, as well as other benefits, like sick
leave and festival bonuses.

 Top Management

There would be a total of 3 top level managers in the company who will work under the owners.
They will usually control the day to day operations of the shops and would make major
transaction decisions for the organization.

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  Number of Workers

During the initial phase, the organization will have around 100 workers who will actually be
directly involved in the production of the goods. Other workers include shop managers,
assistants, security personnel, which sums up to 20 individuals.

Assessment of Risk

Weakness of the Business

 Lack of experience is the major weakness.

 Rising competitors
 Low financial investments
 Maintaining the higher quality as our main rivalry is the very well-known Aarong.
 Lack of promotional activities.

New Technologies

As we are the initial stage of our business, we won’t have those high quality technologies. Our
equipment will be very simple and general. But there are so many competitors with high
qualified technologies. It might be a risk for us. However, we do not need to invest more capital
for the technologies at this stage. We will be focus on that when our business will grow and
expand.

Contingency plans

Through all the market research and qualified plans we are expecting to stay in the long run. But
in case we face business failure, we have a contingency plan to export those in the abroad as
there are high demand for the handicrafts. Because they are not that much known with the
handicrafts. Though our plan was to expand our products in the abroad as soon as our growth
level increases, but if failure happen here we will disclose our local business and focus on the
exporting. If that also fails then we will disclose our overall business.

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Financial Plan

Breakeven Analysis
As the organization will be set up by a modest amount of capital (BDT 1 crore), the nature of the
business will require some time in order to get back the invested amount of capital. However, the
organization is targeting to gain back the invested capital by the end of the fourth year of the
business, which means that it will require four years to reach the breakeven point of the business.
The details are given below.

Year 1 2 3 4
Revenue in 25.5 lakhs 25.5 lakhs 25.5 lakhs 25.5 lakhs
BDT (yearly)

1.2

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4

Total sales revenue

Sources of fund

In the initial phase of the business, the organization aims to take the loan from a bank. This will
add further costs to the business, which is the interest rate the bank will charge. However, the
organization is confident enough about its strategies and policies which will make the

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organization into a successful one, and will pay back the amount to the bank with interest in due
time and in installations.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths
 Providing unique design with lower price than the competitors.
 Close customer relationship.
 Motivated and quality personnel.

Weakness
 Lack of capital.
 Not having strong brand image.
 Insufficient funds of R&D.
 Insufficient promotional activities.
 Not having owned plant.

Opportunities
 Changing lifestyle.
 Increasing purchasing power.
 More population.

Threats
 Rising strong competitors.
 Changing consumer behavior.
 Competitors can copy our product.
 Insufficient equipment

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Conclusion

After describing all the business plans, in the conclusion we would like to say that ‘Arshi’ is a
brand with authentic and unique designed products. We will provide the best quality to keep the
best customer relationship and sustain in the long run. We will try our level best to stand up to its
customers by fulfilling every single promise we made. Another important thing is, our business
has a social contribution. We will be empowering women through our business and thus we are
taking corporate social responsibly. In future we are expecting to expand our business in every
district in Bangladesh and also export the products in USA and UK.

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References
Bangladesh’s per capita income rises to $1,314. (2015, May 14). Retrieved from BDNews24:
http://bdnews24.com/economy/2015/05/14/bangladeshs-per-capita-income-rises-to-1314

Central Intelligence Agency . (n.d.). The World Factbook. Retrieved from Central Intelligence Agency:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bg.html

Human Resource Management. (2010, July 24). Recruitment and Selection. Retrieved from Human
Resource Management: http://www.hrwale.com/recruitment/88-2/

Kokemuller, N. (n.d.). Examples of Market Segmentation. Retrieved from Small Business:

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-market-segmentation-14403.html

The World Bank. (2015, April). Bangladesh Development Update: Economy Moving Forward Despite
Internal and External Challenges. Retrieved from The World Bank:
http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/bangladesh/publication/bangladesh-development-update-
economy-moving-forward-despite-challenges

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