LightCastle Joins Dialogue on Startup Ecosystem in Bangladesh

LightCastle Joins National Dialogue on Youth Entrepreneurship & Ecosystem Development

LightCastle Partners recently participated in the national workshop on “Youth Entrepreneurship: Investment, Policy, and Ecosystem,” jointly organized by the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on 17 July 2025 in Dhaka.

The workshop brought together over 100 stakeholders, including youth entrepreneurs, investors, development practitioners, and policymakers, for a dynamic dialogue aimed at diagnosing key challenges within Bangladesh’s evolving startup landscape and co-creating actionable pathways for inclusive growth.

Zahedul Amin, Managing Director at LightCastle Partners, delivered a keynote presentation on “Navigating the Future of Youth Entrepreneurship in Bangladesh.” In his address, he outlined the systemic challenges hindering startup growth, ranging from regulatory ambiguities and early-stage tax burdens to talent shortages and underdeveloped financing channels. He further emphasized the need for cohesive policy implementation, investor confidence-building, and ecosystem-wide alignment to unlock the country’s entrepreneurial potential.

LightCastle’s participation featured Ameera Fairooz, Senior Business Consultant, who shared key insights on the structural challenges and untapped potential within Bangladesh’s tourism entrepreneurship landscape. She highlighted the sector’s fragmented nature, where various actors such as tour operators, guides, and hospitality providers operate in silos, limiting coordination and ecosystem-wide growth.

Ameera noted the absence of a centralized database to connect tour guides with travel agents, resulting in operational inefficiencies. Moreover, the lack of a cohesive tourism branding strategy, one that highlights Bangladesh’s cultural heritage, historical richness, and experiential offerings further constrains sector development.

She also pointed out that while tourism infrastructure such as resorts may be present in certain regions, they often lack complementary services or activities, signaling weak value chain integration. Finally, the predominantly informal structure of the sector has led to limited awareness among local communities on how to monetize their skills, underscoring the need for targeted capacity-building initiatives.

The workshop spotlighted several urgent issues affecting early-stage businesses, including:

Limited access to affordable financing and absence of investor incentives;
Fragmented coordination between regulatory bodies;
Lack of skilled talent to support scaling startups;
High turnover tax burdens on loss-making ventures;
No clear policy differentiation between startups and SMEs.

Key outcomes from the workshop included 17 strategic recommendations under three core pillars: facilitation, policy, and implementation. These included the creation of a startup wing under BIDA, the establishment of a regulatory sandbox, the operationalization of a Fund of Funds, targeted tax reliefs, and the development of a secondary equity market.

The Executive Chairman of BIDA, Ashiq Chowdhury, proposed forming a National Action Plan Committee to bring together representatives from the Ministry of Youth, Bangladesh Bank, Startup Bangladesh, and the ICT Division to institutionalize ongoing collaboration and accountability.

To learn more about the state of Bangladesh’s startup ecosystem, download our latest report: