Stories
Kawsar, a 32-year-old, grew up in a disadvantaged family as the youngest of four siblings. His journey began with selling vegetables alongside his father during his childhood. In 2008, he launched a mobile shop specializing in crab sales on Kuakata Beach, using 400 takas as capital. During this time, he successfully generated a daily income of 600 taka by selling 2 kg of crab fry. In 2010 he expanded his business by opening a small-scale establishment, offering lobster, crab, hilsa fry, and even a coffee shop. In 2014, recognizing the growing demand for fish and crab fry, he took a step by launching ‘Kaosar Bhai’s Fish Fry,’ restaurant. At the peak of this venture, he was selling approximately 150 kg of fish and 100 kg of crab every month. Mr. Kawsar collected and preserved fish by using traditional methods. He had to decline his customer base due to serving unhealthy food and not maintaining hygiene properly.
In 2022, he was included as a member of the value chain sub-project titled ‘Production and Marketing of Safe Fishery Products,’ which is implemented by CODEC, a partner organization of PKSF, as part of the Rural Microenterprise Transformation Project (RMTP). The project provided him with training on maintaining hygiene and producing diversified products, such as (fish burgers, fish balls, fish chips etc). Additionally, a modern table fridge is also supported to him. The project supported him with BDT 100,000 (one lakh) grants and extended a loan of BDT 100,000 (one Lakh) to expand his business.
This is the inception of his smart venture. Currently, there are six skilled employees in his company. The customer base gradually increasing because of the skilled employees, who are dedicated to preparing food by maintaining proper hygiene and serving food by using cold-pressed sunflower oil to meet customer demands. Furthermore, he has provided comfortable seating options with tables, chairs, and benches for customers to enhance both the aesthetics of the shop and the longevity of the food, he also utilizes glass enclosures for food display.
Currently, he collected a variety of fish from rivers and seas, including (Vetki, Hilsa, Lobster, Roopchanda, Tuna, Red Coral, Lakshya, Vole Coral, Shurma, Rupsa, Octopus, Squid, Crab, Red and White Sniper, Salmon etc), he prepares these fish by frying or barbecuing them, and then sells and delivers them to hotels. In addition to direct sales, he also sells various types of river and sea fish prepared as fried and barbecued dishes through platforms like Facebook, IMO, and mobile calls. Every month, he sells approximately 750 kg of fish and 300 kg of crab, with a total of around BDT 60,000 (six lakhs). Excluding all expenses, his net profit amounts to 2 lakh takas.
Kawsar’s dream is to create a brand known as “Kawsar Bhai’s Fish Fry Ghar,” with a mission to provide consumers with safe, ready-to-eat fish products delivered directly to their homes. By seeing the success of Mr. Kawser, several fish fry shops hygienically serve food along with lucrative decoration. Local government officials and local administrations lauded Mr Kawsar’s innovative initiative and urged everyone to promote his novel concept at Kuakata Beach.
