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18 million businesses, one question: how are you keeping your accounts

As the number of businesses in Bangladesh grows, the question of how to keep accounts becomes more urgent. The latest economic census says the country now has more than 11.8 million business establishments, up from about 7.8 million in the 2013 census. In a single decade, the number has grown by roughly one and a half times. Together, these millions of enterprises add around 25 to 30 percent of GDP to the national economy and provide jobs for nearly 30 million people.

The bigger the number, the simpler the question: how are all these businesses keeping their daily accounts? The reality is that more than half of the country’s small businesses have yet to enter any formal structure, let alone practice regular bookkeeping. Even among those who do keep accounts, a large share still rely on the old pen and notebook. How much was sold, who owes how much, how much is left in hand at month end: the answers to these questions often rest on guesswork.

But the picture is changing fast. The country now has more than 180 million mobile connections, and in just two years smartphone usage has climbed from 63 to nearly 73 percent. The internet is now in the palm of your hand, so business accounts are also moving from notebooks to screens. The market reflects this trend too, with the retail and point-of-sale software market in the country growing at about 21 percent a year, which shows that business owners themselves are looking for this solution.

Niqesh was built from exactly this place. In a crowd of millions of businesses, every enterprise needs its own accounts, in its own way, on its own time. This simple way of keeping sales, dues, expenses and stock together in one place can change the future of a small shop.