TITLE:
Prospects of Entrepreneurship in Bangladesh and Ways to Overcome Limitations of the Entrepreneurial Business Environment
AUTHORS:
Abul Fazal Mohammad Ahsan Uddin
KEYWORDS:
Entrepreneurship, Bangladesh, Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Innovation, Startup Development, Business Environment, Policy Reform, Financial Inclusion, Institutional Support, Economic Growth, Gender and Entrepreneurship, Digital Transformation, Venture Capital, Sustainable Development
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.13 No.6,
November
26,
2025
ABSTRACT: Entrepreneurship has become a key driver of economic growth, innovation, and employment in developing economies. In Bangladesh, entrepreneurship offers significant potential to address unemployment, poverty, and limited industrial diversification. This study explores the prospects of entrepreneurship in Bangladesh and identifies strategies to overcome existing limitations in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Using a qualitative, literature-based methodology, the research synthesizes secondary data from academic, governmental, and institutional sources. The analysis applies Schumpeter’s Theory of Economic Development, emphasizing innovation-driven entrepreneurship, and Isenberg’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Model, which highlights six interdependent domains—policy, finance, culture, institutional support, human capital, and markets. The findings reveal strong entrepreneurial potential driven by a youthful population, expanding digital infrastructure, and supportive initiatives such as Startup Bangladesh and the iDEA program. However, major challenges persist in finance, regulation, institutional coordination, skills, and socio-cultural acceptance of risk. The analysis also distinguishes between necessity-driven entrepreneurship, prevalent among informal enterprises, and opportunity-driven entrepreneurship emerging in digital and innovation sectors. The study recommends integrated policy, financial, institutional, and ecosystem interventions to strengthen Bangladesh’s transition from a labor-intensive to an innovation-driven economy. Streamlined regulations, venture capital development, entrepreneurship education, and inclusive policies are essential to foster opportunity-based entrepreneurship. By addressing structural and cultural barriers, Bangladesh can build a resilient, inclusive, and innovation-oriented entrepreneurial ecosystem aligned with Vision 2041.