What growth actually depends on in Bangladesh
In Bangladesh the binding constraint is rarely awareness. It is trust, access and the last mile: whether a rural beneficiary can cash out without friction, whether a buyer will trust a second-hand listing, whether an employer believes healthcare can be bought as a managed service. The playbooks that work here were built on thin budgets with no safety net of ad spend, and that is exactly why they travel.
- Go-to-market and category creation. Launching in a value-driven market with narrow channels, from a flagship Samsung launch to a marketplace category built to No. 1 against the national leader.
- Adoption at population scale. Residence-mapped campaigns, agent networks and trust design for products that have to reach a rural, low-literacy base, the way SureCash reached ten million.
- The B2B sales engine. Turning corporate deals into a managed account system with targets and playbooks, the way Praava Health's employer base went from 342 to roughly 1,400.
- Cross-border in both directions. Bangladeshi companies entering the United States, and US companies entering Bangladesh, with someone who has operated in both. The dual-market operator's edge.
- Brand and communications. Brand strategy and integrated campaigns, from agency roots at Asiatic (JWT) to awareness programmes reaching ten million.
Proof, not promises
Four engagements that show the pattern. Each one opens the full case study.
Dhaka-built, Michigan-based, and why that helps you
For a company in Bangladesh, you get a strategist who learned the market from the inside, at Samsung, SureCash, Praava, Ekhanei, Asiatic and ACCA, and who has since operated in the United States. For a Bangladeshi founder raising abroad, selling abroad or hiring abroad, the translation between the two markets is most of the job, and it is a translation I do in both directions. Bangladesh already made the health-tech leapfrog; the same is true of payments and commerce, and most foreign advisers have not noticed.
Who this is for, and who it is not
It is for founders and CEOs of Bangladeshi companies in fintech, e-commerce, health, consumer and services who need growth leadership that has operated at scale here. It is for diaspora founders building for Bangladesh from abroad, and for development organisations that need a commercial operator rather than another report. It is not for companies looking for an agency to buy media. If you need a part-time growth lead rather than a full-time CMO, the fractional vs full-time cost calculator compares the two; for clinics and diagnostic groups that need an operator, see fractional COO and CMO for health organizations.
Start with a thirty-minute call
Bring the number you are trying to move. I will tell you what I would look at first, and whether I am the right person to look at it.
Questions people ask before we talk
Do you work with Bangladeshi companies from Michigan?
Yes. Most engagements run remotely, with Bangladesh mornings overlapping US evenings, and with visits to Dhaka when the work needs them. Most of my operating record was built in Dhaka.
Which Bangladeshi companies have you led growth for?
SureCash, Praava Health, Ekhanei.com, Samsung Bangladesh, Asiatic (JWT) and ACCA Bangladesh, across fintech, healthcare, e-commerce, consumer technology, advertising and professional education.
Can you help a Bangladeshi company enter the US market?
Yes. That is the reverse of the path I took myself, and the work is mostly translation: positioning, pricing, channel and trust signals that read correctly to an American buyer.
How is this different from a marketing agency in Dhaka?
An agency sells execution in a channel. I diagnose which constraint is actually holding growth back, whether that is trust, access, pricing, channel or the sales model, and build the plan and the team to move it.
What does the first month look like?
A growth diagnosis: your numbers, your funnel, five to ten customer conversations, and a written read on the single lever most likely to move the number, with a plan you can run with or without me.
Do you work as a fractional CMO for companies in Bangladesh?
Yes. I work as a fractional CMO or growth adviser, owning the growth number a few days a month, with companies in Dhaka and across Bangladesh. Scope and terms are agreed on a free thirty-minute call.
What growth results have you delivered in Bangladesh?
Samsung's Galaxy Note9 launch ranked No. 1 globally for growth at 1.54x year on year; SureCash delivered a government stipend to about 10 million beneficiaries; Ekhanei.com's vehicle category reached No. 1 in two and a half months; Praava Health's corporate clients grew from 342 to about 1,400.
Can we work in Bangla?
Yes. Bangla is my first language, and there is a Bangla version of this page.
Md Shafaat Ali Choyon (also written Shafaat Choyon) is a growth, marketing and public-health strategist with seventeen years of operating experience in Dhaka, based in Redford, Michigan. MBA, MCIM, MPH and CHES®. Founder of HSREP, a health-system resilience platform. The same body of work, presented for other needs: growth marketing, Michigan, fractional CMO, Michigan, brand and communications, health communication, digital health, population health, fractional COO and CMO, health. Bangladesh readers: বাংলায় পড়ুন.