December 2025, Kathmandu, Nepal. Among the finest startups from eight South Asian nations, PriyoShop stood out. The Bangladeshi B2B marketplace won the prestigious South Asia Startup ICT Award 2025, bringing international recognition to a homegrown solution transforming the lives of small retailers across the country.
About the ICT Award
The ICT Award, established in 2016, is a Nepal-based program that recognizes contributions to Information and Communication Technology. Projects compete across 15 categories, with the South Asia Startup ICT Award bringing together startups from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
A panel of 20 international experts evaluates submissions through a five-stage process: nominations from startups registered between 2021 and 2025, initial screening, detailed evaluation, final review, and the grand finale where winners are announced in mid-December in Nepal. In 2023, the South Asia Startup category received over 60 nominations from six countries, with five making the shortlist.
The Problem We Set Out to Solve
Bangladesh has 5 million small shops handling 97% of the country’s retail business. These shopkeepers and their families represent approximately 30 million people, contributing 30% of the nation’s GDP. Yet they face extraordinary challenges:
The Broken Supply Chain: Shopkeepers spend 33% of their operating hours often 6-8 hours daily just purchasing inventory. They must visit 10-15 different suppliers: agricultural markets for rice, Begum Bazar for oil, Karwan Bazar for other goods.
Lack of Transparency: Prices fluctuate without warning. Product availability is uncertain. Planning becomes impossible.
The Financing Gap: Banks refuse loans because these businesses lack formal records. Despite their economic contribution, they remain financially invisible.
In July 2021, amid a global pandemic, co-founders Asikul Alam Khan and Dipty Mandal decided this problem demanded a solution.
How PriyoShop Works
PriyoShop is a B2B marketplace that directly connects small retailers with brands and suppliers. The solution is simple but transformative:
- Shopkeepers order from their mobile phones or via app
- Products arrive at their shops the next day
- Every transaction is recorded, creating a digital financial identity
- Transparent pricing with no hidden costs
What previously required visits to 10-15 locations now happens through one platform.
Today, PriyoShop connects with 280 total brands including Unilever, Grameenphone, Banglalink, Pusti, Rupchanda, ACI, Savlon, Square and so on. We serve nearly 2,00,000 retailers, and process crores of taka in transactions monthly.
The Real Impact
The numbers tell one story. The voices of shopkeepers tell another:
“Previously, I spent 8 AM to 2 PM at markets. Now I place orders in 10 minutes and serve customers from my shop.”
“For the first time, a bank gave me a loan based on my PriyoShop records.”
Since our launch, retailers using PriyoShop have doubled their profit margins. But the most significant impact is this: we are creating economic identity. Through our partnership with LankaBangla Financing, we’ve launched an AI-powered credit scoring system that generates credit scores from shopkeepers’ transaction histories. For the first time, small retailers can access formal financing.
Why We Won
When PriyoShop applied for the ICT Award 2025, the jury recognized something beyond an app or a marketplace. They saw a solution addressing one of South Asia’s most fundamental challenges: empowering the informal sector.
Our innovation lies in accessibility, a Bengali interface, WhatsApp ordering, and embedded finance that meets shopkeepers where they are. Our scale demonstrates validation that nearly 2,00,000 retailers trust us with their businesses. Our vision extends beyond transactions; we’re building a complete ecosystem for small business success.
Building an Ecosystem, Not Just a Marketplace
As Asikul Alam Khan, our co-founder, often says: “We are not just doing business, we are creating economic identity.”
PriyoShop’s goal is creating a complete ecosystem where small business owners receive:
- Supply: Easy, timely access to products at transparent prices
- Financing: Bank loans based on digital records and AI-powered credit scoring
- Management: Digital accounting and inventory management tools
- Growth: Enhanced capabilities to serve their customers better
We believe that 60% of South and Southeast Asian GDP originates from supply chains. Modernizing and digitizing these supply chains can trigger massive economic transformation.
The Road Ahead
The ICT Award 2025 is a milestone, not a destination. Our targets are ambitious:
- Reaching every corner of Bangladesh so retailers everywhere get products faster and more reliably.
- Building a complete fintech ecosystem that gives small shop owners access to loans, digital payments, and financial tools they have always been denied.
- Empowering retailers to grow through better pricing, smarter inventory management, and insights that help them compete.
- Creating sustainable growth by building a business that’s strong, stable and reinvests in the people who depend on us.
We aim to bring 1 million shopkeepers onto the PriyoShop platform and achieve financial independence for every small retailer we serve.
Bangladesh’s Pride
This victory isn’t just PriyoShop’s, it belongs to every shopkeeper who trusted us, every team member who built this platform, and every Bangladeshi who believes our startups can compete globally.
When PriyoShop’s name was announced in Kathmandu, it proved that Bangladeshi entrepreneurs can solve real problems with world-class solutions, our innovations meet international standards, and empowering small retailers means empowering the entire economy.
Moving Forward Together
The ICT Award validates our journey, but the real work continues every day in every order placed, every shop onboarded, every loan approved.
When a nation’s small retailers can conduct business with dignity, transparency, and financial security, that’s not just business success. That’s social transformation.
PriyoShop is leading that transformation, one shop at a time. Bangladesh is moving forward and we are proud to be part of that journey.