In the quiet early morning hours of a dusty Chittagong marketplace, Elias wiped sweat from his brow, preparing to open his tiny retail shop. His stall sold everyday essentials like rice, oil, and detergent. This is how he supported his family. Yet every month, Elias struggled. Struggled with what?
Struggled with many things. Since Chittagong is as fast-paced as Dhaka, the cost is as high as that of the metropolitan city. So suppliers often demanded upfront payments. The need for money is very important. If Elias were to go for bank loans, then it would mean stacks of paperwork and weeks of waiting. Sometimes, he’d lose potential sales simply because he couldn’t restock on time.
Like Elias, 50 million of micro-retailers in Bangladesh’s vast MSME sector have long faced the same dilemma. Working capital gaps, limited access to formal finance, and outdated supply chains—3 dilemmas that are often unbearable. It is not just a business challenge; it is a story of aspiration, persistence, and resilience in the face of structural financial exclusion.
Then came fintech, a force reshaping global finance, enabling access, speed, transparency, and opportunity in ways unimaginable a decade ago. Fintech is not just a buzzword. It is an ecosystem where financial services meet modern digital technology, where credit decisions happen in minutes, onboarding is done on a phone, and small businesses can compete with confidence. Across the world, from mobile wallets to AI-powered credit risk engines, fintech has ushered in a new era of inclusion and empowerment.
Among the emerging fintech heroes in Bangladesh, PriyoShop stands out not merely as a marketplace but as a financial enabler for MSMEs, deeply transforming how entrepreneurs like Elias live, grow, and dream.
From Supply Struggles to Digital Lifelines
PriyoShop began its journey as a B2B digital marketplace, connecting small retailers with major brands like ACI, Reckitt, and Square Toiletries. Instead of traversing crowded bazaars or negotiating with inconsistent middlemen, retailers could now order supplies online, manage inventories in real time, and streamline deliveries. This digital transformation eliminated outdated paperwork, manual tracking, and costly errors, saving precious time and money for small business owners.
But PriyoShop’s impact did not stop at procurement and logistics. The founders saw something deeper: MSMEs were digitally trading, yet financially excluded. Traditional banks viewed them as high risk. No collaterals, limited credit history, and paperwork processes that felt like solving a puzzle with missing pieces. For millions, even accessing a basic loan felt like chasing a ghost.
This is where PriyoShop’s fintech journey truly began.
Fintech: A New Pathway to Financial Inclusion
Fintech, at its core, leverages technology from digital identification and secure eKYC to AI-based credit scoring to bring financial services into the hands of those historically left out. Instead of relying on old-school bank procedures, fintech can evaluate a business based on real-time data: sales patterns, purchase behaviour, online transactions, and more. It makes lending inclusive, faster and fairer.
PriyoShop embraced this transformation and brought it directly into the lives of MSMEs.
eKYC: Faster, Simpler and Secure Onboarding
Imagine Sultana, who runs a small cosmetics shop in a bustling Dhaka street. She wanted to access digital financing but dreaded the thought of visiting a bank branch, filling endless forms, and standing in line all day. When PriyoShop introduced eKYC (electronic Know Your Customer), a digital verification system, her world changed.
Through secure digital authentication, Sultana could submit her identity documents, business details, and essential information online in minutes. No more banks, no more waiting; just a faster, safer path to financial access. eKYC ensured compliance, security, and speed, transforming onboarding from a week-long ordeal into a matter of minutes, all from her smartphone. This is fintech with a human touch.
AI-Powered Alternative Credit Scoring
PriyoShop didn’t stop at eKYC. In collaboration with InsightGenie and Community Bank Bangladesh, they launched the country’s first AI-powered alternative credit scoring system for MSMEs. This wasn’t a typical credit score based on old documentation. It was a dynamic, real-time evaluation engine tapping into purchase patterns, demographic data, psychometric insights and behaviour analytics.
Now imagine Jamal, a small retailer in Sylhet. His shop was his pride, but he never had a traditional credit history. When he applied for a micro-loan through PriyoShop, the AI system analyzed his business activity. His order history, payment patterns, and business behaviour and determined not just whether he could, but if he would repay responsibly. Within moments, Jamal received a fair credit assessment. a level of contextual understanding that banks traditionally couldn’t capture.
A New Era of Digital Micro-Loans
PriyoShop’s partnerships with banks like BRAC Bank further expanded the fintech impact. Together, they designed digital micro-loan services for micro-merchants that are fast, paperless, and without collateral. Using sales data from the PriyoShop platform itself, credit decisions became far more reliable and instantaneous.
For Elias, Sultana and Jamal, this was the ultimate financial freedom. Capital came in minutes, not weeks. No stacks of documents, no security guarantees. Just trust is backed by digital intelligence.
Fintech Beyond Lending: Embedded Finance and Growth Tools
PriyoShop also pioneered embedded finance solutions with partners like LankaBangla Finance and Mastercard, launching Bangladesh’s first MSME-focused credit card integrated directly into the merchant experience. This wasn’t just about borrowing; it was about empowering daily business operations with secure, flexible and scalable financial tools.
Such solutions helped MSMEs manage payments, access working capital and smooth cash flows, all wrapped seamlessly into a user-centric app.
A Future Built on Inclusion and Innovation
Today, PriyoShop isn’t just a marketplace; it is a fintech-powered ecosystem lifting MSMEs from survival to sustainable growth.
From simple eKYC onboarding to AI-driven credit assessments to digital credit and financial products, they’ve redefined what financial access means for small business owners in Bangladesh.
In a country where millions of retailers lacked access to formal finance, PriyoShop’s fintech journey is a powerful story of inclusion, innovation and impact.
PriyoShop is a reminder that when technology meets empathy and fintech meets real human stories, we unlock new possibilities, dignity, and growth for the backbone of the economy: the MSMEs.