Motor-Bazar is an online car classifieds start-up in Bangladesh. Its story began with a simple study to test whether people in Bangladesh would want to buy and sell cars online.

The start-up founders interviewed several car dealers and buyers and discovered a significant problem in the Bangladesh’s car market. Car buyers would typically show up to second-hand and reconditioned car dealers and make a quick decision to purchase a vehicle without much research.

This was surprising given that buying a car is one of the largest purchases many Bangladeshis would make in their lives. Consumers clearly lacked variety and choice to compare the best prices and quality of cars. Similarly, car sellers were looking for new ways to market their vehicles and increase sales.

Motor-Bazar’s aim was to develop an online community exclusively for car buyers and sellers to get together and achieve the best mutual outcomes. Car buyers would benefit from greater choice, convenience and cost-saving by searching a large variety of car listings on our website. Car sellers would benefit from higher sales, turnover and cost efficiency in running their businesses.

Why did Motor-Bazar choose to target the Bangladesh market ? The economics clearly made sense given Bangladesh’s middle-income population was

rising at a fast pace along with the country’s high GDP growth rate along with the dense population in the main cities. But the primary reason was due to the strong sense of entrepreneurship and resilience in the country.

Online classifieds worked well in developed markets like in the US, UK, Canada etc. However, bringing a similar concept to an emerging market like Bangladesh isn’t as simple as copying and pasting an existing model from the West to the East. According to Motor-Bazar its critical for start-up founders to adapt and tailor their business to the local country’s cultures, customs, and consumer behaviors to best achieve product/market fit.

The founders encourage aspiring entrepreneurs to work on their start-ups in Bangladesh as there’s no better time than now as the country’s tech sector is growing at such a rapid pace. As Motor-Bazar continues to grow, the start-up encourages other founders in Bangladesh’s start-up scene to consider three things:

1. Discover pain-points that everyday Bangladeshis face in their daily lives and come up with unique solutions to try and solve their problems.
2. Get inspiration from other start-ups that have succeeded but make sure to tailor your business model to address Bangladesh’s cultures, customs, and consumer behaviors.
3. Be active in a start-up network as founders have a greater chance of succeeding by learning lessons from other start-up founders and mentors.