Our Sherpur is a Zilla Website community startup that sells local products of the Sherpur district online. These products are- Tulshimala rice, Monda, Gurer Sandesh, and Chanar Payesh. Soon, Our Sherpur is planning to sell more products of Sherpur.
On 13 November 2018, Our Sherpur Zilla website started. Its sales operation started in 2020.
Every district of Bangladesh has its unique products such as crops and vegetables, foods, sweets, handicrafts, lifestyle products, etc. Many of these products are not sold outside because people do not know about them. As a result, these products are declining and many are becoming extinct. District websites can play a big role in promoting and selling these products thus reviving the local industry.
Promoting Sherpur District
Aside from selling local products of Sherpur, oursherpur.com promotes the district. The Zilla website regularly publishes a wide variety of content on Sherpur district ranging from history, historical sites, culture, interviews, favorite tourist spots, and local issues. Our Sherpur has become a “one-stop information source” in Sherpur district on the Internet.
With that idea in mind, in 2020, Md Daloare Hossain started selling Tulshimala rice, a fine aromatic variety of rice exclusive to Sherpur. It is the signature product of Our Sherpur. Sherpur farmers have been cultivating this rice for more than 100 years. Earlier, local Zaminders used to eat this rice. Later, wealthy people of the region started taking this rice on various occasions such as religious festivals, and family gatherings. Tulshimala rice is used to prepare polao, biryani, pudding, and sweet cakes. The aromatic flavor and high food value of this rice made it very popular.
In September of that year, Our Sherpur started selling Monda, another exclusive product of Sherpur. It is a kind of sweet made in Sherpur.
Both Tulshimala Rice and Monda were immensely successful which made Daloare Hossain very confident. Then added Gurer Sandesh and Chanar Payesh.
What is Our Sherpur business model?
Our Sherpur has a Facebook page. It regularly promotes its products in different Facebook groups since it is the most popular social network in Bangladesh. The startup gets most of its buyers from Facebook.
Soon, it will start selling products from a website as well.
What is the product of Our Sherpur?
Tulshimala Rice
All the products of Our Sherpur have been very successful and got glowing reviews. Its signature product, Tulshimala rice, is also its top-selling product. Till now, customers from 64 districts of Bangladesh purchased Tulshimala rice from us.
Monda
Monda is another successful product. This product was purchased by customers from Dhaka, Khulna, Sylhet, Tangail, Chittagong, Cumilla, and Narayanganj.
Gurer Sandesh
Gurer Sandesh is our super hit product from Sherpur. Sold in Dhaka city. Over a hundred customers we repeat.
Chanar Payesh
Our latest product is Chanar Payesh. It is a famous and historical product of Sherpur. Chanar Payesh is appreciated all over the country.
How do we gain the trust of customers?
At Our Sherpur we always focus on gaining customers’ trust. We regularly publish quality posts on social media about our products. We make sure that the products we sell are of good quality. We regularly collect our customers’ feedback. So far, Our Sherpur has 850 customer feedback, which has been very positive.
We organize customer meetups. Till now, we organized two such meetups and more than a hundred customers attended these events. We talked with them and collected their feedback.
Thanks to our efforts we have zero product returns and our customers pay us through Mobile Financial Services (MFS) and online banks. In Bangladesh, Cash-on-Delivery (COD) is the most preferred method for online shopping. COD exists because of a lack of trust among customers. Our customers do not use COD because they trust our website.
What is the uniqueness of the Zilla website?
Our Sherpur is a community startup. We have a Facebook page from where we sell local sweet items, fruits, and Tulshimala rice exclusively produced in the Sherpur district, Mymensingh. Our Sherpur is the only startup to do so. No individual or organization tried to sell these products before us.
By selling these products online we are helping the local people and contributing to the local economy. Thanks to e-Commerce many people outside Sherpur know about these products and purchase these products.
In addition, Our Sherpur has a website where we upload quality content on local tourist attractions, history, culture, people, and lifestyle. Our goal is to promote Sherpur and its products on the Internet.
What are the plans?
Our Sherpur is now working with the local Garo tribe and trying to revive their handloom products. Garo weavers produce excellent quality handloom products but lack of market access, and a decline in usage, forced Garo weavers to take up other professions. As a result, this great product is becoming extinct. Our Sherpur is planning to sell Garo handloom products online.
We want to sell our products all over Bangladesh and export abroad.
Who is the founder of Our Sherpur?
Md. Daloare Hossain founder of Our Sherpur born in Cumilla. His work in a marketing company took him to the Sherpur district in northern Bangladesh. After working for four years, he decided to start his online business in 2018. He started oursherpur.com but did not start selling products immediately. Daloare Hossain studied extensively about e-Commerce for the next two years.
What is Our Sherpur?
Our Sherpur is a one-stop information hub of the Sherpur district. It is a Zilla website startup. It provides all kinds information of about Sherpur like its own history, culture, tourism, liberation war, food, products, lifestyle, and others. It also seals district products around the country. Our Sherpur has become a one-stop information source in the Sherpur district online.
Why did we start the Zilla website?
We have noticed a lack of adequate information on the internet about Sherpur. In this age of technology, the availability of information on the Internet is very important. Relying on information and technology makes people’s lives easier and the economy improves. So we have started uploading the district’s permanent information, tourism, literature, and descriptions of potential products on the internet.
Who launched the first Zilla website in Bangladesh?
Md Daloare Hossain launched the first Zilla website in Bangladesh on November 13, 2018, to make Sherpur information available to all on the internet. He named it Our Sherpur. People do not have to suffer for any information. It will play a role in the economic development of the district.
Who gave the Zilla Website idea and when?
Razib Ahmed is the former president of the e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) and founder of Search English. He gave the Zilla Website idea in March 2018 to Md Daloare Hossain.
What is the achievement of Our Sherpur?
Md Daloare Hossain founder of Our Sherpur has won the ‘District Administrator Entrepreneurship Award 2021’ as the best young entrepreneur in the ‘District Branding’ category. On 16th June 2021, this crest and certificate were handed by Anar Kali Mahbub, Deputy Commissioner of Sherpur.