Why We're Building Dokaniai — Empowering Micro Businesses
Over 30 million micro businesses in Bangladesh operate without digital tools. Dokaniai is our answer — an AI-powered platform that brings enterprise-grade management to every corner store, pharmacy, and local shop.
Thirty million shops, one paper notebook
Bangladesh runs on micro business. The dokan on the corner stocks hundreds of SKUs, extends credit to dozens of regulars, and transacts more daily volume than many formal retailers — all recorded in a baki khata and the owner's memory. That notebook is honest, portable and never needs charging. It is also the reason most shops have no idea which item actually makes them money.
Why existing software never caught on
The market is not short of POS software. It is short of software built for the person actually standing at the counter. English-only menus assume an operator the shop doesn't have. Monthly fees priced for formal retail assume margins the shop doesn't enjoy. Feature tours assume an afternoon of training the shop can't spare. The mudir doesn't want a dashboard; she wants tomorrow's reorder list and tonight's baki reminders.
What Dokaniai does differently
Dokaniai starts from the counter, not the back office. The POS terminal is Bangla-first and operable with one thumb during rush hour. AI inventory learns each shop's own sales rhythm — festival spikes, weekend dips — and turns it into reorder suggestions before stock runs out. Analytics show margin per item, not just daily totals. WhatsApp automation sends invoices and baki reminders on the channel customers actually open. Payments speak the local rails natively: cash, bKash, Nagad.
The name is the strategy
We called it Dokaniai — the shop, plus AI — because the shop comes first in that sentence and in the product. Every feature has to survive one test: does it help the mudir sell the next item, restock the right thing, or collect the money she is owed? Anything else is software tourism. Try it with your own shop's data at dokaniai.com.