We Achieved $2M/Month In Revenue And Doubled Our Team [150 Employees]

Published: June 30th, 2022
Fida haq
Founder, shurjoPay
$2M
revenue/mo
2
Founders
150
Employees
shurjoPay
from Dhaka, Bangladesh
started August 2010
$2,000,000
revenue/mo
2
Founders
150
Employees
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Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.

Hi, this is Fida Haq. I am the MD and CEO of shurjoPay - the very first online payment gateway company in Bangladesh!

ShurjoPay works as an aggregator between the customers and the merchants by bringing all the payment instruments available in the country under an umbrella and offering them as a package.

It’s now fair to say that shurjoPay is helping the country become a cashless society by being the tunnel between the end-users bank accounts and the platforms they want to transfer their money.

The common strategy for all the payment gateways is to develop a user-friendly system, right? What makes us unique is the commitment of every team member to ensure that the merchants get the best service.

That’s what helped us generate over $30M in the volume of transactions in 2021 and currently an average of over $2M/month in revenue.

shurjopay

Tell us about what you’ve been up to. Has the business been growing?

Well, a lot happened in the past year and yes, the business has thrived more than ever since its inception. In November 2021, we got certified as a Level 1 Service Provider as per Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS v3.2).

Therefore, the end-users can now make subscription-based recurring payments or monthly bill payments through shurjoPay without having to input the card information every time.

As a company, shurjoPay has gotten bigger and the number of employees has doubled as well. The milestones that we achieved so far would have never been met without the hard work and dedication that the employees have invested.

Employees always have valuable insights and need to be allowed to share them with the rest of the team

Although our main focus is now the government entities, e-Commerce, educational institutions, and the ones that will help us bring a rise to the revenues, we have also stepped into some new sectors to increase the company’s footprint in the market.

The marketing team has also been trying to keep shurjoPay popping up in front of the prospective merchants through different mediums - from news portal banners to dynamic billboards - the team is making use of them all.

Then there is our 24/7 customer service, which helped us gain the trust of the end-users of our merchants. We also have a Key Account Manager assigned for each onboarded merchant, who collaboratively helps the merchant to expedite their business growth. These additional supports for both merchants and their customers have played an imperative role in retaining the existing merchants.

We have also jointly launched an Education Management System (EMS) with a well-known bank in Bangladesh and currently serving more than 20 schools through that system.

shurjopay

A few of all articles shurjoPay got featured in since we last talked;

  1. The Business Standard
  2. The Daily Star

shurjopay

What have been your biggest challenges in the last year?

The biggest challenge for us was to gain back and commoditize the idea of people’s trust in making online transactions, given the scandals that surfaced around several e-Commerce companies.

In the past few years, some ponzi-scheme-like businesses had arisen in Bangladesh in the name of e-Commerce companies. After their malpractices were recently exposed to the nation, the whole situation created hesitancy towards online transactions in the general public’s minds.

For shurjoMukhi Limited, strong work ethics have always been the priority. We analyzed the situation immediately and developed an escrow model, so, that no end-users can ever be deceived by any business under shurjoPay payment gateway. We are now also very careful when onboarding any merchants to make sure they are not one of those ‘ponzi-scheme’ ones.

What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?

Of course, shurjoPay has had its fair share of facing trials and setbacks, but we learned from past mistakes and have tried to utilize the lessons learned from those. We have formed partnerships with different service providers to reach a greater audience and offer them a better service.

What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?

shurjoPay aims to uphold the vision of Digital Bangladesh by adding new and innovative fintech products/platforms and help the Nation towards a cashless society by making all the transactions go vastly digital or electronic.

For the upcoming year and the next 5 years, we have a lot of things planned as well as in the process of execution. shurjoPay plans on introducing its “QR code scan and pay” service for the brick-and-mortar merchants very soon.

With this service, we want to spread the reach of online and retail payment services at an affordable cost throughout Bangladesh and extend our services to the unbanked population of the unreached peripheries of the country. Data as collateral for small ticket size online lendings and repayments is another area we are very much interested in.

shurjoPay’s vision is to endeavor toward introducing new FinTech products and platforms to the market and help Bangladesh transform into a cashless society.

Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?

I believe an entrepreneur is someone who has a vision for something and the desire to create it. So, my suggestion would be to keep your vision clear at all times and build a team that shares your vision. Try to take action and create moments that relate to that vision.

As no one succeeds in business alone, you need to build your great team to bolster your success. Keep in mind that employees always have valuable insights and need to be allowed to share them with the rest of the team. That’s how you let your business grow!

Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?

Yes, shurjoPay has some open positions for designers and marketing executives.

We are seeking people who desire to share their skills and learn from others as we have a culture of learning and growing together.

For whoever is interested to join our team, keep an eye on shurjoPay’s official LinkedIn page and on its Bdjobs profile to be updated with new job openings.

Where can we go to learn more?

If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!