Ecolet to Invest $15.91 Million in BEPZA Economic Zone for LED Manufacturing

Star Business Report, Dhaka — Bangladeshi company Ecolet (Pvt) Limited has signed an agreement with the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) to invest $15.91 million in setting up an LED products manufacturing facility at BEPZA Economic Zone-1 in Mirsharai, Chattogram — a move that adds a new high-value technology sector to the export processing zone's product basket and supports the broader push to diversify Bangladesh's export base beyond readymade garments.

The agreement was signed at the BEPZA Complex in Dhaka on 27 August 2026, with Md Tanvir Hossain, Member (Investment Promotion), signing on behalf of BEPZA, and Mohammad Soliman, Managing Director of Ecolet Limited, signing for the company. BEPZA Executive Chairman Major General Mohammad Moazzem Hossain witnessed the signing ceremony.

💡 Project Specifications

The proposed facility at Mirsharai will produce 6 million LED bulbs, lamps and decorative lighting products annually, primarily targeting export markets in:

• 🇺🇸 United States
• 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
• 🇪🇺 European Union
• 🇲🇶 Middle East

The project is expected to create direct employment for 306 Bangladeshi nationals, while introducing technology-oriented electrical and electronics manufacturing to the BEPZA Economic Zone — a category that has historically been under-represented in Bangladesh's export portfolio, where electronics accounted for less than 2 percent of total merchandise exports in FY26.

🏛 BEPZA's Diversification Push

Welcoming the investment, BEPZA Executive Chairman Major General Mohammad Moazzem Hossain praised Ecolet for undertaking a non-RMG manufacturing initiative and contributing to the diversification of Bangladesh's export-oriented industrial base. He said BEPZA is working to broaden its product basket by attracting investment in sectors beyond traditional export industries.

"The inclusion of LED products will add a new dimension to our ongoing efforts towards product and export diversification," Hossain said at the signing ceremony. The project will bring technology-oriented electrical and electronics manufacturing to the zone, contributing to the expansion of the country's export product portfolio.

💰 Strategic Context: Why LED Matters

The Ecolet investment is strategically significant for several reasons:

• 📡 Global LED market growth: The global LED lighting market is projected to exceed $130 billion by 2030, driven by energy efficiency mandates and the phase-out of incandescent bulbs across major economies
• 📱 EU Eco-design directive: The European Union's tightening of energy efficiency standards for lighting products has created sustained demand for compliant LED imports from low-cost manufacturing hubs
• 💡 Bangladesh's energy transition: The gas and power crisis affecting Bangladesh's traditional RMG supply chain makes lower-energy LED manufacturing a comparatively resilient industrial segment
• 🏛 Mirsharai EZ positioning: The BEPZA Economic Zone at Mirsharai sits adjacent to the Chattogram-Cox's Bazar industrial corridor, providing direct port access for export shipments

👥 Senior BEPZA Officials Attend

The signing ceremony was attended by senior BEPZA officials including:

• 👥 Abdullah Al Mamun, Member (Engineering)
• 💰 A N M Foyzul Haque, Member (Finance)
• 🏢 Moshiuddin Bin Mesbah, Executive Director (Enterprise Services)
• 👥 Samir Biswas, Executive Director (Administration)
• 📞 A S M Anwar Parvez, Executive Director (Public Relations)

alongside senior BEPZA officials and representatives of Ecolet Limited. The senior attendance underscores BEPZA's strategic priority on attracting electronics and technology-oriented FDI into its economic zones network.

🚢 Mirsharai Economic Zone Context

BEPZA Economic Zone-1 at Mirsharai is one of the flagship industrial zones developed under the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) framework, designed to host export-oriented manufacturing with access to Chattogram Port. The zone has, in recent years, attracted investment commitments across pharmaceuticals, agro-processing, and light engineering — with the Ecolet LED project marking its entry into the electrical and electronics manufacturing category.

🌏 Export Diversification Imperative

The Ecolet investment aligns directly with the strategic objective articulated in Bangladesh Bank's latest Quarterly Review of Readymade Garments: the need to broaden the country's export product base ahead of LDC graduation in November 2026. With RMG accounting for over 84 percent of merchandise exports and facing stiffer global competition, the development of an electronics and LED manufacturing cluster — even at modest initial scale — provides a strategically important second pillar of export-oriented manufacturing capacity.

The project also demonstrates the role that BEPZA's economic zone framework can play in attracting mid-sized ($10-50 million) FDI commitments into Bangladesh, particularly from Bangladeshi-origin investors looking to scale up technology-intensive manufacturing for export markets. The combination of fiscal incentives, bonded warehouse access, and streamlined regulatory processes within the EZ framework reduces the entry barrier for investors in new product categories that the broader domestic tariff area does not offer.