Building a human capital operating system for students

This article is a part of Startup Spotlight, a series that features young, up-and-coming startups.

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Growing up in Dhaka in a family that prized education, Shahir Chowdhury later spent over a decade in London in banking and private wealth at Barclays and HSBC. 

Noting how digitization transformed finance led him to ask whether the same could happen to Bangladesh’s education system, he returned to Bangladesh to build Shikho to scale educational access.

😟 Problem

Bangladesh allocates just 1.5% to 2% of its GDP to public education. More than two-thirds of the country’s 14 million secondary students live outside major metropolitan areas.

These rural students lack access to the high-quality teachers and institutions concentrated in cities like Dhaka. Consequently, over 80% of secondary students rely on private tutoring, creating an unequal system where educational quality depends heavily on geography and household income.

💡 Solution

Shikho operates an after-school learning platform for students from class six through university admissions. The company unifies digital education, physical books, and connected devices to deliver structured curriculum graphs that continuously map student proficiency. 

The platform provides several integrated learning capabilities, including:

• Live interactive classes and recorded video lessons.
• Practice quizzes, performance analytics, and e-books.
• AI-powered learning assistance to identify topic-level weaknesses.
• Printed textbooks featuring QR codes linked to app-based assessments.
• Dedicated learning tablets designed for families sharing a single smartphone.

Image credit: Shikho

📊 Market size

Bangladesh has a population of 170 million people, with more than 85 million under the age of 25.

The country’s total education market is estimated at US$16 billion. Supplementary private tutoring accounts for roughly US$2 billion annually due to structural shortages in quality school supply.

🤝 Team

• Shahir Chowdhury. Founder and CEO. He is a CFA charterholder and former director at HSBC UK Private Banking.
• Ishmam Ahmed Chowdhury. COO. He previously worked at Grameenphone, the largest mobile operator in Bangladesh.
• Md. Enamul Islam Rehan. Director of academics. He brings over 14 years of teaching experience and previously worked as a senior trainer at Udvash.

🚀 Traction

🏆 Competition

💰 Financials

🚩 Risks