MAKING PRIVILEGE PROGRAMS ACCESSIBLE

Abdullah Chowdhury started Royalty Bangladesh with a simple yet challenging mission to unify privilege programs all over the Bangladeshi market. His journey started in the summer of 2017, and through visionary-thinking and determination, his platform now hosts over 100 partners, offering members the best deals in town.

We caught up with the budding entrepreneur last week and this is what he had to share.

Tell us what exactly Royalty Bangladesh is?

Royalty BD is the first dedicated privilege card platform in the country that allows its users to find offers and discounts from a large selection of lifestyle service providers, be it the hippest new eat-out or the fanciest spa or resort. It helps users discover, experience, and save money at the same time. To find offers and discounts, simply visit our website (royaltybd.com) or download our app (RoyaltyBD) on google play or the app store. You can access all kinds of offers and discounts, all organised under one platform.

What made you bring your platform in Bangladesh?

The offers and deals market is very scattered in our country; we wanted to make it easier for everyone. Our partners receive a boost in marketing and reach, using our tech-enabled platform that allows customers in and around their location to easily discover their businesses. We also become partners for their loyalty program which helps all merchants retain and grow their customer base. Consumers love discounts and rewards, and we want to give them access to these privileges without them having to get an expensive credit card or club membership.

Tell us about Royalty Bangladesh's journey in short?

It all started with a plan on a piece of paper. Without over-thinking about the downside, we started off with two employees in a small office. We set things up and completed our website and expanded our team as we went along.

Confidence and belief are paramount for any startup, but I believe it was helped by continuous support from my parents and peers who gave me the strength to march on. I believe that a company's success is not just about the founder or the CEO; it's always about the team. My team is excellent and I'm happy to be working with an office full of fresh talents and bright minds.

Along the way, there were several difficulties and challenges, but we hung on as a team. Thanks to our perseverance and grit, today we are a team of 16 and are on stable footing. The vision with Royalty BD is still at its early stages and it's only going to get better with time.

How are the customers and businesses responding to your platform?

In a short span of time, we have managed to get an overwhelming amount of customer responses. Every week, we are signing with new partners, which shows that people had been waiting for a service like ours. We love it when our users tell us that we got them access to deals that saved them lots of money.

How is Royalty Bangladesh different from any other similar platforms?

Firstly, anyone can get our loyalty cards. Like I said before, you don't have to be a part of a bank or a club to get on our program. You can simply scan our card at a partner outlet or substitute the card with our "RoyaltyBD" app and avail those offers. We allow our customers to track the offers they have utilised and redeem points to avail even more exciting rewards. Our program is aimed at heavy lifestyle spenders and we hope to create concrete relationships along the way.

With the growing competition for loyalty programs, how do you manage to be authentic?

Our main aim is to engage and build a relationship between the customers and merchants while maintaining quality and integrity. To ensure the stability and reputation of our merchants, we follow a rigorous verification process by comprehensively authenticating their profiles and we opt to a similar approach when it comes to our valued users. We continually moderate the posts to filter out any kinds of scams.

What are your future plans? Where do you see Royalty Bangladesh in the next year or two?

For now, our initial target is to establish ourselves in the market which we have done to a large extent. We have some captivating ideas for Royalty Bangladesh that we hope to launch very soon. We are aiming to be the most prestigious and recurrent privilege service in Bangladesh.

Any advice for new entrepreneurs?

First, figure out the problem and then find the solution. When you have an idea, you must remain focused and be persistent on building what you believe in. And more importantly, never ever compromise on quality and integrity.