V-PUL and Tick-Tock toy wire Mumbai
A few months back, a stubbled, droopy-eyed, Gujarati businessman called Vipul bhai came by to our offices selling custom-made brochures, giveaway pens etc. And we gave him a try. Though he typed up "Saeson Greetings" on some gift boxes (we returned, he corrected for free), he did a pretty cool job. Everytime he comes, he shows me something new that he's made for some marquee company. He looks keenly at how my eyes move and face changes to push or pull back a product or cross-sell another. Here's how it goes...if I muse over expensive-looking pens, he'll say don't worry about the cost, pay me later...if I play with a woody gift box, he'll cross-sell "hannggrave" pens and keychains to go with it. Yesterday, we talked about scale and all the good stuff...and he told me his business principles: 1) Profits: He will make profits on every single deal - that's super important to hedge losses 2) Goodwill+Branding: He will always giveaway samples and items for personal use free 3) Customer-service: He will be available at anytime of day/ night for a customer of any size. He will always, always follow-up 4) Sales: It's the lifeblood of his business, so he sells everyday - mainly through references. He's not pushy but he'll casually call. 5) Globalization: He sells in Nigeria sometimes. He actively plays close attention to how global companies make products.
Net-net: His revenues are $120,000/ year (more than an ave. MBA pay) and he works by himself.
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When driving from South to North or back in Mumbai, ever wonder why there's consistency in the products sold at the stoplights? For example, currently they sell a blow-horn+mask that perks up the ears of the mask as one blows. World and India maps are sold near restaurants. Another is a tick-tock sound making toy sold only by blind men and women at train stations or shopping streets. A weighing device for measuring up to 1 kilogram sold by young men. Teenage kids selling pirated books of the latest business best sellers near stoplights/ airport. There's acute consistency in one end of the city to the other - in hiring (type of salespeople), in sales process (how it's sold), place (types of places it's sold), and of course, price and bargaining room. It is not very difficult to imagine that there's a hidden world envisioning this product cycle (how do you decide that the customer will buy tick-tock toy?) and hiring similar types of people and sending them out to the city to sell, sell, sell. Taking just one product, the revenues might hit close to Rs.200,000/ day or Rs. 6,000,000 ($135,000)/ month (back of the envelope). It definitely calls for a dekho!
These are only two examples of the unseen economic world in Mumbai and similar cities that actually wire their local economies and run them.
Net-net: His revenues are $120,000/ year (more than an ave. MBA pay) and he works by himself.
*
When driving from South to North or back in Mumbai, ever wonder why there's consistency in the products sold at the stoplights? For example, currently they sell a blow-horn+mask that perks up the ears of the mask as one blows. World and India maps are sold near restaurants. Another is a tick-tock sound making toy sold only by blind men and women at train stations or shopping streets. A weighing device for measuring up to 1 kilogram sold by young men. Teenage kids selling pirated books of the latest business best sellers near stoplights/ airport. There's acute consistency in one end of the city to the other - in hiring (type of salespeople), in sales process (how it's sold), place (types of places it's sold), and of course, price and bargaining room. It is not very difficult to imagine that there's a hidden world envisioning this product cycle (how do you decide that the customer will buy tick-tock toy?) and hiring similar types of people and sending them out to the city to sell, sell, sell. Taking just one product, the revenues might hit close to Rs.200,000/ day or Rs. 6,000,000 ($135,000)/ month (back of the envelope). It definitely calls for a dekho!
These are only two examples of the unseen economic world in Mumbai and similar cities that actually wire their local economies and run them.
posted by pravs at 3:02 AM
1 Comments:
You're right in saying that there is a pattern. An underground economy has always been virally existent in India. The key would be plug these SMEs into the larger financial flows of the economy. Each rupee possible has to be tracked to uncover the capacity/potential of the economy.
And maybe, government tax revenues will consequently increase =)
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