Microbusinesses

You might have heard about microlending from the papers or TV. I always thought that lending someone $50 or $100 was a good idea but doubted it's overall utility. That perhaps the example of someone in Africa borrowing enough to buy a cell phone and charging everybody in the village to use it was a singular case of microlending at its best. But if you look at my descriptions below, where these guys have a business going that costs a dollar or two to establish, then think about what $50 would do for them.

I think more about that when I'm walking around Delhi. I'm not sure how many employers there are, but I do know with next to nothing you can start a business. At the bottom of the business totem pole is the guy that bought a 2 liter bottle of cold Coke and a sleeve of plastic cups and sells while sitting against a wall where other food vendors are selling samosas, boiled eggs, momos, and other street vendor food. This guy won't get rich selling Coke, but he can restock his inventory quickly with part of his income.

There are a couple of guys who sell black berries on the street. Each has a basket of them and sitting on the sidewalk hawk them to everybody who passes. They look like black olives. Their capital outlay are a day's worth berries, the basket and some little baggies to dispense them in. If this guy got a loan, I'm sure he could get a bicycle truck and sell more than one kind of fruit. They must be doing at or better than their expectations because they are there every day with a full basket.

The next guy up the ladder has bought a cooler and several bottles of different drinks so he can offer a selection of cold beverages. I think he's the entrepreneur drink man – the cooler gives the customers confidence they're getting a glass that has the potential to be cold, unlike the first guy whose drink temperature is questionable.

There's probably a bit of space between this second guy and next one - the flower man I bought a bouquet from for the Singhs a couple of weeks back. This man is an artist – very picky about the arrangement. He arrives at work to a locked plywood box that is his stand. It is on the sidewalk between the shops and the wall separating the street. In the morning he unlocks his big box, puts up 4 sticks and a tarp over his stand as a roof. The flower distributor drops off a load of flowers probably 20 or 30 types, all fresh. And he fills buckets with water and starts unwrapping the flowers. He has other supplies like cellophane and ribbons and colored tissue paper. He did just as good a job as any in a flower shop with refrigerators and any other convenience. He has a source of water, flowers, buckets, wrapping supplies and his big box on which to make arrangements. His capital outlay is much higher than the Coke man, but think about it: A giant and secure plywood box on castors, a tarp, some sticks, scissors, knife and some wrapping papers. It isn't anything like renting a shop but he probably has some expenses like renting his part of the sidewalk and probably has to kick in the the man who runs the on-street parking (parking wala? Wala being a worker. The Chai wala delivers tea.) that the neighborhood uses. I'll tell you about him in a minute.

Finally I'll tell you what I've seen at the shops (bricks and mortar rather than tarps and plywood boxes). I've had 2 occasions to go to the fabric/sari shop. Once for my computer's slip cover and once to get a sling for Sam who hurt his arm. 100% cotton fabric at about $3 a square meter. This morning while sipping coffee, I saw the owners arrive. Mon, dad and son (in their 60s and 30s, respectively). Driving a very nice Toyota (subtext: upscale for Delhi). They pulled up to the stairs leading to the sidewalk through the wall in front of their shop and the parking wala came and helped them out and then parked their car in a much tighter spot across the street. They definitely got the VIP treatment. They have a lot of bolts of fabric, and a half dozen employees. How many kilometers of fabric does it take to buy a nice car after meeting expenses?  They must be doing it.

The parking wala supervises parking. Someone arrives in their car, he directs them into the spot. When they leave he blocks traffic and tells him how to back out. Same with bikes and motorcycles. He walks up and down the block all day long making sure parking is A-OK. I think some pay him periodically, you can tell they know each other, like the fabric family. Others slip him a little money per parking event. Every block has a parking wala if there is any kind of parking turnover. I guess that is how the world goes around here. Or maybe the parking wala prevents the bad drivers from scratching up the regulars' cars. So the parking wala has a business with $0 capital outlay. His personality must suit his career, but maybe that is his karma.