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by Rajen Kumar

No Escaping Social Media

Running a magazine concentrating on issues of small and medium enterprises and managing with limited resources is a like living life on the edge. In this rush of meeting deadlines,...

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Apr 2012

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Focus

How a micro entrepreneur faces slowdown and recession.

Feb 2009

Poverty made Raghu sell most of his land in his village, Batala, near Amritsar. Left with little land to till, he was finding it difficult to make both ends meet. Wife, two sons and two daughters comprised his family. With a heavy heart, he advised his elder son, 18, to go to a city for work. This happened nearly 50 years ago.

Hardly educated, Raghu came to Delhi and started business of selling roasted peanuts and grams on a shoulder-held balance-like cart. He chose a colony in Delhi to concentrate on work. He would make rounds of street after street with the cart resting on his strong shoulders. His business grew by the day. He would regularly send money to his father. A good ten years saw him in the streets of Delhi with his cart on his shoulders. He called his younger brother to join his business. Together the two brothers, with hard work and determination, made their business flourish. Soon they decided to purchase a small shop in the locality. Their shop became popular. They decided to set a well-planned schedule for them.

Raghu's younger brother would purchase the raw material from the market and roast them in the shop while Raghu managed the customer. Soon they realized the shop was too small for their growing business. They purchased another bigger shop nearby. They eventually added more items. The shop became an attraction in the market.

They kept saving money. Their two sisters were married off and father spent a retired comfortable life back in village.

Today, the shops are managed by Raghu's and his brother's children and they have given employment to five others. “How is the work going on”, I asked Raghu. “With God's grace it has always been good”, Raghu told me with bright eyes. “What was the secret of your success?” I asked him driving him into a discussion. “We have always done hard work and we saved money regularly. Otherwise how could we get our sisters married”, he gave me a simple logic.

“Haven't your profits decreased now as people, everyone says, are not spending money the way they used to?”, I ask him again. “You are right, the business is not that rosy as it used to be, but then we don't worry about that,” and was quick to add, 'it cannot be the same business all the time. After all, seasons also change. It is sunny now and at times it is dark.” “How do you meet the expenses when your sales plump.” He gave me a comfortable laughter and replied quickly, 'What have we been doing all these years? If we can't manage difficult times then what's the use of doing business” and added “business is all about lows and highs and if we panic then we are not doing business.” I asked him yet more, “ you must have lot of time now since business is low and how do you spend spare time now?”

He answered, “where's the time? Now we go to the market and look for better bargains and explore if we can add more items to our inventory. Earlier, we had hardly any time to look around.”

"Additionally, we are also thinking of extending our shop making more room, he says coolly. I ask him, "why now? Things are so difficult." He replied, "What could be a better time than now? All the material - cement, iron and the like - is cheap now. Why wait? Who knows what will happen to prices later. Spending now from our savings makes it so beneficial."

His logic was simple and clear. Here is a micro entrepreneur who faced near starvation fifty years go. Today he is managing a flourishing business affording employment to many and he knows well how to face crisis. Slowdown has slowed his business too but he is happy and making full use of the slowdown to make his business better. He knows his future is secured.

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