Small Business IDEAS in India 2014
Though we obsess about corporate jobs with high salary packages, a large percentage of men and women in India get their income from small business ideas that they’ve tapped into to launch their small-scale home businesses. Some of them are gender specific, while a large number aren’t.
If not, pick up a copy after reading this post. It’s a story about management consultants trying to turnaround an underworld organization.
It’s a fun, spicy read that introduces management ideas without making them sound like a boring MBA class.
While the story is bizarre and fictional, you’ll realise that the basic principles of operations and management strategy can be applied to any business.
Whether it’s this fact that inspires the entrepreneur in you or any other reason, it’s a good time to explore some of those business ideas that don’t need a lot of money to start.
When you are thinking of how to start a new business, whether small scale or big, the immediate pre-requisites that pop into the mind are – capital (startup money) and space (e.g. office, shop). If you already had those, you would’ve been busy minting money now and not reading this article. So, let’s explore what you can do when you don’t have a lot of money or spare space to launch your new business.
Later in the article, we also share a few free resources that we’ve created for you to test & build the skills needed to run your own business.
For starters, here’s a list of the best low cost small business ideas for men and women in big cities and small towns of India.
10 Good low-cost small business ideas for men & women in India
Unlock the content below, your dream idea might be hidden in the 10 ideas we’ve shared.Small Business Idea 1: HR services
Big companies do it. Small ones do it too. No, we aren’t talking about employee exploitation. One step before that. Recruitment.
Some have relationships with big recruitment firms. But many reach out to the employment pool in India through a network of independent headhunters. The supply side (employees looking for new jobs) is crazy. Start off on the demand side instead.
If you can establish contacts with a few small companies in your neighbourhood that don’t have a dedicated recruitment team, you’d have something that you can present to professionals in your network. The best part is that your network will only grow.
In fact, your client company will do its little bit by making life tough for the same professionals you placed, so both will come back to you with requests for new opportunities. It’s a self-sustaining process!
Idea 2: Kids related small business
Just because your clients are half your size doesn’t mean they can’t give you twice the amount of grief and pain. Ask their parents, who’d be more than happy to part with their prized possessions for a few hours in return for some peace and quiet.
Most crèches in smaller localities are started in homes. Several parents may prefer a smaller, more intimate setting to leave their kids while they are aware at work.
Apart from regular babysitting, you could provide (MBA buzzword alert!) ‘value added services’ ranging from providing nutritious food, support with their homework or teaching them new skills depending on the kids’ skills and their parent’s paying capacity (craft, dancing, painting, political analysis frameworks).
Idea 3: Senior Citizen Services
All the media publications might be talking about how the average Indian is in the mid-twenties. But the fact remains that we have a lot of senior citizens who could use a little help.
