Many experiments are underway to ensure a dignified income from the work of multitudes of micro-entrepreneurs spread throughout the country. Many millions are members of cooperatives and others are the target of regular purchases by philanthropic, for-profit, companies which guarantee financial stability and the capacity to continue and expand their activities.
A complaint or a repeated desire of micro-entrepreneurs is that orders arise in the early days of knowing the work carried out, but they quickly end or are very uneven and there is a lack of continuity of sales.
A saying of wisdom is that “the best help to countries, that want to get out of chronic poverty, lies in buying from them what they produce” giving an acceptable price and continuing to buy as regularly as possible. What is said for countries, keeping the proportions, can be said of the micro or small enterprises.
It's easy to understand why: a craftsman somewhere in a rural or inland area knows how to produce well, in his art. These can be decorative objects, pieces of clothing or even beauty or skin care products; also typical sweets, jams, honey or mushrooms. All these things that are appreciated need a well-thought-out system to continue regular selling. The craftsman, centred in his small town and busy in producing, may not be able to ensure the continuity of sales, as he has no idea who else might want to buy it.
There is good experience in this domain that should be taken into consideration, to multiply acquisition and sale schemes, to guarantee the flow of sales at reasonable prices:
- Cooperatives among us, of the Anand model, which is the owner of the AMUL brand, were replicated through the NDDB-National Dairy Board Development. It was launched by PM Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1965, naming Dr Verguese Kurien, Director of AMUL, as its President. Such cooperatives provide a great social service, creating millions of micro-entrepreneurs. In villages, everyone knows to take the cows and buffaloes to graze and then, under all hygienic standards, milk the cows and take them in the morning and afternoon, to the village cooperative.
V. Kurien had the brilliant idea of giving the best, especially the compensation, to the farmer who brings the milk, paying on the spot, according to the volume and the fat content, never rejecting it for excess of supply, even when the production, as in times of rain is much larger (2,5 x) than in dry times. These policies encourage the cooperative members to get a loan to buy some more cows or buffaloes.
It is important to launch many more cooperatives: for vegetables and fruits, with refrigerated chambers, to keep some products to later deliver to the market; or to take to large cities, which are eager to consume quality products and, if possible, fresh.
It is known that during the pandemic, the Federation of Cooperatives planned to launch 100 new products under the AMUL brand. Given the good reputation for quality and brand recognition, in addition to affordable prices, such launches were a success. Among them honey, mushrooms, canned Indian sweets, cheese, various beverages, with or without milk... Because the basic idea was to take the cooperative members' income to double the previous values.
-Sahyadri Farms post-harvest care ltd, associates more than 15,500 marginal farmers, each with a small area of land. They sell their products to Sahyadri, who prepares, packs and sells them at their points of sale, sends them to large cities and exports others.
Sahyadri exports seedless table grapes and different other products to European countries, with the relevant certifications of the treatment processes. Grapes in India are available from December to June; Europe has grapes between September and October. So, having fresh, seedless grapes is a luxury! Sahyadri also exports canned or fresh mango slices, as well as fresh tomatoes or tomato concentrates. As we know in sunny countries the agricultural products are tastier and with brighter colours.
Acquiring and improving skills to manufacture certain products is a good start. It is then important to have someone who buys them regularly, at the pace of production.
- Fabindia has been doing that for over 60 years, mostly with industrial products. It buys from more than 55,000 artisans, in great variety, and sells them in its stores, large and well-located in cities with a high influx of buyers; and also via e-commerce, based on Apps that show photos of products, with their prices. In the Purchasing Centres, until recently 17 in number, the manufacturers receive some guidance, in what refers to quality, colours, and finishes, to make them more attractive and sellable.
It would be interesting to have more entities like Fabindia, mainly focused on exporting to European or American cities, especially for the Indian diaspora. Internally a little more competition could reinforce the ability to innovate and improve presentation and marketing.
I want to refer to something important: the role of some multinationals with a good presence in the country such as Amazon, Flipkart, e-Bay, etc., which have taken measures to sell much more, on certain festive occasions, with good discounts, stimulating production, given the high quantity they sell. They sell also toys typical of the country to internal or external customers. They allow producers to expose their electronic platforms and sell through them.
In some situations, unknown items had large requests and sales. “Amazon's e-commerce business in India, which released its annual report detailing the growth of its small and medium-sized sellers on the marketplace in 2020, said that 4,152 sellers surpassed Rs 1 crore (10 million rupees) in sales; while the number of 'crorepati' sellers grew 29 per cent year-on-year (YoY)”. This increased business creating more work and the need to train young people gives a clear message that such artisans can continue to work in their village, without having to move to the big cities.
Flipkart has given attention to training staff, especially artisan women, to present their products on the platform and to sell them. In a way, digitalization has entered small companies for the sake of survival and increased their sales.
Some artisans sell their jewellery on the e-Bay platform, whenever the design is attractive to the liking of the customer, who is often located far away from India. The internet has given much visibility and new possibilities to thrive to many jewel artists who otherwise would have to close their activity.
(The author is Professor at AESE-Business School (Lisbon), at IIM Rohtak (India), author of The Rise of India)