Narrative Approach to Study Business Model of Flower Sellers and Role of Micro Finance

Abstract

Flower sellers are part of Tamil culture. They are found in every town, predominantly women. Use of flowers for different festivals, occasions or as an expression of auspicious nature of event is part flock lore of Tamil culture. However, it is not restricted to Tamilnadu and may be generalized for other parts of India. However, their business models are least studied and seldom cared for by management researchers. One of the estimates indicates the flower market in Chennai is one hundred cores per annum providing employment to approximately one lakh thousand women. As predominantly the business is carried out by women with less education, narrative approach has been used to obtain information and make some inferences. The model given by Business Model Generation is used to discern different dimensions of business. For this study 20 flower sellers were interviewed – mainly about their background and their business model with Focus on how they manage their finances and role of micro finance. Also included in this report are insights from 3 others who are a part of the world of micro finance – Mr. Matt Duncan of the Grameen foundation, Ms Rebecca, centre leader of Equitas in Choolaimedu and Mr. Viswanathan, a local money lender or in international terms money shark. Some of the results are counter intuitive; they prefer the money shark. The inferences are given in the form of points to ponder on what should be done by state, administration or civil society to help these millions who are just have no voice or just not worthy to reach except during elections.