Here’s one for the books…
Its always great to see Gen Xers doing well. In every country around the world, young people born in the 1970s and 80s are making their mark, most often in the IT and Telecomms industries. Countries with large populations moving towards middle class provide the most opportunity for tech-savvy, young entrepreneurs with nothing to lose:: Russia, India, China, Indonesia, Brazil, the Philippines, Nigeria, South Africa – these developing nations are breeding grounds for some of the big trends of the future, and developed nations would do well to watch them closer than they do.
Of, course, the mere mention of China’s manufacturing might makes grown men cry. And India’s surge into call centers and outsourcing of white collar jobs has been nothing short of extraordinary. So, the warnings are there.
But, on a lighter note, so too are some interesting new approaches to getting customers interested in what you have to sell.
In an article in Business Week (9 May 2005) which highlighted the 20-something multi-millionaire owners of mobile phone retail chains in Russia (read it here), there were these intriguing sideline comments:
“Euroset emphasizes low prices and zany marketing… On certain days, the first 10 men and 10 women who come to a Euroset store undressed get free phones. ‘If we can raise a smile, we’ve already achieved our goal'”. If you think this is just exuberant youth speaking, that is from the founder, who is personally worth US$ 60 million (before his 30th birthday – he was a flea market stall owner just 9 years ago), heading up a $970 million company, which is Russia’s third bigget retailer (and its biggest mobile phone retailer). last year alone he increased his branch network from 328 to 1,177 stores. Oh, they’ve also understood that its not just about handsets, they’re also selling ringtones, games, melodies and other add ons for the phones.
But above all, they understand that its not WHAT they sell, as much as HOW they sell it that makes them the best these days.
Any questions?
