Some reasons why you should not try to be an entrepreneur in Trivandrum, Kerala
God's Own Country needs God himself/ herself to come down (or teleport in) to save it. Talent is few and far between though graduates from engineering colleges abound. The mushrooming of engineering colleges in Kerala, promoted mostly by the current day robber barons here – their flagship businesses are mainly selling liquor, real estate development and influence peddling either through the political or religious hot buttons – has brought down the quality of engineering grads to a pitiable level. The lecturers in these colleges are usually those who graduated a year earlier and couldn’t find a job. And that too in a place where anyone with a beating heart can get a job. Which leads to another question – how in the world are IT companies that employ graduates with such low skill levels making money and paying them salaries? It is either because such companies have a tier of employees with several years of experience that actually do most of the work while the new recruits get trained for years, or they have some kind of magic wand that makes these tech illiterates productive overnight. I call them tech illiterate engineers because most of them do not have even a faint idea of what a tweet or a blog is, let alone Apple or Steve Jobs or Groupon. Sure they all know of Facebook because that is the only way they can make contact with girls in this sexually repressed society.
The few smart engineers graduating from the ‘good’ engineering colleges in Kerala would opt only for jobs at the Technopark since that kind of creates a halo around their personality and makes them worth more in the marriage market. Essentially, if you wish to go the tech start-up route in Trivandrum, you are in the wrong place.
If you are looking to start a non-tech knowledge economy related venture in Trivandrum, you will still not be able to attract talent that can write one paragraph in English. If you want employees who can use Excel to do quantitative analysis, you are again at the wrong place. I happened to interview two candidates from Kerala University’s management school here – they were in there last 6 months of their MBAs in Finance – who had never used Excel in their lives, though they had done their core finance courses and some electives as well.
If you want to try out a non-tech, non-knowledge economy related business like a restaurant in Trivandrum, the barriers to entry are pretty high. In order to rent a space for a sit down restaurant with about 80 seats, you will have to plunk down about Rs. 30 lakhs as a deposit for a 5 yr lease. Rents would run around Rs. 55,000 a month. If you want to put air conditioners in the restaurant, the electricity bill will run upwards of Rs. 30,000 a month. Chefs are easy to get but very low in skills and hygiene. Waiters are worse since Keralites are genetically very bad in customer facing situations. They wear their egos on their sleeves and try to drive away every customer that sets foot in the restaurant. If you want to serve a quality menu, you will be shocked. The Keralite family that eats out prefers only Barottas, Chicken Fry, Beef Fry, Biriyani and Meals. If you have anything else in the menu, you will scare them off. Also, the chefs here would be in the top 1% in the world in being able to make the same entrée in as many ways as there are days in a year. If you are looking for consistency, you have come to the wrong place. There are hundreds of restaurants in Trivandrum and several open and close every month. The only people who can afford to eat out are the ones employed in Technopark or those taking bribes – could be politicians, bureaucrats or police. With this limited market, to stay afloat for 12 months would be a gargantuan task even if you have deep pockets.
From my first hand observation of the situation in Trivandrum, the only folks who can be successful here are the politicians or politically connected businessmen or the gangster businessmen of who there are plenty. Democracy and liberalism run amok here. There is too much of both here – I say that because the least skilled in running a government get elected here, every election cycle and everyone has his or her freedoms in life except there is no chance for the average human to add to the local economy. Everyone knows his or her rights and exercises them to ensure that entrepreneurial dreams will never come to fruition in this coastal city.
The few smart engineers graduating from the ‘good’ engineering colleges in Kerala would opt only for jobs at the Technopark since that kind of creates a halo around their personality and makes them worth more in the marriage market. Essentially, if you wish to go the tech start-up route in Trivandrum, you are in the wrong place.
If you are looking to start a non-tech knowledge economy related venture in Trivandrum, you will still not be able to attract talent that can write one paragraph in English. If you want employees who can use Excel to do quantitative analysis, you are again at the wrong place. I happened to interview two candidates from Kerala University’s management school here – they were in there last 6 months of their MBAs in Finance – who had never used Excel in their lives, though they had done their core finance courses and some electives as well.
If you want to try out a non-tech, non-knowledge economy related business like a restaurant in Trivandrum, the barriers to entry are pretty high. In order to rent a space for a sit down restaurant with about 80 seats, you will have to plunk down about Rs. 30 lakhs as a deposit for a 5 yr lease. Rents would run around Rs. 55,000 a month. If you want to put air conditioners in the restaurant, the electricity bill will run upwards of Rs. 30,000 a month. Chefs are easy to get but very low in skills and hygiene. Waiters are worse since Keralites are genetically very bad in customer facing situations. They wear their egos on their sleeves and try to drive away every customer that sets foot in the restaurant. If you want to serve a quality menu, you will be shocked. The Keralite family that eats out prefers only Barottas, Chicken Fry, Beef Fry, Biriyani and Meals. If you have anything else in the menu, you will scare them off. Also, the chefs here would be in the top 1% in the world in being able to make the same entrée in as many ways as there are days in a year. If you are looking for consistency, you have come to the wrong place. There are hundreds of restaurants in Trivandrum and several open and close every month. The only people who can afford to eat out are the ones employed in Technopark or those taking bribes – could be politicians, bureaucrats or police. With this limited market, to stay afloat for 12 months would be a gargantuan task even if you have deep pockets.
From my first hand observation of the situation in Trivandrum, the only folks who can be successful here are the politicians or politically connected businessmen or the gangster businessmen of who there are plenty. Democracy and liberalism run amok here. There is too much of both here – I say that because the least skilled in running a government get elected here, every election cycle and everyone has his or her freedoms in life except there is no chance for the average human to add to the local economy. Everyone knows his or her rights and exercises them to ensure that entrepreneurial dreams will never come to fruition in this coastal city.
Comments
was that intentional?