10 low-investment business opportunities for small towns 
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10 low-investment business opportunities for small towns Indian small towns are struggling with job opportunities.There is a high influx towards big cities for jobs in multinational companiesor better business opportunities. But with urban landscapes failing to providerelief in terms of living standards, a lot of young working people areconsidering going back to the good old small town. But how do you deal with thelack of job opportunities? You create them.
Though India features among the top three start up hubs ofthe world, Indian small towns are still reluctant towards new avenues in business. Unlike bigurban settlements, small towns react to start-ups in a very different way. Eachcity has a certain character to it and hence different requirements.
Here are 10 low-investment business ideas that will help yougrow in a small town:
Food Trucks
Food trucks are not an entirely alien concept to smalltowns. Reminiscent of old-world 'thellas', food trucks are mobile eating jointsthat can offer unique cuisines at a fairly reasonable price. The mobility of a foodtruck allows it to place itself at different locations at an ideal time. Forinstance, a food truck can park outside a school in the afternoon and later inthe evening, outside an office.
Food trucks are a perfect small budget business as you neednot to invest in real-estate.
Ice Cream Parlours
Ice cream never goes out of demand. A tiny little ice-creamparlour is an ideal low-investment venture. They need minimal space, basicequipment and low-staffing, making it a perfect small investment option. Ownerscan chose specific themes and types of ice-creams that are not easily availablein the city. Ice-cream parlours work great around cinema-theaters or a popularfood joints.
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Pre-Schools
Pre schools can be opened in small domestic spaces with aonetime investment on safety and educative material. A good pre-school which isinnovative in its ways of teaching will surely attract working parents. Onestrong disclaimer though, owning a pre-school is a huge responsibility andrequired undivided attention on the children.
Laundry Services
Laundry services require a relatively higher onetimeinvestment but the costs can be recovered quickly. Initially, you can lurecustomers with cheaper yet quality services. A pick and drop service will beessential to spread the reach of your customer base. To attract the eye ofcustomers you might want to offer complementary services like a small cafe orreading room for people who'd like to wait while the washing happens.
Bookshops+Cafe
Combination of bookshops and cafes has been a big hit in afew metro cities but most Indian small towns are yet to experiment with thisidea. With a growing culture of dating, these bookshop-cafes can prove to be anideal meeting point to meet a person for the first time.
House cleaning services
Applications like UrbanClap and Haptik have opened a whole newdimension of how we work around cooking and cleaning services. But theseservices are severely limited to big cities and even restricted to only certainparts of the metro cities. Opening a new cleaning services via a website or atelephone service shouldn't demand for huge sums of investment.
Tourism
Though this option is highly dependent on the location ofthe small town, most Indian towns have enough character to attract tourists,especially old cities. Venturing out for detailed city-tours, heritage walksetc. can be prove to be a profitable low investment, but involves high stakesin terms of time and knowledge. Opening themed stay options is another good wayto cash-in the tourist influx.
Fitness centers
Social network is as big in small cities as in metro citieslike Delhi and Mumbai and fitness is one of the trends that have percolated tosmall towns. Though fitness centers will demand a one-time heavy investment andpretty low maintenance charges.
Internet services
Big or small, no town can survive without this commodity.The internet has made it big in all towns in our country with smartphonesgranting reach to the narrowest of avenues. Despite service providers likeAirtel, Vodafone and now Jio, there is a serious dearth of good internetservice providers for home appliances and PCs. This can be turned into aserious business opportunity. Though this particular business might involve aslightly higher investment, the returns are assured, given the service is good.
Trash Management
Where this might seem too unglamorous for many, it is definitelya need of the hour. Most cities are plagued with bad trash management. Segregationat the base level is crucial to better waste management and surprisingly italso provides a good margin. People interested in such a venture can evencollaborate with local authorities to maximise profit and minimise effort.
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