Cellphones are best beauty treatment

Survey of women micro-entrepreneurs reveals mobile phones upped profits of 82% beauticians in the city

Mumbai's beauticians claim they have found a magical new tool that has helped a whooping 82 per cent of them increase their business.

And no, it's not a new beauty treatment. It is the ordinary cellphone.

And it's not just beauticians. According to a recent survey by Monash University, Australia aimed at researching the role of mobile phones in women's micro-enterprises several female micro-entrepreneurs in the city swear by the benefits of the gadget.

A large chunk of the 185 businesswomen beauticians, tiffin-makers and fish traders surveyed claimed that using mobile phones had helped their business.

The survey threw up several interesting statistics (see table for more revelations), including the fact that cellphones had helped 82 per cent of the beauticians, 36.4 per cent of the tiffin-makers and 15.8 per cent of the fish traders increase their profits.

Versus landline

The survey also pitted the cellphone against the landline and found that while 41 per cent of the beauticians used only cellphones, 53.8 per cent used landlines too.

In case of tiffin-makers, 32.6 per cent used only cellphones and 50 per cent fell in the latter category. The fish traders said 39 per cent of them used the cell phone, while 11 per cent used both.

Pratibha Rane (33), owner, Peninsula beauty parlour, Ghatkopar, agreed with the results. "Cellphones really help us in our business.

I have two parlours one in Kalachowky and another in Ghatkopar. Cellphones make it easy for me to manage all my clients," she said.

Madhavi Pavaskar (50), tiffin-maker from Andheri, said, "I started my tiffin business a month back and it's growing rapidly because of mobile usage and Internet.
u00a0
My customers can call me to give details on the food they want and at what time. Mobile phones are very necessary if any housewife wants to carry on a business."

Status Of Group

According to the study, beauticians are the most well-off among the three groups of microentrepreneurs. Fewer than 10 per cent are below the poverty line and 70 per cent are non-poor.

The tiffin-makers are significantly poorer on average, with more than a quarter below the poverty line.

The koli fish traders are the poorest, with nearly two-thirds of them below the poverty line and fewer than 10 per cent in the non-poor category.

More revelations