There are two kinds of disappointments to those with an entrepreneurial bent. One - the “in retrospect” kind and another - the “ideated but un-executed” kind. The first kind is where you look at something that just happened and say “that is so obvious”, and the second kind is where you look at something and say “I came up with this n years ago but it never went beyond the boundaries of my mind”. Given that both these situations are rather painful - I have decided to start sharing thoughts and ideas that pop into my mind that might be of some entrepreneurial value. If not me, maybe someone would like to make them happen. At the least, they are out here - rather than go stale in my head. Here is the first of this series:

One of the easier ways to become successful in an increasingly flat world is to identify a new market that has deep parallels to a mature one - understand the deltas and trends really well and apply the lessons learnt from the mature market to the new one. With that in mind, I think recycling is going to be a HUGE business in India. If I were an entrepreneur or investor looking to make an investment I would make one in the trash and recycling business. I know of many stories where people made millions in this business in the developed world. The same story could be easily emulated in a place like India. I saw some smaller trash picking operations while I was in Hyderabad and there are some global trash companies investing - but someone local with deeper pockets and a good understanding of the human resource situation who executes systematically would be able to reap huge rewards in a place like India. Some interesting execution points would be to (a) lobby government to bring about trash and recycling laws (b) make big pushes in terms of creating a brand name that is clearly associated with trash and recycling (like xerox is to copying) (c) create a profit sharing franchisee model to tap into the large low cost work force.

Further reading:

French Garbage Company Disrupts Community Initiatives

India’s tech trash heap - .net magazine (I wonder what part of a computer has grease)

Garbage too can make you rich