Business Acumen Part 2 : Going Bananas

Sometime in 1983 my older brother Beski had started banana business. He bought about 10 bunch of raw bananas (the whole stem), he would ripen them at our garden, and then would supply it to the grocery stores and tea stalls nearby. As his business increased, he built a small room where he could keep about 100 - 120 bunches of bananas (each weighing between 5 kilos to 20 kilos). This room was specially designed. It had no window. Just a tiny door of about 24 inches wide and 36 inches tall. It also had a small hole on top and came down like a tube; one cannot see the hole. The tube structure reached the ground level and was exposed down below. 

He would buy the raw bananas from Athoor market where the auction took place around 2.00 a.m (you read it right), and then he would bring them by a rented bullock cart or occasionally a tractor, while he returned by his bicycle. The bananas reached by early morning. I would join him to put all these to be stacked inside the room.  Once all the bunches were stacked, we would seal the room with the small door, and put little mud all around so that no air can escape in or out. Then the fun started. We would burn few dry banana leaves that came with the bananas at the exposed portion of the tube. It was important not to set too much of fire, but there should be lot of smoke. The smoke would go up through the tube into the room. We had to do it just for about 2 minutes, nothing more. This was good enough. The smoke would remain inside, and keep the bananas warm.

Next morning, when we opened the door, the bananas were ripe. My brother would personally reach all the bananas to shops in our village, neighboring villages and the nearby town. However, as demand increased, and that he could not reach so much to some shops, he would ask me to drop a few of those bunches (it was always carried in whole bunches along with the stem, not just the hands) to known shops. He gave me a rupee per bunch. I saw that there is a business opportunity here.

Sometimes, the smaller bunches with less than or around 50 bananas or smaller sized ones were not much in demand. We would be sitting around a whole bunch of bananas and finishing them all. But, still there was more as he had to take the whole lot in auctions. He can't be choosy there. Often the smaller bunches came at an average cost of 50 paise to one rupee (100 paise = 1 Indian rupee). On Sundays and on holidays, I would make a deal with him. The deal went like this.

Say, he had 10 bunches, and the total purchase cost was 8 rupees. I would agree with him for a sale of the same at 15 rupees with 20% commission, and anything above that would be mine! I would take all these bunches on our tri-cycle that we had, and would place myself around 8.45 / 9.00 am outside the fish market in the village. It is the time when maximum number of villagers came to the market to buy the fresh catch of fish. I would start yelling standing on the street near the tri-cycle, calling them out to buy the bananas. The best one would go at 5 rupees, and the not so good ones would go at 2 rupees. I would end up making about 30 - 40 rupees in about 30 - 40 minutes.

Once I am back, I would take out exactly 12 rupees that I would give to my brother. Account was cleared: 20% of the agreed sum of 15 rupees was 12. So, he got 12 (4 rupees in profit), and I got anywhere between 17 - 25 rupees. When he comes to know from the villagers or often from me that the people got good bananas at just 5 rupees, he would be in shock! He would come back and ask me what was my total sale was, and ask for the 20% of the whole sale. But, I would insist that, what was agreed was agreed! And my parents too supported. He was fun! We loved each other so much, and he would always ask me to take more bananas to the market!

After my father's death, this business model helped me a lot to save money for my education. I remember him fondly today. 

Post-script: Unfortunately, his business did not last long.  It was sometime in late 1986, he was robbed of about 3000 rupees that he had taken for the auction to buy more bananas. The business came to a grinding halt within few months, as he could not catch up with the business loss.