Turning 18 is an important milestone for most teens. For GenZ, things haven’t been all that rosy. With the pandemic in play, many are stuck in their bedrooms, glued to devices or struggling with the crumbling job market. Despite the many constraints, a few are crossing horizons with resilience. Indian GenZ has started setting up their own small businesses.
Ranging from running thrift stores to home-bakeries, these small businesses are helping them strengthen their prospects in uncertain times. According to the Isobar-Ipsos #MeetTheZ Survey report released in March 2020, Indian GenZ spends an average of eight hours per day online. Of the ones surveyed, about 55 per cent said life runs on technology.
Interestingly, 73 per cent of those who participated in the survey showed keenness to pursue an unconventional career path with 80 per cent of them expressing the willingness to put their hearts and soul into achieving their career goals. They are making the most of the lemons they have been handed and making lemonade via Instagram shops — and how!
Let The Resin Play
Using resin, a viscous substance, to bring imagination to life has captivated the imagination of GenZ attempting to run their own small businesses. Shaping up resin with sparkles and charms floating about, these businesses often offer a high degree of personalisation, which sets them apart from the e-commerce giants. Instagram stores resinartifice, blazhenystudios, resinlocal create coasters, bookmarks, trays, keychains, flower-pressed resin pendants and earrings, among other items.
Scrunch It
Targeted towards anyone with long hair: straight, curly or wavy; small businesses selling scrunchies are an interesting lot. The scope of the product range being niche, they can focus on innovation in design and packaging, offering unique products to customers. In most cases, scrunchies are spun into shape by the sellers; helping them find multiple content touchpoints to exploit via Reels. Scrunchie brands worth checking out include style.your.wayy, rutba.scrunchies, the.crafty_hand, all of whom are selling online via Instagram.
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Thrift’s The Way
Bombarded with messaging around depleting resources, Indian GenZ is arguably more concerned about the environment than the generations before them. The fashion industry, especially with the added pressures of looking good for Instagram, is adding to it a great deal. This is where thrift stores have found their niche. Small business owners are getting to play stylists and show off how their products would look on all body types. Some brands that you can check out include kifaayātt, evergreenthriftindia, thrifty.tales
Baking For Good
Holed up in homes, many made their way into kitchens to bring the best recipes to life. To experiment to heart’s desire and get tangible edible results of all the hard work being put in. The same phenomenon has pushed some to create small businesses and share the joys far and wide. Given the small scale, they offer personalisation as well as add a touch of love to their goods. Try out brands like crumbsbysahej, bakingparadise.chd, cariocake.
Selling Supplies
As the world experimented and made products worth selling, a market for raw products opened up and some Indian GenZ leapt at the chance. The focus of these small businesses is to support the imaginative powers of people and facilitate innovative creations. This is something that reflects in their Instagram content as well. Check out brands like workdeartstudio, papyrus_cotton, brwn.c.o.
