After years of work, living a frugal life in Middle East, you are at your wit’s end – tired, longing to return to your native land! Yes, you have saved some money, but not much. And with this saving, you are planing to return a start a new life, a new beginning. So, what are the options you have?

In such a scenario, the first choice would be to return home and do some business. But, we all know Kerala is not a great place to do a business. Nevertheless, Kerala is a consumer market and there is opportunity to sell products or start a service oriented business.

So, what business will you do in Kerala? What are the most popular and low risk business ventures in Kerala?

If you are looking for business avenues to set up a shop or do some kind of trading or service, then here are the business alternatives available for you.

Stationery and DTP/Photostat Store

This is a\ typical business which is likely to give your steady business, provided it’s located at a vantage location. Places near school, colleges, etc are suitable for this kind of business.

For example, TRIDA building near Medical College, Trivandrum is packed with photostat shops. Most of the customers are students ( medical students) who come to take the copy of a medical book and also there are many who give thesis work for printing.

Digital Studio and Photo Editing Stores

Another conventional business is photo studio – top it with an editing and photo restoration store. A twist in business could be by adding a fancy makeup booth. I’ve seen similar ones in carnivals and fairs.

Photo restoration and photo framing has a steady business.

Spectacle Store and eye-testing Shop

It’s a slightly crowded market. Still, there is always demand for a shop which can provide wide choices of frames. Going by the margin of this business, there are opportunity for more stores to open and take up niche areas.

Fancy Stores with Imported Items

Open a novelty store for women – where you have a section of items which are imported. Highlight, this part – aim to get high-end spenders to your store with unique items found only in your store.

Lingerie Dresses 

This is a niche area you can cast your eyes. One is the limited number of stores in this space. If you have

Ceramic and Plumbing Store
This business requires more investment – skill and knowledge of this industry. It’s more likely to flourish in bigger towns where there are new construction and building project. Along with this shop, you can provide plumbing services. I feel there is an acute shortage of trained, skilled and honest plumbers in Trivandrum. Check the possibility of this business.

Plant Nurseries and Plant gifting 
All across Kerala, people are fascinated by plants. Most of the nurseries are not able to cater to the needs. Either it’s not having the variety of plants, or it’s not good with service part. In Trivandrum, there is a demand for succulents, and indoor plants like fittonia, crypthanthus, but most nurseries are still stocking roses, hycinth, jasmine, etc. It’s time to change with the changing trends.

Organic Vegetable Store
In Trivandrum, I have come across a store called Welgate. It’s a big shop which deals with all kinds of vegetables, fruits and organic produce. With a trend towards organic items, I think more of such stores can grow with the rising demand for organic produce.

However, make sure that you are only dealing with organic items. People always have a question about the authenticity of claims – more so with Keralites.

Gift Article Store
Most junction, city centre has a gift store. Also, most stores are stacked with cheap plastic gifts. I’m yet to come across a gifting centre which has something that catches my eye. What I would mean is that the articles which have some novelty in it.

Probably, you can start a gift store which is exclusively dealing with plant gifting. It could be something novel. From gifting succulents in attractive container to gifting a bonsai or a jade plant. Other options would be to gift clocks ( instant customization) with picture or images.

T Shirt Design Store 

I usually come across such stores in flea markets. For instance, in Sunday Soul Sante and Olam, there were stalls that were dealing with designed T Shirts.  Probably, you can think of starting one in your locality – one with customized design.

Spa and Grooming store
In Kerala, especially in Trivandrum, I have seen many saloons has a new service – Spa. What about a spa with cross massage? Well, not the shady ones where they do other extra services for an extra price. I mean cross massage for ladies and gents. Will it work in the right way? I wish I could start one!

In Bangalore I’ve seen spas mushrooming in Indira Nagar locality. While some are shady joints, there are many which are having reliable service to people.

Hair stylist 
Start an clean, neat hair saloon with trained men. IF you are planning to start one, don’t always depend on an external hire. Get trained in hair cutting and be the main hand.

Fish Aquarium Shop and Aqua Scaping
On a recent visit to Calicut, I saw the popularity of ornamental fishes. The aquarium stalls near the stadium were filled with customers and the quantity of fish that we traded was equally big.

Keeping this in mind, I feel this business has a lot of potential in Kerala.

Cactus and Pot Store
The trend for making and keeping terrarium and succulent plants has got on. However, there are limited number of stores which sells cactus, succulents and containers. Recently few stores like ForestVibe, Casaplante in Plamoodu, has opened in Trivandrum. However, the demand is high, so it’s the right time to enter into this market.

Pet Store
If you like dogs and other pets, then a pet store would be a business to think of. Introduce dog spa, and dog shelter service. These are two services that are new to the industry.

Home maid Services
Recently one of my friend has a string of bad experience of hiring maids from home care services. I felt sorry for her, but going by the service levels in these business, I’m sure that there’s growth potential.

So start an agency which provides quality hires to people. For this, you’ll have to invest your time and resources to give methodical service to ladies and tell them about their responsibilities and how they have to behave with clients.

Household Repair Store
Getting a good handyman to fix problem with plumbing or electrical fitting or for filling some cracks in the house is always a challenge in Kerala. At Trivandrum, we end up paying high amount to get a sloppy work done.

For example, I had two instances where the guys who turned out to fix an AC and inverter turned to be unfriendly and unprofessional in their approach.

When it comes to AC fitting the guys who came home was making too much noise talking loudly, cracking jokes. I can understand the noise from drilling the wall, but the cross talk. Also after the work, they left all the mud, brick pieces, debris on the same place. Is that not the part of their work to clean the mess they have created? Or it’s own job to tidy the place. What can’t these suckers keep some newspaper below the work place and clean the mess in an easy way?

IF ARE YOU RUNNING AN AIR CONDITIONING REPAIR UNIT – PLEASE NOTE!

Well, it’s easy to be this. What if someone who comes take extra care to clean things before they leave the premises. I wouldn’t mind paying extra tip if they do a neat job. Who wouldn’t!

Computer Repair and Maintenance 

If you have an eye on finding the bug in the PC or laptop or tablet, then you got a steady business in Kerala. With high-penetration of personal computers, there’s a shortage of skilled and honest computer sales people.