Dealing with some false impressions...
There are also concerns relating to what we do know about those ever-present Asian newsagents and operators of convenience stores who continue to provide tremendous benefits to the communities in which they are based. The average shop unit provides living rooms above and behind the shop. This is where the average Asian newsagent's family has lived - on busy and noisy city streets, in close proximity to street crime, drugs and even vice and most importantly, with no safe playroom for their children.
High street bank managers would also certainly confirm why they consider Asian shop-keepers to be better or safer customers - their labour costs are low as the average Asian family subsidises the business. The storekeeper’s wife, old parents and children all 'pitch in' and do various jobs free of charge. This level of family support makes the business competitive but it does not generate a rightful and proportionate amount of wealth for the family as a whole. It is good for the business balance sheet but not too good for generating self-esteem for the workers who provide free labour. Is this necessary?
It seems that the Asian housewives invariably lose out by not being able to work at a full market rate. Owing to the high cost of childcare, the wives should only have to work in the shops when the children are small. In practice, the housewife continues to support the shop even when the children have gone to school as the business cannot afford to recruit outside help at market rates.
There are some key questions. Does the average East African Asian shop-owner's wife acquire an unhelpful dependency relationship after being held 'captive' in the same shop environment and in many cases the shop is the only workplace they know where the husband provides minimal training, and even that only under pressure. On the other hand, does the opportuntiy to work in the shop provide lessons and skills that can be transferred to toher sections of the UK economy?
Also, many newsagents and owners of food stores do break out of this cycle of dependence on the extended family and make substantial progress to be able to buy shop no 2, 3 and 4... Others have made enough progress to separate their businesses from their personal lives and are able to buy homes in better parts of the town or are able to move to more affluent boroughs. The shop front amy also become a mask for other businesses. Many Asian shop owners trade in stocks and shares on a regular basis. Others get involved in property development. It is remarkable that East African Asians have been able to move into more challenging and profitable lines of business after making a start in retailing.
The emergence of the next generation of Asian shopkeepers from Sri Lanka, South India and Bangladesh also merits exploration. These entrepreneurs saw their marketing catchment areas differently in many ways. Some comparisons would provide useful and continue to endorse the value of Asian business acumen.
However, there are other positive outcomes in the lives of Asian who came from Uganda, for example, but the benefits are not quantified in the language of wealth. The Ugandan Asians who fled from Idi Amin's atrocities soon realised that they could enjoy a good night's sleep in a secure and safe environment. They realised probably for the first time in their lives that their civic rights were protected and even guaranteed. Their investments were secure and no one was going to nationalise their business at short notice, or worse, at no notice! Also the Asians were not going to be forced to run shops but only as long as they did so in the rural areas, where conditions were harsh and markets were tiny. Government officers and politicians in African countries made those decisions for the Asians; the rural areas needed supplies and commerce but rural Africans did not have capital and experience to start viable retail businesses which also offered a wide choice!
To me, it is more satisfying that a whole generation of children born to Ugandan Asian parents are making much better use of their parents' freedom and voting rights in a country with a respected democratic tradition. This is much more significant to some than any bid that Mr Mittal makes for a steel company or how many drug companies are owned by Asian pharmacists.
But there is some bad news for the Asian newsagent. In many cases his children do not want to carry on working in the shop anymore. Many hundreds of children have enjoyed access to good British education and are now in the forefront of various professional careers, others have acquired marketable skills for working in the professional markets and service industries, and yet many others have gone on to set up new businesses, not as newsagents but as entrepreneurs in non trading environment, in the new cultural economies also, using internet technologies to sell.
There are also concerns relating to what we do know about those ever-present Asian newsagents and operators of convenience stores who continue to provide tremendous benefits to the communities in which they are based. The average shop unit provides living rooms above and behind the shop. This is where the average Asian newsagent's family has lived - on busy and noisy city streets, in close proximity to street crime, drugs and even vice and most importantly, with no safe playroom for their children.
High street bank managers would also certainly confirm why they consider Asian shop-keepers to be better or safer customers - their labour costs are low as the average Asian family subsidises the business. The storekeeper’s wife, old parents and children all 'pitch in' and do various jobs free of charge. This level of family support makes the business competitive but it does not generate a rightful and proportionate amount of wealth for the family as a whole. It is good for the business balance sheet but not too good for generating self-esteem for the workers who provide free labour. Is this necessary?
It seems that the Asian housewives invariably lose out by not being able to work at a full market rate. Owing to the high cost of childcare, the wives should only have to work in the shops when the children are small. In practice, the housewife continues to support the shop even when the children have gone to school as the business cannot afford to recruit outside help at market rates.
There are some key questions. Does the average East African Asian shop-owner's wife acquire an unhelpful dependency relationship after being held 'captive' in the same shop environment and in many cases the shop is the only workplace they know where the husband provides minimal training, and even that only under pressure. On the other hand, does the opportuntiy to work in the shop provide lessons and skills that can be transferred to toher sections of the UK economy?
Also, many newsagents and owners of food stores do break out of this cycle of dependence on the extended family and make substantial progress to be able to buy shop no 2, 3 and 4... Others have made enough progress to separate their businesses from their personal lives and are able to buy homes in better parts of the town or are able to move to more affluent boroughs. The shop front amy also become a mask for other businesses. Many Asian shop owners trade in stocks and shares on a regular basis. Others get involved in property development. It is remarkable that East African Asians have been able to move into more challenging and profitable lines of business after making a start in retailing.
The emergence of the next generation of Asian shopkeepers from Sri Lanka, South India and Bangladesh also merits exploration. These entrepreneurs saw their marketing catchment areas differently in many ways. Some comparisons would provide useful and continue to endorse the value of Asian business acumen.
However, there are other positive outcomes in the lives of Asian who came from Uganda, for example, but the benefits are not quantified in the language of wealth. The Ugandan Asians who fled from Idi Amin's atrocities soon realised that they could enjoy a good night's sleep in a secure and safe environment. They realised probably for the first time in their lives that their civic rights were protected and even guaranteed. Their investments were secure and no one was going to nationalise their business at short notice, or worse, at no notice! Also the Asians were not going to be forced to run shops but only as long as they did so in the rural areas, where conditions were harsh and markets were tiny. Government officers and politicians in African countries made those decisions for the Asians; the rural areas needed supplies and commerce but rural Africans did not have capital and experience to start viable retail businesses which also offered a wide choice!
To me, it is more satisfying that a whole generation of children born to Ugandan Asian parents are making much better use of their parents' freedom and voting rights in a country with a respected democratic tradition. This is much more significant to some than any bid that Mr Mittal makes for a steel company or how many drug companies are owned by Asian pharmacists.
But there is some bad news for the Asian newsagent. In many cases his children do not want to carry on working in the shop anymore. Many hundreds of children have enjoyed access to good British education and are now in the forefront of various professional careers, others have acquired marketable skills for working in the professional markets and service industries, and yet many others have gone on to set up new businesses, not as newsagents but as entrepreneurs in non trading environment, in the new cultural economies also, using internet technologies to sell.
posted by K Singh Ajimal at
12:50 am
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