Show me the money…
- Posted by Cristian on December 24th, 2006 filed in Financial services
Opportunity: invoice payments for friends and family
Paying invoices in Romania is a nerve-wrecking experience. For example, this morning my parents went to the bank to pay the telephone bill; it took them 45 minutes to process the payment. They had to send an envelope by postal service, which took a whole two hours - as the tellers dealt with a couple of customers, took 30 minutes to change shifts, and then had to fix the broken computer. Then they went shopping and when trying to check out, there were three people in line and it took the cashier one hour to cash their money.
This will obviously improve as credit cards and e-banking becomes more widespread. In the meantime, there might be a little business to be had here. Although not an opportunity for a large business, this might be a good starting point for a budding entrepreneur.
The opportunity would be to offer invoice payment services. You can pay people’s bills, electronically if possible or in person… for a small commission of course. You should start small, taking your friends and relatives as clients as for this type of business trust should be built first. As people become ever more busy, you will find more customers who cannot afford to spend half a day each month paying the bills.
Written by Cristian
December 24th, 2006 at 10:03 pm
An acquiantance was recently telling me how her internet access had been suspended because the lady who used to pay her bills had messed up the ISP payment. This is a needed service for the time being, but you had better be professional about it and gain people’s trust!