Word: haired
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...like a fish market," says Jawed Habib, fondly surveying the Sunday-afternoon hubbub of his South New Delhi hair salon, one of 12 he runs in the Indian capital alone. Heaving with stylists wearing bold red-and-black shirts emblazoned with JAWED HABIB PRO TEAM, the salon calls to mind less the chaos of a fish market than the disciplined efficiency of a well-run kitchen. His golden quiff defying gravity, the 46-year-old Habib serves as both head chef and maître d', helping a matron into her chair, judging the angle of a junior stylist...
Habib's salons aren't India's poshest, but that's not the point. Over the past decade, the New Delhi native has brought branded hairstyling to a country where millions still get their hair trimmed by mummy-ji in the bathroom or by barbers whose salons consist of a tree trunk with a mirror tacked onto it. Habib has helped convince middle India that hair is not just something that grows on your head but a market waiting to be primped and tugged at. "People used to think hair care was a low-grade profession, with no future...
...training academies across Asia, from Malaysia to Nepal and beyond. Like Tata's celebrated Nano, the $2,500 "people's car" launched last year, Habib's services are aimed at those who, perhaps for the first time, are enjoying a modicum of disposable income. In 2009 he launched Hair Espresso outlets, offering cuts for a little more than $2. Costs are low, turnover high: a three-chair outlet in Mumbai recently churned out 186 cuts in one day. This month, Habib will launch hair-care products for direct sale on TV, "so that customers in Canada...
Habib's ancestors were working with Indian hair since before the subcontinent's independence. His grandfather was barber to both the last British viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, and Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, and Habib's father cut hair too. But Habib's vision is broader. He wants his business to become the Walmart of hair care...
...India's success as an IT and outsourcing powerhouse doesn't necessarily mean its hairdressers can go global too. "He might do well in Tier 2 India," Rajgopal says, "but it's very difficult to succeed internationally. It's not as though India was a leader in fashion and hair." But Habib remains undaunted. "Someday," he counters, "I'm going to set up a salon on the moon." For some entrepreneurs, going global isn't enough...