Green Mango: Helping small businesses tap large clients

In Hyderabad, Green Mango is tapping the bottom of the pyramid, helping small businesses make it big. CNBC-TV18's Vishwanath Pilla and Shweta Sriram report.

30-year old Prashant is a painter who was struggling to find customers sometime ago and then he discovered green mango. Like thousands of other small service Pranshant registered on the online advertising platform and transformed his life.

Prashanth Painter said "Before joining Green Mango I used to manage to get work but now I am getting more work and income as well." He further added that Green Mango helps more than 30,000 small business owners without any other access to affordable channels of advertising and no connections to the market place. The portal was started a year ago by two young management professionals Yasmina Mccarty and Nandini Narula.  Green Mango allows low income businesses reach a large, untapped customer base.

Yasmina MaCarty, Co-founder, Green Mango said that small businesses need some capital to grow and information about prices and mostly they need access to their customers. If you consider a plumber, he puts his name and phone number at the hardware shop and waits for someone to call him. We did a small study and spoke to these plumbers they said they were idle and were waiting for customers. At the same time when we spoke to many young professionals in IT companies, they said they were frustrated about not finding these services. We found both sides needed each other. That's when we decided to set up Green Mango - an internet company and call centre so that they can find each other.

Today on the Green Mango platform, we have more than 30,000 businesses utilizing our services spread across 65 categories providing 450 services. We have seen a great demand from the market. We have done a small study to find out what is the impact we are having on these businesses. We found out was on an average we have created Rs 2000 in new revenue which never had before.

The Green Mango business model is based on economies of scale. The company generates revenues by charging a nominal fee of Rs 50-250 for every listing. A ground sales force goes into various Hyderabad neighborhoods convincing small businessmen to register. The company also gains revenue through online advertising. Apart from profiles and contact information of small business, the company has user ratings as well.

Right now Green Mango is supported by angel investors. Bitten by the expansion bug it is now looking to raise capital via the private equity route. The company is also planning to tie-up with a financing institution to provide credit to small businesses. After tasting success in Hyderabad - Green Mango recently expanded to Bangalore. In the next few years the company plans to be in all major metros.