Grameen Foundation : Resource Center : Books and Publications : Small Loans Big Dreams : Excerpt
Excerpt from Small Loans, Big Dreams
A customer was pushing at the door of the West Side Books, to no effect. "It sticks-push hard," Queenesta Harris shouted from behind her counter. Her voice barely carried through the think glass, but the man got the idea, pushed harder, and let himself in. It was perhaps the twentieth time that morning that someone had entered Victor's store that way.
In the front of the store, Queenesta strode up to the door and tried to fix it. She failed; the door had only two positions, open and stuck. Her attention drifted to a store across the street, on the corner of Mason Street and North Avenue, to a red neon signboard that had been placed in the window of a video rental shop three days earlier; it read, “JD’s Records and CD’s.”
The establishment of JD’s meant the end of Queenesta’s reign as the only music retailer on the block. JD had most of the same titles she had, except that he carried a better selection of compact discs and charged about 50 cents more than she did. Though she didn’t’ share with Victor her worries of being driven out of business, for the past several days, she had been a nervous wreck. More than anything else, she hated that neon sign. Queenesta guessed it cost $300, and she feared that a flashy gimmick like that might lure her customers away.
This development came at an inauspicious time for Queenesta. She had been hoping to devote at least half her time that fall to selling Afrocentric children's books to Chicago's public school system. She knew of only one other woman who was doing this in the city, and figured that this was the year to make a killing. Teacher consciousness had been raised, and by the following school year she was convinced another half dozen distributors would be competing against her. If she could get in good with a few teachers during the 1993-1994 school year, she might receive a regular income for years with little additional effort. But the politicians didn't allow her plan to go forward. In September, the Chicago public school system had no budget and could not legally open. A bankrupt public school system meant no business for the foreseeable future. She was thus forced to concentrate her energies and investment capital on her music business.
As she returned to her counter and began nervously rearranging her cassettes, Queenesta's mind raced. Should I carry more compact discs? Do I have to drop my prices? How in the hell can I get a damned neon sign myself? Is this place it too "black" for the 16-24 age group? Will they feel more comfortable buying from a music retailer who is housed in a video shop? Just then, two teenagers appeared outside the door. "Push hard, it's stuck!" an exasperated Queenesta shouted out. After making eye contact with them, she made a pushing motion with her right arm. Seeing that, the boys got the message and let themselves in.
"Hey, Queen," the taller of the two boys called out.
"Hey, guys, what can I do for you?" They came directly over to her case and crouched down as they looked at the tapes. Queenesta followed their eyes, feeling a little embarrassed that she didn't have more in stock.
"Queen, you got that Digital Underground tape yet?" the taller boy said without looking up from the case.
"No, I'll try to pick it up tomorrow. That's the new one, right?" She pulled out a little pad of paper and made a note-"Digital Underground-NEW!"-and underlined it twice.
"Yeah. Queen, your competition across the street is fading you," the shorter teenager said, drawing out the last word fading for effect. "He got the Digital Underground since last week."
Queenesta started blankly, searching for a response. Seconds later, her customers completed their search of the tape case, fingered absent-mindedly through the budget rack of compact disks, and made for the door. As they disappeared into the mass of cars and people on North Avenue, Queenesta put her elbows on the glass case and buried her face into her waiting hands.
Grameen Foundation : Resource Center : Books and Publications : Small Loans Big Dreams : Excerpt
Grameen Foundation uses microfinance and innovative technology to fight global poverty and bring opportunities to the world's poorest people. With tiny loans and financial services, we help the poor, mostly women, start businesses and escape poverty. Our global network of 55 microfinance institution (MFI) partners including our Growth Guarantee partners has touched more than 34 million people in 24 countries. In addition, we introduced and now sustain technology initiatives (Mifos and Village Phone) in Cameroon, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, bringing our total country outreach to 28.
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