In this edition of investment opportunities series, we will introduce two lucrative businesses.
First, wedding planning–a merry bonanza that enjoys everlasting appeal throughout the year—while the second is related to food industry, which also never fails to be in high demand.
Each opportunity is elaborated in detail below:
Wedding Planning
Weddings are significant events in people’s lives but couples who work long hours and have little spare time might hire a professional to ease their burdens and help organize the event efficiently.
A wedding planner is a professional who helps with the design, planning and management of a client’s wedding. He/she would offer services such as identifying and hiring service providers, including caterers, photographers, videographers, beautician and florists, in addition to coordinating deliveries, managing the schedule and even selecting the venue of the event.
In return, they either charge a percentage of the total wedding cost or a flat fee.
Payman Afshar, one of the managers of Ahde Ariayei Wedding Services, believes planning people’s weddings can be a very rewarding career.
“You get to be with people in the best time of their lives,” Forsat-e Emrooz quoted him as saying.
“Today people prefer to delegate the handling of their wedding ceremonies to wedding institutes because the costs end up to be lower than when they manage the wedding by themselves; families would also endure less stress,” he said.
More than 800 wedding institutes have been established in Tehran in the past few years. These centers might help handle other events as well, such as birthdays, parties, wakes, conferences and forums.
Asked about the initial investment needed to set up a wedding planning institute, Afshar said one needs to establish an office for conducting the business, for which around one billion rials ($27,000 at market exchange rate) should be enough.
“But this is of secondary importance, as the major investment you have to make in this business is not financial. It is your management ability. The key to success in this field is effective coordination and communication,” he said.
“You have to think about the details of the ceremony and assure the client that their event is in safe hands.”
Word-of-mouth advertising is important for every business, as each happy customer can steer dozens of new ones your way. And it’s one of the most credible forms of advertising because a person puts their reputation on the line every time they make a recommendation.
“Think about social networks. These days many costumers pick the institute through social networks,” he concluded.
Breadcrumb Production
Breadcrumbs are small particles of dry bread used for topping casseroles, stuffing poultry, thickening stews, adding inexpensive bulk to meatloaves and similar foods, and making a crisp and crunchy covering for fried foods, especially breaded cutlets like schnitzel.
Breadcrumbs can be classified into two types: dry and fresh. Dry crumbs are made from dried bread that has been baked or toasted to remove the moisture content, and may even have a sandy or even powdery texture.
The breads used to make soft or fresh breadcrumbs are not quite as dry, so the crumbs are larger and produce a softer coating, crust or stuffing.
Breadcrumbs are most easily produced by pulverizing slices of bread in a food processor, using a steel blade to make coarse crumbs, or a grating blade to make fine crumbs.
Iranians traditionally made breadcrumbs using common bread or baguette leftovers. The process, however, is somewhat cumbersome and unhealthy, and many consumers have turned to industrially produced and packaged alternative, with the advantage of being cheaper and having certain spice additives.
The Persian daily Forsat-e Emrooz recently published an article on the production of breadcrumbs and the sector’s investment potential.
According to Ali Labibi, managing director of one of the oldest breadcrumb producing companies in Iran, Nardin Takestan Company, the main advantage of investing in this sector is that production can be launched with a minimal initial capital and does need exceptional expertise or proficiency.
Furthermore, the raw material required, such as flour, baking soda, salt and spices, can be easily acquired in bulk from domestic suppliers at low prices.
Labibi also pointed to the potential market for breadcrumbs in Iran and said the main consumers are households and restaurants, and large producers of hamburgers and nuggets.
Iranian-made breadcrumbs are currently exported to Iraq, Afghanistan and Azerbaijan. Hence through proper marketing, sales can be expanded overseas.
According to Labibi, setting up a breadcrumb production line with a production capacity of 600 kg per day requires close to $54,000 as initial capital. The required appliances include oven, dryers and packaging machines.
Permits for launching such a production line can be obtained from the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade; Food and Drugs Administration; and the Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran.
