Poverty Battle from the Street (A Study of Street Food Vendors at Chennai)

Abstract

Street vendors deliver many benefits both to themselves and to their
communities. For starters, since vending has low startup costs, it expands economic
opportunities. As a result, these entrepreneurs can create new jobs and make a living to
support their families, all while at a fraction of the cost of starting other ventures. In
addition vending unleashes the possibility of upward mobility. One of the greatest success
stories of upward mobility is Daymond John, the founder and CEO of FUBU and star on
ABC’S shark tank. Before he built his clothing empire, Daymond started out as a street
vendor, hawking homemade hats in front of the New York Coliseum. In this paper we try to
study the lives of the street vendors at Chennai. The study investigated how the street
vendors battle with poverty. Most of the street vendors don’t have adequate earnings. The
Street vendors are affected by money lenders because of insufficient capital. Many of them
having high school education only and because of unemployment they opted this street
vending business