I finally got my haircut in Malta. I always go to Jacqueline’s in Kalkara and she does a wonderful job. She increases her prices moderately each year. But given the surge in living cost in Malta, this is more than justified. I paid 7.00 EUR. A few years ago, she went on a trip to Belgium to train on improving her gentlemen’s barber services and dedicated a corner in her shop for it. I am afraid, my feeling is, this did not take off too well. But she keeps busy with a solid base of ladies as customers. The demographic structure of her clients is a bit on the right side of the age distribution. So, I hope they all keep strong and healthy, not only to support her business, of course. You find a lot of hard-working people in Malta, especially of her generation, making a viable small business out of nearly nothing. And this is not really easy here, because some cost advantages Malta may have, are easily eaten up by inefficient services, red tape and corruption.
During my travel time of the year, I cannot always make it on time back to Malta without getting a bit disorganised. So my second source of decent haircuts was for many years The Barber Shop on 15B Wellington Street in Central Hong Kong. It was a bit awkwardly located in a narrow back alley between skyscrapers, up the staircase above an erotic lingerie store. However, once entering the barbershop, you were in a classical and very stylish men’s only hair salon. But with rising rents and less demand for proper haircuts, it had to close. However, I was happy that my favourite Thai hairdresser, called Angel, managed to spin off her own store and called it “Angelhair” in Wanchai. It was a really nice shop, which she set up with a partner specialising in other beauty products, which I am not acquainted with. She was extremely proud when she showed me around her shop. After one visit, at the beginning of the Hong Kong riots, I realised it will become tough for her. Wanchai was one of the centres of months of violent protest, destroyed infrastructure and manhunts between the police and hooligans. Then came Covid-19. I know that Angel tried everything to keep her shop alive. After rental negotiations with the landlord fell on deaf ears, she started borrowing, first from her family, then from friends and later from everybody to “restructure her debt”. Then, with more turmoil and economic pressure on more people in Hong Kong, came the “go back to your own country” folks. I don’t know what happened to her. In her “own country”, last year protests erupted challenging the Thai Royalty. Perhaps she went. Her shop is gone.
I regard these as the real entrepreneurs. They have “Skin in the game”. I never call them “start-ups”. Of course, different industries have different financing mechanisms, and you can’t compare a barbershop with a unicorn. But you also can’t compare most “start-ups” with a unicorn. It’s a Cargo Cult, or bluntly just a muppet show. Even the term “cash burn” causes quite some unease in my value system. Perhaps, the word “Entrepreneur” is a better word instead of “start-up”. I remember the head of the “Entrepreneurship centre” who relocated from Oxford to Malta University and talked a lot about his mother, translated “Entrepreneur” as “in-between taker”. I think his name was Russel and besides French, he also knew everything else. That’s what made him a coach. Or was it couch? I need to work on my English, yes, and on my manners.