Internet@Home.Com

WATCH your back. A whole new breed of part-time entrepreneurs is about to call on you. Armed with die-hard selling skills, a software package that brings you home to the global village, and a thorough knowledge of what they are selling, they are not easily put off.

In Bangalore, for Rs 25,000, Jayanthi Venkateswaran, 37, housewife and mother of two, will offer you Internet@powertel. This package, explains Devjani Pillai, 29, housewife, mother of one, gives you an Internet connection, a modem, a browser. In Mumbai, Nawaz Master, 41, mother of two, will install the software and, what's more, train you to use it. When you hand them the cheque, they pocket up to Rs 2,000 per deal.

Firing their enterprise is Powertel Boca, a Bangalore-based, one-year-old modem company, set up on an equity base of Rs 2.4 crore, with investments from Draper International, TDICI and the US-based modem maker Boca. In a unique selling strategy, this start-up has harnessed housewives to tout its modems. Says Dinesh Puri, MD: "There are a lot of people who don't want a fulltime job but want to do something worthwhile which is also remunerative." It's clicked: now, the Rs 9-crore firm is India's second-largest modem-seller.

A typical session of Net-sell talk starts with the basics: the existence of Internet. "We take them through the immense possibilities offered by Internet," says Mumbai-based Powertel Internet consultant (PIC) Bhavesh Vadani. And from plain-vanilla e-mail to sites hosting ESPN, top-10 music countdowns, export and import houses, US universities, chat rooms, computer games, the catalogue is anything but modest.

Then comes the tough part: getting connected. Since VSNL rarely advertises, prospects don't know how to get on the Net. "We provide them with this service," says Venkateswaran. Value for money follows: whether it's worth paying VSNL Rs 15,000 for 500 hours of surfing; will the suspect phone lines ensure continuous connectivity; when will VSNL further reduce tariffs; and private Internet service providers (ISPs) come in.

Different users have different uses. Says Master: "Students want to correspond with foreign universities, families with relatives abroad want to reduce their phone bills, businessmen want to contact clients abroad, and my 65-year-old mother with an XT computer wants to get in touch with her brother in Canada." All agree that they need the Net. "If anything stops them, it is the price," says Mumbai-based Manoj Katara.

The price, in fact, has been the main hurdle in the path of the Internet evangelists converting their calls into cash. "They are waiting for private ISPs, thinking they will be cheaper," explains Master. "We have to convince others that even if private ISPs come in, the tariff won't come down drastically to, say, Rs 5,000." Adds Devjani: "Professionals don't mind paying, but if the connection is for the wife and children, people think at least four times before buying."

 Low conversion rates, however, have not dimmed their enthusiasm. All go-getters, their move to the market is driven by two engines. One, a fascination with the Inter-net and technology. And two, a motivation to work part-time, be one's own boss and make a neat packet. There are over 200 PICs touting the virtues of Internet. These crusaders are rapidly spreading: in Bangalore, Calcutta, Chennai, Kochi and Delhi. What they are essentially doing is taking the Internet out of software development facilities, corporate cabins, and cybercafes into homes and small businesses. "True, our sales figures don't look impressive, but at my rate I should be able to sell 35 packages over the next year," says Manoj.

"There is this enormous entrepreneurial energy, especially among Indian housewives, that needs to be tapped," says Puri, who started the PIC programme in August. He has selected people who could "infuse energy" into the programme, and trained them in Internet, and in basic sales and presentation skills. The goal: to popularise Internet to expand the market for Boca products.

Says Puri: "This is a long-term strategic programme. We're committed to run it for the next 12 to 18 months which is when it will really take off." A key element to this flight will be the arrival of private ISPs with the government's announcement of its intention to end VSNL's monopoly over Internet in India. This, with the expected exponential growth in small businesses and reduction in Internet tariffs, Puri says, will see Internet volumes multiply over 10-fold.

So would the earnings of Venkateswaran, Pillai and Master.