It’s a quiet Saturday morning in Madurai, and I’m walking past a tiny bookstore tucked between a tea shop and a sari store. The shop isn’t flashy, but the owner greets every customer by name, recommends books with care, and somehow keeps the place alive in a world dominated by giant online retailers. Watching her, I realize that small businesses are like these cozy bookstores — full of heart, yet often struggling to be seen by the wider world. In 2026, growing a small busines
