Have any of you started a SME?
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| Allan Bird in the middle with traditionally attired dancers |
Do you have any experience or done any studies in this area?
I started a SME with K10,000. It took me 15 years of making many mistakes before I learnt to do business well.
Today I can run any business and do it well. I believe that if you can run a tucker box well, you can run anything. The principle is the same.
When I went into vanilla, I was the first exporter in PNG. I knew more about it than anyone else in PNG. These peculiar things contributed to my success.
During the time I started my business, I never stayed in a hotel unless absolutely necessary and I never spent money on anything but the business.
After my vanilla export license, some 5,000 licences were issued to other operators. 99% of all those new businesses failed.
So I will make a prediction that 90% of all these new SMEs will fail.
They will fail because they are competing in a small space, or they don't understand the business they are in, they don't know where the markets are and finally they will simply not have the discipline to make it work.
When I speak to aspiring business people I always tell them, don't get into business in an area you know nothing about, don't go into a business that you have no passion for, don't go into a business that everyone is doing unless you can do it better and finally, don't go into business if you have no discipline.
Finally, if you're not prepared to work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. Then keep your day job.
When you start an SME, you are the manager, the driver, the HR officer, the counselor and the accountant. You have to be all these things.
If you don't do these things, you will fail.
