Award celebrates the risk-takers

CAROL CAMPBELL, head of entrepreneurial services at Ernst & Young, says today's entrepreneurs are happier to stand up and be acknowledged for their successes.

Entrepreneurs start with an idea, but not all ideas make it to market. New ventures spend their first years reducing debt and battling the issues of staff management and insufficient working capital.

The business becomes profitable, secure and stable. It plateaus. Where to next? It is hard to think about the next stage when business is good - what else could there be?

There could be more success; a leap to the next level. The challenge is how to get the business to grow but retain entrepreneurial spirit.

A key step is to develop a management team and empower them to lead and guide the business through its next development stage, and then to leave the business with the same passion, enthusiasm, and vision that they started with.

What an entrepreneur can provide along the way is an enduring enthusiasm for their dream, which survives all sorts of challenges.

"It has been hard, but it has been kind of fun. A couple of times I thought I'd gone broke and started selling all our assets. To me, business is just sport and I have always been very competitive; I play to win," says Brett Wharfe, of New Zealand Hothouse.

By working incessantly, it becomes hard to take the time out to gain an aerial view of the business. People who start a business typically work alone and often don't have anyone to talk to.

In our experience, companies should spend more time planning and working out what they want to achieve, by when. They should develop an action plan - not a strategic plan - and a way forward, with benchmarks.

"My business philosophy is, never look back, work as hard as you can, and lead from the front. Push boundaries wherever you can and rewrite the rules, find a way and never say no. But most importantly, Do what is right," says Michael Whittaker of the Atlantis Group, and winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2001.

Entrepreneurial growth companies bring dynamism and fresh ideas to the business environment, bolstering the economy and creating a hothouse for further innovation and business start-ups.

We agree with the Gem report finding that business people in this country need a supportive cultural environment that sees entrepreneurs as vital contributors to society. Entrepreneurs need a vigorous and accepting network of mentors, friends and advisers they can rely on.

So how do we encourage entrepreneurs in New Zealand to take their ideas and challenges ahead, create a successful business and contribute to a successful economy?

The report recommends incentives, more education that is focused on entrepreneurship, support groups and positive entrepreneurial role models. But will these incentives really encourage the entrepreneur?

What truly motivates them and makes them take on the challenge? It's certainly not the money - the rewards for the risk and sacrifices do not lie in the financial benefits alone.

At Ernst & Young, we recognise this by celebrating the risk-takers and innovators in New Zealand business through our Entrepreneur of the Year. There has been a definite shift in the perception of the award since its inception. When we initiated it in 1998, we had to convince entrepreneurs to enter and be recognised as successful business people.

Since then, there has been a shift in perception. The Tall Poppy syndrome - and the natural Kiwi reluctance to be singled out from the crowd as successful - is decreasing.

We have found that entrepreneurs are now approaching Ernst & Young to be included in the programme: they are proud to be successful in business, both for themselves and for the team who helped create a successful and profitable New Zealand company.

GEM Special Report