Australia must harness its innate entrepreneurial spirit if the economy is to flourish

HAVE you ever wondered why so many immigrants to Australia succeed in business? Or why so many Aussies succeed when they move overseas?

Ross Greenwood talks at the Inner West Small Business Expo at West Ashfield.

HAVE you ever wondered why so many immigrants to Australia succeed in business? Or, conversely, have you ever wondered why so many Aussies succeed in business when they move overseas?

There’s something to be said for new environments which open your eyes to opportunities. It might be that something you take for granted in your home country is missing in your adopted nation. Or it might even be that your desperation to succeed in a new place is greater than your desire when surrounded by the comforts of home.

There’s something else about travelling to a new place. You can reinvent yourself. Far away from being pigeonholed by family, friends or colleagues you can try things that you might not do at home for fear of the judgment of others.

But this raises a question. If people from other countries can see opportunities when they come to Australia, why can’t people who are already here see them?

There are some who claim Australia’s lifestyle is too easy to spur people to risks. But it’s too easy to take the “Aussies are lazy” line, in the same way it is unfair to brand all young people as unmotivated.

Even so there is something missing. Perhaps there are too many obstacles to make more small business-people succeed.

Perhaps it is the ongoing drought of venture capital that prevents more people from throwing in their day jobs to have a go at their own business. Maybe it’s the perceived imbalance between big and small business that puts people off. Whatever it is, more Australians need to open their eyes to the opportunities beneath their noses.

The fear of failure for many Australians may lead to a conservatism to remain in a paid job for too long. It is often a corporate upheaval or a retrenchment that leads to a business success. In other words, desperation leads to inspiration. With perhaps some a dogged attitude of “we’ll show you”.

This attitude, however, is not dissimilar to the entrepreneurial spirit that immigrants bring to a new nation.

It is also similar to the “animal spirits” that Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens wants unleashed within the Australian economy to drive entrepreneurialism and rebuild economic growth.

The truth is people working in safe jobs will not create wealth, for themselves or the nation. Public servants, similarly, cannot create wealth. It is the people whose eyes are open to opportunity, and who are prepared to take risks, that create wealth, jobs, taxes and economic prosperity.

The hope is more Aussies open their eyes to the prospects around them. That is the hope for our economy.

SHADY DEALINGS HAVE PAID OFF

IF Australia is best known for anything, it’s the sunshine — and with that sunshine comes some of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world.

An obvious idea for a business was right under Andy McLeod’s nose — or more likely right on it, like most other Australians. But unlike most people, he decided to do something about it.

The light went on for Andy while studying business at university. He wanted a growth market and with the enormous publicity about climate change, at the time, he decided there was big business in shade.

Andy McLeod from Shade Australia / Picture: Jonathan Ng

Shade Australia’s beginnings happily coincided with new rules that compelled schools and childcare centres to provide certain ratios of shade within their playgrounds. To attract this business, Andy decided to offer a bespoke service — where each job was made to order.

In some ways, this was almost his undoing. Rather than having a product to sell, he had a service that was arduous in preparation and installation. So, putting his business strategy hat on, he subtly changed Shade Australia from being a “custom made business” into a “made to order business”.

This seemingly small shift made all the difference to the company, and even to Andy’s health. It meant people could see his products online, and it meant the company could gain efficiencies of scale and drive down its costs.

When Shade Australia started in 2000 there were 54 similar companies listed in the Yellow Pages. Five years later here were 150. To stand out, Andy consulted Cancer Australia and helped set standards for shade in childcare facilities.

“In Australia today there is no margin. You have to be the product developer, brand the product, source the product, import the product, warehouse the product and have a fancy website to market it,” Andy says.

“You have to have people on the phones; you have to make the deliveries. You have to do the whole spectrum — and make sure there is no margin for anyone else to step in there.”