By Sanath Nanayakkare
95% of microbusinesses supported through the Government and NGO mechanisms tend to become no longer active or successful within 5 years, according to an experienced mentor of entrepreneurship.
Dr. Premasiri Gamage, Management guru and personality trainer specialized in rural entrepreneurship development and micro finance revealed this during an interview with Independent Television network (ITN) yesterday.
“15% of these micro businesses are constantly moving in a roundabout without making any progress and seeking further support from the Government or NGOs, and therefore, the joint efforts by these two institutions have actually helped create a minimal 5% of successful micro businesses in any given 5-year time periods,” he said.
“Some of them are very good niche ideas that could be the start of multi-million rupee businesses, but they fail to produce their potential mainly because these entrepreneurs solely depend on themselves without outsourcing certain tasks or partnering with a strong network. It is not easy managing even a micro business holistically on one’s own in today’s competitive environment and one would need insights and direction from those who have the expertise. But here in Sri Lanka, many people believe that partnerships are untrustworthy because money can change everything. But as a sole proprietor, one alone is responsible for the success or failure of the business. But in a partnership, there will be complementary strengths, talents, personalities, and experiences of the prospective partners. Many Sri Lankan parents urge their adult children who are passionate about starting a business to do so on their own without the contribution of no-one. This has frightened our youth and they are naturally discouraged from entering a partnership and eventually they don’t enter the entrepreneurial world at all. We have to get rid of this misconception. How many businesspeople have prospered in the world on his or her own? Almost none. There are many people behind the big companies’ success other than their founders. Alibaba CEO, Jack Ma hired passionate entrepreneurs to build a solid foundation on which to base the company’s growth. Bill Gates trusted in the ability of those whom he hired to come up with answers to problems. Mark Zukerberg had partners that were important elements of his company and were leading a lot of key efforts for the company. So, it’s a Sri Lankan myth that a business has to be a sole proprietorship because there can be many disadvantages to it,” he said.
“Another Sri Lankan myth is that for one to enter the entrepreneurial world, one must have entrepreneurial DNA. That is not necessarily so. If one has the passion for business, entrepreneurship can be acquired. There are specialized entrepreneurship mentors in Sri Lanka who can give the knowledge to design a curriculum to learn and practice entrepreneurship. A lot of academics and professionals are ready to share that knowledge with interested young people at school level or with those who are looking to be financially independent without any age barrier. If the Minister of Education and the Secretary to the Ministry of Education are willing to partner with us, we will muster the support of the universities to initiate entrepreneurship education programmes islandwide. The key eligibility of being an entrepreneur is; not having a dependent-mindset and having the capacity to take responsibility for one’s own life without seeking giveaways from the Government,” he said.
Dr. Premasiri Gamage said that they have organized an entrepreneurship education programme for the youth in Bulathsinhala at Bulathsinhala Pradeshiya Sabah Auditorium from 8: 30 am-1: 30 pm on January 19.