Starting a business is easier said than done. As with any journey, the first step is often the most difficult. But as the three teams of University of Macau (UM) students, who decided to put their entrepreneurial dreams into action at this year’s Lunar New Year Fair, will tell you, what they had to face after the first step proved just as, if not more, difficult. Whether these bright-eyed student entrepreneurs were raking it in seems to be not that important, because at the end of the day when they sat down to tally up their earnings and losses, they were certain that they had gained a lot of things that they couldn’t put a price on—experience, support and understanding from their family and friends, the close rapport among team members developed during the process of working towards a common goal, and most importantly, the satisfaction of knowing that they had made their first brave step towards their dreams.
PJC: Starting a business is more than just innovating. It’s also an ethics class.
This was not the first time that Dr. Samuel Choi, a resident fellow at the Pearl Jubilee College (PJC), was involved in the entrepreneurial forays of PJC students. Encouraged by last year’s success, Samuel this year continued to work with old team members like John Ho, Peter Chan, and Catherine Lau, as well as a group of newcomers, in organising a “Lucky Snakes from PJC” stall at the Lunar New Year Fair.
“Exhausted, but happy!” is how John, a second-year student of electromechanical engineering who was mainly responsible for promotion, describes the experience. John says everyone was very committed. “Usually we wouldn’t realise how exhausted we were until after we returned to our dormitory,” says John. “After we closed the stall we would go back to our residential college and discuss what improvement we could make. Sometimes we could only sleep four hours.” John and his fellow students filled many roles at once—designer, planner, investor, mover, accountant, and salesperson. They did everything, from bidding, purchasing, pricing, promoting and selling, all by themselves, which turned out to be a deliberate arrangement by Samuel. “Last year I was more hands-on. This year I decided to step back and let the students run the show so they could be familiar with the various procedures of doing business. My role was limited to offering advice when necessary,” says Samuel with a smile.
“Entrepreneurial spirit is not just about purchase and sale,” says Samuel. “You have to use your creativity. The self-made T-shirt was just our first step. We hope to launch more original products next time. After all originality is what entrepreneurial spirit is really about.” Samuel points out that doing business is not just about making money; it’s also an ethics class. Samuel explains, “What we have on offer actually affects or even decides consumer choices. If we only sell expensive stuff, the market will always belong to the rich, so we need to consider people with different purchasing power. We gave out free calligraphy couplets at this year’s Lunar New Year Fair, because we hope everyone who came to the fair, whether rich or poor, could go home with something nice.”
Catherine Lau, a second-year student of electromechanical engineering who was responsible for stall management and promotion, says the experience helped her to understand that passion alone is not enough, that practice is just as important. “I used to just think [about starting a business], but never really put that thought into action,” says Catherine. “Through this first-hand experience, I gained courage and some basic knowledge about running a business.” What about Peter Chan, a second-year student of the Department of Finance and Business Economics? What has he learned in the process? “To gain a foothold in the market, you must have something uniquely yours,” says Peter.
For these PJC students, every difficulty they met in the process was a chance to learn something new. They are very grateful for the support of PJC staff and students. For instance, PJC Master Prof. George Watt gave them full support and encouragement. Some PJC staff came up with the brilliant idea of selling the “PJC Coupon” in order to attract partners. One colleague even asked her husband to help transport products with his car during the fair. These students plan to continue to participate in the next fair and pass on their experience and entrepreneurial spirit to other students.
Entrepreneurship Society: Communication is really important!
Kelvin Cheung is a third-year student of software engineering and president of the Entrepreneurship Society under UM’s Students’ Union. He says he has lost count of the number of times he has operated a stall since high school, and so when the opportunity to operate a stall at this year’s Lunar New Year Fair presented itself, he decided to leave the chance to other students. That’s why he and Kenneth Fong, a third-year student of the Department of Finance and Business Economics, served as consultants and let the newcomers take charge of the planning, coordination and execution. In addition to UM students, five Macao students who were studying in Taiwan at the time learned about the project and decided to join the “Snake Year Brings Change of Fortune” stall. Kelvin says that what matters most in the process of starting a business is one’s attitude, because “obstacles and failures are unavoidable, but they’re not excuses for giving up.”
Every day during the fair, participants had to stand for more than ten hours, not to mention the stocktaking and bookkeeping in the morning and evening. Sou Hio Tong, a third-year student of the Department of Accounting and Information Management, recalls how in the beginning stocktaking would cause a total chaos, which was mainly due to insufficient communication between team members. They immediately took action to solve the problem—they improved the logistics process and held two review meetings every day, once in the morning and once in the evening. Roberta Da Rosa, a third-year student of marketing who was responsible for coordinating, says that none of them expected that the “bulging-eye toy” would turn out to be a dark horse (it sold so well in fact that they needed to replenish stocks), while the Angry Bird table lamps didn’t sell as well as they had hoped and ended up sitting angrily on their stall. Unpredictable situations like these forced them to play it by ear and to constantly solve problems as they came up.
Roberta says his role was like that of a human resources manager, because he needed to encourage team members and spread positive energy in order to boost morale. But of course it took more than just one person to succeed. Everyone was doing their part. Some team members from mainland China even gave up their chance for family reunion during the Chinese New Year. In the end, they exceeded their profitability target by over 200 per cent, but they say the experience, skills and team spirit developed in the process are far more precious.
Happy a Look Tonight: Confidence and determination are crucial.
The eight members of the “Happy a Look Tonight” team set out with the aim of making money, but in the end they all agreed that the experience itself was more valuable. Wu Wang Chon, a third-year student of the Department of Communication, says his greatest gain is that he learned confidence and determination are crucial for doing business. In fact, unexpected situations that tested their confidence and determination kept coming up during the fair, and they had to take care of everything by themselves—the arrangement of items on the stall, preparation of equipment, electricity supply, and so on. They say although the friction between team members was an unpleasant experience, it did help them to learn a simple truth, which is it’s only natural that different people tend to have different opinions, and the only solution is to communicate and try to understand one another. They say this realisation has taught them to work with people with different opinions and abilities to accomplish a common goal.
Johnson Ng, a fourth-year student of marketing, says, “If you want to be an entrepreneur, you can’t think you know everything. You need to learn from experience, and only after you accumulate enough experience do you stand a chance of succeeding.” Several participants say that they experienced a change in attitude in the process. For instance, they didn’t sell very well on the first day because of insufficient preparation, but they didn’t give up and eventually sales improved. Johnson says team members’ enthusiasm and determination were infectious and helped him to realise the power of action and the importance of establishing a sound process.
