Family vital in recession: Sheriffdeen
September 7 2009
It is vital for immigrant entrepreneurs to have family support to be able to succeed in business in New Zealand and to ride out the recession, says a leading Wellington entrepreneur.
Johnsonville resident Anas Sheriffdeen has three businesses in Wellington CBD and says it is the support of family members which has helped him survive the economic downturn which has crippled scores of businesses in the country and throughout the world.
Sheriffdeen, 40, a systems engineer originally from Sri Lanka, came to New Zealand 14 years ago after having served in Saudi Arabia for a while.
He now owns Cyber Spot internet café, Kipp Café and Palk Strait, all located in the Wellington’s CBD area.
“If it wasn’t the support of family, I would be in a different position,” Sherifdeen told Indian Weekender recently.
Sheriffdeen initially worked for Ericsson, where he was later made redundant, and later worked for Alcatel where he also got the chance to pursue an MBA at Massey University.
After having tried his hands at a few other small ventures, including a Kiwibank franchise deal which didn’t go well, Sheriffdeen then ventured into the food business with Kipp Café and Palk Strait and being a technical man himself, the Cyber Spot internet café just had to happen.
Married with four children, Sheriffdeen says he would not have survived without the help of his family members – namely his wife and brother. His wife Aidah looks after the Kipp Café and his brother runs the Palk Strait.
On the Government’s recent plans to stimulate the economy with migrants who have at least $10 million, Sheriffdeen feels it will not work.
“It is interesting that the brain storming committee of the Government think tanks have brought up such a proposal to prop up the NZ economy,” Sheriffdeen said.
“It would be fun to monitor if anyone with $10 million would invest in New Zealand or just show the money get residence buy a mansion and keep the bulk of the money invested in an economy that would generate a better return for their investment.
“Currently, there are better investment opportunities in South East Asia and the tiger and lion economies of the future are in that region,” Sheriffdeen said.
“Attracting millionaires to stay in New Zealand without really forcing them to invest their money in an industry of their choice locally would not prop up the economy nor would it create jobs. When money just lies in a bank account or in realestate it’s of no use to the common man. Look at what has happened to the USA; when money lies on paper and not in real goods and services it all would fall apart since it does not generate an income from the fruits of real labour, products or services.
“The biggest problem with New Zealand and to an extent in Australia is the lack of “people”. If there is no sizeable population things are not going to happen on the long run. If people are encouraged to invest $10 million in New Zealand, then along with that policy the Government should think of attracting 10 million more people.
“USA is surviving today mainly because of their immigrant population that has grown to a staggering 300 million which can generate a vibrant domestic economy; hence the reason for them to be an economic power house; further there are signs of them climbing out of the hole they dug themselves into and would ride out the current global recession successfully. The migrants to USA were not all skilled; it was a mix of unskilled labour to the most talented individuals and families.
“This country needs a lot of people from all walks of life, hence when the country has a sizeable population it becomes a necessity to have businesses that serve that population hence boosting the economy with goods and services which in time generates a surplus to the populations needs and then creates an opportunity for those goods and services to be exported hence creating interest overseas and attracting investments hence creating a vibrant economy,” Sheriffdeen said.
“Look at India China, USA and Europe - it’s all to do with ‘people’.
“It is people who generate money – not an individual with money that generates money.
New Zealand needs investors on all levels of the economic spectrum, not just ones with $10 million.
“Along with their investors we need people, possibly their immediate and extended
family members.”
Sheriffdeen said the the reason for having family members involved in the early days of the business venture was simple.
“When a business starts it needs a lot of support for it to be stabilised during the first three years. It is during this phase that the owners build up their capital with an intention to reinvest and grow the business, having family members around, it helps them to save on wages and other overheads and focus on building the business and grow to the next level.
“Once the business has stabilised in three years it becomes an enterprise which needs additional help which in turn generates employment to the general public. It is extremely vital that family help is available during the initial stages of an SME (small and medium sized enterprise).
“This is what I have learnt during the eight years I have been in business; not having the family support has hindered my progress severely.
On another note, Sheriffdeen said it was necessary for the salaries and wages to be left to the market forces.
“With demand, wages and salaries would increase. If a particular employer does not pay much the employee is welcome to seek an employer that pays better as per the skills and talents of that person.
“SMEs are burdened with many taxes and levies such as ACC etc. these need to be done away with in order to help businesses grow. If the business owners can retain more of their income it would help build ones capital faster and invest in their businesses or other venture and grow, hence creating more employment prospects etc. by burdening the SMEs with overheads will only stagnate their growth and most don’t even make it past the 2/3 year mark.”
He said it was of paramount importance for the Government to take notice of the primary reason for SMEs to suffer in New Zealand and to an extent in Australia.
“The biggest killer for an SME is rent, certain malls such as Westfield charge a rental of almost 70 per cent of the business profits leaving just 30 per cent for the owners to take care of wages and other overheads.
“One just needs to conduct a survey amongst SMEs and in unison all would mention ‘rent;’ as the reason for their businesses to suffer or die. The Government should have some regulations in place to cap the rentals of commercial properties and help the SMEs to grow into larger enterprises in due course and not stagnate.
“Most are held back because of killer rents and unrealistic rent increases, most just make ends meet, then get frustrated and eventually give up or close down – this is a common trend among SMEs and this needs to be addressed by the Government ASAP.
“Bulk of NZ’s economy is made of SMEs, hence protecting these businesses is a must.
“Forget about the 10 million dollar man/woman - it wont work.”
It is vital for immigrant entrepreneurs to have family support to be able to succeed in business in New Zealand and to ride out the recession, says a leading Wellington entrepreneur.
Johnsonville resident Anas Sheriffdeen has three businesses in Wellington CBD and says it is the support of...
It is vital for immigrant entrepreneurs to have family support to be able to succeed in business in New Zealand and to ride out the recession, says a leading Wellington entrepreneur.
Johnsonville resident Anas Sheriffdeen has three businesses in Wellington CBD and says it is the support of family members which has helped him survive the economic downturn which has crippled scores of businesses in the country and throughout the world.
Sheriffdeen, 40, a systems engineer originally from Sri Lanka, came to New Zealand 14 years ago after having served in Saudi Arabia for a while.
He now owns Cyber Spot internet café, Kipp Café and Palk Strait, all located in the Wellington’s CBD area.
“If it wasn’t the support of family, I would be in a different position,” Sherifdeen told Indian Weekender recently.
Sheriffdeen initially worked for Ericsson, where he was later made redundant, and later worked for Alcatel where he also got the chance to pursue an MBA at Massey University.
After having tried his hands at a few other small ventures, including a Kiwibank franchise deal which didn’t go well, Sheriffdeen then ventured into the food business with Kipp Café and Palk Strait and being a technical man himself, the Cyber Spot internet café just had to happen.
Married with four children, Sheriffdeen says he would not have survived without the help of his family members – namely his wife and brother. His wife Aidah looks after the Kipp Café and his brother runs the Palk Strait.
On the Government’s recent plans to stimulate the economy with migrants who have at least $10 million, Sheriffdeen feels it will not work.
“It is interesting that the brain storming committee of the Government think tanks have brought up such a proposal to prop up the NZ economy,” Sheriffdeen said.
“It would be fun to monitor if anyone with $10 million would invest in New Zealand or just show the money get residence buy a mansion and keep the bulk of the money invested in an economy that would generate a better return for their investment.
“Currently, there are better investment opportunities in South East Asia and the tiger and lion economies of the future are in that region,” Sheriffdeen said.
“Attracting millionaires to stay in New Zealand without really forcing them to invest their money in an industry of their choice locally would not prop up the economy nor would it create jobs. When money just lies in a bank account or in realestate it’s of no use to the common man. Look at what has happened to the USA; when money lies on paper and not in real goods and services it all would fall apart since it does not generate an income from the fruits of real labour, products or services.
“The biggest problem with New Zealand and to an extent in Australia is the lack of “people”. If there is no sizeable population things are not going to happen on the long run. If people are encouraged to invest $10 million in New Zealand, then along with that policy the Government should think of attracting 10 million more people.
“USA is surviving today mainly because of their immigrant population that has grown to a staggering 300 million which can generate a vibrant domestic economy; hence the reason for them to be an economic power house; further there are signs of them climbing out of the hole they dug themselves into and would ride out the current global recession successfully. The migrants to USA were not all skilled; it was a mix of unskilled labour to the most talented individuals and families.
“This country needs a lot of people from all walks of life, hence when the country has a sizeable population it becomes a necessity to have businesses that serve that population hence boosting the economy with goods and services which in time generates a surplus to the populations needs and then creates an opportunity for those goods and services to be exported hence creating interest overseas and attracting investments hence creating a vibrant economy,” Sheriffdeen said.
“Look at India China, USA and Europe - it’s all to do with ‘people’.
“It is people who generate money – not an individual with money that generates money.
New Zealand needs investors on all levels of the economic spectrum, not just ones with $10 million.
“Along with their investors we need people, possibly their immediate and extended
family members.”
Sheriffdeen said the the reason for having family members involved in the early days of the business venture was simple.
“When a business starts it needs a lot of support for it to be stabilised during the first three years. It is during this phase that the owners build up their capital with an intention to reinvest and grow the business, having family members around, it helps them to save on wages and other overheads and focus on building the business and grow to the next level.
“Once the business has stabilised in three years it becomes an enterprise which needs additional help which in turn generates employment to the general public. It is extremely vital that family help is available during the initial stages of an SME (small and medium sized enterprise).
“This is what I have learnt during the eight years I have been in business; not having the family support has hindered my progress severely.
On another note, Sheriffdeen said it was necessary for the salaries and wages to be left to the market forces.
“With demand, wages and salaries would increase. If a particular employer does not pay much the employee is welcome to seek an employer that pays better as per the skills and talents of that person.
“SMEs are burdened with many taxes and levies such as ACC etc. these need to be done away with in order to help businesses grow. If the business owners can retain more of their income it would help build ones capital faster and invest in their businesses or other venture and grow, hence creating more employment prospects etc. by burdening the SMEs with overheads will only stagnate their growth and most don’t even make it past the 2/3 year mark.”
He said it was of paramount importance for the Government to take notice of the primary reason for SMEs to suffer in New Zealand and to an extent in Australia.
“The biggest killer for an SME is rent, certain malls such as Westfield charge a rental of almost 70 per cent of the business profits leaving just 30 per cent for the owners to take care of wages and other overheads.
“One just needs to conduct a survey amongst SMEs and in unison all would mention ‘rent;’ as the reason for their businesses to suffer or die. The Government should have some regulations in place to cap the rentals of commercial properties and help the SMEs to grow into larger enterprises in due course and not stagnate.
“Most are held back because of killer rents and unrealistic rent increases, most just make ends meet, then get frustrated and eventually give up or close down – this is a common trend among SMEs and this needs to be addressed by the Government ASAP.
“Bulk of NZ’s economy is made of SMEs, hence protecting these businesses is a must.
“Forget about the 10 million dollar man/woman - it wont work.”
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