While finance, or access to capital, is an issue for young entrepreneurs, it is possible to build a business with little to no capital, says Roberta Morlin, founder and co-owner of KLM Consulting, which provides marketing research and technology consulting. Financial literacy is the key, adds Melbourne consultant, David Martin.

A finalist in 2015 Kumul GameChanger program, Roberta Morlin is a leader in PNG’s growing community of young tech-savvy entrepreneurs. With guidance, she moved from creating apps to running a consulting agency specialising in market research and technology.

Entrepreneur Roberta Morlin Source: Business Advantage International

‘I pretty much do a lot of work around artificial intelligence,’ she told the Business Advantage PNG Investment conference in Sydney last month.

‘When I first started in 2015, I had 30 different ideas and I had to validate (reduce) those ideas down to 15. I had to further validate over the next 15 months down to four, which I am currently working on,’ she said.

Morlin also studied at Draper University in Silicon Valley and is also a mentor with the 2017 Kumul Gamechanger program.

Health and education

Morlin believes the PNG health and education sectors provide opportunities for young IT entrepreneurs. Her mentoring network now has more than 70 members.

‘We sit down and we talk with these youth and we understand their passion so that we can match them to globally-funded opportunities.

‘You can build a business with little to no capital, which is what we’re teaching.’

‘Fifty per cent of our population are youths, so we need to prepare them for the jobs of the future—and not only what they are currently studying.

‘We sit down and talk to small and medium-sized businesses, and youth who want to create different opportunities.’

‘Funding is an issue,’ she says, ‘but you can build a business with little to no capital, which is what we’re teaching.’

Morlin advises budding entrepreneurs that if they think that capital ‘is always an issue when you rock up to the banks, maybe you should think about how you can start small and very lean’.

‘Entrepreneurs should just take the plunge and slowly build a business.’

She says that with savings of just K500, you can start an online business tomorrow and keep growing until you’ve used that capital until you build something big.

‘It’s always what you’re passionate about growing, as opposed to understanding market trends.’

Financial literacy

Dr David Martin. Credit: Melbourne Polytechnic

Entrepreneurs should just take the plunge and slowly build a business, rather than wait for a bank loan or an aid grant, according to Dr David Martin, Chairman of M·CAM Inc., which provides financial advice in developing countries, and Creator of the CNBC IQ100 equity index.

Martin’s Heritable Innovation Trust has been involved in the development of community projects and companies in Rabaul. This includes Amruqa (formerly Pacific Spices), which exports spices and essential oils.

He says communities often believe that they need aid or grants to develop their local resources.

‘It’s far better,’ he tells Business Advantage PNG, ‘that they get supply agreements. The focus needs to be on the purchasing side.’

Martin says financial literacy is the key to business success, particularly understanding capital markets, finance corporations, asset holding, leasing corporations, and other developer-related entities.