So often when we hear of entrepreneurial success stories, it comes as no surprise that when we look a little deeper into the why and how, we quickly realize that perseverance and resilience were the order of the day especially during the early days of the business.


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Cynthia Kar reports
Perseverance and a willingness to change helped an entrepreneur become a CEO and lower his handicap, ena.

BRADLEY DOWE says perseverance is the key to golf and to business. "When I started, I couldn't hit the ball," says the 46-year-old chief executive of Legend Corporation, the Adelaide-based memory products and electronics engineering company that last week acquired electrical products distribution company CABAC.

"I was hopeless. You need to practise and persevere. I've been (persevering) for 15 years - with golf and business," Mr Dowe says.

Playing golf has also taught Mr Dowe the importance of small changes to get a thing right. "Incremental improvement is important. Get the business right and continue to make improvements."

Legend spends "a lot of time" making little changes to its products so it can quickly respond to the market. "For example (we) couldn't sell USB pen drives so someone in the company came up with an idea to print people's names on them to personalise them, and now they're selling."

A Monash University computer science graduate, Mr Dowe started Legend Corporation at his kitchen table in 1989 with his wife Louise, making computers and writing software for clients. When the company went public in 2004, Mr Dowe learned to handle competing interests.

"There are many masters to satisfy - the shareholders, the board, investment analysts and investors - each has their particular requirements. As a person who is used to calling the shots, all I used to worry about was making a profit. But now the cash flow needs to be right and investors want a dividend and earnings per share, sustainable growth, sexy products, and one day they still may just change their mind about your company."

But a CEO must also manage for the future, he says, rather than just getting caught up with current demands.

"Caring for clients, staff and your community is a side of public business that is too often forgotten."

Supporting your team makes a difference to business, says Mr Dowe. "Realise that people have needs outside their pay cheque. We've got a company creche and we implemented a home savings program to help people move from home rental to ownership.

"Get your team right. Your people are critical and it takes time to get the right people. When you have them, provide them with new challenges and a growing say in the ownership and direction of the business.

"An entrepreneur defines a vision. I am like a coach. I deliver the resources my team needs to win. Be candid about performance and make sure everybody shares the same objectives."

Making sure everyone has the same objectives is a challenge for Mr Dowe, as Legend has offices in New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Europe.

"I travel a lot," Mr Dowe says. "We have video-conferencing but nothing replaces face-to-face."

He encourages entrepreneurs to have confidence in their vision and in their ability to achieve it. "Entrepreneurs are defined by the number of times they get up again after getting knocked over by some issue. Things go wrong; it's a part of a growing business and it's how you recover from these things that defines success."

In the early days of his business it experienced a substantial theft: someone stole most of the main stock and Mr Dowe had no money to replace it. "We flew to California the next day. We may have oversold the size and scope of our organisation but we were able to replace the parts on favourable terms.

"We're no overnight success. We've have had a lot of great products and some absolute stinkers. Be brutal in the review of your products, even treasured ones that you have nurtured yourself.

"Stay with your vision but make sure you are flexible too - you must react to changes in your environment. And be prepared to work and work and work." Mr Dowe and his team have worked for more than a decade developing memory technology. "But the product is just not very sexy. I am passionate about the way memory and digital media is coming out from behind the curtain and taking a more visibly central role in people's lives. In the near future, digital technology products, in effect application-specific computers, will be part of our clothing, glasses etcetera, and become truly pervasive.

"New digital technology is certainly more engaging then a desktop computer, which is about as fascinating as a washing machine. The Legend Jazz MP3 player is more engaging than Microsoft releasing a new operating system."

LINK

· http://www.legendmemory.com

http://www.smh.com.au