Small Business Inside Track Q&A: Dean Hand, founder, kiwis.ie

New Zealander Dean Hand is founder of kiwis.ie which brings a taste of home to other expatriates around the country through his website and village shop in Co Tipperary.

What distinguishes your business from your competitors?

At kiwis.ie we're a one-stop-shop for food and beverage products specifically from New Zealand, with some from Australia and South Africa.

What has been the biggest challenge that you’ve had to face?

Getting product with a viable use-by date. Obviously it’s coming such a distance and, to keep costs as competitive as possible, it’s shipped rather than transported by air. While the products are purchased by their optimum use-by date in New Zealand, the three months they are on a ship before we get them gives us a narrow window for turnover.

On top of that, judging demand for a certain products when ordering is tricky. It’s really about having the ability to foresee sales.

Your major success to date?

We operate out of our village shop in Clerihan, Co Tipperary. We've won a couple of awards nationally for our business as a whole. A lot of that was down to the range of product that we have a lot of which is internationally sourced.

What could the Government do to help SMEs in the current environment?

At a local level, there are a few programmes available through local enterprise boards but they’re not great at promoting them or having access to them. They need to expose these services and products to SMEs more transparently.

Nationally, I don’t think there’s a business person in the country who wouldn’t agree that we are all somewhat crippled by taxation. There are tax breaks for taking people off the live register for example but no concessions at all for maintaining staff.

Do you think that the banks are open for business?

Yes I do. When we first approached our bank, we were a new customer. We wanted to purchase the building we’re in and we were met positively even in 2011. I think as long as you have a good practical viable business plan, you will be dealt with favourably. Obviously they’ve tightened up, they had to. The criteria have probably tightened up and you probably wait slightly longer than you used to do for funds to clear but I think they want to help, especially at local level.

What’s the biggest mistake that you’ve made in business?

From day one, the biggest mistake was probably not spending enough time focusing on our cash flow situation. It’s probably the number one concern or problem that businesses face at the moment. We got ourselves into a small bit of difficulty, nothing major. It was something we were able to deal with thankfully.

Who do you admire in business and why?

Anyone who's brave enough to go into business and give it a go has to be admired. Probably one guy that sticks out is Richard Branson, purely because of the way he treats his staff, the way he develops his staff. He gets a great response from them. His ethos is if you treat your staff well, they'll treat your customers well. I think there's a lot of truth in that.

What’s the best piece of business advice that you’ve ever received?

Be consistent. I worked in food and beverage for many years and, in one particular place I worked, it was kind of company motto and it stuck with me. If you fluctuate too much, it will derail your focus, it will upset your customers and ultimately confuse the message you are trying to send out about what your business is.

How do you see the short-term future for your business?

We are hoping to expand into new markets this year but we’ve still got a bit of work to do on sourcing. Being specific, we want to expand further on products from Australia and South Africa.

What’s your business worth and would you sell it?

If I was to put it on the market tomorrow? I don’t know, we haven’t really considered it. But would I sell it? Probably not in its current form. I suppose everything is ultimately for sale, but I don’t think I would at the moment. Ask me in five years, I might have a different answer but I’m enjoying it too much at the moment. I’m enjoying the development of it. It’s still a very young business.