I MET AN ENTREPRENEUR THIS AFTERNOON

I WAS walking down the road passing the traffic lights this afternoon when a driver of a sedan tooted his horn.

I looked towards it but could not see who was in the vehicle with tinted glasses - and continued to walk on. Then the driver rolled down his glass and signalled to me, when I was about 10 metres away.

I looked back and saw “one of my boys” – a young man from Dei in Western Highlands.

I had helped him over a decade back when he was a struggling self-sponsored undergraduate business student at UPNG while I was pursuing some postgrad work.

He waved me over and offered me a ride.

While we travelled the four kilometres or so, we caught up on things.

He again apologised to me because he owed me something from a while back – the second time in a couple of months.

I spoke to him straight and gave him what was on my mind. I reminded him that he was still my friend but he should sorted out the debt that he had with me.

“I am burdened whenever I see you,” he said.

I told him that he should do the right thing and sort out that stuff with me for him to be “unburdened”.

I am at peace with you, I said.

I told him that what he owed me is not comparable to what he may be handling.

He agreed and said he would do something about that soon.

I also told him if I had other plans on my mind, I would not let him in on those until he sort out what he owed me.

He informed me on what he was doing – including running a PMV along a highway up in the highlands, while he was running other things here.

HE STARTED EARLY

I do not know how good that young man is with managing his businesses but I have learned some things from him, including the story that for his school fees, he had to dig a whole garden of kaukau (sweet potatoes), hire a vehicle and bring them down to Lae to sell.

He received a few thousands of kina of putting his time and effort into growing the kaukau. He also said before he leaves for school, he plants kaukau and leave them in the hands of his relatives to look after.

On that note alone, I respected his aspirations for the future.

While he was still a second-year student, he showed me possibly his first business proposal.

Seriously speaking, at that time I did not take him seriously. In fact, I was surprised that he had a company name and logo and was thinking of applying for a government contract while still a student.

Now, after many years of learning from other people and reading, I realised that that young man had a clear-cut plan for his future.

He knew that he would rather work for himself than spending time working for others. (He had a stint with a commercial bank but soon left.)

Like I said, whether he is a good manager or not, I cannot tell, but I have learned that he is keen on realising his plans, plans he had when he was still a student.

In that sense, he had started early.

I hope we all can learn that too. The earlier you start, the better.