Lawrence Nicholson | Principle over profit

Women in family-owned businesses, FOBs, continue to form part of the debate and intrigue in the family business literature.

Not everyone is interested in this debate and believe that the continuation of this debate has helped to detract from addressing the issue of the marginalisation of the male. This interesting perspective forms part of the views expressed by the third female entrepreneur in the three-part series of conversation with women in FOBs. Overall, the conversations with these women underline the truism that unity of purpose can exist in the midst of diversity of views.

In her evolution as an entrepreneur and one of the leading faces of a successful family-owned business, Michelle Chong, CEO of Honey Bun 1982 Limited, has come to embrace the thought that “everything rises and falls on leadership”, a quote from John C. Maxwell, a leadership expert and author.

Leadership is gender neutral and therefore, making a distinction between women and men in FOBs misses the mark. For her, there is little or no difference between a woman or a man leading a business. Both are entrepreneurs who can achieve success, if they have the right approach and right attitude. My conversation with Michelle Chong proved to be insightful and value-added for the business community.

LN: What motivated you to become involved in business?

MC: Well, my husband bought Honey Bun and, you know, in the Chinese culture, you usually work with your husband. That was the motivation.

LN: Was it a difficult a decision?

MC: No, it wasn’t a difficult decision, because I was planning to go into my own business. This was now our business. I was teaching at the time and saw this as my opportunity to get into business. And, I suppose, at the heart of every Chinese, you want to have your own business, even though it wasn’t obvious to me. Maybe that’s what mentally made it easier for me.

LN: Was there any resistance from family members, given that you had gone to college and leaving a defined profession to go into what could be considered the uncertainty of business?

MC: The only resistance I found was when I told my father I was going to become a teacher. He was like, oh, no, no, no, no. You can’t become a teacher. They want you all to be a doctor or a lawyer. However, my ambitions were never financial. I was doing what I was passionate about, which was teaching.

When I got married, I never thought, well, I’m going to start my own business. It didn’t occur to me before my husband bought Honey Bun. It was then I said, ah yes, I will go and do business with him. So, it was a natural choice.

LN: Having become the face of Honey Bun, have you faced any challenges that you believe would be because you’re a woman or any opportunities because you’re a woman?

MC: You know, I would always normally say no, because being in my own business, I was never faced with any gender issues.

LN: You seem to have assumed a leadership role in the business at the beginning, as the CEO. Was this a decision between you and your husband?

MC: When we started the business, it didn’t take any time to recognise that Herbie [husband Herbert Chong] didn’t really have an interest in operations. He was developing and buying and talking with the suppliers. Those were his areas of strength and what he liked to do. We combined our strengths to make the business better. In answering the question about challenges as a woman getting loans.

This was not an issue because Herbie was always part of the discussion. In fact, he’s the one who would have approached the bank manager for discussion because he knew everybody, and he knew the right people to go to. So, he led the way. He was always there with me for those business transactions.

LN: I know that Honey Burn operated for several years without the label of a family-owned business attached. How would you compare the approach before and now, and what has changed, if anything, since having a full understanding of the dynamics involved in a family business?

MC: A lot has changed. A lot of structure has been put in place now that we are more cognizant of the fact that it’s a family business. Before that, it was just mom and pop. And so, I would say the governance was never there. I am now teaching my children about having boards, having advisers, having structure.

Before, the whole corporate governance bit was not there. There was no corporate governance, no regular meetings. The whole corporate governance structure has changed significantly since we now see ourselves as a family, a family business officially. Before, it was more like a family in business.

LN: Talk to me about the challenges that you face in doing business in Jamaica, and what would you consider to be the top five challenges doing business in Jamaica.

MC: Bureaucracy is one of them because when you need to get anything done, it’s a challenge. Even trying to register business. Banking is a new and horrible challenge. You have to fight all the way uphill to get an account open.

If you want it to be more about family business, I find that because the children are now adults, they are very strong mind-set, so navigating the dynamics can be a challenge. This can be an emotional challenge because you care for your children and want the best for them. For example, I assisted in applying for a loan for one of my children and it takes over a year.

Interestingly, I did not have a problem with getting funding in the late eighties or early nineties when Honeywell needed to borrow money. That was quick and was easy. But it’s recently that these bank loans are so cumbersome. Another challenge is staffing. Getting qualified people, not only in terms of their skillset, but their attitude and approach to work. Okay, that’s four.

LN: You have referenced challenges. What are three guiding principles in doing business in Jamaica?

MC: The first is that the CEO needs other people or directors or advisers who can guide him/her. Every business needs to have a board of advisers. The second thing is that I find people need to have some education in how to run a business. Many of them have the talent, but they don’t have the business skills. Some very fundamental business skills are grossly lacking in business.

I was lucky in that my father was very business-like. I learned a lot from him. Third principle is the need to do things right and honestly. Maybe that’s not the case with everybody, but I would encourage other businesses to try to do the right thing, even though this can prove difficult. It’s very hard because other people might be doing things the right way, but then you see them making a lot more money than you.

LN: You referenced to your father. Talk to me about his influence on you.

MC: There were things I could just take for granted, because growing up with him, he would give us work to do, so we developed good work ethic. He operated his business from home, so it was natural to be part of the business.

LN: Looking back, what are three lessons would you say you learnt from the experience of early exposure to business and working in the business?

MC: I am going to list three lessons that I learnt from my father. The first thing - he taught me how to manage money and keep accounts. He was not careless; he had all his books in order. The other thing I learnt from him was the value of hard work. He was just hard-working – he was up early, and on the road. He never had an office job where he just sat down, and other people did the work. He always got in and did the work himself.

I learnt to be familiar with every level in the organisation. If I had to find a third thing that I learnt from him it would be his ambition. He was very ambitious. He started off as a poor man and he did work hard to achieve something in life.

LN: In working together over the years, how have you been able to navigate any differences in approach between you and your husband?

MC: Things have changed over time. For example, in the early days, we decided that we would not talk about business at home. Now that we are all older, the children are talking about business more than me.

The other thing is, in the early days, it was very difficult for me to appreciate the differences in us. My father was so business-like, and Herbie was so sociable. I resented that. But I have come to recognise that there are benefits in us being different. He brings to the table things that I cannot even think of doing. You get over whatever differences there might be through faith, just learn how to accept certain things. Once you accept certain things, it becomes easier to get along or to respond to different situations.

LN: Do you have a vision for women in business versus just people in business in Jamaica?

MC: It’s a difficult question for me to answer because I have such strong thoughts about it. I think that the whole gender division or seeing women different from men has destroyed the image of men in Jamaica. I may say that my views on this matter might be unique. This approach of inserting men versus women has created a lot of insecurity; this is very often why I don’t get involved in issues related to gender.

I think that men were meant to lead, and they have a different role from women. Even from the Bible, they’re the leader of the family. But I think the woman’s liberation has destroyed a part of who they are, and there might be the situation where many of them don’t know who they are anymore. So if I had to answer your question in short, I think women in business need to respect their male counterparts and their role.

LN: That’s an interesting perspective, and I would have been disappointed if you had not given it. Not seeing business from the perspective of women-men dichotomy, what is your overall vision of Jamaica’s business landscape 10 to 15 years from now?

MC: Well, when I think about the business landscape, I am not thinking about it in terms of men and women. I am just thinking about it in terms of people going into business that fulfils a passion. This approach will lead to they doing it well. And there are avenues for them to do it better, like the Honey Bun Foundation, which is always trying to get people do business better.

I think that Jamaica, with our talent, we could be the leader in business. Jamaica has a tremendous future in business and entrepreneurship.

Michelle Chong – another voice from among the strong and resilient women in FOBs. Faced with the choice of making profit or making principles the driver of a successful business, she chooses principles. The principles of treating people fairly and without being judgemental, being honest with self and others and having God at the centre will lead to profit in the long run.

She will be the first to tell you that she is not perfect in any of these areas, but the journey continues. Jamaica would benefit from Michael Chong’s approach to business.

More anon!

Lawrence Nicholson, PhD, is a senior lecturer at the Mona School of Business & Management, University of the West Indies, author of Understanding the Caribbean Enterprise: Insights from MSMEs and Family-Owned Businesses and a former director of the RJRGLEANER Communications Group.lawrence.n.08@gmail.com