Interviewed
by: Orrin Pharmin
SBDC
Director/Business Advisor
(CNMI SBDC)
Please tell us about
yourself and your family. I arrived on
Saipan in 2002 to teach math at the Northern Mariana College (NMC). I left NMC in 2009 and taught math at
Marianas High School for two years. I
also taught computer course and math at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi in
2011-2012. I then returned to Saipan in 2012.
My wife's name is Susan, who works for IT&E as a purchaser and we
have two children: James (11) and Sarah (9).
Why did you decide to
start your own business? While in
Abu Dhabi, I attended the very first annual “Comic-Con.” Although there is a
high demand for comic book merchandise as well as a high level of brand and
character recognition, I discovered that there were no comic book merchandise
stores in the entire country of the United Arab Emirates. The one condition for
starting a store there is that I would need to already have a business
elsewhere, so I decided to start one on Saipan since there were no other full comic
merchandise stores on the island.
How did the Small
Business Development Center and other resources help you? They got me started in the right direction by
helping me with the logistics of starting a business on the island.
What was the start-up
process like? How did you fund your business? I funded the business completely through
personal savings I did not take out a loan or need to borrow money. The start-up process took more than a
year. It's a lot of work and planning
plus finding a suitable location. This
all took a bit of time.
What were some of the
biggest challenges/experienced you experienced in the start-up process? There were plenty of challenges, including
finding a reasonably proper location, setting up how to make and receive
orders, finding out what was in demand and what was not, establishing a
clientele.
What is your most
memorable triumph in your start-up process?
Just opening the doors for the first day of business knowing the store
was absolutely ready to begin business.
What are your
short-term and long-term plans for your business? Short term: Moving to a better location
(which has been accomplished). Long
term: Opening a store in the U.A.E.
What advice would you
give to others who want to start a business at this time? With the price of oil dropping as much as it
has in the past year or so, plus the noticeable increase in construction
on-island, it might be a good time to consider starting a business.
For more information on starting a new business or expanding
your existing business, contact the CNMI SBDC at 670-664-3018.
