Business is not just about money - Monsieur Henry tells students

Jean Pascal Henry

Owner of Monsieur Henry Café in Kokopo has encouraged students of UNRE not to go into business with their main focus on money.

Jean Pascal Henry gave an inspirational talk to Year 4 students under the module A413 Entrepreneurship that motivated them to understand that business is not all about money.

“Entrepreneurship is not just looking for money. It is a long-term investment. It needs more of your time, sweat, right attitude and you need a plan. Entrepreneurship comes with value, a vision and a mission,” he said.

Mr Henry told the students that to become entrepreneurs, they don’t need to start big because there are many opportunities around them.

“PNG is a young country with huge potential in agriculture and tourism and students must be smart and creative on how they can come up with good ideas to be an entrepreneur. Start small but be creative,” he said.

He said an entrepreneur must have a great concern for the community they live in because if the community goes down it will affect the business.

“This means they must have interest in the political leaders, who is going to run their province and the region and to contribute in a way that the people will make right decisions to choose a good leader,” he said.

Mr Henry said an entrepreneur should also talk or share ideas with key players in the district and also discuss with authorities on what he/she can do to assist them.

He said parents also contribute to children not realising or achieving their full potential.

“All they say is, ‘Go to school, get educated and look for job.’ Children are shaped in that mentality so when they grow (up) they do not fully utilise their potential and be creative and create employment for themselves or be the boss of their own.”

He told students that many successful people today started their business small and over time grew those businesses to where they are now.

The entrepreneur encouraged them to share their business ideas with people who were interested and willing to contribute and assist them prosper in what they wanted to do.

Mr Henry’s words of encouragement to students aren’t empty words, as a business owner, he participates in activities in the local community. One such activity is the University’s Science Café initiative that he has embraced wholeheartedly and allowed the use of his café on the first Monday of every month for free.