Coming-of-age birthday party for home businesses

By ELLEN READ

It may be only the third anniversary, but in many ways Home Business Week - which started yesterday - is more like a 21st birthday.

The country's home businesses have come of age, gaining credibility as enterprises rather than hobbies and attracting attention from academics and the Government.

Research suggests about 90 per cent of New Zealand's businesses are small and about half of these are run from home.

And that's where some of the most famous got their start.

The Watties food business began in the kitchen of James Wattie's Hastings home.

Auckland businessman Peter Maire started his digital navigation equipment firm Navman in the family basement; this year he sold a 70 per cent stake to United States giant Brunswick for $56 million.

Adrian and Sharon Kenny set up the Green Acres franchise at home in 1991 (they have since sold it).

Further afield, William Hewlett co-founded a business in 1939 in a garage in Palo Alto, California, with US$538.

Hewlett-Packard, is now one of the world's biggest technology companies with annual revenue of more than US$70 billion. The garage is a state monument.

But not all home businesses want to grow that much.

Many people working from home are happy to stay there, citing lifestyle, flexibility and lack of stress.

Taking it a step further, Heather Douglas of Home Business New Zealand says many established small businesses are now heading home.

Modern technology means most things can be done from a home office, more outsourced services are available, the compliance issues involved in running external premises are huge and, perhaps most importantly, being home-based now has credibility.

"People don't feel they have to have premises to be taken seriously," Douglas said.

A study by Unitec business faculty senior lecturer Greg Wilson shows the male/female owner split is fairly even, most home business owners are aged between 35-54 and 80 per cent are European.

Half the businesses in Wilson's survey of 449 enterprises had been going for less than two years.

But 40 per cent said their businesses were performing as expected, 40 per cent were exceeding expectations and only 20 per cent were underperforming.

Wilson's survey, conducted in association with Home Business New Zealand, found 85 per cent of home businesses were not significant exporters.

Five per cent said almost all their business was international, and exports contributed some revenue to the other 10 per cent.

About 22 per cent of home businesses were in rural areas.

The full results and analysis of his survey are expected to be published early next year.

Working from home does have its downsides.

Problems include isolation, having no one with whom to talk through difficult decisions or share ideas, limited budgets, sharing home space and balancing work and family life.

And home businesses can lack a collective voice with which to influence public policy.

Alongside its roles of informing and networking, Heather Douglas' Home Business New Zealand has emerged as that voice.

"It's been heartening to see the home business community become much more cohesive," she said.

"Not only do they communicate with us, they have a sense of belonging and really support each other.

"It's also been exciting for us to see the media, corporates and people in Government starting to take home businesses seriously.

"Home businesses really have finally come of age in New Zealand."

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