"Auntie Karen" making her mark in the tough business of marketing children's education
Stabroek News
December 29, 2006
Karen Bacchus-Hinds receiving her GCCI award from Chamber Senior Vice President Frank De Abru.
Karen Bacchus-Hinds does not appear to be particularly phased by her recent Georgetown Chamber of Commerce award for her company's "pioneering efforts in the development of the education sector and for performing business with a social conscience." There is, she says, a purpose to her business pursuits that goes beyond that kind of recognition. She wants to fulfil her own personal ideals and those ideals are centred around the shaping of young minds and, by extension, contributing to a culture of early childhood education.
Ten years after the founding of New Era books, however, she has become one of the best-known female faces in the local business community and, as Auntie Karen, a popular figure with children.
Her vision was not always as well-defined as it is today. It began, she said, with a love of books, an entrepreneurial spirit and a determination to grasp the business opportunities that emerged with the growth of the private sector in Guyana. Initially she ran her business from her home, recruiting sales "reps" to undertake house-to-house marketing of adult titles that taught the reader practical skills. "It was not so much that we believed that our customers were avid readers. What we were seeking to sell were the various skills which the books taught and refined and our customers were people who wanted to develop those particular skills," she told Stabroek Business. She says that research done by New Era indicates that around 60 per cent of its early customers have used the skills developed from their reading either to develop skills-based hobbies or to create businesses.
The success of the early years took the establishment to its present Lamaha street premises where, as Karen puts it, "we were confronted with all the realities of running a business. "Apart from the overhead expenses associated with occupying business premises we were also affected by the crime and instability that emerged in 2001 and the downturn in business that resulted. In a sense those challenges brought out the best in us since we were forced to employ innovative ways of marketing our product."
Karen's eventual decision to market books associated with early childhood education was linked, she said, to "a personal concern" with the intellectual stimulation and development of children. "Since then all of our efforts have gone into retailing of children's educational material."
Success in business has been doubly rewarding for Karen. Her sustained television and radio advertising has made her store popular with parents of children up to around six years of age. At the same time she unashamedly admits to her delight in the cult figure image that "Auntie Karen" enjoys with children "This is the most rewarding period of my life. I believe that I am actually involved in an area of business that realizes two distinct kinds of rewards. The first is the material reward and the second is the satisfaction of being involved in the sale of a product that is actually contributing to the growth of our children. For me the second reward is no less important than the first because it represents the attainment of a personal goal."
Still, Karen is acutely aware that the idealism of a dream must be subsumed beneath the realities of business if she is to succeed. "It's tough work. No day in business goes by without some new challenge. That is why you can never be complacent. You can never really take a single day's success for granted. "
Karen believes that Guyana may be bursting at the seams with potential successful businesswomen but says that most females do business at a subsistence level and lack the clout to access the support of the local banking system. "We are yet to develop any substantial lending mechanism that focuses on the development of small businesses. Banks are concerned with protecting their investments and are therefore cautious about their lending patterns. Accordingly, Karen believes that the local banking structure has to include a lending facility that is concerned about the growth and development of small businesses.
Karen believes that New Era Enterprise is helping her fulfil her own personal purpose. But if her dream of marketing knowledge had engendered an initial idealism she has now developed a 'hardened' business outlook that has helped shape her commercial decisions. In recent years she has responded to the technological innovations in learning methods by moving into the marketing of electronic toys. "It really is a matter of adjusting to the market and delivering products that are in demand. Learning methods have become more technologically advanced and while I still favour a good book I recognise that methods of learning and reading have changed. Good business is about adjusting to market demands."