Man starts business with K27

Business

A LOCAL businessman who started off with only K27 in his pocket now owns an eatery and a mechanical workshop which employ 15 locals.
John Rei operates the Compass Works PNG mechanical workshop and G’s Café adjacent to it.
Compass Works PNG looks after fleet of vehicles owned by some big companies. It has been in operation since 2009.
The eatery caters for workers in the Pacific Palms industrial compound at Six-Mile in Port Moresby. It also is convenient to people visiting the workshop who want to have something to eat while waiting for their vehicles to be fixed.
Rei said he adopted an Australian concept.
“We had the workshop set up and made it similar to countries in Australia and elsewhere,” he said.
“Clients to the workshop have a place to wait and have food as their cars are worked on.  “It’s a new concept to Papua New Guinea,” he said.
Rei said G’s Cafe and Compass Works were separate businesses.
“The companies have grown. I started with K27 in my pocket as a small hire car company,” he said.
“I spent that on fuel for the first car and gradually built up the fleet. With the LNG project, we were given the opportunity to be contracted for the fleet management and became more established.”
Rei highlighted the need for SMEs such as his company to diversify according to the market.
There are 15 workers – with three of them manning the eatery. The menu ranges from baked and cooked food and also provides delivery while catering to events.