Silkor's grow-grow formula

The Life: In the summer of 2006 the owners of Silkor were in the midst of their final preparations to open a third branch in Lebanon. But in one day everything changed.

A woman undergoes diamond micro-dermabrasion treatment at Silkor centre. Courtesy Silkor Laser Medical Center

In the summer of 2006, the owners of Silkor were in the midst of their final preparations to open a third branch in Lebanon.

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But in one day, everything changed.

"I was working and my brother called me and told me they had closed the airport. There was war in Lebanon," says Lara Tarakjian, who founded the laser hair removal business with her brother, Oscar.

Given the uncertainty of the situation, they agreed that Mr Tarakjian should seek opportunities abroad. Ms Tarakjian suggested Dubai and they agreed on their first UAE location on Jumeirah Beach Road over the phone as bombs were falling.

The ability to find opportunity in unsettled circumstances seems to be a common characteristic of entrepreneurs. Ernst & Young saw this trait repeatedly in a survey of 685 entrepreneurs last year.

The survey also found that many entrepreneurs start young: 45 per cent of those surveyed founded their first businesses between the ages of 20 and 29; and 31 per cent started their companies between 30 and 39. Just 2 per cent of those surveyed had launched their first ventures after age 50.

The founders of Silkor, who are both engineering graduates, started the company when they were 18 and 25, after Mr Tarakjian received what he considered an outrageously high quote for laser hair removal. Seeing an opportunity, they started their company before they even entered the workforce.

But they are in the minority, as more than 58 per cent of those surveyed by Ernst & Young had experience outside entrepreneurship before founding their businesses. And many of those questioned viewed their experience as employees as an asset. Thirty-three per cent of entrepreneurs identified experience as employees as the most important factor in their success. Higher education came a close second at 30 per cent, followed by factors such as mentors, family and co-founders.

The study also identified three types of entrepreneurs.

"Serial entrepreneurs basically have the self-knowledge to recognise that they are not suited to lead a mature company. They're what we call the grow-and-sell entrepreneurs. They have enough self-awareness that they get to a point where they know it's time to move on because they're not suited to take the company to a mature stage," says Ginnie Carlier, an assurance partner at Ernst & Young in the UAE.

The second type, which Ernst & Young calls grow-and-kill entrepreneurs, suffocate and stifle their companies by refusing to relinquish control or listen to customers and lenders.

The third kind - grow-and-grow entrepreneurs - include people such as the founders of Silkor.

The Tarakjians took seven years to launch their second branch, but today their company has 18 across the region, 13 of which were opened within just two years.

"Now we are in the copy-paste phase," says Ms Tarakjian.

However, the Tarakjians are rare in managing the transition from start-up to successful business.

"This was a small segment of the entrepreneur population because we realised it is embedded in them to want to keep being entrepreneurs. We saw very little in this category," says Ms Carlier.

The study also mapped what it calls the DNA of an entrepreneur, identifying key traits.

"Entrepreneurs truly believe that they are in charge of their own destiny. They control their environment," says Ms Carlier. "That's complemented by the fact that they have a very positive attitude towards risk. They don't see failure as failure. They also see opportunity when others see disruption."

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