Five years of surviving one shock after another has taught New Zealand’s SMEs how to hold on. ScotPac NZ General Manager Lindsay Fisher says the harder test is the one in front of them now: learning to grow when nothing is ever going to feel settled again.
“The uncertainty isn’t going anywhere,” Fisher says.
“It certainly feels like it’s here to stay, so the most practical solution is to just accept it and find ways to grow anyway.”
Six months on from his last conversation with NZBusiness, little has changed on the macro front. An election year, a fragile Middle East, fuel costs that aren’t coming back down. What has shifted, Lindsay says, is how the better-performing businesses are responding: They’ve stopped waiting for conditions to improve.
“The businesses we see performing aren’t waiting for perfect conditions to return. If you only go fishing on the calm, perfect days, you might get out three times a year. Sometimes you just have to go, safety first, but you can’t wait for ideal conditions forever.”
That mindset applies directly to funding, and it’s where Fisher sees SMEs doing themselves the most damage. The pattern he describes is familiar: A business holds off until a problem forces its hand, then scrambles.
“The biggest mistake we see, time and again, is businesses waiting until there’s a problem before they look for funding. The whole process gets rushed, and quality goes out the door. Price goes out the door too. You don’t care how much it costs, you just need to put the fire out.”
His advice: Treat funding as a plan, not a reaction. Know what growth would require such as stock, equipment, a bigger order, and have the facility in place before you need it, even if it sits unused.
“Getting in early, whatever you’re looking at and whoever you’re looking at it with, and going in with a plan. ‘This is what we’re forecasting, this is how we think we’ll grow, this is what we need to do it’, puts you on much stronger footing,” Fisher says.
“The alternative is: ‘This happened to us, we just need money, and we’ll take it from whoever says yes’. Then you see the fine print.”
Lindsay Fisher.
It’s a point ScotPac has built its own client relationships around. Fisher says the business has pushed its client managers to shift the conversation from “can we see trouble coming” to “can we see opportunity coming”, planning for growth rather than just flagging risk.
The approach sits alongside ScotPac’s Line of Credit, now coming up on 12 months in market and warmly received, Fisher says, with the business reviewing whether to lift its $200,000 cap. Alongside invoice finance, trade finance and business loans, it rounds out a suite built to meet businesses “wherever they are in that journey”, with more products planned before ScotPac’s financial year ends in June.
For owners feeling like they’re figuring this out alone, Fisher’s suggestion is simple: Talk to the businesses around you, including customers, suppliers, competitors even, rather than scrolling for advice online. “Most business owners like to talk about their business. There might be a little nugget of gold that comes out of it.”
His closing point is the one he wants SMEs to sit with: Growth takes time, and sometimes the only ingredient missing is sticking with the plan long enough for it to pay off. “We’ve got to take those steps forward despite the uncertainty. Growth takes time, and sometimes it’s about getting the right support to get through those periods, so you’re ready when things do improve, without needing them to.” For more SME resources, visit www.scotpac.co.nz.
