Samantha Global Branding & Research Institute Kazumasa Terada

When you think you're in a pinch, it's actually a big opportunity

■ Profile

Born in Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture. Graduated from the Faculty of Business Administration at Komazawa University.
1991 Established an import agency for overseas brands
1994: Samantha Thavasa Japan Limited established
In 2019, he retired as Representative Director and President.
2020: Samantha Global Branding & Research Institute Co., Ltd. established

President Terada has a strong desire to make people happy. He believes in the importance of connections with people, the "gratitude and respect" that underlie them, and the "luck and connections" that arise from seeing a crisis as an opportunity. He believes that by valuing these things, new paths can be found. We spoke to him about this mindset from the unique perspective of a founder.

　My father was the fifth-generation president of a steelworks in Hiroshima, and was a very cool man I admired. As a child, I had wanted to take over the company, but in the winter of my second year of junior high school, I found out that my older brother, who was two years older than me, would be taking over. I was disappointed, but I thought it couldn't be helped since I was the second son, so I decided to start my own business and studied hard to find the right person to do so.
　When I found out I was born as the second son and couldn't take over the company, I thought how unlucky I was. However, the important thing is how you turn what feels like a pinch into an opportunity. I was not born as the eldest son, which is why I have my current company, and now I think it was better for me to start my own company than to take over my father's company. It is precisely times of difficulty that are opportunities, and by seeing them as opportunities, you can open up good fortune.

■What do I need to do to start a company?

　When I was in my second year of university, I felt that I needed English to start a business, so I decided to study abroad. However, at the time, I had no opportunities to speak English, and it was even embarrassing to speak English in front of others. So I decided to teach English to junior high school students. As a cram school teacher, I could speak English while teaching my students, and I could also learn grammar from the basics, which was very educational.
　During my third year of university, I took a leave of absence to study in Canada, but here again I faced a crisis. Just before I was due to leave, my father fell ill, and I had to find the funds for my study abroad myself. To turn this crisis into an opportunity, I started two businesses in Canada. One was a business that dispatched Canadians to Japan as English conversation teachers. The other was a business that exported Canadian leather jackets to Japan and sold them at events held by a trading company I knew. This leather jacket brand business was successful, but the English conversation teacher dispatch business did not. I found it difficult to manage people as I had hoped, and I realized that running a business that deals with people is indeed difficult. However, this experience made me realize that it is connections with people that create business.

■ Important things to know when working

　After that, even in my fourth year of university, I spent a lot of time in Canada, and the fur business there was going well. I thought about starting a company and starting my own business, but I thought, "There's no way it's going to go this well," and I had second thoughts.
　I thought that in order to run a company, I would need to work for a company first in order to understand the feelings of an office worker, so I worked for a trading company for two years. What I realized during that time was that people "complain if the salary is low even if the job is rewarding," "complain if the job is not rewarding the more pride they have," and "complain if the job is not rewarding even if the salary is good." When I started my own company, I wanted to do a job that was rewarding, that I could take pride in, and that paid a good salary.

■Starting a business with a brand

　I thought that if I could use what I learned from this experience to start a business, I should start a "brand." Even though I wanted to start a brand, I felt that I couldn't make cars or watches because I didn't have the money. I also realized that, unlike clothes, it's easy to tell what brand a bag is when you hold it. At that moment, I intuitively thought that "bags would be the easiest thing to make."
　However, I didn't know anything about fashion and didn't know anyone in the fashion industry, so I thought I was in a pinch. At the time, magazines decided the trends, and television followed suit. There was enough momentum to make a business out of it just by being featured in a magazine. However, getting featured in a magazine is extremely difficult. That's how high the barrier to entry for magazines was.
　At the time, there were four of us running the company, and everyone was against calling magazine companies. However, I saw their opposition as an opportunity. I was lucky enough to find someone from a magazine company who was willing to meet with me, and as we gradually built a relationship, they started to give me information about the next big trends. As we became friendly with them, I always tried to anticipate what they wanted and act accordingly. It's important to make the most of your encounters with people.

■Message

Opportunities will not arise unless you feel a pinch. COVID-19 is a difficult time, but it is precisely at times like these that we must not do what others do, that we must do what others do not, in order to win. Now is the age of opportunity, so I hope you will enjoy the pinch and seize the opportunity.
　Humans are driven by two emotions: "I want to do this" and "I have to do this." These are the emotions of wanting to eat delicious food and having to go to school. Even if you don't like it, you have to do it, so it's important to change "I have to do this" to "I want to do this." To do this, you need to have clear goals and objectives. If you can decide on this properly, you'll be about halfway to achieving your goal.

Student Newspaper April 2021 Edition by Kaisei Tsujiuchi, 3rd year student at Nihon University