Pushing all the right buttons

CHRIS GORMAN/Sunday Star-Times

FLUMMOXED BY YOUR PHONE?: Denis O'Shea is the man who can help. The Mobile Mentor founder has built a successful business showing people how to use their mobile phones.

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Denis O'Shea must be on to something. Three years ago the entrepreneur kicked off a trial scheme to show executives how to use their mobile phones.

Today his Auckland-based company trains more than 1000 people a month and he's sealed his first export deal to Brazil.

Clearly lots of people need help with their gadgets.

Blackberries, mobile phones with email, wireless connections, diaries that link to your office PC or laptop, wi-fi internet, digital video editing... the list of features is mind-boggling.

And as handsets increased in complexity, O'Shea was well-placed to observe the effects.

The Irishman spent 15 years with Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia, joining the company when it was still producing toilet paper.

The business had its problems, says O'Shea, "but it turned around, and I was part of the team which had the privilege of being part of that journey."

As Nokia grew, O'Shea served the company all over the world and began to realise the products were becoming harder to operate.

"One customer said `I just need someone to sit with me for one hour and show me how to use it'," says O'Shea.

So, helped with funding from Nokia, he set up Mobile Mentor as a trial with Vodafone New Zealand in December 2004.

Eight months later Mobile Mentor went into commercial operation as an exclusive contractor to Vodafone and O'Shea was on his way as an independent entrepreneur.

The concept is simple: "We'll set it up, take away all the pain, and you'll never have to read a manual."

Working though Vodafone rather than selling to phone users directly was a key strategy, says O'Shea. "They've got the big marketing engine, we don't."

So Vodafone offers the service free to what it describes as "eligible" customers, seeing it as a useful way to add value, and pays Mobile Mentor for the work.

If O'Shea seems to have avoided major mistakes, it may be through the support of Auckland business incubator The Icehouse. "Through that I built an advisory board and brought in different partners, suppliers and consultants to help with the business model," he says.

"I also used Deloitte to help raise capital, which was a major hurdle."

His own experience, and Icehouse support, has given O'Shea clear views of what he is trying to do.

It's a service business, he says. "It's about the execution and the quality, not the idea."

Anyone can do mobile phone training, and they will. Mobile Mentor's strength is the written processes and software supporting the way its staff do their work intellectual property that has now been licensed to a start-up business in Brazil, run by former senior telco executives.

O'Shea estimates the Brazil operation will generate revenue of $50 million over the next four years.

Other export markets are on the horizon using the same business model.

"It's important we have the right local partner and the right structure. When we tried to go in and sell as a New Zealand company we didn't get very far.

"So the key for us is to find the right individual who can do the deal in-country - our role is to transfer our knowledge and get up and going quickly."

- © Fairfax NZ News