An Apprentice To A Millionaire: The Story Of Topa Mata of SHP Papua New Guinea.

An Apprentice To A Millionaire : The Story Of Topa Mata of Kagua-Erave District in the Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. ​If you want to be a millionaire, go back to your roots and start from there. There’s no such thing as becoming a millionaire overnight. This is the advice from a local entrepreneur who knew nothing about doing business.

Published by PNG Entrepreneur Magazine 1/30/2020

​If you want to be a millionaire, go back to your roots and start from there. There’s no such thing as becoming a millionaire overnight.

This is the advice from a local entrepreneur who knew nothing about doing business.

Topa Mata aka “TM”, also known as ‘Andakapu’ or translated in English as “village man” in Kewapi dialect is another of those successful businessman from Kagua-Erave district in the Southern Highlands Province.

An electrician by profession, Mata has no knowledge of the business world, not even doing a simple business transaction or book keeping. However, there was one thing that has motivated him to be where he is today.

It is the quest to seek wisdom. That has been the sole motivating factor in Mata’s young career life after graduating with distinction from Idubada Tech (Port Moresby Technical College) in 1976 as an electrician.

“I started my career as an apprentice in 1977 with the leading Australian electrical company, Turner and Davey Electrical, based in Mt Hagen at that time. Three years later in 1980, I was awarded the top apprentice of the year award at Gateway Hotel in Port Moresby as a licensed electrician,” he recalled.

It’s like the moment of truth has arrived for Mata. Another Australian company was eyeing this young and promising electrician as well. Olex Australia, the manufacturer of power transmission and distribution cables had approached and offered him a full time job in Australia.

Mata did not give a straight answer and told the company executives that he would think about it first before he accepts their offer.

“It was like the moment of truth knocking at my door whether to take the offer or not. I had to choose between wisdom and knowledge and so the next day, I willingly turned the offer down because I was on a mission to seek wisdom,” he said without regrets.

Since then he journeyed home to his place of birth, Erave with the knowledge he acquired. As weeks and months passed, Mata was immersed in the realms of the village way of life. He treated elderly men and women, retired public servants, clergy man and children with outmost respect. In return, his quest to acquire wisdom was coming to fruition.

Whenever he crossed paths with the elderly or retired public servants in the four corners of Kagua-Erave district, he was sure they’d spare a moment to impart valuable words of advice and lessons on how to navigate life’s treacherous moments ahead. That is how he got the name ‘Andakapu’ and so everybody in the village called him by that name even till today.

Mata couldn’t care less, he was enjoying every moment of his life with the village people doing odd jobs as an electrician on voluntary basis for those that needed his help.

It came a time when he stumble upon the only coffee plantation in Kagua-Erave owned by a ‘white man’. He is none other than now neutralized PNG citizen, Tim Neville and his band of brothers.

“I went one morning to their plantation store and I could see they were struggling with assembling power cables so I volunteered to help fix their power cabling and connection problems.

“Tim Neville and his brothers were amazed at what I did and they immediately engaged me to wire the whole factory together with their residential and office buildings.

“This gave me the upper-hand and in 1983 through the help of Neville brothers, I formally signed an electrical contract in front of Australian Defence Force Major Glen Darnley Stuart to wire whole of Southern Highlands and neighbouring Highlands Provinces. However, the prospect of venturing into business at that time did not dawn on me yet.

“It was in my line of duties that I came across people of all walks of life who thought me one or two things in doing business. Sometimes I just listen and pick up what other people do and say in the business world. I also came across prominent politicians and business heavy weights in the likes of Paias Wingti, late Sir Iambakey Okuk, Akoka Doi, and others to name a few.

“Their personality, leadership has thought me valuable lessons in life. I felt though my chest was filled with the much needed wisdom I was after, and sure enough I decided to be on my own,” Mata confidently said.

In 1986 Mata decided to invest K20,000 in the Interest Bearing Deposit (IBD) account for three years, the money he saved from his previous job as an electrician. He then bought 27,000 shares at Oil Search worth K19,200 which he left to roll over for several years.

The shares he bought yielded him a whooping K533,000 in 2000 which he couldn’t believe. That has paved the way for him to explore new business ventures.

Currently, he owns three companies which include PNG ECRESY Ltd that deals with environment studies, Gale Investments Ltd (hospitality) and TNG Construction Ltd (Roads & Infrastructure). To date, his total business portfolio including his assets is estimated at around K50 million.

Like every other ordinary Papua New Guinean, Mata owes his success today to his Kagua-Erave people and the people he worked with.

“As long as I live, I owe it to my people of Kagua-Erave and I would do anything for them in my capacity as a businessman and even if I get elected to parliament as politician one day (which he did on several occasions),” he proudly said.

Published by Papua New Guinea Entrepreneur Magazine - Papua New Guinea's very Entrepreneur Magazine Promoting PNG SMEs.