What is the nature of your business? (Business Profile)
We have a chain of cafes, mainly selling coffee, toast, local, Asian and Sub Asian food. We had started only with Kaya Toast but now we have diversified and ventured into other local and western delights as well.

What made you embark on this venture choice?
After working in the banking industry for 25 years, I retired and invested in property. At that time, in 1992, I bought shop no. 67, Killiney Road. It was a local Hainanese Café and at that time there were only 2 such coffee shops in Singapore. This had been established in the very early days of Old Singapore, in 1919. In 1992, I took bought this shop and I felt the need to develop the Hainanese cuisine further and as we had competitive advantage of being one of the only 2 cafes in Singapore and for its location, I embarked on this venture to expand it.

How does your business work?
The business is run and managed by my brother in law, Leong Hee Heng and my wife, Leong Bak Heng, manages the cash and finances. I am the overall in charge and investor for the business. I develop the tasteful recipes and pastes for local delights and at the same time I manage the overall business by delegating down to the respective managers.

Did you have the capital to start the business or did you have to borrow from someone to get started?
After working for 26 years, I had enough money to invest. As I had my own money brokerage company for 18 out of the 26 years that I worked, I had earned enough from it, to be able to invest in my business. Therefore, I didn’t have to borrow from anyone or from the banks.

Do your parents have their own businesses too? Have they inspired you in one way or another?
I feel one is born with entrepreneurship. I always wanted to be in business since I was a child and my parents encouraged me and inspired me to follow my dream.

What was your childhood dream? When did you decide that you would strike out on your own instead of working for someone else?
Ever since I was a child, I was sure I didn’t want to work someone else but wanted to strike out on my own. I never wanted to be in a profession or job where I have to report to anyone and I wanted that if anything goes wrong, I should penalise myself and in good times, I should reward myself as well. In this case, business was the only thing I ever wanted to do.

Why does someone decide to be on their own rather than join an existing company?
Only if one doesn’t mind reporting to other people, one would work for other companies. In my case, I didn’t want to report to others so eventually, I wanted to have my own work and business setup.

Are there at any point in your life that you experienced a significant event (WW2, racial riots of the 1960s, the Economic Crisis of the 80s or 90s, SARS, new competition or shifts in market behaviour and trends) which affected or influenced you and your business that made you change the way you think and do your business?
Whether the economy is good or bad, business is always a challenge. We experienced the 1986 economic crisis (Pen Electric Crisis) which had hit only South East Asia. And at the same time, we went through the late nineties (1997-1999) economic crisis as well. But in both times, we were able to buy good property as the prices were low and everyone wanted to sell away property at any cheap prices. Therefore, we were not hit adversely; rather we were able to buy good property for the business. But in the coming years, the prospective oil crisis may create a serious problem. During the Bird Flu and SARS period, we went through an adverse time because being a food company; we faced a low period in terms of clientele.

What are some of the challenges in starting a business from scratch?
I feel such a business is not easy. We faced a lot of copy cat in the sense that in a short time, many others wanted to come up with a similar line of local delights and coffee shop culture. But I was able to compete as I owned my own premised for the coffee shop whereas others had hired premises on rent and couldn’t make good returns as what was earned for them, was spent on the rent. In this case, we were able to meet with the challenge of competition and copy cat in the market.

Who/What motivates you?
As an entrepreneur, one has to motivate oneself. One has to create things, find opportunities, new product ideas and fight competition. One has to be way ahead of others’ thinking. One cannot ever stop or get slow even though it is not simple.

Tell me about the first few customers and the first few years of business.
The first few years were very good. All the customers we had in the first years are still our regular customers. They feel at home in our café and like the local delights and coffee very much. Some of them would even visit the coffee shop more than once a day, and sit there and relax.

Please tell me some stories of your best day in business or your proudest achievement to date.
I feel there is no ultimate achievement in business. There is a lot more to do. We have to expand the name further. There is a long way to go. We can be so much bigger in name and expansion, but we still have to test the ground.

Do you recall your worst day in business? Have you ever felt like giving up?
A lot of distressful things happen in business. But the true spirit of a businessman is that one should never give up. During the SARS and Bird Flu periods, we faced a low clientele as people were weary of eating out. Yet, we survived through because giving up hope cannot be an option.

When was the moment you realised the business would work and support you?
Since the coffee shop was already established and my business was to develop and expand it further, I was already confident that it would work well at the time when I bought it. Also, there is a taste and need for Hainanese café but there were not many at that time, so I was pretty sure that my business will do very well.

What are some of the things you have had to overcome to succeed?
The biggest challenge is that one must get the right worker to work for you. The worker should be one who can be trained well and should be appropriate for the work. At the same time, workers should be treated as a part of us and a part of the family.

What are some qualities that you feel you possess which differentiate you from someone who works for others?
I feel the most important thing in business for me has been that I treat my staff like my family.

To succeed in business, what qualities are essential? What are some of the secrets in making a successful business?
One should know the business before you start. And the most crucial secret of making a business successful is to get the right people to help you.

Who or what inspires you?
I feel that my inspiration likes within me. Therefore, I am inspired by success. It encourages me to work better and more.

Have you ever thought of expanding the business in some way or in multiple locations? How and where?
I think our business is such that we can be anywhere in the world, LA, San Francisco, UK, anywhere they allow. Any place which has Singaporeans or Asian People will welcome our food chain. As of now I am going slow but we are thinking of expanding to Jakarta and Brunei hopefully.

What aspects of expansion would you like to see for your enterprise?
I see a lot of opportunities in America and China and that is where I want to see my enterprise in some years.

In your opinion, how would you define entrepreneurship?
According to me, entrepreneurship involves determination, a never say die attitude and the creativity and innovation to do something new.

To what extent does one?s educational level help or hinder entrepreneurial-ship?
Education is very important. Unfortunate for me, I could not go to university, but I feel it is important as education helps in analytical thinking and solving many business issues.

As we try to select the final 41 entrepreneurs, what qualities would you think a person should have to inspire others?
A person should be encouraging and socialising to be able to inspire others. Without providing encouragement, one cannot inspire another person for anything.

What are some of your own values in doing business and what do you like to pass down to others, particularly the younger generation?
The one most important business value is Determination. Lack of determination results in business failure. Therefore, it is the most essential and crucial element in business.

What advice would you give young people who want to start their own business?
I can only advice the younger generation that they most know what they are doing and should have knowledge and idea about the industry or business. More than this, they should have the determination to work hard and attain business and personal success.

In General what do you have to say about how your entrepreneurship has come along the way and about your experience as a self reliant entrepreneur?
I feel my business can be best described as having transformed from a sunset industry into a sunrise industry.

How do you think you’ve been able to inspire some students of the present generation or the youth in general to become entrepreneurs by facilitating interaction, communication and knowledge dissemination between students?
I feel one is born with entrepreneurship and knowledge enhances the spirit of enterprise. Encouragement and originality is of utmost importance in doing business and this is the only message I like to pass on to the future generation.

What makes you stand out amongst other self reliant entrepreneurs operating in a similar nature of business?
I feel that what makes us stand out most is that we have maintained our quality and our variety with quality give us the competitive advantage.

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