What is the nature of your business? (Business Profile)
We have 2 main businesses. One is the solar control window film business with brands such as V-Kool, Huper Optik and Nanolux. The other business is in the Food and Beverage arena, with the Pasta Mania chain being well known. The former deals with providing energy control solutions whereby we apply a polyester film (coated with high technology metals, oxides and alloys) onto glasses in buildings and automotives. This will reflect and turn away the suns energy, which makes it much cooler inside. The food business is about offering affordable, quick, casual dining with quality ingredients within a comfortable environment to as many as possible.

What made you embark on this venture choice?
I went into a partnership with Col (NS) Wee back in the early 90s and started the window film business first. It was not a main stream industry and we felt that it was better for us to be a big fish in a small pond than to be a small fish in a large pond. In 2001, we branched into the food business. What made us do that? Interestingly, as our film business grew and we started to build it into a franchise system, we recruited people who were franchise savvy from the F&B industry. So when the opportunity came about for us to invest and acquire a fledging F&B business, we felt that we had a depository of talent in the company to exploit the potential of this business. As a result, we jumped at the opportunity and allowed our personnel in the company to form a working group which embarked on revamping the entire Pastamaina concept by leveraging on their prior business experiences in the F & B industry.

How does your business work?
The window film business is very much franchised based and internationalized at this juncture with >85% of our revenues generated from 30 countries. This helps us to grow quickly and be less exposed to single market risks. We have two regional offices, one in Dubai and the other in Shanghai to drive revenues in Middle East and China respectively. For the younger food business, which is also franchised based, we now have a total of 29 restaurants found in 4 countries.

Did you have the capital to start the business or did you have to borrow from someone to get started?
I was quite fortunate. I completed my degree at aged 20, then enlisted for National Service which included a 2 year stint in the air force. Being a RSAF officer at that point in time and as a pilot in training, we got very good allowances. Thankfully, by the time I completed my National Service, I had a little bit of savings.

Do your parents have their own businesses too? Have they inspired you in one way or another?
My parents were also entrepreneurs and they started very humbly with limited formal education. They really had to fight against the odds for everything they have today. I was raised in a kampong. But along with the prosperity of their business, we were lifted from poverty. Their ability to move on in life even without formal education was an inspiration. It taught me that if you have the will, perseverance, good ideas and by the grace of God, you can transform the way you live and provide a brighter future for the family.

What was your childhood dream? When did you decide that you would strike out on your own instead of working for someone else?
I did not grow up thinking that I was going to be a businessman. I guess with the privilege of being educated and armed with a degree, you felt that you could do other things first before plunging into business. After completing NS, I worked in the real estate division of a bank. I guess the experiences there made me realised that when you work for somebody, you will have to follow the rules of others. Ideas that you have may not be carried out because at the corporate level, there are a lot more gates for you to go through before a decision can be taken. Working in a big organization was enriching because one could see how things worked in the bigger scheme of things and at the same time, you also realised that these same structures could sometimes handcuff good ideas. Striking out on your own became less daunting and instead became a gnawing option.

Why does someone decide to be on their own rather than join an existing company?
To fulfil ones own aspirations, to take an idea that has captivated your imagination to fruition. You get to choose what you want to do without necessarily following the drum beat of another.

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?
Many. I will just highlight one. When we started, we were wrongly terminated of our distribution rights by our US suppliers after having built up a network of distributors and dealers for their branded products. We went to the Supreme Court in US to seek redress. It was a battle which lasted three years, sapping almost all our resources in the process. Thankfully, we won in the end. We learnt several lessons. First, we realised that perseverance is a necessary trait which an entrepreneur needs to possess to survive in times of testing. Second, we realised we no longer wished to promote products where all the intellectual property rights such as brands and patents are held by ones supplier. We learnt that as a distributorship of branded products, successes will always be short lived. Once the market for a branded product is established, your suppliers would look to service the markets themselves. So there is a finite nature to your earnings potential.

What are some of the challenges in starting a business from scratch? (Modify question to what are some of the challenges in maintaining a family business if applicable.)
When you start out, it is about doing everything with very little resources. To keep expenses low, you do not hire any help until revenues are generated. As such, you become the secretary, salesperson, delivery man, accountant, manager etc all rolled into one. It is difficult to maintain a macro view of things when you are bogged down with the details. Hiring good people to join a fledging company is also another serious challenge. The best talents will escape you until you show to them that there is a certain scale in the business.

Who/What motivates you?
Next to God, my family is my biggest motivator. To know that you have to put bread on the table at the end of the day makes one realize that pursuing your own dreams is no childs play. You do whatever you can to make sure the business works. Then once you have tasted success, it brings greater self confidence which in turn breeds further success. The thrill of seeing your plans working out well can then become a very strong motivator to take you through the next lap.

Tell me about the first few customers and the first few years of business.
I remembered the first successful oversees transaction which we did in the Philippines. We camped there for 5 days, interviewing 20 to 25 different companies to be our dealers in that country. In the end, we were able to close a US$100, 000 dollar deal and that experience was exhilarating. First few years of business are always very tough. It is like a guerilla war, engaging in hand combat, being involved in every skirmish, doing everything on your own. You work 18 hrs a day, have to connect with your suppliers who are half a globe away at odd hours, then start work very early in the morning to prepare for the days activities. You dont have many staff and managers to support you. However, now when one looks back, you feel that you are stronger because of those experiences. So even if you are faced with other daunting challenges in the future, you can draw strength from your past.

Please tell me some stories of your best day in business or your proudest achievement to date.
Apart from receiving awards like the ASME-Rotary Entrepreneur of the Year in 2004, the 50 Fastest growing companies, Enterprise 50 award etc which are always nice, the proudest moment is when you see your staff members developing and growing in tandem with the successes of the company. It is really uplifting to see that as our company grew, we were able to touch lives. It makes us feel proud and contented that this business is worth starting, growing and nurturing because the beneficiaries are beyond ourselves.

Do you recall your worst day in business? Have you ever felt like giving up?
The worst day was when we received the notice from our suppliers who had done wrong behind our backs then sought to terminate our agreement which we had with them. I remembered being very upset and indignant. Far from wanting to give up, it actually gave us the resolve to fight tooth and nail to make sure that justice was done. It gave us the conviction to say we will not roll over and allow those who have done harm to the company to have their way. We went to the US Supreme Court in a 3 yr battle and won. Today, we are able to reflect on that episode and share with our managers, stories of not giving up, of fighting for our beliefs.

When was the moment you realised the business would work and support you?
It did not take that long, perhaps the first year itself. We realised with good honest hard work, we were able to deliver products or services to our customers and earn a honest living. Once we saw that the business could meet our bread and butter issues, the next step was to take and grow it to the next level.

What are some of the things you have had to overcome to succeed?
Trying to build a team of good people around you is challenging but important. Getting good people helps to make sure that the success of the business can be sustainable and would continue to grow. If you dont have a strong core team round you, it is very hard to go beyond what you can do in a 24 hr time frame. The other challenge which is noteworthy is recognizing that you will need to reorganise the company as it grows bigger. For one, a lot more coordination will be required in an organization of 50 people than say a 5 men team. When the company grows, there are also more systems that needs to be in place, more procedures and authority limits must be set. It takes wisdom and discernment to figure out what is the right balance for the company. If you put in too much procedures and structures, it will cripple the company with bureaucracy. A simple decision will take too much time to get approval and opportunities will fly you by. If you swing to the other extreme and dont have any systems, you run the risk of everyone doing their own thing in an uncoordinated fashion and the company will be unnecessary exposed to the effects of wrong decision making. Finding a balance, as people grow and having a system that can help them is not easy.

What are some qualities that you feel you possess which differentiate you from someone who works for others?
I am an optimistic person, seeing the positive in every negative. I think entrepreneurs by nature, do not see problems per se but rather solutions and opportunities to every problem presented. Another attribute is being unafraid to try new things and moving on when we are wrong.

To succeed in business, what qualities are essential? What are some of the secrets in making a successful business?
Getting one idea for a product/service, formulating a plan, implementing it, and selling it to the market may give you short term success and benefits. The problem is that an idea can be copied when others see it as a success. Everybody will want to jump into the band wagon. What is crucial is to find something that is sustainable, something that can produce a string of successes for a long time to come. . One of the key things in starting your own business is to own the intellectual property for the product or services you offer. This can be a patent for a product you have invented, or building a distinctive brand. One must also realise that a single product can never be the winning product for ages to come. One of the objectives of our company is to make sure that 25% of our current year revenue, comes from products that we have introduced in the last 5 years. This ensures that we are constantly looking out for or developing new technologies and services which will become increasingly relevant and important to the success of our company in the future.

Who or what inspires you?
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are individuals who have revolutionized their industry. Both were Davids before they became the Goliaths of their trade.

Have you ever thought of expanding the business in some way or in multiple locations? How and where?
When we started the film business, we knew that the Singapore market was too small for us. We started off with 3 countries namely, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei in the very first year when we started the business. We then branched out into Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand as well. And a lot more countries followed after that including North East Asia with China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. We also entered the Middle Eastern markets in 1996. We have now left footprints in 30 countries around the world, with more than 1000 retail points selling our products. Beyond expanding in the geographical sense, the other extension is a lateral broadening of our companys products and services with our foray into the F & B business. We took a 2 outlet food court operation into a chain of 15 restaurants in Singapore and another 14 outlets oversees, making a total of 29 restaurants. All in a span of 4 yrs.

What aspects of expansion would you like to see for your enterprise?
Well, for the film business, we have embarked on geographical growth for some years now, but there are still some pockets in the world that are not well covered. One other area we are exploring is upstream (manufacturing) and downstream integration. As for the F& B business, there is tremendous scope to grow geographically with our Pastamania concept.

In your opinion, how would you define entrepreneurship?
Basically taking whatever limited resources that you can find and applying those resources to exploit the opportunities that you see, creating new spaces or filling the gaps that are not being served in the marketplace. Entrepreneurship is also about being creative and having the drive and conviction to want to realise a vision.

To what extent does ones educational level help or hinder entrepreneurial-ship?
It does both. The higher educated the person is with all kinds of paper qualifications, the greater his career choices and the higher his opportunity cost. However, it is certainly very helpful to be schooled and educated before becoming an entrepreneur. I believe that some level of higher education is needed for entrepreneurs to scale their business beyond a certain size. You will need organisational skills, you will need to have that breadth of knowledge of things around the world so that you can take advantage and seize opportunities that come by.

As we try to select the final 41 entrepreneurs, what qualities would you think a person should have to inspire others?
Perseverance, creativity and integrity in the conduct of business.

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 above said values are dear to us. For those who want to start, I would encourage them to do so when they are young, that they should not aspire just to accumulate wealth but endeavor to touch lives, through the company and business which they have started.

What advice would you give young people who want to start their own business?
Take the plunge, take risks and get on with it rather then wait, trying to build lots and lots of contacts, having a lot more reserves. Many encourage young people to dream but many young people who have the potential lack the daring to do. So to these I say, Dare to Dream, Dare to Do.

Student Interviewer's Personal Comment
In the past 13 years, both Andrew and Col (NS) Wee have shown that with perseverance and determination, they saw the success of their window film business, V-Kool and Huper Optik. Recently, they have also acquired the F and B business, Pastamania. The amazing thing was that together with their team of expertise, they were able to grow from a two-outlet food court operation in Singapore into 29 outlets across the world. Both of them have shown that with perseverance, determination and their story of fighting for justice is a great source of inspiration to many.