What is the nature of your business? (Business Profile)
In the year 1999, akyweb.com Pte Ltd started with IT Consultation, web design and web animation, subsequently we move into domain reseller, application programming which more focused in ASP and MS SQL, and web site hosting. Currently we have 7 servers which 4 is located in Onenet data center and the another 3 located in Pacific internet data center, In the year 2002 we have set up the team which doing the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) research, we have spend years to developing our skill in the SEO. We help our client to explorer their business to global market through the search engine. In the year 2003 we have started our internal web portal such as Singapore business directory free listing, johorsearch.com which is Johor free directory listing. Akyweb.com Pte Ltd also providing after sales services which maintain the client website. In short we are the Professional Online Solution Company. We are selling value, ideal and experience not just technical.
What made you embark on this venture choice?
I.T. is my interest, hobby and my passion. The purpose of this business is for my personal career achievement. I believe if someone always thinking about monetary benefit, he or she will not successful. In running business you have to take it as self-satisfaction, self-achievement, self-motivation and self discipline which will give determination to move forward in bad time as well in good time. Akyweb.com Pte Ltd is incorporated in 1992. The Online solutions Services came into the place in the year 1999. In fact in year 1999 was the dot com burst, however I find the opportunity in the economic crisis.
How does your business work?
Most of our client came from referral and online enquiry through SEO. We have a team of 3 consultants, 8 programmer and 6 web designer. Customer will enquire our services, and we will send our consultant to study client requirement and needs. After that we will propose the proposal and quote the price then after we will organize the project schedule and explain the details specification of the solutions. After customers agreed, we will start the first prototype or mock-up in website, than we will present to the customer, they will give us comment and feedback, and we will do necessary amendment and propose the second amended prototype. From there we will de-bug and finalized the project according to our project scheduling. Last but not least we will do monthly, yearly maintenances for them.
Did you have the capital to start the business or did you have to borrow from someone to get started?
In the year 1999, I was lost $ 600,000 due to stock market crash. When I started my business I have minus $ 100,000 in debt with bank, from there I did further financing from bank. It took 2 years for me to pay back the bank. That matter was negative motivation which forces me to work smarter and think harder.
Do your parents have their own businesses too? Have they inspired you in one way or another?
My father is a fish monger, who focused on the fresh fish distribution in wet market; I help him since I was 14 year old till 18 years old. My dad had indirectly influence me in the way I running my own business. My dad is a very traditional Chinese businessman. He is more focused on the financial costing. Hence most of his time emphasized on the cost saving and hardly trusted the employee and the worker. Until he retired when I was 22 years old he still spend almost one day 14 hours in the work. Which is contradicted with the western business management such as the book called "poor dad and rich dad" by Robert T. Kiyosaki. From my education and experience working in accounting firm and Law firm, I have consolidating the Chinese man business and the western management experience. Most of the Chinese traditional businessman focused and spend a lot of time on the operation level of the business and refused to change, furthermore neglected the strategy and management level. Hence their business have never expanded and remained small size, there is why Chinese businessman believed that the wealth cannot passed through three generation.
What was your childhood dream? When did you decide that you would strike out on your own instead of working for someone else?
First to become an entrepreneur, second was a lawyer. I always wanted to have my own business. However, I have no guts to start to run it because in that time I worked in the corporate environment, which give me safe and comfortable life. Furthermore I earn few hundred thousand dollars in the stock market during 1996 to 1998, In the year 1999 I lost more than 600K during the stock market crash and caused me loan from bank which amounting 100K to pay back the losses. The environment have made me change, made me dare to challenge because I have no way else but to start my own business to pay back the bank loan. If I worked with someone else, how to payback the bank, it will takes years.
Why does someone decide to be on their own rather than join an existing company?
It depends on personality, character and attitude. Human can be segregated into 4 categories. First 'leadership', this group of people tend to be their own, their have strong self-motivation, leadership, self- discipline and delegation. Second 'diplomatic', this group of people tend to have strong human networking and out going characteristic which is more suitable to be a sales and marketing personal. Third 'supporter', this category such as the admin staff, receptionist and they always rely on the system and instruction to do their job. Forth 'technical', they are more technical and hardly communicate with people such a person more suitable to be an engineer or programmer. From there we can derive that first type of people will likely to run their own business. And the rest will likely to work with others. The leadership type of people in Singapore is quite limited due to environment factors. Comfortable lifestyle makes them scared to take challenge and venture into the business.
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?
First is the dot com burst, I have to find solution on the problems occurred. Chinese say "wei ci si sang ci" means there are opportunities in every economic crisis. Second, SARS helped our business. Everybody afraid to go out and more people want to purchase online. Our e-commerce solution was selling very well on that time. The most significant 3 challenge came concurrently whereby my Ex- wife divorced me(which is deeply hurt my heart) due to my business losing money in the first year and the debt with bank due to stock market crash. All this came in the same time, I almost giving up my life with dozen of Panadol, all this is a negative motivation had changed me, the challenge made me stronger; made me work harder, push me further, give me very strong determination to succeed.
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.)
There is four challenges for me to start up a business firstly is the right time, second location strategy, thirdly is human network and of course fourthly is the financial. I choose the dot com crash during 1999 because I believed each of the economic crisis there must be a opportunity furthermore I have a strong passion in the online solution business. Today I have proved myself made up a right choice. As for the location strategy, Singapore is an Asia IT Hub, there is the strong awareness in the public that website is a crucial for business to expand globally. However the labour cost in Singapore is too heavy, hence in the year 2000 I have set a Johor Bahru Supporting office. As for human networking challenge, from my passed working background in accounting form and law firm I have explore to corporate client, hence I have recycle my human networking by calling each of them to refer client for me in the same time I research into the Search engine optimization to market my services through search engine. As for the financial I have further loan from bank to finance my company.
Who/What motivates you?
The motivation for me can be categorized to 2 categories one is externally and another one internally. In the external issue can be divided into two types one is negative motivation and another one is the positive motivation. Three Negative motivations as follow: First is the stock market crash and due to in debt with Bank. Second, I lost some money in the first year of business. Third is my ex-wife who left me during my personal finance crisis. The positive motivation is comes from my current wife and two kids, parents, friends and my team of staff. As for the internal motivation I believed self-motivation is the key. No matter how many people encourage you but if you don't have self-motivation, it's equal to zero. I motivate my self by creating personal target and goal. If you achieved that target it will give self-satisfaction which will motivate you further. Of-course sell-motivation has to come hand in hand with self-discipline.
Tell me about the first few customers and the first few years of business.
For the first year, through out the networking refer, I managed to get the online solutions project, however the first project terminated due to the client's financial problem. Subsequently we managed to secure few projects which are a listed companies like Multichem Limited and KS Energy Limited. From there we also manage to get the MNC companies like Broland, Symrise, dynacast and etc. As for the SME initially we have Aerogaz, Elephant and Coral pen Distributor, Inter telecom Pte Ltd and etc. Up to date we have more than 300 customers. In The first year I quite miserable, I trying to get more projects, hence I have traveled to Jakarta, Indonesia to explore my business. I stay in Jakarta for 3 months and end up no project is granted and this issue again impacted on my financial problem. In the same time I almost unable to pay back the monthly installment to the Bank. Luckily through my closed friend referred I managed to get another big project which worth S$100K and from there I managed to solve the financial problem.
Please tell me some stories of your best day in business or your proudest achievement to date.
It was in year 2004, we have achieved about half million for the sales and we have successfully to cover all our fixed cost from repeated sales. In the same year I was interviewed by channel 8 and invited to be one of the speaker in the Asia Business Forum. That gave us very good publicity about our company performance. Up to date my business not just On I.T Solutions I have diversified my business in the domestic water filtration system, the companies call MEMFIL Pte Ltd and MEMFIL Technologies Sdn Bhd. Under AKY Group of Companies we have total of 17 staff which have total turnover closing S$700,000.00 per year as for the MEMFIL Group of companies we have total 30 staff, 6 outlets across ASEAN and total turnover closing to S$2,000,000.00 per year.
Do you recall your worst day in business? Have you ever felt like giving up?
In the year 1999, when my business started, it seen be to very hard for me to get new client. Furthermore, when I try to expand my business in Jakarta, Indonesia in year 2000, it almost impacted my company financial status. All this does not lead me to give up.
When was the moment you realised the business would work and support you?
When the passive income getting stable, it mean that repeat sales able to cover my fixed cost. Once the business has covered the fixed cost, the business is quite stable.
What are some of the things you have had to overcome to succeed?
First, I have to overcome myself, I believed myself is my first enemy, as long as I can overcome my weakness point it supposed to be succeed. Some people always finding the reason why cannot succeed. They trying to blame the luck is no good, does not have opportunity, not enough capital, no people support, environment no good, parent does not growth them well, low education and so on. Thousand of reason, people is trying to give to their own to feel more comfortable in the life, however, all this reason have stop them to achieve their dream. "Successful People always find opportunity in the problem. People who failed always give a reason when they facing problem."
What are some qualities that you feel you possess which differentiate you from someone who works for others?
The level of burden-Some people may think burden is negative. However it can be positive if you think on another angle. The burden can always transform to be a self-motivation and self- encouragement. I always take burden as challenge in my life. The Level of taking risk "No risk, no gain", higher risk you take high gain. Of course the risk needed to justify on the certain level as long as it can be overcome, there is no harm for me to take. Self motivation and self-confidence "No one will help you if you do not help yourself." Self-motivation is essential in running your own business. Even though your friend, your family as well your team will motivate you in certain limitation. However, your own thinking is the one who justify your own motivation. Failure to do so your mind set always negative and indirectly will impact on your own business Self- discipline - People always lost their control when they are closing to succeed. As for me I always remind myself when I was in hard time. I need to appreciate what ever I have now. Communication and networking - Asian is weak in communication. They feel shame when they are trying to express their feeling. They scare to offended people by telling frank. For me I try to communicate my opinion to my team, as well as to my clients. If they do not accept my opinion, we can compromise each other. Contingency plan - The business would not always do well, anytime can be a down time, hence I always reserve certain fund to recover the company for certain unforeseen circumstances. Strong determination- a lot of people easily give up if encounter problems. For me my level of determination is high, I never give up. I will put my best to get what I want. Whenever we faced with a failure, treat it as a learning curve; it should not justify you from moving on. Everyone learns from their mistakes and move on.
To succeed in business, what qualities are essential? What are some of the secrets in making a successful business?
Strong Determination, self-confidence, self-motivation, good communication, contingency plan ,strong self-discipline, analyzed your strengths, minimize your weaknesses, sharpen your EQ. Treat your team as friends, share the joy with them, Trusted your team fully. When you trusted someone, give him/her 100% authority. Sense your environment, if they are needs for change, do so. Otherwise you will obsolete. The only things constant in this world is changes. In starting a business, money is not the most essential the most important is people.
Who or what inspires you?
Minister Mentor LKY that brought Singapore from nothing to something. The day when Singapore independent, Singapore have nothing compare with most of the country in the world. Why today Singapore can be claimed as one of the successful country in ASIA? The history of Singapore has similarity with my business. It was in debt of $100,000 to bank to 6 successful companies.
Have you ever thought of expanding the business in some way or in multiple locations? How and where?
We have tried to expand our I.T business in the year 2000 in Jakarta, Indonesia. I personally stay in Jakarta for 3 months to deal with the Indonesia client. It was a bad experience for me, because during that time, everybody in Jakarta is demonstrating and riot, the economic is in down turn. Hence the business expansion is failed. In the same year I also trying to expand my business in Johor, but it does not work out as I expected. Hence, I try to diversify the company's services from IT consultation to web design, web animation, web hosting, domain registration, online application programming, Search engine optimization as well as online portal. From the diversification of my company services the business growing better and better. In the same time, I have sense out the IT is not always stable and the technology change every time, furthermore our client is only limited in the corporate clients. We are in the services line we are selling the time cost not the products. Some time the labour cost cannot be covered by the project fees. Furthermore, if the time cost is passed we cannot re-selling our passed time cost to clients. This had inspired me to diversify my business to another industry. The domestic water filtration business, the water is the best solvent for the earth, hence our water will be getting more polluted in future. The water is essential for every human being hence very human being is our customer. In same year, the company called MEMFIL Pte ltd and MEMFIL Technologies Sdn Bhd is born. I take time to study the business. My background is selling the I.T professional services, hence I am lacking of retailing experience. However, I did a lot of market study, reading a lot of book such as history of Walmart, product study, product sourcing, product development, product certification and so on. Luckily my own brother had 15 years in the industry water treatment experience. From him I learnt the water filtration process and from him the company had launch the out door and indoor membrane ultra filtration system. However I am need product retailing skill. Again, I gained the product retailing skill from my own father. When I was researching the market share for the domestic water filter, I realized that Singapore is not a ideal strategy location for the domestic water filter system because the market share is too small which only have 4 million population. Hence I have again diversified the MEMFIL's business location to southern Johor of Malaysia, this round of diversification business have bring me up to another status of my business career.
What aspects of expansion would you like to see for your enterprise?
My dream is my I.T solutions services companies can become the biggest Online I.T solutions services provider in Singapore and Johor, Malaysia. I try to package our standard solutions into the products instead of customized solutions. We also try to launch our company online portal such as www.singapore-business-directory.com , www.johorsearch.com , www.johorjob.com and other online portal. I hope one day our portal will be getting famous as yahoo.com or google.com. As for the domestic water filter business, my next target is to have 10 outlets before year 2007. We have exported our water filter to countries like Turkey, Indonesia, Philippine, Paraguay and Brazil. I hope the global business cannot be growth further to export to developed country like USA, UK or Germany. Venture business is hard, to sustain the business is harder, the hardest is to expand the business.
In your opinion, how would you define entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneur is someone who dare to challenge, risk taker, strong determination, flexible, willing to change, strong self-motivation, high EQ, good in communication, strong in human networking, leadership, self discipline, self-confidence, sensitive to environment and always have contingency plan for future.
To what extent does one?s educational level help or hinder entrepreneurial-ship?
The higher education will help the entrepreneur in certain prospect. For some of the business need certain technical skill such as Doctor, lawyer, construction engineer, programmer and design. As for the Education in Business Administration, it will help the entrepreneur to manage their business more professionally. However, from another point of view the educational level will make the people less entrepreneurship, because it made man scare to take risk. It also will narrow down people thinking. From the fortune 500, we can see that most of the successful entrepreneur is low in education, but their self-learning skill is high. Example: The richest Chinese man in the earth, Mr. Lee Ka Sing of Hong Kong, is only study until primarily 3; however he always read variety of books and always enhances his own knowledge through his own experience. The conclusion is the educational level will help or may not help, basically very much rely on the personality of each person.
As we try to select the final 41 entrepreneurs, what qualities would you think a person should have to inspire others?
Strong determination, High Social skills (EQ), self-motivated, self-discipline, integrity, intelligent, risk taker, leadership, strong human networking, sensitive to environment and willing to change.
What are some of your own values in doing business and what do you like to pass down to others, particularly the younger generation?
1. Clever and daring is not enough; to start you own business you need to transform the experience to intelligent. Do not always think that financial capital is crucial factor to start a business, right people, right time, right location is more important than everything. 2. Identify your own strength, minimize your weaknesses, plan, and research and study the market before you step into the business. 3. Study your competitor well; know your competitor weaknesses and strength. 4. Find tunes you to be strong self-motivation, self-discipline and strong determination personal. 5. Good leadership, dare to delegate and authorize people. 6. Good in EQ, human networking and communication. 7. One step one foot print, do not move to fast which beyond your own capability. The conclusion is your altitude, habit, mind set, character and behavior will be justified your own business career.
What advice would you give young people who want to start their own business?
The most important for young generation is determination, self-discipline, self-motivated, self-confidence, have contingency plan and do appreciate the past people who brought Singapore today.
How do you re-learn, re-skill your self?
1. Communication and willing to ask-try to communicating with different of people, each people they have their own experience, even a one years old baby, we can learnt the determination to survive. If we communicated with the old generation people we can learn even more. Different people have their different experience, every single tips is information for enhancing our own knowledge and skill. 2. Reading variety of book-regardless of which type of book. All this information will help to enhance our knowledge in different way. 3. Surfing the internet-today technology allowed us to searching any type of information from internet.
Which one is more important for entrepreneur IQ or EQ?
One of the China histories had proven that the EQ is more important than the IQ, during the 200+BC after the extermination of Dynasty Qin in China, the Chu-Han War and Establishment of the western Han Dynasty. The Xiang Yu (233-202 BC) of Chu and Liu Bang (256-195 BC) of Han always attack each and other. Xiang Yu is the one who have high IQ, he is very poor in EQ and very emotional, hence he always refused to trust people and always apply one man show kind of management. The Liu Bang of Han had very strong in EQ, he know have to manage his troop, to fight in the war. Liu Bang of Han is the one who succeed in Establishment of the western Han Dynasty. People who have low EQ always lack on communication and emotional. Entrepreneur needs EQ to manage people, work with people. Similar with politician, no matter how smart the politician but if he/she doesn't have EQ in will cause to no one willing to vote on him/her. As a leader in the organization, you need more EQ to organize and manage your staff. EQ and IQ person both can be employed, but High EQ people are harder to be employed.
Any social contribution from your business ?
We provide internship for university and college students. We do donate to Academic College. We sponsor some non-profit organization such as: Singapore Buddies Organization, Euro chamber of Singapore, Singapore National Federation
