Mrs. Thenmoliee Joe graduated with masters in psychology. With her expertise and extensive working experience in psychology, she set up Kids Testing & Dyslexia Centre all by herself. Her confidence and innovative ideas has gained her recognition not only from parents but also the media.

Company: KIDS TESTING AND DYSLEXIA CENTRE Address: 317 Outram Road #02-79 Concorde Shopping Centre Website: http://www.kidsdyslexia.com.sg Interview with Mrs Thenmoliee Joe by Lin Weiting on 30-May-2008. Student can be reached at jazel37@gmail.com   Business Profile: Registered with the Ministry of Education, Kids Testing & Dyslexia Centre is a private centre that offers remedial lessons in English, Mandarin and Mathematics for children with dyslexia.   Interviewer's Comments: Mrs. Thenmoliee is a confident lady. The word ''failure'' never seems to have crossed her mind even for a second. Emphasizing the importance of treating others with sincerity, she often go on an extra mile to make sure that children are well taken care of instead of being abandoned by the society. After all, it is love that makes the world a better place to live in.   1. What is the nature of your business? This centre specializes in diagnosing children with learning difficulties. One of the major learning disabilities is dyslexia, which is a mild form of disability whereby children have difficulty with reading and spelling. On top of that, we also provide treatment and pre-school programme for dyslexic children. We offer remedial lessons on English, Chinese and Mathematics.   2. When and why did you decide to become an entrepreneur / take over your family business? NOTE: If it is not a family business, ask: Do your parents have their own businesses too? Have they inspired you in one way or another? (Select appropriate question according to the entrepreneur being interviewed.) 7 years ago, I felt that there was a demand for this area. Also, setting up my own business gives me more flexibility. I can be very innovative with the way I run my business and I do not have to go through the red tape. When one is working in an organization, there are a lot of boundaries. I suppose my experience working in New Zealand, where they encouraged me to think out of the box. They were always asking me for my ideas and opinions. Yes, my father is a businessman in the marine industry. He has been in business for the last 30 years. Perhaps this is another reason why I decided to become an entrepreneur.   3. What are your reasons for choosing to do business in this particular industry? As previously mentioned, I felt that there was a demand for this area. Parents are becoming more interested in their children's learning difficulties. Other disabilities such as autism, mental retardation and down syndrome have already been catered for. There was a lot more need for this area. Also, I specialize in psychology and have work experience in this industry.   4. How did you put together all the resources needed to start your business? For example: getting the start-up capital, hiring staff, doing sales and marketing, advertising, etc. I started this centre all on my own. I used around $30 000 of my personal savings as my start-up capital. It was a high set up cost as I had to pay the ministry, buy equipments and miscellaneous stuffs. Initially, I advertised on The Straits Times and magazines. I would also find out how did most of my customers know about my centre and eventually cut down on some of the advertising cost.   5. What are some interesting stories you have about your first few customers/first few years in business? There was a case involving a Primary 5 Indian boy. He could hardly move his neck and suffered sever headaches because he was under stress. He could not do well in his studies and was hospitalized every month because of stress. After coming here, I worked with him and eventually, he passed his PSLE. It was a miracle. No assessment was done on him and he had suffered in silence for six years. He moved on to secondary school and due to his problem, he was not very communicative and had short attention span. As he was not communicative, he looked a bit reserved and arrogant. The discipline master thought that the boy was being rude and wanted to punish him via public caning. Fortunately, I knew the school principal from my external activities. I explained the situation to her. She looked into the matter and stopped the public caning. I had another case involving a Primary 4 girl. This girl was a problem child. She was undergoing a lot of frustration as everyone was calling her stupid. Her father treated her siblings better. This girl came to my centre about 3 years ago and I diagnosed that she was having dyslexia. Her IQ was normal. When her mum alerted the school about her disability, the school did not respond well. They felt that the girl was just a problem child. Finally, her mother, being a lawyer told the school that she would take actions against them and finally they acted and helped the child. The girl was then exempted from taking a second language and treated differently. Now, she is coping much better and should be going to a secondary school.   6. What are some of the challenges you faced when you first went into business? I did not face a lot of challenges when I first went into business. People were willing to come and have their children assessed and treated. Lately, I am facing a bit of challenges due to my potential competitors, which are the schools. I am okay with the schools focusing in this area but schoolteachers are preventing parents from sending their children to private centres, like ours. I am not getting recognition from them even though my centre is registered with the Ministry of Education.   7. How are you going to overcome these challenges? Please share some specific examples of the action you are going to take to overcome the challenges. I intend to advertise aggressively. I might have to go on radio or television programmes if I can. With my expertise, I will continue to do my best to deliver quality work. I will keep my centre going with word-of-mouth advertisements.   8. Can you remember your worst day in business or a time when you felt like giving up? What happened that made you feel that way and how did you triumph over it? No, I have never wanted to give up. I have lots of love and passion for this job.   9. Can you share some of the lessons you learnt from overcoming your own business challenges that you think will help other businesses? Advertise aggressively, it works. Deliver quality work. Be innovative and not use a fixed method to solve problems.   10. When was the moment you realised the business would work and support you? When I set this business up, I knew it would work. In these days, people are willing to pay. Parents trust my credibility through my education qualification and I have been involved in this area for a long time.   11. What are some of your proudest business achievements to date? And why are they so important and meaningful to you? II had two newspaper articles published. One was the fact that I diagnosed a girl, from Raffles Girls' School, who had dyscalculia (difficulty in learning Mathematics). It was my proudest achievement as I believed that it was the first time in Singapore, people started taking notice about dyscalculia. Additionally, her school gave her support to do her GCE O' Levels over 5 years and she has successfully moved on to Junior College. The other article was that I diagnosed a 4-year-old boy who was hyperactive in class. He had lots of complaints from his kindergarten teachers. His mother did not know what to do. She brought him to me and I found out that he is a genius! The fact that I diagnosed him as being gifted actually helped him to be looked at differently, rather than being a trouble-maker. Also, I am very proud of my centre's Chinese Language Programme. I came up with the method and my colleague put it into Chinese characters. It is the first in Singapore and it has been very successful.   12. How do you differentiate your business from your competitors? Please provide specific examples. We do more. We do not stick to a rigid method. I make sure what we offer are tailored to the school curriculum. For instance, instead of just offering reading and spelling techniques, we also do comprehension, composition, higher-level vocabulary etc. Another difference is that we offer Chinese Language Programme.   13. What are some business ideas you have implemented that created great results in your business? The pre-school programme, the Chinese Language programme and also providing lessons on composition, comprehension etc.   14. Where or who do you get your business ideas from? Myself. I think it is because I was trained to be a manager, to make sure I bring in earnings every month. As a result, I needed to be target-oriented and innovative.   15. What do you see for your business in the next 5 years, and does it include any plans for expansion? If schoolteachers are more willing to accept private centres, like us, I will want to set up a centre in the east in 5 years time.   16. What does entrepreneurship mean to you? It is fun, challenging and innovative. I enjoy it!   17. What are some entrepreneurship qualities that you have which has helped you come this far? Genuine, caring, quality, sincerity and my expertise. I always do my best. I want each parent to walk out of my centre happily.   18. In your opinion, what other qualities does a person need in order to be successful in business? And why? (eg. Educational qualification, work experience, family influence, attitude, etc) For my field, I think educational qualifications are very important. Nobody can go out and fool the public by just getting a certificate and say that he/she is a psychologist. A 3-month course is not enough, even a degree programme is not sufficient. To be a psychologist, one must have at least a master. The clinical training and experience must be there. It takes time to understand character and personality.   19. In your opinion, what does it mean to have the "spirit of enterprise"? To have love in what you are doing, you be committed!   20. Who or what motivates and inspires you? My husband, he gives me a lot of support. My colleagues and the children. I love the children. They are so cute, they will hug and kiss me because they know that there is someone who understands them. I get a lot of respect from them too.   21. What are some of your business values and what would you like to pass down to others, particularly the younger generation? Sincerity, truth, being honest. One has to be honest when doing business and not charge their customers unreasonably.   22. Can you share some of the more significant events / incidents that affected or shaped your business philosophy and the way you conduct your business? i.e. SARS, new competition or shifts in market behaviour and trends, etc. During the SARS period, we had to close down for 3 weeks but the children came back for lessons after that. My business was not really affected by it and I would say it has been smooth sailing so far.   23. With the changes in the market today, do you think it has become harder or easier to succeed in business? Why do you say so? Lately, it has become harder. There is stiff competition from the schools. Schoolteachers or principals are not willing to support private organizations. They feel that it safe to stick with government organizations.   24. What advice would you give young people who want to start their own business? Look for something that is different; something that nobody has thought about. Be innovative, have the passion, commitment and drive. Start with low overheads.