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Actress, mother, designer and entrepreneur, there’s nothing stopping this woman from having her cake and eating it too. Behonce Beh shares a light moment with Dynas Nursing Attire founder Dynas Mokhtar on the joy of natural parenting.
PILLARS: PEOPLE WOULD BE AWFULLY JEALOUS OF WHAT YOU HAVE GOING FOR YOU RIGHT NOW; A LOVING FAMILY, AN ACTING CAREER AND ALSO A BUSINESS. HOW DO YOU JUGGLE ALL THAT?
Dynas Mokhtar: Motherhood is all about time management and knowing your responsibility as a wife. Working in the entertainment industry allowed me to be flexible in making decisions as I decided what I wanted or could handle.
True, you can’t have it all, but that flexibility gave me the opportunity to explore my business while raising my daughter.
Of course, my daughter Khyra Khalyssa is an understanding child and my husband too tries to comprehend my ambitions.
At the end of the day, it is all about sacrifices. I sacrificed my television career but it is not to say that I am no longer acting. I’m just more selective of my work.
TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR ENTERPRISING EFFORTS.
I dabbled in business way before my marriage. My first venture was with fellow actor Awal Ashaari in 2007, running a fashion boutique. Sadly, we decided to let it go as we were so busy during that time.
I somehow knew that I wanted another business after that but I had no clue what it would be.
Dynas Nursing Attire came about after the birth of my first child in 2010. I am all for natural parenting and nursing Khyra proved to be a challenge as there weren’t many choices for nursing attire.
It is tough to nurse in public if you do not have the right attire on. That was when I found a good tailor and started designing my own nursing attires such as jubbahs for my daily use.
People started asking me where I got my clothes from as I brought her along to functions and I was nursing in public without any hassle.
WAS THAT HOW DYNAS NURSING ATTIRE CAME ABOUT?
Well, yes, with lots of encouragement from my friends.
Prior to that, I had little clue about nursing or maternity wear.
Through this business, I hope to push for more women to breast feed their babies. It is not a trend to nurse as there’s lack of support in nursing.
The key to nursing attires is that it has to be comfortable and also stretchable. Most of the materials used in my collection are stretchable cotton, jersey or spandex.
As you would be nursing in public, you would want some level of privacy too, hence, the trick to it is about providing easy access to nursing; achieved through pulling and stretching out materials from the garment.
And no, nursing attires need not look like a tent!
THE IDEA OF NURSING SEEMS TO BE A LUXURY ONLY AVAILABLE TO STAY-AT-HOME MOTHERS. IS THAT TRUE?
That is not true! I have heard many mothers saying that they can’t breast feed as they are working.
When I shoot, it goes on for more than eight hours a day and this is not Hollywood where you have a trailer all to yourself.
We are exploring formal and work attire in future collections to address this. While you do not bring your baby to work, you would have to pump milk during working hours as your breast will become engorged otherwise; leaving you uncomfortable throughout the day.
Nursing has become very convenient to many modern mums as there are just so many pumps, storage bottles and clothes that allow us to do so while living our lives.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOUR BOUTIQUE?
The focus right now is to combine maternity and nursing wear as you would want to wear it up to the ninth month of pregnancy and further. That way, mums can save a lot in purchasing clothes.
We do have a mother and baby matching collection and would like to extend that further to father and baby matching clothes come Father’s day.
There’s so much that I want to do such as launching a children’s wear line but I’ll just see where it goes after giving birth to baby number two.
I SEE THAT BABY NUMBER TWO IS ON THE WAY?
I think Khyra can’t wait to have another sibling that she can bully! She’s turning two and it’s her terrible two years, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
WHAT’S YOUR MOST MEMORABLE MOTHER’S DAY CELEBRATION?Last year, Khyra and her cousin made a card for me which was really cute as she scribbled her name on the card. I don’t know what she’ll be doing this year but I am not expecting too much as she is only turning two.
Life threw her a curve ball but instead of giving up, she just aimed higher.
The road to success for an entrepreneur is seldom paved with gold but rather of pebbles and stones and a lot of pain. Most entrepreneurs would testify that it’s a long hard struggle full of sacrifices and moments of despair.
With this in mind, try setting up a company with a twist in its plot. A company with a RM1.5 million paid-up capital where all the dividends and distributions goes to charity. It’s a novel idea to be sure and one that’s never been attempted in our country before.
A new start-up with a new brand and a new concept also meant double the challenges, double the sacrifices and double the struggles!
If there is anyone who could have pulled off an idea such as this, it would be Julia Chong, chief executive officer of The Truly Loving Company Sdn Bhd (TLC). As the ex-managing director of Reckitt Benckiser Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indo China, Chong’s desire to help the disadvantaged and less fortunate was inspired by her late husband who would spend Sundays helping out at an orphanage.
One Christmas, he suggested that Chong and their two young children share their turkey dinner with the orphans. That meal with the orphans was an eye opening, emotional and ground moving experience for Chong and she vowed that one day she would use her resources and skills to help the disadvantaged and less fortunate.
“That meal made me realise how blessed we were and fortunate. I always taught charity was about writing a cheque,” confesses the CEO.
Unfortunately, that dream had to be put on hold when her husband suddenly died of a heart attack in 1999.
For the next seven years, Chong focused all her energies and resources on bringing up and educating her two teenage children as a single mother and balancing this against her career.
“But my dream never died and in 2006 when both my children had qualified as professionals and I had reached the peak of a successful corporate career, I told myself that this was the time for me to give back because if I don’t I would stay on in the corporate world and I would always be motivated by the financial rewards and the ability to be promoted up the next rung. I stepped down as managing director of Reckitt Benckiser and shortly after, established TLC.
Chong now uses her skills, experience and network from the past 30 odd years, to produce and market the TLC brand of household and personal care products such as dishwashing liquid, hand wash, floor and toilet bowl cleaners and soaps to benefit charitable causes and the less fortunate.
“All things being equal why not use a brand where 100% goes to charity,” questions the dynamic lady.
A Convent educated girl born in Kuala Lumpur, it seems that Chong has been equipped all her life to take on a role such as this. Her parents were loving but brought her up within a very disciplined and strict grounding environment.
“My family was one of those conservative and traditional Chinese families where we learnt at a very young age to be seen and not heard. With nine siblings, one really had to ‘stand out’ to be noticed, which probably explains my competitive spirit.
“My father was a young man when he left China to come and seek his fortunes in Malaysia. He had no formal education but through sheer hard work and determination, he educated all his nine children abroad (and I had problems providing my two children with an overseas education!) He would never indulge himself and if he could walk, he would never pay for a taxi or a trishaw. He started as a hawker and rose up to owning a renowned restaurant. Through depriving himself and making some shrewd investments, he gave us the education that he did not have and the very best within his means.
“He was a good person with good values and principles and although he is no longer with us, many times I would reflect on the guidance and mentoring he had provided for me,” recalls Chong.
Citing her father as her role model, Chong went on to pursue her undergraduate and post graduate studies in the United Kingdom. After working a while in the banking industry in London, this ambitious lady returned to Malaysia and soon made a name for herself in the corporate world.
From having four personal assistants in each country where she headed Reckitt Benckiser, Chong knew that starting a company such as TLC, the first social enterprise in the country would be a drastic change with its fair share of challenges. For starters, many retailers did not understand what TLC was all about in the first place.
Making it simple, Chong explains that TLC is exactly the same as other companies; the only difference is they drive profit for the benefit of the community.
With a lot of hard work, sweat and tears, Chong faced the challenges head on coming up with unique solutions to address the unique challenges. Introducing and establishing a new brand and a new concept as a new start up required a totally different approach from that of an established multinational. Fortunately, the experience and the learning gained from dealing with and overcoming such tough challenges enabled her staff and Chong herself to chart the way ahead for TLC.
“Our challenges have always been to grow awareness for TLC and its brand of products. As a small start-up, we didn’t have the resources for large advertising campaigns and thus we had to do things differently from the big boys by leveraging on our unique strengths.
“We need to communicate and generate awareness that TLC is the brand with a heart that delivers quality like the market leaders and yet is affordable to caring consumers. By using our products, consumers can make their daily routine become an act of kindness as 100% of TLC dividends are donated to charities. 100% of our dividend bearing shares is held by HSBC (Malaysia) Trustee Berhad in trust for the charities.”
As they are currently the only social enterprise operating in a very competitive marketplace, TLC tries to build brand preference in a cost-effective manner.
For instance, in 2010, they started the TLC Promise Me Campaign, which is a youth engagement programme, with youths working with TLC to fulfill the wishes of the less fortunate within a three month period. With the success of their 2010 campaign, they continued TLC Promise Me Season 2 in 2011 and are currently in the final stages of planning the roll out for TLC Promise Me 2012.
Generally preferring to keep a low profile, Chong finds that ever since she started TLC, she has had to step up to being ‘the face’ of the company and help build consumer awareness of the company’s mission and TLC brand awareness.
“Most people have found me more relaxed and more approachable now than when I was heading a large multinational overseeing a few countries. I put this down to the change in my role and the surrounding environment.
“I now find that my priorities in life have changed and acquiring material possessions is no longer as important. Through my involvement with TLC’s Charity Partners I have seen another side of life. I am humbled by the determination of single mothers to succeed against all odds, touched by how a 17-year old stroke victim tries to resume her life again and inspired by how a mentally and physically disabled young woman manages to achieve awards for her talents in embroidery and sports.”
Chong’s vision is to enable everyone in Malaysia to care for the less fortunate in their daily lives, without giving any donations but by simply using the TLC household brand.
“I am committed to my vision, bringing great passion and energy to realizing this vision and I have a great family and team to help me implement my dream, to celebrate with me when I hit the highs and be there for me when I hit the low points.”
From caring for the community, it was natural for TLC to extend to caring for the environment. Last year in July, they launched their TLC Green range of products with formulations that contain biodegradable and natural plant based ingredients. TLC has also maintained retail prices at an affordable level so as to encourage the community to convert from non green products and support the protection of the environment.
This inspiring lady, who has raised two children who have remained grounded and gone on to become professionals and who has cracked the glass ceiling and moved up in an MNC as a lady, says she feels really blessed to have made it.
“After the years of grieving for my late husband, I found happiness again and for all those reasons I know I must give back. I always feel that life is a balance and if you always take and not give back, something will happen. The first half of my life was spent on building my career and raising my children.
The second half is about giving back to society and the community.”
For Mother’s Day, Chong, who has proved that a woman can indeed be a super mum, is planning on starting the day with a leisurely breakfast with her family, then book into a spa and call her daughter in London for a long chat.
“As women, we tend to worry and harbour self-doubt and quite often it prevents us from stretching ourselves and maximising our potential. I am always guided by this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine”.
As she has gone on to prove, despite going through an immensely painful period in her life when she lost her husband, Chong still found the silver lining in the cloud and worked at life till the sun shone again.
Article courtesy of The Network Magazine
In software industry, to be the top 3 in the world is a must if you want to be considered a world player in your niche. Those not in the top 3 are probably not making significant profit to shout about. Malaysia market is too small for Malaysia ICT players. Malaysian market is probably about 2.5% of the size of US market. If your company captures 10% of the US market share, then you are already 40 times bigger than if you are having 10% market share in Malaysia.
Current Stage After a more than 15 years since the MSC in caption in 1996, we have seen the proliferation of ICT companies and technopreneurs in various niche areas. Some products are now able to be considered on par with foreign products. Some companies are even being acquired by US companies, some are listed in foreign stock market and some are having many overseas users base. However, many are still local players fighting in Malaysia market. The future growth is bleak if they do not consider Going Global.
The Fear Factor A number of factors weight heavily for ICT companies going global.
1) Fear of the unknown Many CEO dare not consider going global due to lack of knowledge of foreign market. This coupled with many horror stories of Malaysia companies fumbling overseas managed to paint not so happy pictures.
2) Cost High cost of going overseas is one of the major factor that prevented companies to push aggresively into overseas market. Probably the salary of one sales manager in US is enough to pay for 5 local staff. Once you add the office, accomodation, travel and other expenses, the budget disappeared very fast.
3) Inferiority Complex Many Malaysian are still having the belief that they are not on par with the US. Is it still true?
4) Lack of Network Unlike some communities like the indian worldwide communities, where they have set up worldwide netwrk of entrepreneurs, businessman and professionals, we Malaysian are not yet in that league. Can we create one?
Action Forward With these factors in mind, we have created the Go Global initiative with the objective of bringing Malaysia ICT companies to compete in foreign countries and creating world beating Malaysia ICT companies.
1. Experience Sharing In order to reduce the fear and probably in making major mistakes, Go Global initiative have organized many get together and experience sharing with Malaysia entrepreneurs that have gone through the mill. Some made it through, some are still struggling and some already packed their bags and fly home. This experience sharing would put the fear into a correct perspective.
2. Cost Sharing It is logical that by sharing office and facilities, the cost for the individual members will be much reduced. Our Go Global initiative provide this platform where Malaysian ICT companies work in a group where the cost of office and facilities are being shared. This provide significant impact where a lot more companies are able to consider expanding to oversea market, working in a group.
3. Only The Best The Go Global member are required to go through a rigorous pitching and evaluation sessions where the experienced panel will decide if the company have the unique value proportion to survive and grow in the oversea market. They are also required to join the monthly get together to build the comradeship and networking. With this process in place, Only The Best will join the Go Global initiative.
4. Networking The Go Global team realizes that currently networking between Malaysia companies and professionals overseas are severely lacking. We will join the established networks in the US in order to get access to the other entrepreneurs, partners, other professionals and capitalists. This is being done while in parallel we are building the Malaysia Network overseas.
The Government SupportWe would like to congratulate to the government especially MATRADE with the new leadership of our MITI Minister. With the current emphasis of collaborating with the industry and KPI tracking, we believe the success rate can be achieved.
Thanks to MDEC who understand the ICT industry well and have been the strongest backer for our Go Global initiative.
Would you join Go Global If you are an ICT company and you want to be a successful ICT company you would have to join this initiative. The chance of success at a manageable cost is higher under this initiative.
The 21st century will witness many new industries that were not known or not recognized in the previous century. These industries are created when new fields of study become matured and create opportunities for business and there are potential for the business to be growing exponentially.
The 20th century has witnessed the emergence and tremendous growth of aviation industry from mail delivery service and small scale exclusive passenger travel before World War 2 to more than 100 million passengers every year travelling on international flights.
Now space tourism or civilian space travel industry has emerged and growing and when the first affordable space liner starts its service in a couple of years, most probably this industry will at least imitate the growth of the aviation industry in the 20th industry, and forever change the phenomenon of astronautics and space travel, which traditionally only limited to government funded and very expensive missions.
Generally space tourism industry started about a decade ago when the first space tourist or private astronaut, the millionaire Dennis Tito travelled to the International Space Station (ISS) and stay there for more than a week, which had cost him about RM75 million. However, space tourism also is associated with affordability, and when defined as, “affordable space travel by the general public”, this “out-of-this-world” activity actually started about 5 years ago when there was a serious investment on the development of a passenger suborbital spaceplane which prototype had flown to space a couple of years before that, and resulted in the establishment of Virgin Galactic, the first private suborbital flight provider started and owned by Sir Richard Branson that had sold about 500 tickets to upper middle class and celebrities worldwide.
Suborbital spaceplane is the most economic space vehicle to build and operate, as it can operate from conventional airport without extra infrastructures, and is not capable of reaching orbit because its momentum is not high enough to escape Earth’s gravity, but can fly high enough to qualify its passengers as astronauts and experience brief zero-gravity when its momentum is being cancelled by the gravity at its maximum ceiling. Eventually, there will be hotels in orbit and also on Lunar surface, but before that, suborbital spaceplane will rule the sky, becomes the most important component of the industry. Now there are about 10 organizations worldwide trying to develop suborbital spaceplane, including an international group lead by Space Tourism Society Malaysia Chapter.
Today, space tourism is not an unheard phrase, and is becoming popular day by day as worldwide development is being reported and interest grows exponentially. In Malaysia, the only organization seriously promoting space tourism is Space Tourism Society Malaysia Chapter, a chapter of Space Tourism Society, a not-for-profit organization registered in the State of California. The Malaysian chapter, however is an international pioneer and leader in space tourism, since the organization is now a Board Member of International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety, an international organization comprise of spaceflight safety managers, engineers and scientists patronized by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and ESA (European Space Agency), representing Asia, developing countries and the international space tourism community.
Space agencies have their reason to response quite slowly on the progress of space tourism, since NASA, ESA and other major space agencies already had their own transportation infrastructures decades before the emergence of space tourism, but are slowly giving the attention and support as space tourism vehicles like suborbital spaceplane have been accepted as a potential low cost and effective zero-gravity and astronaut training platform which will be useful for the space agencies. The aviation, scientific and spaceflight safety sectors however are very keen on supporting the development of space tourism industry and currently become the catalyst for the total acceptance of private spaceflight initiative and space tourism as a major component of space industry in the near future.
For a developing country like Malaysia, which has limited capability and technology to build massive space travel infrastructure as in the USA and Russia, space tourism industry may be the most practical approach to venture into space travel. The most logical steps would be the government to encourage non-governmental organizations and private agencies to explore the opportunities in the industry in Malaysia.
With more than 400 million users, Facebook calculates that an average user creates 70 pieces of content each month while there 25 billion pieces of content/information shared each month on Facebook. Add that to the millions of web pages (and information) already on the World Wide Web on our computers, you can just imagine the amount of data or knowledge that exist today.
In the near future, it is likely for you to rely more on information resources referred to you by your trust network like the one you have on Facebook than relying on recommendations made by a search engine which indexes billions and trillions of unverified information by keyword. Realistically speaking, one would rather trust what their friends recommend as relevant and trustworthy than spend hours of Googling. The primary challenge is to have the ability to piece together information meaningfully. The present solution lies in the innovative use of Semantic Technology. Today we have already seen emergence of next generation semantic applications like Twine, Hakia etc.
If Web 2.0 is about social media and about connecting people, web 3.0 is really about connecting knowledge. The transition between web 2.0 and web 3.0 does not happen sequentially but rather in parallel, arising due to the global knowledge explosion. We need web 3.0 technologies to address the need for understanding what knowledge is available, how to meaningfully extract it, manage it and to use it to create new knowledge.
I had the privilege of being exposed to cutting edge technology while at MIMOS; At that time most researchers were looking at only Artificial Intelligence (AI) but the technology portfolio management team, under the guidance of Datuk Wahab and the lab director, Dr. Dickson Lukose were adamant to explore more cutting-edge or “fronteering” technology that would only mature in the coming five to six year and that once developed would allow local indigenous companies to become competitive global players. A new lab called Knowledge Technology lab was then created to spear head this vision and talented resources were brought in to fully develop the potential of Semantic Technology.
As a W3C standard, Semantic Technology shares a common language and framework with Semantic Web but differs much in terms of its commercial application and value proposition. As a concept pushed by Sir Tim Berniers Lee in the late 90s, Semantic Web is about allowing computers to understand and comprehend information that exist on the internet. Sir Tim envisioned a world where web sites could seamlessly exchange information with each other because the machine understood the meaning of what was available on these websites. He realised that in order to achieve this however required knowledge to be represented in a standard way that machine or software could understand. Through his effort, W3C established an XML-based Semantic Web standard. As standards such as RDF and OWL mature, the adoption from the industry soon followed.
Today hundreds of companies including the likes of Microsoft, SAP and even Google are already investing in Semantic Technology. Nokia for example, has developed a patented Semantic Thumbnail search. Even moster.com has recently introduced their 6sense Semantic profiling engine which they claim to be the most accurate job profiling engine in the world.
Beyond your meaning-based search capabilities, Semantic Technology can be used for:
According to a report by Top Quadrant, the Semantic Technology world-wide market is expected to grow to more than USD200 billion by 2011 at an annual growth rate of more than 80%. So before you are left behind, find out how your organization can leverage on Semantic Technology to create your next generation intelligent applications and systems.
Malaysia will be celebrating its 54th birthday this year with much fanfare and pride. Pride of country and its people who have experienced a transformation that has seen the country grow from a commodities dependent economy to a low cost manufacturing base to the fledgling high-tech hub that it is today.
Without doubt, the high-tech industries springing up in the corridors of Cyberjaya will be the catalyst for further growth, but engines of growth rely on the economic ecosystem to thrive. Without manufacturing, agricultural, financial and public services to support it, the nascent high-tech industry will wither. With competitive threat from cheaper labour pools encroaching on the country’s more established economic sectors, the only way Malaysia can thrive is through strategic productivity growth by continuously upgrading the skill sets of its workforce.
In a relentlessly evolving global landscape, areas and skill sets needed in order to be ahead of the pack is constantly changing, thus new knowledge has to be persistently acquired to remain competitive. This is where the symbiotic nature of the economy comes into play as technology infuses new life into mature sectors.
The call for increased productivity is not new. What was missing is a sustainable mechanism for continuous learning that would lead to productivity growth.
At the heart of this productivity growth would be an integrated life-long learning programme that starts at the kindergarten level and extends all the way to retirement and beyond which is made possible by advances in the local technology sector. Enter the Integrated Learning Environment, a concept that could possibly tie together the various education and training initiatives into a whole that is more than the sum of its parts.
The Integrated Learning Environment would consist of a technology assisted teaching and learning programme at the primary and secondary levels, a networked learning grid for tertiary education, an Integrated Multimedia Content Development facility and a professional learning grid.
While two components of the Environment have already been started namely the Smart School programmes and to some extent the Open University, the other components have largely yet to be developed on a national scale.
The creation of an Integrated Multimedia Content Development facility is key in this Environment as it enables the development of high-quality content at lower cost and provides jobs for graduates. The networked learning grid for tertiary education is a repository of multimedia content that provides a means for universities to share content for common courses. A first year mathematics course for example, is based on a common syllabus for most universities. By being part of the grid, universities can concentrate on building content that is unique to a particular university and not have to re-invent the wheel.
One of the most important aspects of increasing competitiveness of our workforce is skills training at the working level. Upgrading of skill sets and knowledge is paramount for a worker to adjust, adapt and respond to the competitive environment. However, workers face various limitations in the pursuit of new skills, and those limitations are not just monetary but also time and convenience.
In order to facilitate continuous training of our workforce, a professional training grid can be formed. The grid would consist of training courseware and access facilities for workers to conveniently take courses at home or on publicly accessible computer terminals.
The advent of cheaper broadband services, would make it feasible for rich-media courses in public speaking, increasing rubber yield and engine servicing for instance to be made available when and where it is convenient for the worker.
This is not to say that professional training services and trainers will be made redundant. To the contrary, for most types of skills, self-paced learning would require a period of hands-on time with a trainer before successful learning can take place. The advantage with having self-paced multimedia courseware is that new skills can be upgraded expediently.
For example, a mechanic would need hands-on training for his initial education on engines, but learning about a new injector and its repair techniques can be done using training courseware that can be accessed at his leisure without disrupting working time.
The same situation applies for white-collar workers where the upgrading of skills in software applications, policies, regulations and languages can be done through self-paced training courseware.
This constant cycle of skill upgrade would mean that the nation would have a labour pool that is competitive and can respond quickly to shifting market demands for a particular service.
A potential contributor to the Integrated Learning Environment that is sometimes left-out where workforce planning is concerned is the retiree segment of the population. These are people who have had twenty or more years of experience in a particular area and are prime candidates to be Subject Matter Experts in the area.
With these retirees connected via the Internet to the Multimedia Content Development facility, their knowledge and experience can be captured and encapsulated into training courseware that imparts not only information but also values and best practices.
May it be a traditional farmer who could increase the yield of his crops by employing a new planting technique, or a government officer who could service twice as many customers by utilizing a new process, or factory worker who could cut down the assembly time of a furniture by using an improved gluing technique, the key to productivity is upgrading off skills and the key to making it feasible on a nation-wide basis is the establishment of an Integrated Learning Environment.
Naturally, as a first article for the first issue of this most promising magazine, I would like to write about the Bumiputera Technopreneur.
As a sub-set of the Bumiputera entrepreneurial community, the Bumiputera Technopreneur (BT) is a much misunderstood bunch of people. Unfortunately, without really knowing the peculiar problems and concerns of the BT, the public assumes that the BT exhibits all the short-comings of Malays in general.
As we are told ad nauseam, the Malay community needs the NEP as a crutch, they display bad habits like not repaying loans, they are lousy at meeting targets and deadlines, they fall short of their promises, their time-management is generally bad, they are too dependent on Government hand-outs, are mostly passive-aggressive in the handling of criticism and are secretly proud of the Ketuanan Melayu theory….and the list goes on.
For the Bumiputera entrepreneur, negative perceptions hold no bounds. Without constant help from the Government, it is said that no Malay would succeed in business today. If there are a few who have risen to the top, the reason often given is that they are politically connected and therefore enjoy all the “benefits” that come with such connections, or that they have rich non-Malays partners. Hard work and ability are hardly ever the reasons for the success of any Malay. Well, I am tired of hearing all this. I am also tired of telling people that as a race, we are considerably far behind the Chinese, for example, who have handled money and dabbled in entrepreneurial activity for more than 5,000 years. And yes, we stumble and make mistakes, but who doesn’t?
From time to time, even I succumb to such stereotypical views of the Malay, especially when I encounter them in the lower rungs of the civil service. When I expect a lebih-kurang attitude and instead meet a Malay civil servant, businessman or a technopreneur who is courteous, meticulous and works fast, I am not just thankful but hopeful and optimistic once again. Couple of years ago, I met a bunch of BTs who permanently altered my view of this sub-set of Malays. In my previous capacity as a newspaper editor, I had a fortnightly column and was wondering what to write about that particular week when I remembered the young man from Skali who wowed me with his enthusiasm.
He rounded up a couple of friends and they came over for a Saturday morning chat with me. All struggling in their respective businesses, they were distinctly different and also very funny. Had I been in their situation, I would have been spending entire days feeding my depression with chocolate cake. But they were determined to clear the path before them.
Ironically, although the Government had specific loans and grants to fund technopreneurial development work, the systems and processes were tied up in red tape and gridlocked by meaningless rules and regulations.
They each talked about how they were handling their problems. Yes, it was tough but we will get there, one of them said. Today, all of them have advanced in significant ways. They are still making mistakes but they have not given up.
A number of them sit on the NEF council and they remain as hopeful as they used to be. More recently, at the NEF AGM, I met more BTs – and their stories tell me that the Bumiputera technopreneurial community is still struggling to be heard and noticed. No one, however, is expecting handouts. Instead, they are looking for ways to help one another – and themselves, of course – up the ladder of success.
This tells me that it is time to change that old story about the Malays, don’t you agree?
Serving seriously awesome food is a serious business for Melissa Groot, owner of Le Midi Restaurant Sdn Bhd
PILLARS: LE MIDI IS NOW 18 MONTHS OLD. WHAT HAVE THE PAST 18 MONTHS BEEN LIKE FOR YOU?
Melissa Groot: It’s been really busy here at Le Midi setting up the restaurant and creating awareness on it. As Le Midi means the region of France, Italy and Spain, we serve Mediterranean cuisine. To build awareness on Le Midi, we have been busy for over a year now with various promotional activities such as food programmes on 8TV, launches, food reviews with magazines, newspapers and bloggers and product launches with car companies.
I have hired an Italian manager who is very good at training the local staff and giving them international experience and exposure. With this the staffs have a better understanding of the food, wine and educating the guests on what to order. The challenge I am facing with Le Midi now is the lack of visibility as it is located on the third floor of Bangsar Shopping Centre, so I have to keep thinking of how to drive people here.
WHY MEDITERRANEAN FOOD?
The Mediterranean is basically a place which my husband and I love. We travel to Europe twice yearly and we love the food there. It is also a challenge to start a Mediterranean restaurant here because the understanding of Mediterranean cuisine is limited. However the good thing is you come to Le Midi and you can savour three different types of cuisine!
WHERE DID YOU LEARN THE KNOW-HOW ON RUNNING A RESTAURANT?
My previous work experience has been in the hotel industry. I started from the lowest as a telephone operator and cashier and later went on to sales and marketing. Then being young I moved to Hong Kong because I wanted to try something different. In Hong Kong I still worked in the hotel industry and I firmly believe that Hong Kong is a really good place to hone your skills for your career because it’s very fast paced and it’s an international hub. I spent 16 years there and my last position was as a regional director of Pan Pacific. Then I left the hotel industry and moved back to Malaysia because my husband got a job here. Once I got back I started a recruitment business in Singapore.
So with my hospitality and recruitment background, and my vast experience in wining and dining and not forgetting of course my passion for food, I felt I was equipped to open a restaurant. My husband and I started Le Midi in October 2010.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY ABOUT OWNING YOUR OWN RESTAURANT?
My husband and I get to eat whatever we like whenever we like as we have our own chef. The restaurant is also ideal to entertain our friends as we have our own bar and lounge here.
Before we opened this restaurant, we used to dine out at least once a week with the children but it was very hard to find a restaurant that had a nice ambience, good selection of quality food and wine and good service at the right price.
When we opened Le Midi, we really wanted something with all these elements. So we created this nice cosy restaurant, where people are relaxed and they can let loose and talk business. The men can come here and have a cigar and whisky and girlfriends can relax over a glass of wine and there is also a private room to entertain friends which is more exclusive. I am responsible for the quality control of the food and I am very strict that the food always remains of the highest quality.
WHEN DOES THE GOING GET TOUGH FOR YOU?
Running your own restaurant for the first time involves lots of trial and error. Finding the right suppliers, learning about storage and control of wastage of food, it was all a learning process.
I also had many problems with staffing; the problem is shortage of skilled staff. With the shortage you have no choice but to hire whoever is available but from there I have found some good ones who are still with me. In the beginning I had a high turnover of staff but after six months the staffing problem smoothened out.
The involvement in the operation is a lot on my side which keeps the staff intact. If you are not involved or knowledgeable, many problems can crop up in the business but I proved them wrong although I am the new kid on the block. I have had to hire and fire but I take it in my stride because it is part of life.
HOW DO YOU BALANCE BETWEEN WORK AND FAMILY?
I manage my time pretty well. I start my day early at 6.30am. I have breakfast with my children and send them to school. I have three children aged eight, five and three. After dropping them off I go to the gym for two hours. Then I go to Le Midi to check on everything before heading home again to see my children. Later if I have to come back to the restaurant I do. At nights when opportunity permits, I have a glass of wine with friends in the restaurant. If I am home I spend time with my husband watching television after the children have gone to bed.
DO YOU PERSONALLY LOVE COOKING?
I do. I used to cook and entertain many of my friends every weekend. Now these friends come to the restaurant. Whatever you do you need to be passionate about it.
WHERE DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF LE MIDI?
I wish and hope that this restaurant will be appreciated by many more people. I want to see a hustling and bustling Le Midi. Maybe later, I would open a restaurant that caters more to the masses.
Brothers in business keep the legacy alive when the young ones join the band
Blood is thicker than water as many would have said before. But sometimes, money proves to be the ultimatum that shatters family run businesses. True, watching endless television drama series that revolve around an antagonist sibling trying to swindle the family fortune has become a predictable plot that we savour.
In reality, with this family at least, nothing could be further from the truth.
It has to be said that meeting a close knit yet jovial group of people who share more than just DNA, dispel any preconceived notions of sibling rivalry in business.
Behind the walls of Meng Kah Auto Parts Trading Sdn Bhd in Puchong, there is a story of a band of brothers who sought more from life, and ambition takes centrestage in this tale of entrepreneurship.
While working as a mechanic’s apprentice in Bukit Mertajam, the then 16-year old Lee Meng Tek harboured a dream of owning a business dealing in motorcycle parts and accessories that caters to the market of lower capacity machines. In 1995, that dream became a reality in the form of Meng Kah Auto but unfortunately was greeted with hardship from the very onset.
“During the early 1990s, there were only Made-in-Thailand sport rims in the market. While it was expensive at about RM400 to RM500 a set, the built quality was rough and poor. Still, it was beautiful to look at,” shared Meng Tek on the market prospects then.
The three spoke rims sourced from Thailand clearly was way below par for the discerning Malaysian market. Monthly sales were only hitting 50 sets on average. That was a far cry from the boom of kap chais (underbone and smaller capacity motorcycle) roaming around town back then.
The kap chai market is strongest in the Southeast Asia region, with approximately five million motorcycles on the roads of Malaysia and growing. Traditionally, Malaysian motorcycle buyers prefer smaller motorcycles in the range of 70 to 115 cc.
Moving on to greener pastures, Meng Tek branched out to Kuala Lumpur with the help of his two brothers, Lee Meng Chun and Sam Lee.
Neither was from the motorsports industry, as Sam mentioned, he was from the food and beverage marketing line prior to joining his brother. “I still remember that we opened shop in Puchong on April’s Fool day in 1998. Part of the reason of setting up there was to save ourselves from the 1997 crisis.
“It was no joke that business was bad. Cash was tight and we had no choice but to sleep inside our 20x80 factory lot as we had little to spare on renting rooms,” he sighed.
Years struggling down the road, they chanced upon new designs of sport rims, specifically, the 811 – eight spoke alloy rims that allows the consumer to further customise their rides. As colour play was and still is a major consideration for consumers, many of their new products were produced in tandem to this under the brand Racing Boy.
Convincing the customer proved to be harder than expected as the industry then was still sceptical about the quality of their products. This led to Racing Boy’s involvement with the Malaysian Cub Prix races.
“In motorcycle racing, they were not used to sport rims as their main concern for the rims was whether it could handle the stress of the race.” Many racers were hesitant to try it in the beginning, but Team Maju Motor Racing took up that challenge.
Along the way, the team emerged as the overall champion of the Cub Prix in 2004, further strengthening and promoting Racing Boy in the races. Slowly but surely, interest in the product grew among local motorcycle enthusiasts and riders.
According to Sam, their sponsorship towards the Cub Prix races grew tremendously over the years as they currently supply 99% of the sport rims used in the races. What grew from a small setup in Bukit Mertajam has evolved leaps and bounds beyond Meng Tek’s imagination. And now at the helm of the business is his son Bruce Lee.
Despite being only in his 20s, Bruce is indeed a young face in the company, but his life experiences more than makes up for his youth. Changes were made since taking over from his father in 2010, and they were for the betterment of the company.
“As the only son in the family with three sisters in tow, I knew that I had to join the family business to help my father out,” he said. Working from the bottom up, Bruce left his job as a car mechanic to learn the ropes of the family business. His exposure to the company wasn’t new according to his uncle who recalls how Bruce used to frequent the office during his school holidays; helping out as a store boy.
Bruce is well aware that his age may draw scrutiny from certain parties. “I know that I am still young, but I always remember not to be big headed or stubborn with the seniors of the business. I have so much to learn from them.”
Suppliers and long-time customers of the business initially found it difficult to deal with Bruce; having previously dealt with his father instead.
“They have built a relationship with my dad way before I came into the picture, and now they have this impression of dealing with the founder’s son.
“It wasn’t easy at first but it was important for me to establish that kam cheng (relationship) with them in order to grow the business ahead.
The pressure is definitely on for him to perform; with the guidance of his father and his uncles, supporting him every step of the journey.
As part of his effort to take the company to the 21st century, he has implemented many systems and procedural changes such as the incorporation of enterprise resource planning and technology in stock, sales, accounting and financial control.
“In our days, our boh tak chek (unlearned) methods were limited to what we say, write and trust in running the business,” said Sam. “That is no longer relevant in this time and age and what Bruce did was right in bringing in system to the company.”
While some staff was hesitant with the switch in management and system, they too took time to adapt to the changes that came their way.
With much to do, there is no way Bruce can rest on his laurels while enjoying the success that the generation before him built. “Not many people would have the chance to take over their family’s business and I always believe that it is our time to shine and show them what we are capable of when given the opportunity.
“No doubt my father and uncles are behind me all the way, but that does not mean I can under-perform, or fall back on them whenever I feel like it.”
Truth is, there are some things in life like family and trust that are more important than all the money in the world. Nothing’s more rewarding than building something from scratch together, while watching the second generation of the family take it to the new frontier.
BioFact Life Sdn Bhd managing director Vince Chua cleared the air with Behonce Beh on the delicate process of cordyceps cultivation and keeping the family legacy alive
PILLARS: The traditional Chinese medicine business is usually run by the elder generation. How did you end up cultivating cordyceps as a career?
Vince Chua: I started BioFact Life in 2005 in line with the growth of the biotechnology business around the world. My family has been in the business of wholesaling and distributing herbal medicine for more than 40 years in Muar, Johor.
Contrary to the industry that I am in right now, my background is actually in IT and information system and security.
In my days as a young man, I worked and studied in the US for about six years. I got a full time job in my junior undergraduate year as we were offered a special student release programme issued by the US government for students who were from nations affected by the 1997 economic crisis.
While applying for the permit was relatively simple, applying for a job wasn’t. I remember sending out 500 resumes via fax and e-mails in order to secure a job.
The first job I got was as a Y2K consultant that paid US$14 (RM42) an hour and I had to deal with the Y2K bug that itched closer.
What made you return to Malaysia?
I planned to stay longer but my father passed away in 2001. The main purpose of my return was to keep my mother company. I had never given any thought to running the family business.
And going into the business felt like a natural choice, then?
While I was taking care of my mother, I discovered that the family business lacked a successor.
I am the youngest of seven siblings and most of them already had their own full-time jobs with large corporations. It was difficult to ask or persuade them to return to the family business. Returning to Malaysia gave me a fresh start and a new look on life. I wanted to take care of the business as it was this business that gave me the opportunity to pursue my studies and my career in the US. I felt the responsibility to sustain and continue in my father’s legacy.
For a business that is 40-years-old, you cannot imagine the amount of knowledge, customers and staff that the company has acquired over the years. While I had no interest in the business, my motivation was to carry on the spirit of my father’s work.
What happened next?
My first position back into the business was as a salesman; visiting all medical halls across the Southern and Central region in order to gain more knowledge about the business.
I knew that I had to transform the family business to an enterprise structure and venture into manufacturing to remain competitive.
BioFact Life started with the advent of the biotechnology business, and we decided to venture into herbal biotechnology, specifically cordyceps cultivation and research as there are many players out there already experimenting on ginseng and lingzhi.
Biotechnology is not an entirely new industry as many people would like to believe. Simple everyday items such as milk powders enhanced with DHA or cooking oil with Omega-3 fats are all products of biotechnology.
Tell me more about cordyceps
Most people assume that cordyceps is a type of worm. Cordyceps is in actual fact a fungus that latches itself onto a caterpillar, and grows out to a fruiting body.
Our cultivation system replaces the caterpillar with our own organic extracts that supply the fungi with the required nutrients to grow in a consistent condition.
Production of wild cordyceps is limited as it has to be obtained from the Himalayan ranges. What we have done is shortened the production cycle of wild cordyceps from 300 to 50 days for cultivated cordyceps.
You’ve changed your family’s business model. What else?
Well, with most herbs, the common way to consume them is to boil it as a soup or tonic. We’ve made it convenient for consumers to obtain the nutrition from cordyceps in the form of capsules.
You have to admit that the younger consumers demand for health supplements to be backed by facts and studies. Thus, we positioned ourselves from a scientific approach to produce supplements that have been clinically tested before it is sold to our customers.
You have come a long way from upholding your father’s legacy to building a business for yourself. What’s next on your to-do list?
Previously, the family business was an OEM business, but now we have adopted a seed-to-shelf approach where we produce the raw material, manufacture, market and brand the product ourselves.
We have penetrated the Southeast Asia and Middle East market and are looking to expand into China. Many would argue that it would be difficult to enter the China market, especially for our product which is in a way, a traditional Chinese preparation.
I’m quite positive that the Chinese market would respond better to an imported product, based on our research.
Also, I am keen to further develop our children’s supplement range as I do see a growing demand for that segment of the market.