FOR many years, this writer has interviewed and written about successful business entrepreneurs who made it big in life.
There are five factors that are common behind these rags-to-riches stories which further explain why Malay businesses often do not survive beyond the first two years.
Malaysia does not have the statistics but the US Bureau of Labor tells us that 75% of new businesses survive the first year, 69% survive the first two years and only half make it to five years.
Under the reformist government by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, perhaps it is time for the government agencies to restructure the business grants and Malay entrepreneurs to take cognisance of their past failures and ask why other communities are doing better.
Instead of looking at other people’s success with jealousy and continue with the crab culture, they should learn from others, and start innovating on their own. Malays have great creativity which has yet to be unleashed.
This article focuses on why Chinese entrepreneurs succeed in their business ventures with the hope that the insights that they are willing to share will be useful for their fellow Malaysians.
The five success recipes
Know your strengths. Eugene Lim incorporated his company Specialist Engineering Asia on Dec 29, 2020. This was in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic but within a short span of time, he and his partner Aaron Chew have completed a number of major projects in prestressing.
The two reasons for their success are (i) with over 23 years of experience in the prestressing industry, they are not the new kids on the block; and (ii) with a good network of friends from within the engineering fraternity, they have secured a good number of projects.
“We know where our leading edge is which is a strong core team focused on delivering quality work, and even when we explore other specialist engineering products and services, we will not depart from our core business,” he told FocusM.
Choose any business but stick with it: A rolling stone gathers no moss.
Entrepreneur Victor Han, whose Amoil brand of engine oil has started to gain traction in the Malaysian market started with a small outfit selling grease to factories. His office back in the 1980s was just one table with two phones and a typewriter.
His strength is his ability to convince people about his products. Although there were only one or two products in the early 1980s, his business has thrived.
Integrity is key: Success is not what one can achieve overnight. Thumbprints Utd Sdn Bhd started with a shop lot printing outlet in Selayang before moving into a rented quarter-acre factory.
Today, the company occupies a four-acre factory in Rawang which is fully paid for. It gives the company a good credit standing with the banks.
Thumbprints’ founder who is popularly known now as “Pastor” Tam Wah Fiong would happily point to his company’s delivery van which carries the slogan “Zero Corruption”.
“This was the starting point towards compliance with the laws and regulations,” he told FocusM. “Compliance also means zero bribes and this eventually get us today on a good footing for the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) compliance required by our overseas clients in Europe and the US.”
In essence, the Chinese philosophy teaches that integrity is key to trust and trust leads to good businesses.
No major renovations and posh cars: Most businesses started small. Some did not even have a beautifully renovated office except some simple chairs and a couple of office equipment.
When he first started his business, Nehemiah Group founder Dr Nehemiah Lee recalled that he only had a phone and a typewriter for his home office.
Despite being a multimillion-ringgit company now, the company’s headquarters at The Strand in Kota Damansara is only a three-level shop office.
Over the past 15 years since occupying this office, they have not done any major renovations to impress on their clients that they are a successful business.
Another entrepreneur, Datin Winnie Loo never believed in buying a new car until her 50th birthday when her husband decided to surprise her with a posh car as a birthday present.
“Instead, we invested every ringgit in the bricks and mortar,” she once advised this writer in the early 2000s. “All my life, I have never bought a new car. Unlike real estate, prices of cars depreciate overnight.”
Even when she bought real estate properties at strategic locations, she would take minimum loan. “Servicing the bank interests alone will take away all your rental incomes,” she explained. “I also do not get too sentimental with any piece of property. When the price is right, I just dispose them.”
Passion as driving force: Back in the 1990s, this writer was in touch with the secretary to Sunway Group Bhd founder Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah.
“Boss works very hard and very hands-on,” she said. “Although he is the founder, he would work very hard even till late at night. I respect him for being the driving force behind the success of the group.”
These comments went back as early as the 1990s. Today, the Sunway Group has become one of the major conglomerates with businesses covering construction, hospitals, recreation and education. – Feb 20, 2024
Main pic credit: Sunway Group
