My entrepreneurship came unintended. I was on a family trip which we booked a full-size coach for our extended family members of around 30 people. I spent many hours talked to my 2 cousins-in-law who run a small tuition center. We talked about the education business and I shared ideas of how I see the business potentials and how they can expand their business.
It was the year 2007. being in the financial industry and having gone through 2 major financial crises, it wasn’t difficult to sense that a storm is coming. In my own investment portfolio, I identified 4 industries that are resilient to financial turmoil; government projects, healthcare, education, and gaming (include casino). So in the following year, I decided to make the switch and join the team.
We revamp the business into 2 tracks; academy focus and personal enrichment. The business revenue grew double year by year for the first few years and continues to grow at a healthy rate after. However, not all businesses are successful, including my investment into a vocational institution. The business was promising when I invested in it but the climate changed completely after a change in government policy which made the business not viable. That’s a painful lesson.
One thing I learned, getting into a business is easy but coming out can be very difficult. So, always plan for an exit strategy, for good and for bad.
In 2013, I started my own consultancy firm. Our clients are mainly large family-run businesses in emerging markets like Myanmar and China. My team comprises of professionals of multidisciplinary so that we can provide a 360 holistic management consultancy work. In this team, you can really experience cultural diversity here as not only the members are of different educational backgrounds and professions, they are also from different countries. Among the 11 consultants, we have 8 nationalities. It was fun and also makes me believe that diversity makes a better team.