Chaos Gate will be released in China in April this year.

Developing computer games is risky business. More so, if you’re creating a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game (MMORPG), which requires a massive investment in capital and time.

But that is the risk Singapore-based Time Voyager‘s founder and CEO Chris Loo is willing to take. By developing their first title — Chaos Gate  – for the fast-growing China market, they could potentially reap big rewards. Last year, a report revealed that sales from the China games market reached US$7B last year, a 32.4 percent year-on-year increase.

Time Voyager’s risk-taking spirit is something Canon’s Think Big campaign aims to promote. Think Big encourages entrepreneurs to not just earn a profit, but also to expand their business horizons by doing what was thought to be impossible.

For Chris, this meant venturing beyond local shores to develop a full-fledged MMORPG game from scratch, a category that is dominated by established game developers from the US, Japan, South Korea, and China.

He is certainly no wide-eyed neophyte, and has no illusions about the challenges of the gaming industry. Even big name game studios flounder from time to time.

“The survival rate for MMORPG games under development is very low. According to my opinion of the market, three out of four developments will fail before closed beta, and another 50 percent of the remaining commercialized MMORPGs will have mediocre results. It’s a high-risk endeavor,” he said.

But with the right approach, he believes Chaos Gate, which will be free to play, can do well in the China market when it launches there in April.

Already, it’s off to a promising start. Kingsoft, a top ten games publisher in China, has picked up the title. They will handle the game’s marketing push in the country.

What sets Chaos Gate apart from other MMORPGs is that it caters to casual, intermediate, and hardcore players at the same time by adopting the best features from games that target the various market segments.

Casual games that find it hard to play the game with both the keyboard and the mouse — a standard configuration in 3D games — can navigate around using just the mouse. If they want to complete a quest, they can set their avatar to ‘autorun’ to the quest location.

Hardware requirements are also quite lenient — a gamer doesn’t really need the latest rig or state-of-the-art internet connection to run Chaos Gate smoothly. This is a crucial step to ensure widespread adoption of the game in China, since high-end machines and lightning-fast internet connections are out-of-reach to the average consumer.

Hardcore gamers who like more of a challenge can revert back to the keyboard and mouse combo, complete high-level quests that require teamwork between players, and collect armor that have cool special effects when worn as a set. The armor pieces can also be progressively upgraded.

The game also has social media elements embedded in it. Players can easily share about their achievements and conquests on platforms like Facebook.

What’s important in any RPG title is the story, and Chaos Gate seems to have an interesting premise: In the not-too-distant future, aliens have invaded earth, and the only way to save it is to travel back in time to retrieve special stones that can help save the planet.

These unique features underscore Time Voyager’s desire to set itself apart from the competition. The ability to innovate and redefine an industry is another trait Canon Think Big aims to encourage in Singaporean entrepreneurs.

Chris Loo, founder and CEO of Time Voyager.

With the game on the cusp of commercialization, it’s easy to forget that Time Voyager’s three-year, well, voyage from idea to product was not exactly a walk in the park.

Hiring and keeping top talent in China was a challenge. While the company now has about 40 staff in China which mainly handles art and content creation, the most crucial step was hiring the first guy.

“In China, staff need a strong leader to make decisions and resolve disagreements. Once you hire good top people that are renowned in the industry, the rest will follow,” Chris said.

He added that hiring talent people starts with a long process of courtship and relationship building.
“The work environment is very family-based. Potential employees want to know that you can be trusted.”

Interestingly, Time Voyager’s ability to retain talent was a factor in Kingsoft’s decision to pick up Chaos Gate. In the Chinese gaming industry, company loyalty is hard to come by. A lot of game developers are ambitious and want to be ahead of the pack.

This is even more pronounced if they have peers who are doing exceptionally well in hot-selling game titles.

Therefore, in such a competitive environment, the rate of poaching is very high.

“Kingsoft likes game studios who have the ability to keep people,” he said. “They adopted a wait-and-see attitude at first, visited our studio every month and monitored our progress.”

“But eventually, they were quite happy with what we’re doing.”

There are differences between the Chinese and US gaming markets too.

In China, for example, gamers tend to be a little bit more impatient. They want their characters to be well-dressed at the beginning, otherwise they’ll be turned off. They also want to reap rewards more quickly. US gamers, on the other hand, prefer a more gradual approach, and have a greater need to feel some sense of achievement.

There’s also a difference in the approach towards marketing games. In China, Internet cafes are popular, and many young people flock to these places. As a result, publishers need to incentivize these cafes to install their games, and hope that players are hooked on it.

In more developed countries, however, gamers usually have their own computers at home. The marketing methods needed to reach these gamers changes drastically.

By understanding the market deeply, working hard to retain good staff, and creating a differentiated product, Time Voyager hopes to create the next big thing in the Chinese gaming market.

Time will tell if they can achieve their aims.

But whatever happens, Chris is right up there with the other entrepreneurs promoted by Canon Think Big — flying the Singapore flag abroad and doing the country proud with their vision and boldness.

This article is sponsored by:

Guided by its kyosei philosophy that focuses on “living and working together for the common good”, Canon is dedicated to producing innovative products and technologies to improve efficiency at home and in the office. It is committed to steering its research and manufacturing processes towards sustainability, providing a safe and healthy workplace, and delivering high quality products to its customers. Read more about Canon’s Think Big campaign.

Company & founder: Gina Romero

Biggest mistake made: Failing ask for help from others when confronted with an unexpected big offer

Most memorable setback: Missing out on a potentially big deal – to be the main wireless Internet infrastructure supplier for a housing estate.

Setting up a base in Singapore only last September 2010, Gina is fast becoming a familiar face in Singapore’s startup scene. A mother of three, a manager of a family-run farm, a air-stewardess, and a former director of an IT consulting company, Gina is indeed a lady filled with experience and enthusiasm to make things happen. Today, she is the head of The Athena Network (Singapore, APAC), and founder of a business community, Business Rocks.

Rewind back to 2001. While on a visit to the United States, Gina noted that cafes offering wifi Internet are getting popular. Recognizing the immense impact this would have in the UK, she nudged her tech-savvy partner Bobby to explore this field. Together, they researched and marketed wireless Internet to over 100 housing units in a pilot project for a leading property developer in London.

Opportunities will come when you least expect them

It all started with a house visit to a friend of Gina’s newly bought apartment, which was managed by the property development company. Observing that the apartment was not Internet-enabled, she proposed setting up wifi access for her friend. Her friend was excited by the potential.

Gina then further pushed boundaries and proposed having a “Demo Day” for the entire block of the apartment. Not over-analyzing the situation, she rallied her crew —  family and friends — and started handing out promotional flyers to every other housing unit. On Demo day, the wireless Internet was activated, with the main Internet cable hanging down from the friend’s apartment at level six to the ground lobby floor. However, fellow residents were too in awe of the technology to pick on the unpolished set-up.

Despite such ghetto set-up, a big opportunity came knocking after the demo. The Managing Director of the property developer proposed having Gina to be the main supplier of wireless Internet for his company. This proposition came unexpectedly. But it was only made possible with Gina’s eagerness to market the technology to the UK and to her friend’s apartment.

Seek help, especially when it comes to renegotiating a deal

Yet, Gina shared how one mistake she made led to her missing out on this opportunity.

During the months-long preparation for the boardroom meeting, Gina came up with a business model of charging a monthly fee for each household unit; giving the property development company the full liberty to charge any final service fee they wish to the each household. This allowed Gina to have minimal upfront capital costs.

However, the directors counter-proposed that Gina incur the full installation costs, while giving Gina full ownership to charge a final price to the households directly. Daunted by the high capital costs required, Gina backed out of the deal almost immediately.

It did not cross her mind to seek advice from others on how to re-negotiate the deal. This incident occurred even when she had an advisor who was a veteran in the telecom industry.

“As an entrepreneur you can’t be good at everything — So don’t be afraid to ask for help. Be completely honest with yourself about your strengths and weakness, and build a network of experts across different business areas who you can call on for collaboration and support,” she said.

Photo: Jasmine Vincent

A huge success in the UK since 2005 with over 2600 members, The Athena Network is a networking organisation for professional business women from all industry sectors. Gina is launching The Athena Network (APAC Region) in Singapore on February 24th 2012. Visit the Athena Network Facebook Page for more information.

In the restaurant-eat-restaurant world of the F&B industry, few local brands have stood out as clearly as Crystal Jade, one of the market leaders in Singapore. Celebrating its 20th anniversary last year with a refreshing of its identity that involves extensive refurbishments at its restaurants, Crystal Jade enjoyed a turnover of S$240M (US$189M) in 2010.

Over the last three years, it has expanded aggressively, investing S$25M (together with partners) to open 39 new outlets across Asia. This year, the F&B group will sink in a further S$17M to open 17 new outlets across eight cities. These efforts helped it to achieve a targeted 10 percent to 15 percent yearly growth in sales.

Beginning from a single outlet in Cairnhill in 1991 — which was closed and reopened with a Kitchen outlet in Shaw Plaza and a Palace outlet in Ngee Ann City – the group now has more than 100 outlets sprawled across 18 cities in nine countries. Half of these are in Singapore while the other 50 are in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and more.

To find out more about Crystal Jade’s longevity in the hypercompetitive F&B market, I had the pleasure of speaking to Mr Ip Yiu Tung, its Group Chairman and CEO. Joining the company in 1992, he was responsible for the group’s sterling performance in the last two decades. With a passion for pianos, the former engineer by training is surprisingly soft spoken with a gentle demeanour despite being the chieftain of such a large enterprise.

Three Keys to Success

Keeping things simple and straightforward, Mr Ip’s business philosophy is embodied in three basic principles:

1) Offering great food;

2) Providing attractive service; and

3) Caring about the dining ambiance.

While innovation is part and parcel of Crystal Jade’s strategy, the group has not veered away from its core competence in traditional Chinese and East Asian cuisine. To ensure that every dimension of the business runs like clockwork, Mr Ip travels extensively to his outlets around the region. He also has his pulse on the business, knowing its ins-and-outs down to the nitty gritty details.

Sourcing and Buying Fresh

Sacrificing profitability for customer experience, Crystal Jade spares no expense in sourcing for quality ingredients in its dishes. Mr Ip shared that its restaurants actually imported higher quality soya sauce from Singapore (which costed about 23 RMB per bottle) rather than buy cheaper alternatives costing 4 RMB in China. They also use hazelnut oil sourced from the UK for their Yusheng dishes, giving it greater fragrance compared to its competitors who use cheaper peanut oil.

Known for its roast meats, Crystal Jade also purchases 49 day-old ducks from a farm in Ipoh. Unlike the more conventional 40-day old birds that other restaurants may purchase, a 49 day-old bird is lighter and leaner with more muscle mass and less fat. Pound for pound, Crystal Jade is willing to pay more to ensure that customers enjoy a premium dining experience.

Innovating to Please the Customer

To understand what its increasingly demanding customers desire, the Group conducts regular surveys to gain their inputs. These insights help to spark new menu ideas or service improvements. It also operates a full-time customer care team since 2005 with a hotline and email for customers to contact them during retail hours. A service call bell is also installed at the tables of new restaurants like Scott’s Square.

While the group is focused on traditional Chinese cuisine, it hasn’t stopped inventing new ways of serving its customers. The group was one of the first to offer takeaway Yusheng back in the old days, and has recently pioneered a new dish called the Pagoda of Eight Treasures. Every quarter, its menu would have a new chef’s special, and seasonal promotions help to keep its customers coming back.

Responding to feedback from businessmen and PMET customers, Crystal Jade has recently launched a new Nourishing Treats menu that combines fresh, high quality ingredients with taste, texture and health. I had a chance to sample some of these dishes and thoroughly enjoyed myself without feeling the typical guilt accompanying a trip to a Chinese restaurant.

Recruiting, Retaining and Motivating Staff

People are the most important resource in the manpower-intensive restaurant business. Running the Crystal Group chain of restaurants is an army of more than 4,000 chefs, waiters, operations, and office staff. To keep them happy, Mr Ip adopts a simple management mantra of giving them respect and allowing them the freedom to innovate. Believing in staff empowerment, managers are free to handle their subordinates.

To ensure that it recruits the most talented chefs — considered the lifeblood of the F&B business — Crystal Jade gives aspiring joinees a cooking test. In a manner reminiscent of Iron Chef, candidates must cook in front of a committee and pass the taste and food presentation test. Once they join the group, however, all chefs follow a strict training programme to ensure that they could meet the high quality and standards needed by the Group.

The Road Ahead

For the journey ahead, Crystal Jade is paying particular focus on marketing strategies that help it to draw closer to its customers. Other than refreshing its logo and restaurant designs, the group will continue to engage both traditional and social media channels, working with journalists and bloggers alike to get the word out. Future innovations include the refreshing of its website and the introduction of a customer loyalty programme to allow priority queueing for members.

Photos courtesy of Crystal Jade

About the author:

Walter Lim is a corporate professional with more than 15 years of experience in marketing, public relations, social media, events management, strategic planning and corporate development. This article was republished with permission from his blog: coolinsights.blogspot.com.

For Singaporean Lawrence Koh (photo, right), no dream is so big that it can’t be achieved. Consider this: As the founder and managing director of iFly Singapore, he started the largest indoor skydiving facility in the world — at five meters wide and five storeys in height. It’s also the first in Singapore.

His business the fulfillment of his dream to gift the experience of flight to everyone, and while it’s arguable that commercial flight has achieved that, nothing beats the thrill of jumping off an airplane.

But the cost of skydiving is still prohibitive — it can run up to $400 per jump. So Lawrence did the next best thing: Set up a towering, state-of-the-art wind tunnel in Sentosa. iFly Singapore officially launched in May 2011 to much media fanfare.

SGE visited the facility on a weekday afternoon, which was anything but quiet. Already, tourists and families in jumpsuits are waiting for their turn to enter the hulking wind tunnel. Later on, an instructor put on a dazzling show for an appreciative audience, performing somersaults, flips, and twirls. An air ballet.

“Some of these instructors have developed quite a fanbase,” said Lawrence as we watched the show in his office, which was visible through a glass panel.

“We should consider setting up Facebook pages for them,” he joked.

Pictures of skydivers adorn the wall behind his desk. He has already performed countless dives, and is a qualified instructor from his days in the military.

“I’ve lost count after the 800th dive,” he said. But this man is more than a skydiver. He is a legitimate entrepreneur with a gift for meticulous execution.

Three adjectives sum up what iFly Singapore is: Big, bold, and beautiful. To start something like this anywhere requires a lot of money and expertise. But Lawrence was undeterred.

He secured S$25M (US$19M) in funding from two investors (one private, one institutional) to start his business — a massive sum for any rookie entrepreneur. His ability to convince the investors boiled down to extensive planning and preparation — something he knows how to do very well.

“I’ve always come up with ten-year plans for my life. I chose to devote the first 30 years of my life — I know this sounds lame — to serving the nation. But after that, I knew I would move on to start a business.”

As the officer in charge of a parachuting training school in the Army, he visited a wind tunnel in the US and met the founder of SkyVenture, the inventor of the technology that is used in iFly facilities around the world. Years later, Lawrence received a call from him with an idea: Why not start iFly Singapore?

After thinking about it, Lawrence resigned from the Army, and armed with patent rights given to him for free, started the company.

The indoor wind tunnel is the largest such facility in the world.

Knowing that his idea would be met with skepticism, he came up with a detailed business plan that covered all bases. That process took three months. As part of his research, he visited the various wind tunnels around the world to get a feel of what they have accomplished. He noticed a problem: Their target market is fellow skydivers.

“The real money is not in catering to professional skydivers, but in leisure,” he said. His hunch turned out to be right: 50 to 60 percent of his revenue from the wind tunnel is now generated from leisure iFlyers, while 20 percent comes from corporate events.

“We’ve even had someone do a proposal for his girlfriend in a wind tunnel. It takes some practice of course, and we have to teach him how to kneel inside.”

Adidas recently held its adiZero product launch there. Companies also like to treat their clients to skydiving trips.

“They actually spend more on entertaining guests and clients than on team building activities,” he noted.

There was, however, one interesting request that he had to turn down: FHM, a popular lads’ magazine, wanted to do a photoshoot in the wind tunnel with their girls. But it wouldn’t be feasible.

“The bikini would fly right off,” he said.

The remainder of the revenue is derived from training stints by professional skydivers and millitaries.

After establishing the target market in his business plan, he looked at revenue streams. While other facilities had a bare bones approach with just a wind tunnel and at most a small gift shop, Lawrence felt his version needed much more.

He sought out and secured Canon as a sponsor. It’s collaboration with iFly Singapore is a natural fit, given Canon’s desire to inspire entrepreneurs and SMEs in Singapore through campaigns like Think Big, a series of initiatives to promote entrepreneurs and document success stories.

Also, since iFly Singapore is focused on giving flyers a memorable experience by capturing flight moments of the highest picture quality, Canon’s digital imaging expertise was a major consideration.

He also rented out part of the property to others. McDonald’s took up residence, the first one on Sentosa. O’Briens Irish Sandwich Café and Bora Bora Margarita Bar followed suit.

Part of Lawrence’s plan was also to place a huge LED screen at the walkway outside, which has great advertising potential since a lot of people are now passing by the area after Sentosa launched the Songs of the Sea multimedia show.

Besides revenue, safety was another major concern, since he hopes to attract the general public. Lawrence ensured that the wind tunnel was state-of-the art. Instructors also receive a rigorous training stint of 28 days so that they know their way inside the wind tunnel and are able to ensure customer safety.

Finally, beyond just being an indoor skydiving facility, he wanted iFly Singapore to be an all-round experience. While other wind tunnels are drab in appearance and located in inaccessible areas, his is located in prime land and possesses a modern and aesthetically pleasing decor.

An airport theme was picked. At the entrance, prospective skydivers will be greeted with a mock-up of a flight status board, which allows customers who have purchased tickets to check when they’re supposed to ‘board’ the flight. Sounds of airplanes can be heard through the speakers in the training room. The wind tunnel, made up of glass and acrylic, is reminiscent of an airport flight gallery where people can watch aircraft (in this case skydivers) take off and land.

Lawrence’s approach worked. Since opening in May this year, the company has earned over S$5M in revenue  – a record for all iFly facilities around the world. SkyVenture has even brought many of the iFly licensees from other countries to Singapore just to see how the Sentosa facility is run.

“We Singaporeans tend to do it better,” he said.

But Lawrence is not resting on his laurels. iFly Singapore will be adding a SkyLoft Restaurant on the rooftop, which will feature a paronamic view and live musical performances.

They have also begun organizing tours for students to see how the wind tunnel operates, and are looking at designing a curriculum for students which could be incorporated as part of their co-curricular activities.

iFly Singapore is also looking at hosting the World Indoor Skydiving Championship and regional competitions in the coming year and hold indoor skydiving lessons by world-renowned skydivers.

With so much going on, Lawrence remains committed to his vision of bringing flight to everyone. While his business has multiple revenue streams, his core business and centerpiece is still the high-tech, wonder-eliciting wind tunnel.

“As long as you’re focused on your passion, the revenue will come in,” he said, echoing Canon’s call for entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams.

Photos: iFly Singapore

This article is sponsored by:

Guided by its kyosei philosophy that focuses on “living and working together for the common good”, Canon is dedicated to producing innovative products and technologies to improve efficiency at home and in the office. It is committed to steering its research and manufacturing processes towards sustainability, providing a safe and healthy workplace, and delivering high quality products to its customers. Read more about Canon’s Think Big campaign.

Writing to US tech blog TheNextWeb, he talked about the reasons why he left the Latin American country after six months, and highlighted the many drawbacks of the startup environment over there. This was after he proclaimed that “the next Skype, Facebook or MercadoLibre will have to come out of Chile.”

The interview sparked off an intense debate.

A Start-Up Chile participant wrote in to TheNextWeb to express disappointment at Arnon, questioning his commitment to Latin America. Sarah Lacy, formerly a columnist at TechCrunch, went even further, suggesting that Arnon is a fraud.

“Arnon Kohavi. Remember that name, don’t give him money and don’t let him invest in your startup,” she warned in her acerbic article.

But Arnon has many supporters too, which included many Chileans who agreed with his observations and even supported his decision not to put any money in the country.

Since that controversy, Arnon has been quietly spending the past three and a half weeks in Singapore, meeting people in the startup ecosystem, including entrepreneurs, investors, incubators, and public servants. He was even a judge at a Founder Institute event and was also involved in the recent DEMO Asia auditions.

His goals, he says, includes getting “a good sense of the ecosystem and how each group in each country relate to one another,” and also raising money from individuals and institutions both in Singapore and the region, to the tune of US$40M.

SGE: So how’s progress on the fundraising?

Arnon Kohavi: Well I’ve only spent a few weeks here so it’s more to learn, meet the people and understand the ecosystem. I’m starting to make trips outside of Singapore to the countries in the area. In the coming weeks, I’ll be going to be in India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and several other countries.

SGE: When you do raise the funds, how many startups are you planning to invest in?

AK: A VC fund in this region needs to do “seed plus” investments — invest in 20, 30 fairly early stage companies, and then keep funding them as they grow and show promise.

I would say the funds here needs to invest in more companies than the traditional VC in Silicon Valley. The reason is because you have to hold the hand of the company, you have to work with the company from a fairly early stage, because there’s not as many co-investors and syndication as compared to other countries and you don’t have bigger funds take over the investments because these funds don’t exist as much.

In Silicon Valley, the magnitude is bigger, so you have a lot of meetups and events, much more than anywhere else in the world, so you can easily talk to people, find people to join your startups. It’s very easy to get mentors and serial entrepreneurs to help. There’s a very developed angel network and a very developed early stage VC network. The critical mass and the ecosystem is there.

Also, Singapore needs to look at Israel as a model and not Silicon Valley because Israel is also far away from the markets like Singapore is and it’s a fairly small country. What you need is this network of people in the funding side, the mentorship side, the advisory side, the legal side, and so on.

SGE: So having spent three-and-a-half weeks here, what’s your sense of the tech startup ecosystem in Singapore, and how do you think it can be improved?

AK: It’s a small but growing ecosystem. There’s a lot of programs that government is providing. There’s a sense that people are expecting things to grow in the future.

What Singapore needs is a relatively large, successful exit, what I call “The ICQ Moment”, which happened in Israel. Because when ICQ was sold in Israel, every young person wanted to start a company because the guys who were very young each made a hundred million dollars. They became role models. So I think what you need to have here is a big success, so that young people don’t go to work for banks or big companies but they say: “I want to start a company”.

SGE: How would you define an  ICQ moment, how big a success is needed?

AK: I think even a 50 million to 100 million dollar exit as long as the founders still have a big equity in the company. If a fairly young guy made five to ten million dollars, that’s probably going to make an impact on other people. You don’t need a Facebook-sized exit. Or the exit could be in an area that’s very impactful and you get a lot of press, and become sort of like a celebrity because you created something special. Maybe like Creative, 20 years ago when Singapore had a few companies that were very well known outside of the country.

SGE: What’s your take on the entrepreneurs in Singapore?

AK: It’s irresponsible for me after three-and-a-half weeks to have an firm judgement. But what is encouraging in Singapore is that it’s like a melting pot. It’s not just about Singapore-born people, it’s also about foreigners coming here and working from here. It doesn’t really matter who is successful, whether it’s an American living in Singapore, an Indian living in Singapore, or Singaporean. What matters is that the company will be based here, or the headquarters will be here, and it’s encouraging that you are seeing entrepreneurs from different countries who are now based here.

What I noticed that’s important about Singapore is that startups need to focus more outside the country. The Singapore market is too small, and also different, because it’s a developed country, you cannot learn what you did in Singapore and use it in Jarkata and other markets, even Kuala Lumpur is no good.

If you want to do startups that’s focused in Indonesia, you should immediately go to Indonesia and not try the product in Singapore. That is what we do is Israel, very few Israelis try their products in the local market, because it will not give you any indication. It’s very easy to reach success in Singapore, but that does not give you any indication of success in the world.

SGE: What are the gaps in terms of funding and mentorship?

AK: There are some programs by incubators and institutes that are good but there aren’t enough serial entrepreneurs in Singapore. Some of the best mentorships are not necessary by foreigners coming here but by local entrepreneurs who are successful and they invest and they’re involved. It still hasn’t happened here because there hasn’t been many exits.

My observation so far is that there’s a lot of incubators and money in the early stage and money for more established companies. But what’s missing is — and this is what I’m trying to target — is the A, B round, or late seed A, B round. This gap in the middle is where a company is beyond the idea stage  and has already raised 50,000 to 100,000 dollars. But between 100,000 dollars to 2-3 million is the part where it’s hard to raise money.

SGE: How far do you think the government can go in spurring tech entrepreneurship here?

AK: In general, it’s good to have government programs like Israel had. However, in the end the governmenet cannot create an industry, the private sector needs to be involved. So, for example, to create a vibrant VC industry you need institutional money — pension funds, and other institutions who invest in this asset class.

When you look at a market like Israel — the government helped but they did not create the industry. The industry was created because there was a lot of MNCs in the country and the people left the companies to start their own. There were enough people in the private sector who gave money and took a chance. It’s more an issue of business poeple and instutions in singapore taking a risk with technology. Historically the focus here has been in real estate and other things. People need to realize that technology can be a very profitable investment.

SGE: There’s been a lot of controversy about your short stint in Chile, and some have said that you gave up too easily on the country and were never serious about investing there in the first place. Is that true?

AK: I made a lot of friends in Chile, I like Chilean people, and the most successful entrepreneurs in Chile are friends of mine. My point is, things are going to take time, government initiatives like Start Up Chile are good programs, and they address some of the issues that Chile faces. But not others. Some of them are cultural aspects that would take some time, ten years or even a generation for the young people who are now 20 to turn 35. That’s why I said it would take ten years.

Now, no one paid me to move to Chile. I moved to Chile on my own money, and I had to fund myself. As a businessman, I said after six moneths I will determine if I can do business there or not. And I think it’s legitimate that after six months, if I feel that I cannot do business, then I cannot stay there for ten years hoping things will change. I think it’s up to Chileans to do that. I hope to invest in Chile, to come back when Chile is ready.

I think it is clear that I was not successful in what I was trying to do, and part of being entrepreneur is to admit when sometimes you’re not successful. I was not successful and there was a variety of reasons. But I think it was important for me to point out especially for my Chilean friends some of the observations that I had after living there for a long time to give them this feedback via the blog. Most Chileans were very appreciative, I got very, very positive responses from Chileans who said that I did point out the correct things.

SGE: Obviously the environment factored in, but were there other reasons why you failed?

AK: I was counting on the wealth that was created in Chile, especially wealthy individuals that I knew and were connected to through some friends. I was hoping that these people would find that the time is ripe for them to take a chance and invest, but it seems that they were not ready.

When the Israeli venture capital industry started, the initial investments and funds came from individuals — wealthy families and wealthy people. But the wealthy families in Chile are not ready to make a serious investment. I think it’s an evolution, they have not seen an ICQ moment. They are too comfortable, they make a lot of money from copper and natural resources and in many areas the society is very monopolistic, very few families control many industries.

So they’re making enough money and to a certain degree they don’t care. But it may change; my hope is that there will be a generational shift and that the people aged 20 to 25 who are starting companies will become successful. And in ten years they’ll make good money. Then, the situation will be different.

SGE: Was six months enough time?

AK: Six months is enough to understand the culture and society and the responses from my Chilean friends is that I touched on the right points. I think I have a very good understanding of Chilean society now. In the tech world, six months is a long time, you can get a feeling of whether you want to stay longer or not. I still hope to invest in Chile and work with Chilean entrepreneurs but I realize that to raise funds there would be difficult.

SGE: Funding wise, what’s missing in Chile?

AK: There are some serial entrepremeurs in Chile that are providing mentorship. But the part that’s missing in Chile is exactly the part that’s missing in Singapore, which is the late seed, A/B rounds. Once you are very successful you can raise money from a foreign investor. People in government, people in the tech, local ecosystem all believe that’s the missing spot. And that’s why I originally went there.

SGE: But it’s difficult to attract foreign investors to Chile, isn’t it?

AK: Yeah, Chile is a small country that only has 17 million people. So, most foreign money in Latin America goes to Brazil. The challenge Chile has is that in terms of foreign investment, Chile is not the top priority. It’s the same for Singapore, most foreign funds have offices in China and India rather than in Singapore.

SGE: Now that you’re here, how committed are you to Asia?

AK: I’m committed to companies that I invest in and the entrepreneurs that I work with, regardless of where they are in the world, in Chile, in Singapore, whatever. It doesn’t matter where I physically live, I think it is important to spend time in the country to understand the culture and the ecosystem. But you don’t have to be there all the time. I’m a businessman, I’m committed to making good investments and in the end to make good money. I’m very open about that. I’m exploring this region and where I find good and interesting opportunities, that’s where I’m going to put my money.

SGE: Any companies in Singapore that you might potentially invest in?

AK: Yeah, I’ve seen a few interesting companies, even here in Singapore. I’m looking at some already.

End.

Carol hails from Taiwan(left) while Maria (right) is from Hong Kong.

Carol Chyau and Maria So started social enterprise Shokay long before the term became a buzzword in recent years.

Shokay, which is the Tibetan word for yak, is a lifestyle brand that designs stylish products made from soft yak down. By sourcing from Tibetan herders in Qinghai and employing women in rural areas, it helps promote sustainable income in rural China.

Shokay’s work allows indigenous herders to generate more direct income, preserve local culture, promote sustainable usage of the environment and promote community development work.

Carol was in Singapore the past November for TEDxKRP to share her experience.

From inspiration to execution

While doing their Masters in Public Administration at Harvard, the duo decided to put the business concepts they learnt into action. The pair went seeking for inspiration on two weeklong trips in Yunnan, China in January 2006.

While there, they saw a need for poverty alleviation and stumbled upon an opportunity. China has an abundance in yak fiber, which is highly comparable to cashmere. Yet, because of its inaccessibility and lack of visibility in the fashion industry, its great potential was left untapped.

With an idea in mind, Carol and Maria went back to Harvard and entered the Harvard Business Plan Competition with a few friends, coming in first under the Social Enterprise Track. With the money they won, they returned to China and set their hearts on following the Yaks.

Items from Shokay

Right from the start, the cofounders had little knowledge about yak fiber and the textiles industry. Undeterred, they kept going to experts for help and formally founded Shokay in November 2006. Today, the social enterprise has come a long way with over 100 stores in ten countries.

Carol shared with us a few important stories on how her team got the business going with little prior industry and product knowledge.

1) Be a sponge and absorb as much as possible

While they knew that they were risking it with zero industry experience and had no background in fashion or textiles, Carol and Maria never gave up. Instead, they went out of their way to visit a lot to factories and gathered feedback from professionals. They weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty doing research and talked to as many industry experts as possible.

2) Be a detective

Carol likens this process to solving a mystery. “Sometimes all you have are clues. When you don’t understand something you have to ask why. For us, we managed to gather useful information about yak fiber by reading up on Google. For example, while yak fiber is comparable to cashmere, few people know about it.” This market gap was their opportunity.

3) Be an inventor

Carol and Maria spent the last five years experimenting with several business models, figuring out the best way to create their product and bring value to the market. They initially sold only knitting yarns, but decided to move on to the bigger market of scarfs and shawls. They’re continuing to innovate and re-invent their model. “We’re shifting from being a fashion label to ultimately being an ingredient brand. Kind of how the Intel chip is an integral part to a Lenovo laptop,” she explained.

4) Have a perspective of an eagle

Social entrepreneurs have to think about two bottom lines. Sometimes you might get lost along the way, but it’s important for an entrepreneur to have the perspective of an eagle. “When you find yourself misaligned with your original goal, it’s important to recollect your thoughts,” she says.

5) Be yourself

After all the hard work, you have to figure out how to pull everything together and make it work. You have to believe and love what you do.

As Carol puts it, “I’m not doing this because I am more philanthropic than other people out there, nor because I’m particularly altruistic. For me, it’s about a sense of responsibility. I just believe that as lucky as we are to have so much, we should give back even more.”

Closing thoughts

Carol and Maria’s philosophy and sheer determination have paid off in Shokay’s progress. Now, sourcing yak fiber from more than 800 families and having used approximately 2,000 tonnes of yak fiber, it’s plain to see how privileged ones like us can give back so much more if we just took the first step to try.

By creating a market for luxury yak, they hope to generate income for nomadic herders.

Long ago on television, a certain Captain Planet rescued our planet by defeating eco-terrorists with his superpowers. In real life, saving the earth requires much more patience.

For Singapore entrepreneur Alan Yeap, he’s doing it by painstakingly building a company from the ground up and making it profitable. He started New Quantum Holdings in 2010, which is in the business of — among other things — developing and selling oxo-degradable and biodegradable plastic bags.

Alan doesn’t have the flamboyance of Captain Planet or environmental activist Al Gore. Quite the opposite. He’s mild-mannered and soft-spoken, but calm and self-confident. He knows plastics well — prior to starting the company, he was in the plastic trading and distribution business in an MNC for 20 years.

I met him twice: The first time was incidental, I bumped into him while reaching for that dim sum platter in between sessions at the recent World Entrepreneurship Forum. Deciding he was interesting enough, I met him again in his office a few weeks ago. Seating in his conference room, Alan begins by showing me some slides from his iPad, through a projector.

New Quantum is doing big business, despite being a young firm. It’s generating an annual revenue of US$10M from selling plastic bags in ten countries, including US, China, and Indonesia. That’s just a fraction of its entire business, which amounts to US$30M in revenue.

The company has its feet in numerous product lines, from providing commodities like chemicals, fertilizers, and polymers to finished products like automotive parts, houseware, and office stationary. Through a subsidiary, they produce authentication labels for items like passports and identity cards.

“We’re doing both a horizontal and vertical business,” he says. And only with a core staff strength of eleven.

Alan added that New Quantum’s strategic partner, investor, and stakeholder is the one that manufactures these goods, leaving his team to do the intangible stuff.

“It’s a mistake to think we’re into manufacturering — we’re not. We’re in the business of researching, branding and marketing our products. That’s exactly what companies like Nike and Apple are doing.”

New Quantum is even getting into the consultancy business. It’s in the midst of seeking clients to engage in CSR work — by developing a program to teach firms how to lower their carbon footprint. By offering these services in addition to their products, it is setting itself apart from competitors.

Our attention returns to the plastic bags. He’s getting a little more excited as the interview wears on, fishing out sample plastic bags from a couple of large files he brought into the  room.

The company offers two kinds of plastic bags: Oxium and Ecoplas. Ecoplas bags are manufactured from scratch out of Tapioca starch. It will biodegrade after one year or less depending on micro-organism activities.

Oxium, on the other hand, is made using an additive to enhance the existing manufacturing process of normal plastic bags, turning them oxo-degradable. Unlike biodegradable products, Oxium will only start disintegrating in a landfill once the additive breaks down the plastic bag after a preset period of time.

While traditional plastic bags take hundreds of years to disintegrate, Oxium plastic bags take only months.

I hold an Ecoplas plastic bag in my hand. It feels thicker than Oxium, weightier and stronger too. It’s something you would use for a luxury product — that indeed is the intent. Brands like Raoul, Billabong, and Club Monaco have taken to using Ecoplas bags.

Oxium feels exactly like a normal plastic bag, and it’s been used by supermarket chain Giant as well as health and beauty chain Guardian.

Concerns have been raised over how using food crops like Cassava, which tapioca is derived from, for purposes other than feeding hunger may lower food security and cause rising food prices.

Alan responds: “Cassava is not a main food staple in many parts of the world. My company also has a strategic plan with farmers to start a replanting program, and we plan to work with governments and NGOs to support these farmers. 200 metric tons of Ecoplas will benefit 2,000 farmers by giving them a revenue stream.”

He adds that since biodegradable bags are costly to produce and consists of only three percent of the total plastic bags market, consumption will not drive cassava costs up and result in a food crisis. The volume of Ecoplas produced will be much less than Oxium since it is aimed at the luxury market, and hence the impact on food supply is minimal.

Both Ecoplas and Oxium are more expensive than traditional plastic bags, although as far as Alan knows, New Quantum is a cost leader amongst green plastic bags of the same quality. Ecoplas is priced 30 to 50 percent more than non-green variants while Oxium costs three to five percent more.

Would potential customers hesitate to take up New Quantum’s products due to the heftier price tag?

Alan doesn’t think so. He says that many companies support sustainability and would accept a minimal cost increase if it means turning greener. Luxury brands, which has high profit margins, also have no trouble switching since many of them use paper bags — which costs about the same as Ecoplas bags. Furthermore, the company is working towards lowering their costs further by engaging plastic raw material producers in the Middle East.

He is optimistic that New Quantum’s plastic bag business has good long-term prospects, especially since other green solutions are not as practical. While some have advocated for the use of reusable bags in supermarkets and retail stores, Alan contends that very few people actually use them more than once.

“I myself have a lot of them in my house, and I don’t touch them. While it’s great to reuse something, remolding consumer behavior takes time.”

Photo: Terence Lee

Deciding that entrepreneurs weren’t getting the attention they deserved from government bodies, she founded the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE) in the US, ruffling more than a few establishment feathers in the process.

Started in 1994, the SBE is a research and advocacy organization dedicated to help small business owners and promote entrepreneurship.

Today, the think tank has more than 70,000 members and she is one of the most influential voices in Congress, having led several key initiatives to improve business conditions for entrepreneurs and foster US and global entrepreneurship.

Though market conditions in the US and Singapore are different, Kerrigan believes that entrepreneurs in both countries need to be vocal about the challenges they face.

“Entrepreneurs must work together through associations or coalitions to collectively voice their concerns to government,” she says, adding that government bodies on their part also need to understand that while a certain degree of taxation and regulation is necessary, start-ups need to be allowed the freedom to grow and innovate.

“Governments must understand that in an era of limited resources and many challenges, entrepreneurs can help develop solutions to key challenges faced by society… the more time and resources a business owner has to put into their enterprises, the more jobs and positive economic activity will flow from those entities. In addition, a vibrant and relatively free business sector produces more tax revenues for the government.”

When to help and when to leave well alone

If the comments made at August’s Chillin’ With session with then presidential candidate Dr Tony Tan were any indication, it seems that many local start-ups view the Singapore government’s financial assistance as more of a hindrance than a help. Some participants in that session pointed out that micromanagement and bureaucratic red tape are some of the hoops that investors and founders find themselves having to jump through when seeking grants.

So exactly when should the government intervene and when should they leave start-ups and investors to work things out on their own?

Kerrigan offers that governments should only intervene or regulate when there is market failure. However, this is not to say that they should limit their involvement to crisis situations.

She points out that there are plenty of areas that would benefit from their attention, including: Identifying ways to reform taxes, creating regulations or compliance to better streamline current systems and make them more globally competitive, and removing trade barriers and making sure that there are proper laws in place to protect entrepreneurs’ intellectual property rights.

Creating a culture of entrepreneurship, therefore, is “the responsibility of both the government and the private sector,” she notes.

Can entrepreneurship be taught?

While Kerrigan acknowledges that successful entrepreneurs have certain in-born traits that separate them from their peers, she believes education also has a role to play in laying the foundations for a life of entrepreneurship.

“The fundamentals, for example: Financial literacy, how to develop a business plan, marketing, competitive analysis and management, are clearly important [because they are] the basic building blocks that increase a startup’s chance of survival and growth,” she explains, adding that it is never too early to get children started thinking like entrepreneurs.

“At the earliest stages of education, children need to be exposed to entrepreneurship as a career option. Their leadership, team building, problem solving and creative skills need to be developed.”

Kerrigan adds that the importance of having mentors or role models should not be overlooked either.

“Part of the entrepreneurship education process should include regular exposure and engagement with successful entrepreneurs – men [and] women from different backgrounds and ages. Meeting entrepreneurs and hearing their stories is not only educational but motivational – this plays such an influence in whether people decide to start businesses, their exposure and interactions with real entrepreneurs.”

This is especially true when it comes to encouraging more women to become entrepreneurs in the region.

“On a global basis, there has been extraordinary growth in the number of women entrepreneurs. Higher numbers of successful women entrepreneurs mean there are more role models to encourage and influence the next generation,” says Kerrigan. Many women across the world remain disenfranchised.

“Government leaders must understand that women’s role in society is critical to their nation’s economic future and overall health. When they hold back women, they are holding back their entire country’s potential and ability to compete on the international level.”

How do you think entrepreneurs and the government can work together to foster a better startup environment in Singapore? Do you think there’s a need for a collective organisation to represent small business owners in Parliament? Share your thoughts with us.

Let’s face it: In the globalized and fast-changing world we’re living in today, speaking more than one language helps. Even better if you’re fluent in the language of the world’s second largest economy – Mandarin.

Lelia is the mother of two highly active and inquisitive kids. Despite her Chinese roots, Lelia realized that her handicap of being brought up solely on a diet of Western education would not help in raising her children to become bilingual.

Because of that, she decided to start a project that had absolutely nothing to do with her twenty years of corporate experience in large MNCs, doing human resource and recruitment.

Lelia created her first DVD in October 2010 to teach Mandarin to her children.

Lelia and her kids along with the winner of MandarinaKids’ iPhone/iPad Contest.

Making the switch from the corporate world to MandarinaKids

In her last year of gainful employment a little voice grew louder in Lelia’s head. She wanted her children to learn courage, resilience and motivation that is best demonstrated by her own actions. Unfortunately, she was only spending an one hour a day with them.

Apart from allowing Lelia’s hours to become more flexible, leaving the corporate world also gave her children the opportunity to see what motivates their mother.

“I want my kids to see me as a total person – mother and professional. I think they will be smart enough to pick out the best in me to learn from as they grow up.”

It didn’t take long for Lelia’s DVD to become a success with friends who just had babies. “It was simple, it was colourful, it contained real life shots of other kids…it was created to engage and not complicate.”

She went on to establish MandarinaKids, an organization dedicated to introducing Mandarin to beginners and kids below the age of three. Since then, the company has also focused on helping parents build a bilingual environment at home to speak the Chinese language.

Lelia created an educational system for infants and toddlers that engages the child experientially through DVDs, Peek-a-Boo cards, Books & Toys and an iPhone /iPad app. The mumpreneur also does MandarinaKids Excursions that teach Mandarin in an everyday context to mummies and kids.

A MandarinaKids Excursion at Hort Park.

Keeping up to date with technology

Children in the touch-screen generation are often pacified with iPhones or iPads by their parents. So it comes as no surprise that Lelia has invested in technology to make her company’s products a success.

“Our MandarinaKids’ App is a natural extension of our products and reinforces what our DVDs, books, toys and Excursions offer.”

After the launch of the MandarinaKids Facebook page and mobile apps, understanding digital marketing has become the crucial task for her.

“I feel like Generation Dinosaur with all these new languages and platforms,” she joked.

The journey has been a tiring but happy one to date. “It’s been almost eight months and I am happy to say we are now developing our own brand.”

“My kids see me more. They inspire me with their ingenuity and naivety. This could finally be the work-life balance I’ve missed out these last twenty plus years!”

A screenshot from the MandarinaKids iPhone application.

Lelia’s advice to aspiring entrepreneurs

Despite growing up in a family of entrepreneurs, Lelia firmly believes that there are no fixed rules to becoming successful at it. Neither does she want to be confined by guidelines that others may impose upon her.

“Nobody will tell you it’s okay to give up a corporate job of twenty over years and it’s okay to risk your income and that you would definitely succeed. The world is full of nay-sayers and it doesn’t stop even after you are an entrepreneur (successful or not),” she warned.

“Surround yourself with positive people. I deliberately stayed away from the corporate world and all the worldly things they are associated with. I also met engaging fellow entrepreneurs who all admitted happily that that they were crazy but happily so…it was so refreshing. Later, I realised that many in the corporate world envy those who brave it to the ‘other side’,” she added.

Pictures: MandarinaKids.

Reizo is a custom tailoring house, located at Wilkie Edge. Just a few years old, they already have a faithful following by delivering quality at affordable prices. REIZO’s custom suits suggest a wine-sniffing, caviar-munching elegance, which sets you a head above your less dressed colleagues.

At the helm of Reizo is young entrepreneur Vishnu Vasudeven. Graduating from NUS with a major in finance, he gave up a comfy bank job to create Reizo. In his own words:

“I wanted to do something different. I tried internships (at the bank) and didn’t like it. I wanted to start my own thing.”

Reizo in the Singapore Scene

Reizo is differentiates itself by challenging the notion that tailored suits are (1) unaffordable and (2) boring. Walk down Orchard Road and you’ll find a tailor in every building, pitching designs that were probably trendy when Grease was rebellious.

By going against the crowd, Reizo’s getting Singaporeans to rediscover tailored apparel. Their suits are affordable, snazzy, and made with obsessive attention to detail.

Starting Up

Reizo started with a capital of just S$75,000 (US$58,000). That may sound like a lot, but not in this industry; tailored suits have a higher production cost than off-the-rack clothing. Also, there was the worry that Singaporeans wouldn’t be interested; Reizo had to persuade investors that mentalities like mine (i.e. people who think that t-shirts with copulating skeletons is classy) could be corrected.

So where did the seed money come from? S$15,000 (US$12,000) came from Vishnu’s family. The rest of Reizo was funded by Spring Singapore. Vishnu mentions that:

“Without Spring Singapore, I may not have been able to start the business at all.”

Regarding his family, Vishnu says the issue wasn’t the amount of money. They were just worried about the risk he was taking.

“It was difficult to convince them that the risk is worth taking. I had studied finance and they thought working with a bank is a better and more stable option. So I had to prove to them that I was sure of my decision.”

But were they right about the risk behind Reizo? Vishnu thinks so:

“Your own business is not very lucrative for the first 6 months to a year. In fact, 9 out 10 business fail so it is a big risk. But it is worth it if it takes off. That’s why you take the risk, in hopes that you will do well in the future.”

Even with lenders in place, Vishnu made it a point to find alternative income. He spent time tutoring, and cut down on his own expenses.

“I would go hang out with friends at the park instead of the club,” he says.

How’s Business?

Vishnu explains that Reizo sees seasonal trends. Some months profits soar. Other times, they just manage to break even. But his business goals are all on target.

“I want to add more lines of products, and more shops in the coming years, so those plans are still on.”

About the author

In Shubhreet Kaur‘s own words: I’m a passionate journalist with a strong belief in the power of media. Besides penning down my thoughts and ideas, I am an F1 fanatic who loves to travel, experience new cultures and explore new grounds. At all other times in between, I love to shop till I drop! ;)