Interview with Dennis Ng, founder of Einsoon Pets Supply

Dennis Ng founded Einsoon Pets Supply six years ago at the young age of 23 with an initial capital of 10k of his hard-earned savings. As a young child, money was hard to come by but today, the company occupies two units at Aljunied with a staff strength of 3.

Gwen: Thanks for joining us at SGEntrepreneurs, Dennis. First, tell us what Einsoon Pets Supply is.

Dennis: Einsoon Pets Supply is generally a trading, import & export company which deals with pet products. We distribute to pet shops islandwide and also export to other countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. We represent several brands from overseas and being the sole distributor, we market their products with creative methods and also with commitment. These brands are namely Esde’s, Primal, Royal’s Select, Pure Paws, Jewelry & Snappy Cat Litter, and other accessories.

Gwen: Tell us about your background.

Dennis: I came from a modest background and was the youngest in the family. My mother was a housewife and my father was a retailer for baby apparel. I grew up with 3 siblings in a small HDB apartment. In secondary school, I worked part-time during holidays to earn pocket money. I also worked as a helper and cook at an eating house to earn more spending money.

Gwen: Why did you decide to embark on your entrepreneurial journey?

Dennis: It is really not an easy path to take. But somehow, there is this dream and determination that I want to be my own boss even though I had relatively good grades in studies. And with no money, like most people, including my parents, everyone felt that that it is impossible for anyone like me with no money to start a company. Especially since it was not just for fun, but to really do business.

Life itself is not an easy path. When you work, you have to face problems from superiors, impossible demands from the management etc. And when you try to implement something, you may get some sarcastic comments from colleagues…then you get office politics etc. So being an employee or employer comes down to your choice of what problems you want to face.

Gwen: Take us through the first few months of Einsoon. How did the idea come about, how were you going about your research to see if this was something you really wanted to do.

Dennis: Though I’m young, I don’t really do things the way most youngsters do. Perhaps most youngsters will consider a lot of factors, do a lot of research, do a lot of talking, a lot of surfing [the web] etc before they really start doing something. But for me, I only think for a short while then I do it. Because I always feel, the only way to attain your desired outcome is to do it! Of course, we must still take calculated risks.

So when an opportunity presents itself, most of the time I will take it up if it passes through my short thinking process. I worry about money problems later as I think of the opportunities first.

Gwen: So what happened when you started Einsoon?

Dennis: I had an initial capital of $10 000 and bought a van and inventory. Storage space was a problem. I stored Esde’s stocks at home, but ran out of space very quickly and had to move them to another friend’s house. After earning some money, I rented a space in Geylang which had no lifts. This made loading and unloading stocks very difficult for me.

Gwen: Are there many pets supply distributors like yourself? How stiff is the competition?

Dennis: There is very strong competition as there are many, many distributors in this small market. And there are quite a good number of big boys too.

A problem is that sometimes, consumers seemed to like certain range of products, but other times they rather pay for basic stuff. It was quite unpredictable. There’re also too many types of pet products in this small market, hence, a market saturation.

Gwen: Then what would you say was the key factor at the beginning of Einsoon that secured you your first few customers? They could have easily gone to one of the big boys.

Dennis: Product differentiation. You must know how to market your product, what is the difference of yours versus others. Knowing your own competitive edge is important.

Gwen: How did you come by the name “Ein Soon”?

Dennis: I purposely used a name which looks like an old company, or maybe a company that is owned by older people. Because I felt that retailers and customers may not have the confidence if they knew that the company is actually owned by a 23-year-old. They may feel that we are just a hit and run company.

Ein = that means ‘welcome’. Soon = that means ‘smooth’.

So to me, as long as we can welcome business smoothly, earning more or less is secondary. I just want to make it happen!

And to further prevent the retailers from questioning our presence, they didn’t know that I was the boss when I went to their shops. Only after more than a year later, after the retailers had gotten to know me and had gained more confidence in me, then slowly, they found out who I was.

Gwen: How did the retailers react when they finally knew who you were?

Dennis: After a while, the retailers started to speculate amongst themselves, with rumours going around. So it didn’t seem very much of a surprise to them. Most of them complemented me for being so young and enterprising. Some even said that they had never seen a person as hardworking as me. So remember, at the initial stage, being hardworking plays an important part.

Gwen: Apart from being hardworking, what other qualities do you need are necessary for an entrepreneur to have?

Dennis: Creativity, Flexibility, Vision, Determination, Taking calculated risk, Optimism, Goal orientation, Persistence, Patience, Ability to blend in with people from different backgrounds and of different generations, Sincerity and many more. Basically, I would say, try to be a perfect person. Haha.

Gwen: How has the financial crisis affected the pets supply distribution market?

Dennis: Perhaps it’s the same situation as the human consumer market. Quite a significant percentage of people are slowing down the purchase of things. They buy only the necessities. We will see how bad the situation is after Chinese New Year – hopefully not as bad as what some people speculated. Even if they turn out to be right, we have to think of ways to keep our heads above the water.

Gwen: Any plans to expand Ein Soon in other countries apart from Singapore?

Dennis: Ya, we are planning for Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan. We are currently exporting to Malaysia & Indonesia.

Gwen: Dennis, thanks for your time and good luck with Einsoon!

Dennis says of the lessons learnt during the beginning:

“We have to learn and obtain more knowledge along the way. It is no problem if you are determined to do something.” – Dennis Ng, founder of Einsoon Pets Supply

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