Be practical and knowledgeable
to make sure that I have sufficient time for my family, I must be efficient in doing my work.
Although I am pretty busy with my work, I make use of every single second meaningfully. Being able to do well in one’s career does not mean that I have to compromise my time with my family. They will always have my undivided attention.
How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal lives? I believe in learning from the best. I love to listen to views from different professionals, be it bankers, lawyers or accountants. Every profession carries its own weight and having various professional advice does help me to shape my business direction and life goals.
When I say “mentorship”, it does not have to be someone who is older than you, it can be anyone with their own professions. There is always something in someone that is worth to be learnt.
What do you want to accomplish in the next five years? I want to be someone in the food and poultry industry. I desire to build a well-known brand for my company and Harumi is just the beginning of my bigger plan. I am determined to establish Harumi as one of the top three food brands in Malaysia and expand overseas in the next few years.
Company wise, I wish to work towards integrating my current businesses, as it is not a volume game for me. It is about what is going to be sustainable for a long time.
Best piece of advice you ever received on your career? The best piece of advice that I ever received was to think beyond being just a poultry player. I was guided to think bigger than what we were doing and we discovered the potential of establishing a fried chicken brand.
I went beyond that by seeking help from experts from the Taiwanese market, where we learned from the best and grew from there.
Who is your most-admired business leader? Why? Jack Ma, the founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group. The way he made his internet-based business become a global brand is inspiring. His determination and foresight are admirable but he is not without failures and disappointments in his journey of building his empire. He is an entrepreneur who gives us an idea of turning the impossible into the possible in life.
His success does not rely on being lucky, it is with much tears and sweat with strong beliefs.
How do you stay abreast of issues affecting your industry? I have a team who updates me on the latest industry issues and trends. I am not able to be aware of every issue that is happening in the industry by only relying on my mind. It is teamwork that matters.
I always mingle with different people to learn what is happening in the industry and even learning beyond what I am doing. It is not how you are being updated with the issues, it is the attempt to stay updated in the first place.
The biggest challenge you’ve faced? The biggest challenge will be to turn around the company into a sustainable business and setting a succession plan so that I can pass on the business to the next generation. Besides building up the business, I will have to think of the future of the company in the next 10, 20 or 30 years. This is why identifying the right talent is crucial. I believe my biggest challenge is to build a business that can be sustained for many generations.