THE RAINMAKER AND THE HIGH-ACHIEVER
Though they are five years apart, John-ian and John-hans share a lot with each other, although they are as different as night and day. Like John-son, John-ian is laid-back and relaxed—he speaks in a warm languid manner and is always laughing and smiling. John-ian has a gift for connecting with people and making them feel comfortable with him from the get-go. “I get that from my mum. Did you know her social calendar is more packed than the three of ours combined? She is fully booked and has breakfast, lunch and dinner plans every day. Mum is never alone because everyone loves her. They all want to be around her!” laughs John-ian.
On the other side of the coin, John-hans is a go-getter to the core; a choleric personality type, he is the self-professed ‘operations guy,’ the brilliant organiser with a quick mind and the ability to get things done. And so, at Microbs, John-ian and John-hans balanced each other out like yin and yang. Founded three years ago by this intrepid duo, it all started when John-hans was managing a hotel in Thailand. Like the high-achiever he is, John-hans dedicated himself into the minutiae running of the hotel and checked into every detail. “I noticed that the hotel was paying a lot of money to de-sludge its system, so I started researching on ways to work around this issue. I tried a few products with my team before we came across an organic and environmentally friendly solution that was new to the business then. Nine months after using this technology, I realised I didn’t need to de-sludge the drainages anymore. It hit me that something big could come out of this.” His contract with the hotel management company he was employed with was expiring, so he knew time was running out for him to make his next decision in life. “I have spent three years in Thailand and my career was on a rise. I thought long and hard about it. Do I put my hotel career on hold and go back and pursue this idea? Or do I stay and continue on?” Unsure of what to do, John-hans approached John-ian, who was then working for TA Group Holdings in the field of real estate management. Like his youngest brother, John-ian is aware of how ill-managed waste can affect the environment. With their mother’s approval, the two brothers took the opportunity to do business together and left their cushy corporate jobs behind to start Microbs, a brand that was born from John-hans’ discovery, from scratch. The mission was simple—to provide a cost-efficient and eco-friendly waste management solution for commercial businesses.