Staying the course

FORGET about the silver spoon.

Kit Loong Commercial Tyre Group managing director Kenneth Teh Jit Chyn’s recollection of working in the family business is the smell of tyres.

When he couldn’t get a job after graduating from a university in the UK during the 1986 recession, the familiar smell of tyres drew him back home to the family business.

“I applied for a sales clerk position and had to go through all the necessary approvals, all the way to the division general manager. On top of that, one of the family board member had to approve the application,” he says.

But having the initial “seal of approval” was about as much assurances as he got for his job. If he did not perform, he will be shown the door just like everyone else.

Teh says the determination to succeed is important.

“Many of my relatives joined the company but didn’t last long,” he says.

Teh spent 13 years in the company before he was promoted to executive director in 1998.

In his early days, he dealt with passenger car tyres for retail customers. That was when he learned the fundamentals of tyre technologies, particularly through complaints by the customers.

“When we sell a product, we have to ensure that it is suitable for the customer. When things don’t work out as per the product specification, we have to test the tyre,” he says.

Along the way, he rose to become a division manager when his senior managers retired or left the company for various reasons.

“I understand that time will pass and the objective wasn’t about how fast I rose, it is about how much I learn with the time given to me,” he says.

He also realised that as he climbed up the ladder, it was no longer about how much technical knowledge he had.

“It is more about management, finance, and yes, resolving human issues,” he says.

His first taste of managing a section was when the management team of a passenger tyre distribution division left Kit Loong to form their own company.

Collectively, he says, they left with over 100 years of experience and Teh had to step up to fill the roles left behind by the team.

Teh says building a good relationship with the tyre dealers and learning to restructure costs were vital skills in juggling his new roles in sales and operations.

Eventually, he managed to build another team to handle the division and things started to stabilise.

From this, he learned that nothing is impossible as long as one is willing to roll up their sleeves and get things rolling.

“Everyday is a new day. I continue to work 18 hours a day. Challenges will be there but we are not afraid of them.

“There is a Chinese saying, that if one is so scared, it is best to live in a police station,” he says, noting that overcoming whatever challenge that has come his way has helped him grow the company instead.

Kit Loong’s board of directors had earlier pushed for the company to be managed by professionals rather than have a family member helm its operations as they believed that a company can only progress if there were fresh ideas to take the company forward.

“My father wasn’t in the business. Out of his seven siblings, only three are in the business and one of them was previously with a European tyre manufacturer. That was how the idea to build a professionally-operated company came about in the first place,” he says.

But through much perseverance, Teh has shown that a family member can also run a business professionally.