True Passion
ebruary is the month of love, but truth be told, shouldn’t we be celebrating love all year round? When we discussed this issue’s theme, one word kept cropping up: passion. Not in the conventional sense, but the other definition: that strong feeling of enthusiasm for a subject such as sports, food or helping the needy. My personal passion lies in modern design. I appreciate the strong structural lines on buildings and sculptures, and enjoy deciphering the hidden messages—political, humorous or otherwise—artists hide in their pieces. That interest in design pushed me and two friends to start a small project during our university days. We offered T-shirt customisation services at flea markets on campus. The process was fairly simple: bring a customer’s concept into design reality. It was hard work, but passion drove us along. Such is the premise of passion projects, typically side gigs that people pursue outside of work or study. It may not be lucrative or successful but holds a deeper meaning for those involved. On the other end of the spectrum are individuals who turn passion into profession—and even hit big time. Case in point: our cover personalities, One Championship’s Chatri Sityodtong and his best friend, Saurabh Mittal of Mission Holdings. The Harvard Business School graduates have well-oiled finance backgrounds and are savvy investors. When Chatri decided to invest time and money into a combat sports venture, which was born as a start-up fuelled by pure passion, his buddy Saurabh was there from the start, supporting him not just financially, but by believing in his dream. Today, One Championship is Asia’s undisputed mixed martial arts leader with bouts beamed to one billion homes across the continent. One Championship’s ascent to the top is nothing but meteoric—in merely seven years, at that. But the journey hasn’t been all rosy throughout, as the duo tells us in our cover story (p.88). In a personal blog post at the end of 2017, Chatri said: “I went through so many dark days over the course of my life. It definitely hasn’t been wine and roses for me. I’ve had many failures, heartbreaks, disappointments, setbacks, and tears.” Disappointments are part of the package. What separates the boys from the men is the ability to rise from the ashes and move on to bigger things. Chatri and Saurabh clearly have. My T-shirt business obviously didn’t take off the way One Championship did. But the learning process was fulfilling. Maybe when the time is right, I will revive the venture—this time fuelled by even more passion and a proper business plan.
— Terence Lim Editor