Journey of a entrepreneur in Singapore

I just read a story of die-hard entrepreneur (a biopreneur) from Singapore. His story reminds me some of my own path to success (define your own success).

Here is the story.
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Entrepreneurship is a 'piece of cake'
Oct 18, 2009
By Miao Fong Tian

THE recent economic crisis has brought about an entrepreneurial wave in Singapore. For Eddie Zhang, the 59-year-old founder of De Hygienique (Asia), entrepreneurship is a 'piece of cake'.

Although two of his three business ventures have failed, he continues to persevere and soldier on untiringly.

'Business failures do not mean the end of the world. They can instead help drive one to success. If my instinct tells me that certain markets are promising and possess hidden potential, then I will go for it,' said Eddie Zhang.

His only experience working for others was in the 1970s when he was working as a salesman for Inchcape, an international trading company in Singapore.

The first brand he promoted was Union Special, which was a brand of sewing machines for making jeans. Fortunately, Levis jeans had started becoming popular across the world in 1976 and they were made using sewing machines belonging to this brand. All of a sudden, business started to take off and orders came flooding in.

'The average monthly salary in Singapore at that time was $400 and my monthly salary including commissions was as much as $4,000!,' said Mr Zhang.

After earning his first 'pot of gold', Mr Zhang decided to become an entrepreneur by producing printed circuit boards for small companies in Singapore. He ultimately sold the business to an Indian company for $200,000 under the impact of the economic crisis in the 1980s. He also lived in India for three years to help the buyer set up a plant and install the relevant equipment.

After he sold the company, Mr Zhang decided to try his hand at buying and selling second hand books. He subsequently opened six book stores in Singapore called EMF. However, his businesses, along with those of other bookstores, suffered when the National Library Board established regional libraries around the island in the 1990s. Turnover plummeted by nearly 50 per cent and Mr Zhang was left with three stores.

After the Sars crisis of 2003, Mr Zhang moved into the healthcare industry.

'Healthcare is an industry for the 21st century, especially at a time where people tend to grow more fearful of death as they become more affluent,' said Mr Zhang. 'This can be seen in the increase in the number of people who take vitamins and eat organic food.'

Investing $500,000, Mr Zhang set up Mitex Hygienics, later changing the company's name to De Hygienique (Asia). The company provides professional cleaning services for household items like mattresses, furniture and carpets. At the same time, Mr Zhang hired John Chan as his general manager in charge of operations to assist him in handling the daily running of the business.

The cleaning company began with services for people's homes but has expanded its customer base to include hotels, corporations and the food and beverage (F&B) industry in 2005. De Hygienique achieved a turnover of $800,000 last year with enterprises comprising 40 per cent and households comprising 60 per cent of its business. It now employs a total of 16 people.

The arrival of the influenza A H1N1 flu in the first quarter of this year has led to a 10 per cent increase in the company's revenue from household customers. Nevertheless, De Hygienique saw a 20 to 30 per cent drop in income from corporate customers due to the recent economic crisis.

Mr Chan revealed that many corporate customers have demanded that they extend their service term or cut their fees. A number of them even cancelled their cleaning budgets altogether to cut costs.

Mr Zhang said that De Hygienique has expanded its operations into the Indonesian market and is planning to further expand its business to Hong Kong and Bangkok. He is also considering the Malaysian and Vietnamese markets.