I realized that I didn’t care anymore whether I was from whatever-name university. After all, in business, I realize that people come from everywhere, not just HYPSM. If you came up to me and introduced yourself as from Harvard or MIT or Stanford, I don’t think that I would really care. So why do people want to go to all those big prestigious places for? Study so hard, work like mad, be passionate in some areas, most of the time for the sake of it, all to be an alum of Princeton/Penn/Cambridge/Oxford etc.? Then get a prestigious job and earn tons of money? What is the end goal?(Help others? Maybe) Self-empowerment and fame boost? Be in a higher standing? Be looked at with awe and amazement? Be famous? Be a “role model” that people look up to? Achieve your career goals? What does all these mean anyway? It’s all temporary. Fleeting.

I don’t care about all that anymore. At least I think I don’t. But I think that’s lying.

And many people work work work to earn money money and more money. What is the point of it all in the end? Yes of course no money no talk. We all need money to survive, enjoy and also do God’s work. But what is the bigger picture? I don’t have the bigger picture at the moment. All I am doing is follow the motions, do what everyone is doing, follow what everybody is pursuing. You go to university? Therefore I have to go to. You trying to enter Big Name University? Hence I try to do so too. You earn big bucks? So my mum tells me that I should too, be prosperous and help others in return, i.e. get money to give money. (Sounds like a cover up and a good excuse for wanting to be wealthy, but it’s not a bad motive) But I really think that there should be something bigger. A bigger purpose. What’s the point of going through the motions, getting along life, striving and striving and losing ourselves?

How can I live my life such that I have absolutely no regrets following the path that I am treading now when I look back in the distant future? I don’t know. I really don’t know. But I know one thing: I really want to start my own company somewhere in the next few years after I graduate. Hopefully in Malaysia.

Why? I am just fascinated by large companies and how they function, especially tech companies. But is it also because I am some power hungry freak who wants to be at the helm of a tech conglomerate? Or because I want to be in control and have a recognizable name? So many possible wrong motives. Is it because I want to make big money? That’s another possible hidden motive. Do I have the hidden motives in me? Maybe. If I answered ‘No’ you wouldn’t believe me either.

But my other reason is that it is just plain fun (and hard work of course). Results are directly proportional to the amount of effort and wisdom that you employ in the business, wisdom in applying the right technology, systems, and in recruiting the right people. And of course, it would be outright exhilarating to see your enterprise lift off the ground and profitably grow. I get to meet and work with people everywhere. Hopefully I get to travel too. Maybe I can provide a great employment opportunity to thousands of people, and motivate them to join the company and embrace its vision instead of treating it like a job. Oh, then it would be a ‘we’ thing too. So many opportunities.

Well, talk is cheap. Let’s go back to the above question? Why bother doing all this? My answer would be that because it would be worse trying to do nothing at all and wonder what your goals are and end up not doing anything. You dream it, go for it. Why and what am I striving for? Do I even have the option to not strive? Really, do I? Can I just stop striving? Would that mean just be complacent? Complacent is a bad word, isn’t it?

I don’t have a choice, do I?

I want to share a browser feature called Cooliris with all you ErnSheong.com readers! Cooliris is a company founded in 2006 with the mantra “Think Beyond the Browser.” Their headquarters are in Menlo Park, California, and their team consists of seasoned developers, entrepreneurs, and Stanford computer engineers.

Enhance your browsing performance with Cooliris!
The two core products of Cooliris are (free features):

1) Cooliris

With Cooliris, you can preview images, videos and weblinks without clicking, turn on the slideshow mode for Google and Yahoo images, instantly email links, prefetch websites for faster previews, customize preview activation method and themes, as well as enable/disable previewing on custom list of sites. It works on any website, blog or forum.

2) PicLens

PicLens enables you to view photos in full screen mode, search for web images, play a slideshow of image search results and photo albums, multi-page search on Google Images and Yahoo Images, have multilingual full-screen search, as well as jump from PicLens to corresponding webpage. With a Mac, you can sit back and explore photos with the Apple® remote.

PicLens works on Social Networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Hi5 and Friendster, Image Search Engines such as Google Images, Yahoo Images, Ask Images, Live Images and AOL Images, and Photo Sites such as Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa Web Albums, DeviantArt, and Smugmug.

Review: Cooliris can be quite annoying sometimes because when you hover over a link, a small Cooliris icon pops out. If you hover over it accidentally, a small window pops out, which is unwelcome especially when it is done unintentionally. But you can always turn the feature off by clicking the ‘tick’ at the bottom right of the page. PicLens is just plain cool. Very nice feel when searching images. A MUST TRY add-on to your web browser.

Source: cooliris.com

This blog post is adapted from The Edge Malaysia (the week of January 28, 2008) exclusively for ErnSheong.com.

AirAsia

AirAsia X is a new long haul budget airline operated by Air Asia X Sdn. Bhd. It has a company culture very similar to that of AirAsia. Both share the same ticketing website, livery, uniforms, and management style. (Wikipedia)

The Edge correspondent Ooi Ying Nee interviewed AirAsia X’s CEO Azran Osman-Rani, a man who is very much hands on in his approach of management. He is one who does not believe in depending on reports to do business in this day and age. He is not afraid of getting his hands dirty on the ground. At times he can be found manning the company’s check-in counter at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal in Sepang, standing on the tarmac loading luggage, or even inspecting the plane with his technicians on a late night shift. With that Azran says that he is able to be in close touch with how his airline operates.

Manager@Work front cover, The Edge

A bit of background: Azran Osman Rani has a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master’s degree in Management Science from Stanford University in the United States (what a coincidence, if I were to go to Stanford I would have picked the same combination to graduate with!). More on his career path later.

I will report the article in the following format:

Question
Summary of what he said in first person format.

Here goes:

Does AirAsia X have a culture distinct from AirAsia’s? How do you differentiate the two brands?
Ultimately, we are gearing towards a single unified culture, be it AirAsia, AirAsia X, AirAsia Indonesia or Thai AirAsia. Despite having different shareholders, Tony Fernandes (group CEO of AirAsia) emphasizes that it is all one unique culture. In essence, the underlying brand is AirAsia. What we at AirAsia have been trying to do is to create an upbeat atmosphere and a hype place to work in. At times, I receive feedback from others in many informal ways, be it the guy on the ramp or at parties. Formal hierarchy or structure cannot be depended on sometimes. These informal chats allows information to travel faster and more importantly encourages the freedom to voice out.

So the culture is the same although it is two different companies?
Of course, it is imperative that the balance sheet is remains separate. AirAsia X has the advantage in the sense that it is still a private company and thus we can do private fundraising first. Had we been a public listed company, we would not have been able to let Virgin and two other private equity firms to come on board. However, being a single big unified company allows AirAsia X to enjoy economies of scale by pooling with AirAsia. Pilots and the crew can switch to AirAsia X since the planes we are using (A330) is just a longer version of that which AirAsia uses (A320).

Richard Branson and Tony Fernandes announcing their partnership in AirAsia X

AirAsia hires its staff from a pool operated by AirAsia. How many people are actually AirAsia X employees?
We have 60 people working only for AirAsia X and more than half of that are in the engineering team because AirAsia X uses a different aircraft type. We have small finance, marketing and HR teams. However, although we have senior people in security and in-flight operations, the actual staff is from AirAsia. It is a model that has benefited us. I am not so definitive about having a distinct organization for the sake of it. As for AirAsia X, it only makes sense to pool with AirAsia.

How sustainable is the long term as the airline expands? Does AirAsia X intend to hire its own staff in the future?
I would rather hire new people as part of the AirAsia pool. The AirAsia Academy gives us a large competitive advantage. We need not worry about acute pilot shortages because we have a steady pipeline via the academy. We need not go out and poach from other airlines and pay ridiculously high wages. We also open up opportunities to Malaysian pilots who left to fly for Middle East airlines, but want to return home to fly.

What did you think of the AirAsia culture when you first joined, coming from Bursa Malaysia, Astro and McKinsey?
Though I come from a corporate background, it has been an easy assimilation on the personality front. I have always been comfortable with jeans without a tie. Astro was a place where, because it dealt with dial media, it was rather open, especially during the days when I started Astro Indonesia from nothing up. Also, there were a lot of young people in Astro, who were less fixed in their methods. Certainly, Bursa was a bit of a challenge.

The Sky is the limit for AirAsia X.

Why did you decide to take on the job? How did Tony Fernandes lure you from Astro?
Tony called me to work in an organization that competes globally in an unprecedented category. At the time, AirAsia X was being featured in many top newspapers and magazines around the world; it will change the industry globally. That’s how we got Richard Branson to come in to invest. Not many Malaysian companies can say that they are not just copying the big global industry leaders but are actually leading the way in the front. Hence, this was a very unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The airline industry has been doing things for the same way for the past 80 years and we have come to shake things up to do something revolutionary.

What part of the job excites you the most?
The buck stops with me and that’s what is incredibly fascinating about it.

One of AirAsia’s cost cutting measures is training its employees to take on multiple jobs. Does that apply to you as well? What do you do as CEO of AirAsia X?
Let’s be clear about it. I am responsible for the performance of AirAsia X ranging from the revenue we garner, how many people we can fly and how efficient the organization is run. That is the bottom line. I spend most of my time with the customers to know exactly what people are experiencing. Hence I spend a lot of time replying e-mails and taking calls. I also spend a lot of time making sure that everybody knows the vision and breaking down a very complex business into four or five basic objectives. When I came, I told people that there are only two things that will get them the sack. First is not trying at all. Second is not being a team player. If you hide or hoard data or information, if you are not helping someone else out, that’s it.

You mentioned that the company has to have values that are critical for a start-up. AirAsia X has a huge supporter, AirAsia. Does it has the characteristics of a start up still?
Of course. We’re starting very small, with one single plane going against Singapore Airlines that has over 100 planes. We have a small team. We cannot afford divisions. People need to move extremely fast and they need to sustain that intensity. The pace is faster than AirAsia because things are now more institutionalized there given its scale. Also, given our long haul model, we are doing things much more differently from AirAsia.

AirAsia X

How has your background in consultancy and your previous jobs prepared you for this role as CEO of AirAsia X?
My whole professional career, from what I went through in Stanford, to what I did in Bursa, to Astro, to here, is really all about implementing a systems approach to ensure interconnectivity in business. At Stanford, Management Science was about looking at every aspect, not just the engineering aspect, the marketing aspect or the finance aspect. In consulting also (McKinsey), it is also about figuring how all things tie up and what’s the right path to settle problems, as it is never just a sales issue or an administration issue. In Bursa, there were technology issues, people and marketing issues, and challenging regulatory aspects. I was brought in to tie everything together. In Astro, I started Astro Indonesia from a piece of paper. For that, you need the engineering and broadcasting teams to work in tandem with the marketing team and the content production team as well as the sales force and the call center. You’ve got to link everything up so that it interlinks. I am also a firm believer in effective comminication skills.

Tell us about your management style. How different is it to run a no-frills airline as opposed to your job at Astro?
I read a book called ‘Situational Leadership’ and I am is a great believer in ‘different strokes for different folks.’ When it comes to working with people, I am very open. I don’t believe in layers or talking to five direct reports. I go to everyone, even the ramp boys loading the bags. I don’t believe in big fat reports and analysis, I believe in talking if you have got an issue. When a private equity firm asked me for my market research and a report that shows the size of the long-haul future market, I told them flatly, ‘don’t have one.’ I go to the Matta fair and you see these aunties and uncles shoving to grab promotional fares. Evidently, travel is price elastic.

How do you get people to ’snap to it’ without them snapping themselves?
Culture is hence important. You work hard, you play hard. We have fun with each other and thus spending time working hard in the middle of the night becomes fun. If they are used to going home at 5.30pm, they would have been removed already. People here are people who are hungry for more.

What have been the biggest challenges since the launch of the airline’s first flight?
Oil price and the availability of aircraft. Now even with all the money, you cannot get planes because Boeing and Airbus are delayed in their production line and even old planes are thus being held on to by other airlines. I cannot venture further without planes, therefore these are my two main big variables

The rest of the interview touched on delays and how AirAsia X handles them. According to him, AirAsia X will fly to three or four cities in China when they get the chance. Australia, four or five cities. Others are India, South Korea, and Japan. Once they get the A340, they could fly to the UK. That alone takes 25 planes, he says. Once the advanced next generation planes arrive, they could do Europe direct, New Zealand direct and Los Angeles direct. Routes are the easy part. He mentions that getting the planes, confirming the launch, working with the right airport partners and executing the plan is the hard part. In essence, he says that at the end of the day it is all about how well the execution is done.

What a challenging and exhilarating job!

I would like to feature two applications which are currently found on ErnSheong.Com.

ShoutMix

The first is ShoutMix, the free chat widget proudly brought to you by a Malaysian named Tan Wei Heng. Tan started out with a passion to provide the best free shoutbox. In his words, “It started from my own enthusiasm on crafting shoutboxes. It was running great until it was at about 11 months old with 20,000 shoutboxes.” With the help of yet another Malaysian web hosting company, Exabytes Network, Tan managed to continue hosting ShoutMix and eventually moved on to create a premium service for ShoutMix so that ShoutMix would be self sustainable. More here.

Nuffnang

The other is Nuffnang, which is Asia’s first and leading blog advertising community. To date, more than 13,000 blogs have signed up with Nuffnang’s platform in Singapore and Malaysia. Nuffnang’s platform allows advertisers to serve graphic or video based advertisements onto the thousands of local blogs that are signed up with them. Nuffnang is proudly brought to you by Timothy Tiah and Cheo Ming Shen, a Malaysian and a Singaporean respectively. Thousands of bloggers have been served ads by numerous bluechip companies, such as Nike, Citibank, Nokia, F&N, Walls, AirAsia, Honda, and many more. Read more here.

And as the About-Us page on Nuffnang.Com says at the end, “The Best Is Yet To Be” for Malaysian entrepreneurs. Rock on!

First of all I want to thank YouthMalaysia.com for organizing this convention for budding and aspiring entrepreneurs. Malaysia certainly has a lot of young men and women gunning to succeed in a business or organization of their own.

Here I met many Malaysian entrepreneurs who have made their mark in various sectors and arenas of their own right. I will be summarizing what each of them said here, and I will post some interesting pictures along the way. =)

TECHNOPRENEUR
KENNY GOH, Co-founder and CEO of Macro Kiosk Bhd. (29 years old)

According to him: What does it take to become an entrepreneur
1) Go against the STEREOTYPE
2) The MINDSET and RISK factors
3) You must have the DRIVE (love what you do!)
4) NO regrets
5) Be the BEST person and believe in GOD (Amen to that!)
6) The spirit of COMPETITION!
7) Have the leadership ATTITUDE; Handle stress, not take stress. Make GREAT decisions everyday. Make everyday a GREAT day!
9) No need to please ANYONE! (do what your prove, minds & soul believes)
10) The Power of COMMUNICATION (be able to lead, listen, focus on the solution)
11) VISION: See beyond what others see!

INTERNET MARKETING ENTREPRENEUR
NG KHAI LEE, Co-founder of Cicak.com; Winner of KLUE Blues Chilli Awards (24 years old)

Talked about online web 2.0, citing that internet companies are only for those who are optimists. Starting one is a gamble and there is a lot of hype along with it.

Three things:
1) Capturing your EXCITEMENT (write your ideas down when it strikes!)
2) Draw your mock-up plan (just a sketch)
3) Do whatever it takes to get version 1.0 up and running (even though it might not be fully functional yet)

www.khailee.info

INTERNET ADVERTISING ENTREPRENEUR
TIMOTHY TIAH, Co-founder of Nuffnang (24 years old)

He talks about his blog advertising network company and how he started it. Nuffnang is about helping bloggers generate revenue through advertising by outside firms. He added that people might look down on you and your idea due to your age, but don’t let it put you down! Never take no for an answer, always be think-skinned (referring to getting customers, presumably!)

PUBLIC LISTED GAMING ENTREPRENEUR
GANESH KUMAR BANGAH, CEO of MOL Access Bhd. (29 years old)

Started working on his own after his PMR at age fifteen. He has faced challenges and says that being an entrepreneur is not always flashy and exciting. He recalled how he (he stayed in Johore when he was younger) traveled to Singapore after school to buy a sound card for his teacher for SGD 30 and sold it to her for RM 150. =) He then ran the first cyber cafe in Johore and developed a cyber cafe management system. He later branched into his own company MOL Access which deals with cyber cafes and gaming. Later on, he commented that Venture Capitalists in Malaysia like to tell you what is bad about the idea presented instead of telling you how to improve them like what Venture Capitalists do in the US.

He added that cash flow is imperative in a business. “When you don’t have the money, no one will come and give you money.” And vice versa. But money is not everything, he says. You should be starting a business to AFFECT the people around you, to change and improve the lives of the customers. “Work hard, but play hard as well; don’t burn out!” he quips.

3 sayings of billionaires:
1) (Indian) Ideas are nobody’s monopoly. Think fast, think big.
2) (Russian) Money is the language of conviction.
3) (Malaysian) Don’t be shy. No harm trying. (When telling his partner to ask for a price 10 ten times the amount offered)

During lunch, YB Datuk Ong Tee Keat, Deputy Minister of Higher Education, delivered a luncheon talk. He is a very good orator, and he spoke with enthusiasm and energy. Touched on many youth issues, of which some are brain drain, employment, entrepreneurship and national interest.

DANCE STUDIO ENTREPRENEUR
OH JOO NEE, Founder of Let’s Dance Studio / Winner of Nescafe Kickstart TV Show (24 years old)

She wanted to establish a dance studio different from that of others. When setting up, you must think, “How much initial investment is needed and how am I to get them?” Look for a visible location if the need calls. Calculate the amount of operating cost needed. Can you run your business on your own? If not, get the right people to come in. How much money would be needed to pay these people? Marketing can be done through brochures, websites. In her case, she did roadshows in colleges to generate publicity. All the beginning stage of a start-up, do not be calculative. Do everything that you think is necessary to generate future value, regardless of whether they bring financial reward or not in the short term. Publicity now can generate more revenue later. In the service industry, a good reputation is needed so that people can refer your business to others. Make lots of friends and network!

FITNESS ENTREPRENEUR
MR KEVIN ZAHRI, Fitness Trainer and Business Owner (28 years old)

Entrepreneur is a title given by peers to you; it is not self-given. You do what you do because you believe in it.

TIPS for entrepreneurs:
1) Know Thyself: Know your own strengths and weaknesses. Do what you are good at.
2) Believe in yourself
3) Vision/Direction/Plan- have multiple plans for a project
4) Have control over your business (Don’t allow others to make the decisions for you, and don’t depend on people to make the call)
5) Execute - Just do it! ( Don’t be so eager to succeed so fast, it takes time)
6) Luck (!!!? I don’t believe in luck. GOD!)
Better to do something than not to do something.
7) Balance

www.kevinzahri.com

BLOG ENTREPRENEUR
KENNY SIA, Blogger, KennySia.com (24 years old)

Started blog 3 years ago. Met resistance from his mum initially about the blog. Many negative comments from people he does not know (many asked him to censor himself) Blogging requires an understanding of people and bloggers must maintain a relationship with people. To be successful one has to be different. He thought that why would anyone want to read what he or she ate that day, etc etc. So he changed the style of his blog and wrote parodies. GET A BLOG! he says.

MUSIC ENTREPRENEUR
MIA PALENCIA, Singer/ Songwriter (23 years old)

She explains why now this is the era of the death of the record label. She tells of how people record their songs at home, promote gigs and events online (MySpace, blogs, etc.), set up music blogs, record a demo and distribute for free, sort out ownership of music, blog and perform everywhere, approach people in the community, and eventually hire a manager to take care of the music career. She goes on to cite some Malaysian success stories in the music industry, including Pop Shavit and Pete Tee. She also adds that if you are not passionate about music and musical instruments, don’t even try. It is a very very hard industry to penetrate with just mere interest.

PHOTOGRAPHY ENTREPRENEUR
KID CHAN, Founder & Director of Kid Chan Studio (28 years old)

He spoke on branding. A brand is a promise. Delivering a promise. Real brands have to deliver.
How to create a SuperBrand?
1) Be Pleasant
2) Be Present
3) Be an Authority

How to be an authority?
1) Write a column
2) Get your work seen! (Have a website!)
3) Workshops
4) Interviews, interviews and more interviews
5) Power of association

Great Brands Deliver!

www.kidchanstudios.com
www.kidchan.com

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR
RAJ RIDWAN, Co-founder & International Director of Science of Life 24/7 (24 years old)

The more you give, the more you will receive. In business, embrace social responsibility. Take the people seriously and treat them well. Be responsible and committed to your enterprise. Never take anyone for granted.

FINANCE ENTREPRENEURS
MS NOR AKMAR HANIF (30) & MS AIDA NURLIN HANIF (27)
Founders and CEOs of Platinum Wealth Advisors

Financially minded sisters who basically spoke very enthusiastically minus the substance. They were more like using the convention to promote their company. Showed off the new cars they bought, from Porshe, to Mercedes to Fairlady. Showed off their ability to travel the world with their money. Told the audience to “Invest in yourself; buy a new car to invest in yourself.” IMO, arrogant and materialistic. Sorry nothing good to say. But no doubt they did establish a seemingly thriving company and made a lot of money out of it.

YOUTH ENTREPRENEUR
JOEL NEOH EU-JIN, Founder of YouthMalaysia.com & The Youth Intelligence Sdn Bhd
Chairperson of Youth ‘08
Winner of the 2007 reality TV Show The Firm

A nice guy with a pleasant personality. Here are his points:

For entrepreneurs:
1) Passionate and driven (passion overcomes inexperience)
2) Innovative ideas
3) Open mindsets (lifelong-learning)
4) Technologically savvy
5) Team work (Work with the team, speak with the same wavelength)
6) Work fast (speed is crucial, someone is going to take the idea up one day or another)

Weaknesses of Entrepreneurs
1) Lost of Focus
2) Lack of Guidance
3) Low Memory Power
4) Communication Failure
5) Never Listen (Talk less, listen more, work harder)

“The higher you go in life, the more humble you must become.”
Amen to that.

During the convention, I met some new friends. Meet Lee and Tan! (from left to right)

So that sums up my coverage on the convention. A great insight and inspiration it has been. Malaysians must dream bigger and achieve their dreams. The sky is the limit.