Q: Why is it important to have someone there with you while starting your business?
A: It’s good to have entrepreneur friends around you. They’d share ideas and solutions. I didn’t know the importance of having them until I hit a brick wall and was stressed out. I completely ran out of runway just to build my vision of the business. That was when I opened up and became more willing to speak about the challenges I was facing.
For me, my closest friend was my investor and business partner, Tan Sri Vincent Lee, a successful entrepreneur himself with multiple businesses. Often, he’d make me feel the challenges I faced were small and could easily be solved. He’s definitely very experienced with a good entrepreneurship mindset and was very supportive of the decisions that I had to make.
However, looking back, I would have loved it if someone was there to give me constructive feedback too so that some of my decisions could be more thought through.
Q: Why is having a mentor important?
A: A mentor is important because there will be someone to do a check and balance with you and act as a sounding board to help make sense of your business and operational thoughts. They’ll give you guidance and share their experiences to help shorten your learning curve.
There is no right or wrong in entrepreneurship but only a need to balance and play the cards that you have in your hand according to the setting and situation you’re in. You can’t change or swap your cards while playing so it’s important to be more aware. That’s why having a mentor is important because they’ll help paint the picture from real experiences and possible outcomes.
Q: What can students expect from this mentorship programme?
A: Students can learn first-hands from experienced mentors that have been through the cycle from budding to exit.
For me, I didn’t have the opportunity to be guided by someone who gives me that two-sides-of-the-same-coin perspective. I would be that person for the students and share what are some of the possible good and bad outcomes so that they can research further and evaluate to make a sound decision. I’m looking forward to that during this mentorship as well.