No Pain, No Gain

Coming from a family of goldsmith shop-owners, Mr Chong got a headstart in his trade when he took over the family business, Wah Hing, 26 years ago. In 1995, 10 jewellery retailers, including Mr Chong, came together to form Amass Gold Pte Ltd. This was supported by SPRING Singapore, then known as PSB (Productivity and Standards Board) under a economic grouping initiative that encouraged companies in the same trade to come together, The business was at its prime then and Mr Chong invested all of his time and energy in it, overseeing operations from design, production, purchase, sales to promotion.

Then came the turn of the tide. The company met with the financial crisis in 1997 and coupled with the ‘cracks’ that were beginning to show as a result of wrong management policies in Amass Gold, the business started to slip. Mr Chong recalled, “There was a downtrend in the business. Internal share-holders got worried, debtors started chasing us, morale was low and staff were leaving us - all these things happened rapidly. It looks like as if it’s a storm when everything has been smooth and sailing not so long ago.”

And, things got worse. Mr Chong’s buyers and suppliers started to avoid him. Pressure from all different angles was mounting, against him. He had to face court cases, update his buyers and suppliers on the company’s status and attend endless company meetings, apart from pressure at home and criticism from the industry. It was no surprise that Amass Gold folded up within a year. A few of the senior management staff, including Mr Chong, dissolved the company and took care of moving and clearing of paperwork all by themselves.

By that time, Mr Chong was near mental collapse. Not only had he suffered a loss of $200,000, he had also lost his clients in his own shop. Having overlooked the business at Wah Hing for three years, sales had dropped drastically. “It was the worst time of my life. I felt as if I was in the intensive ward of the hospital. Everything was back to zero, square one. It was like a dream but it was a fact. I lost all my confidence and direction in life; I thought of giving up.”

Making a comeback
It took months for Mr Chong to snap back to reality. He attributed his recovery to the strong support and encouragement from his wife, family and close friends. In particular, Mr Chong recalled how one of his friends had encouraged him. “My friend told me that a wounded warrior should take time off to recuperate, concentrate on getting well and then go back to battle… Because a genuine warrior can lose his arm, but not his fighting spirit.” These words spurred Mr Chong to fight on and make a comeback.

He began to reflect on his past experiences and analyse the problems and/or mistakes that he or the previous company had made and the possible solutions that might have turned things around. Explained Mr Chong, “It is important to draw experience from the last company’s policies and put in more practice and try not to make similar mistakes.” He felt that in the previous company, the systems overly depended on humans - inadequate technologies were utilised and there was operational incompetence. With that in mind, Mr Chong decided to make information technology (IT) his main focus and set up Advago in 2000.

Starting anew with Advago
Advago specialises in the manufacturing, research and development (R&D), import and export of jewellery products. Its core competencies are its good range of jewellery products and post-sales/special services for customers. Mr Chong shared, “With our wide network of contacts, we can custom-make jewellery products for all specific needs. Our company may only focus on white gold and diamonds but we also have contacts for silver, gold, man-made diamonds etc. Thus, we have the expertise to identify gems, design jewellery and share ideas and information with customers etc.” With a vision to be a regional lifestyle company, Advago plans to make a difference by focusing on new technologies to create quality products.

Last month, the company launched a new product - a polymer coating for all kinds of jewellery. An innovative product that is possibly the first in Singapore and Asia, the polymer coating is a transparent coat meant to protect jewellery from wear and tear. Notably, the coating is resistant against heat, scratches and even strong acids. Advago owns the intellectual property (IP) rights and it has plans to market the coating to jewellery retailers/chain stores. And there are more exciting plans in the pipeline. Mr Chong disclosed that the company is coming up with a range of ‘lifestyle’ jewellery that promises to appeal to the five senses.

Declared Mr Chong, “After a major failure, now I’m not scared of failing any more; I dare to face failures… I went into R&D, tried out production processes and the system flow in a new manner. Despite failures, I tried again and again and again.” In 2001, Advago successfully obtained the Startup EnterprisE Development Scheme (SEEDS) fund from the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), which is a fund to support seed stage innovative companies with high growth potential and the ability to scale up their businesses. The company grew and took on more projects. From then on, it was ‘full steam ahead’, with Mr Chong putting in a minimum of 12-16 hours everyday.

The hard work has certainly paid off for Mr Chong. He has managed to make a profit despite heavy investment in R&D and computer systems. The company’s revenue has since grown five times.

Tapping technology effectively to strengthen internal processes
Not one to rest on his laurels, Mr Chong welcomes opportunities to apply new and different ideas on his company. Recently, he obtained Local Enterprise Technical Assistance Scheme (LETAS) funding from SPRING Singapore (Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board) for new generation computer systems. Mr Chong appreciates the funding support provided by the government. He elaborated, “The funding has made Advago a stronger company than most competitors in Singapore.”

Advago invested in a Radio Frequency Identification System (RFID) and Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) mobile sales system, possibly the first in Singapore for the jewellery industry. Now, all Advago products come with a computer chip or RFID tag - a device that helps to track its products and sales. The RFID eliminates inefficiencies in processes (such as manual counting) and cuts down on manpower. Moreover, the data collected can be used to analyse customer needs, which will in turn determine the company’s sourcing pattern/quantity and inventory management. And the company’s new PDA mobile sales system has made sales paperless and fast, and with no error.

Moving on, Mr Chong revealed his plans to combine the existing computer and account system into a single financial management system. “I place a lot of emphasis on cash flow and financial management. I need to forecast when and what to buy, learn how to use money and where to invest etc.”

“It’s a never-ending road to success…”
Advago is now looking forward to more challenges. It plans to prepare for overseas market expansion and transform itself into an international company with strong IT expertise in two years’ time. Said Mr Chong thoughtfully, “I still have a long way to go. But at least, I’m back with new business concepts… Even now, I still face difficulties in making a decision among solutions as the decisions cost a lot more value. Today, I’m still learning to be more stable, independent, to have a more positive mindset, endurance and how to analyse things from a bird’s eye view. I believe there is no ending of business growth unless I myself give up.”

On his advice for other small and medium-sized enterprises struggling to make a mark, Mr Chong has this to say, “SME-founders should learn to make the right decision given various solutions. This is very important in proving the founder’s leadership and capabilities. Never believe that one or two good concepts can bring success or that one or two poor concepts/failures will lead your company to close. One must also be practical, realistic and understand that ideas and concept can be copied. SMEs must try to build another pillar for their success/change quickly before others copy them, or go for something that’s not easy to be copied and keep their success/good concepts to themselves longer.”

Reprinted with permission from the October 2004 issue of the Productivity Digest. The Productivity Digest is published by SPRING Singapore (Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board). All rights reserved. For more information visit www.spring.gov.sg/pd or email pub@spring.gov.sg