Playing around with success
The Straits Times, 20 September 2009
Founders of Singapore-based playground builder, Playpoint (from left) Charles Tay, Jason Sim and Wayne Chua -- PHOTO: PLAYPOINT |
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'The idea that one should accumulate a wealth of experience before starting a business is outdated. Those of our generation have a different mindset. If you want to do something and you believe that you can do it, then just go ahead and do it. If you wait until you have accumulated enough experience, you might already have lost the energy and vigour to pursue your dreams. We were young at the time, without any family burden or financial commitments. Had the business flopped, we would at most have gone back to being employees. That was exactly how we saw it at the time.'
- Playpoint founder Jason Sim
'Playpoint sets up 100 playgrounds in the Singapore market each year. It has also started to provide wet playground facilities to allow children to play with water. CapitaLand was the first to install wet playgrounds in its malls, introducing a new style of entertainment to Singapore.'
- Lewis Ong
A GROUP of youngsters who had just left school founded Playpoint in 2000 when the dot-com bubble was about to burst.
They did not go into networking or IT but focused their resources on designing and supplying playground facilities for a certain European brand instead.
The company made it through the dot-com bubble, 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Sars epidemic, and Kompan, the brand distributed by the company, has established a name in the local private home and commercial property markets, especially in the more premium segment.
Sales increased by 50 per cent to $6 million last year
Playpoint has seen an increase in the number of its customers in Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia.
The company recorded a 50 per cent increase in sales to $6 million last year in the face of mounting challenges brought about by the global financial crisis.
Playpoint founder Jason Sim, 33, said: 'I entered this profession by chance. I was studying for my university degree in marketing at that time and I was hoping to find part-time work in the day so that I could still study at night. It so happens that a company was willing to accept my application.'
He then befriended Charles Tay, 33, and Wayne Chua, 35, at work. Perhaps it was destiny that they eventually became good friends and partners.
Jason Sim revealed: 'We were all youngsters full of zest for life. We were around 25 at that time. Even though I can't say that we were experienced, the manufacturers were impressed by our fervour and passion. They were happy with the sales results that we generated.'
He said: 'The idea that one should accumulate a wealth of experience before starting a business is outdated. Those of our generation have a different mindset. If you want to do something and you believe that you can do it, then just go ahead and do it.
'If you wait until you have accumulated enough experience, you might already have lost the energy and vigour to pursue your dreams. We were young at the time, without any family burden or financial commitments. Had the business flopped, we would at most have gone back to being employees. That was exactly how we saw it at the time.'
Their fathers are all businessmen and this may have had some influence on them. They had all been drawn to marketing with the ultimate goal of starting their own business one day.
Wayne Chua pointed out that there are currently seven to eight brands active in the Singapore market. Kompan is the only European brand that has successfully established itself here; the remaining are US brands.
The Singapore market used to be dominated by US brands in the past. The reason Kompan was able to gain a foothold is because it has chosen to become a trendsetter by promoting itself as a premium and high-quality brand.
When Playpoint was first established a few years ago, its assets were worth no more than $200,000 (including the funds invested by a sleeping shareholder).
The company rented a 900 square feet property along Jalan Besar to serve as its office due to the relatively cheap rental and close proximity to customers.
In order to ensure that the company could sustain itself until its operations became more mature, each of the founders opted to receive a monthly salary of only $1,500, which was less than half of what they had earned as employees.
Age proved to be a stumbling block for them at the beginning. Jason Sim said: 'Nobody knew us (our brand) at the beginning. We went door to door to convince the architects but many did not have faith in us and they worried that we (and our company) were too young and nobody could continue to provide them with follow-up services if our company closed down.'
First deals came only six months after starting business
The company was only able to ink its first deal six months after it was founded. The $33,000 deal was to set up a playground in a private condominium.
Charles Tay said with a smile: 'The construction industry was gloomy at the time and we often had nothing to do but to sit at the coffee shop drinking coffee.'
In contrast, Playpoint is now responsible for building 100 playgrounds for the Singapore market each year. It has also started to provide wet playground facilities to allow children to play with water. CapitaLand was the first to install wet playgrounds in its malls, introducing a new style of entertainment to Singapore.
Even though they did receive the financial support of family members in starting the business, their family members did not have much confidence in the business they were venturing into.
Jason Sim recalled: 'My mother even said that there are not many places in Singapore for us to set up playgrounds.'
His mother worried that after the playgrounds were installed, they might last for ten years, thereby cutting down their business opportunities.
Reality has proven that the Singapore market loves premium brands and Jason Sim pointed out that most developers do not want low-quality playgrounds to damage the reputation of the entire high-end project.
Therefore, they are more inclined to allow the playgrounds to merge seamlessly with the overall design concept.
Apart from worrying that the company might receive no orders, they often worked until 11 or 12 at night to provide recommendations to customers on playground designs.
They are personally involved in every aspect of work. When asked if they have 'tried out' their own playground designs, they smiled but did not answer. Charles Tay eventually broke the silence by revealing that: 'Sometimes I would let my children give it a try.'
It seems that they have not sacrificed their personal time and their family life for their business. The three are all married and Charles Tay and Wayne Chua have already become fathers. Jason Sim got married relatively early at around 30. Charles Tay pointed out that work has not been too tough for each of them as they all shared the workload.
Jason Sim is in charge of sales, Charles Tay is in charge of executing and implementing projects and Wayne Chua is in charge of business development.
Jason Sim said: 'We would arrange some time to go abroad for vacations with family members each year.'
Two years after the company was founded, they begun to have deep confidence in the company's business. They now have eight teams working in Singapore in addition to foreign employees, which come up to 15 people.
The company just started its foreign operations not long ago and Jason Sim predicts that sales could hit $10 million in two years' time. He hopes that around half of that will come from overseas.
Playpoint has also begun to accept bigger projects, including a recent deal with the Singapore Zoo amounting to $1.3 million.
In addition, they have also started to design playground facilities tailored to the specific needs of customers to allow them to integrate seamlessly with the overall landscape design of the developments. |
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