KOTA KINABALU: When Tan Kar Leong first started his business in Brunei 14 years ago, he never thought it would eventually earn him the title Dato’.
Opening a bicycle shop in the oil-rich state helped to get the ball rolling and today the 37-year-old Johor-born entrepreneur is one of the most successful individuals in the country.
Recently Tan was honoured at the Ten Outstanding Young Malaysian Awards (TOYM) held in Penang. The event was organised by Junior Chamber International Malaysia and Tan won the Business, Economic and Entrepreneur Accomplishment Award.
He was one of six finalists among other young businessmen and winning the award has inspired him to share his success story.
Tan has resided in Sabah for the past 13 years and considers himself a local.
He is the founder of chain stores like One Stop Superstore, Orange Convenient Stores and Homes Variety Stores.
He is a man with his own ‘blue ocean strategy’ and his secret to success is the people that represent his companies.
Collectively throughout the country, Tan’s company, TCT Trading Group Sdn Bhd, employs more than 1,400 people.
And with the company venturing into new grounds, the numbers continue to grow.
But it all began with a simple bicycle shop in Brunei that eventually grew to a stronghold of 149 outlets and five supermarkets around Malaysia.
Armed with just a business degree from University Malaya, Tan and his business partner opened the bicycle shop in 2000.
They negotiated a bank loan that eventually opened the gates of success following their introduction of the ‘dollar store’, a concept adapted from Australia and USA and applied successfully in Brunei.
Their decision to embark on selling fast-moving consumer goods, mainly household products, was the cornerstone of Tan’s success.
They opened more than 10 stores within a year before Tan ventured for new pastures in Sabah in 2003.
It was in Kota Kinabalu where his business boomed. Within the first year alone he had opened another 12 outlets. Today his two ringgit stores (Kedai RM2) have been converted to the One Stop Superstore outlets. He also acquired a laundry service company and opened a home and furnishing business to expand his empire.
And Tan is now looking beyond the horizon and is executing expansion plans in China. His first outlet is scheduled to open early next year.
“We are also looking to list the TCT group over the next three years via an initial public offering. Through a listing we can reward our employees by allocating them some shares.
“I think such a move is very important as we can retain talents within the group and they are more loyal to the company,” he said.
Tan has applied this success formula throughout most of his entrepreneurial endeavour. He firmly believes that his most important assets are his people/employees.
“At TCT group, staff welfare is our utmost priority. Our employees are so important that we regard them as the backbone of our business.
“With the increase in cost of living, it is crucial to take care of employees’ benefits. We as an employer should contribute to their Employee Provident Fund (EPF) and Socso. We also provide annual increments to all our staff because if an employee earns enough for a living only then can he or she contribute to the organisation,” said Tan.
Working environment is also an aspect that cannot be neglected. He said a good working atmosphere can create a positive impact on working culture and can build closer rapport among staff.
“Whenever possible, the company would organise activities for staff. Sometimes we would bring them out to watch movies together and at other times we engage them in charity activities.
“We also reward our staff based on their performance and that is why we have a best staff award for each outlet. I believe in creating a sense of self-achievement for all my staff because it can enhance their working quality,” he said.
And as a way of fulfilling his social responsibility, Tan urged all budding entrepreneurs to keep pursuing their goals.
He said it is important for anyone to have a dream. Knowing which direction to take to achieve one’s target is equally important but the most important step of all is to get started.
“The main obstacle preventing youngsters from being successful nowadays is their failure to take the first step.
“I encourage anyone out there who is thinking of starting a business to make the first step … get started. Failures will come along the way but perseverance will lead you to success,” he said.
Towards this end, Tan touched on the group’s aspiration on corporate social responsibility.
“The group will embark on more activities to contribute to the society, hopefully during post-listing.
“I would spend at least one third of my time to help those in need such as the abandoned old folks and orphans.
“As a young boy, I endured growing up without a mother … she passed away when I was five so I know the feeling. For this reason I plan to open an orphanage in the future,” he said.
Having won the TOYM this year, Tan will represent Malaysia at the world level event in Japan in February net year.