Entrepreneurship is not a route that many people would take because the business which they choose to pursue with every fiber of their being will succeed or fail with direct proportions to the amount of effort that they put into it. This amount of calculated risk in one particular venture is not a route that everyone would have the courage to go down.
Jack Ma once stated though, “If you want to grow, find a good opportunity. Today, if you want to be a great company, think about what social problem you could solve.”
It is true that businesses which aims to solve a social problem have a great business model in place because they are essentially benefiting more people with their venture. These 11 entrepreneurs have traded in their full-time corporate jobs in order to pursue entrepreneurship and to put their passions into practice, and that in itself is courage put to work.
1. Clarence Chew
Clarence is currently the co-founder of Hackerscape Malaysia, a community co-working space for tech enthusiasts, and Tinkerbox Studios. Clarence used to work with Ernst and Young as an IT security consultant for about 2 years before quitting to start Tinkerbox Studios with his partners.
He shared with Vulcan Post that it was a tough decision to pursue entrepreneurship full-time but he took the leap of faith in the end and shared that he felt that he had nothing much to lose out of taking this leap of faith.
2. Francesca Chia
Francesca told Vulcan Post that she was a consultant at the Boston Consulting group for 4 years before deciding to start GoGet.my. GoGet.my is an on-demand delivery and errands startup in Malaysia and it was conceived in June of 2014.
Francesca left her full-time job in order to become an entrepreneur because she wanted to see the impact that would be created with GoGet.my and to watch it grow to become the startup that it is today.
3. Amy Zheng
Amy was once a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group according to her LinkedIn page, and held that position for close to four years before choosing to pursue entrepreneurship by co-founding Amazin’ Grace, a startup which provides customers with a premium range of healthy snacks. According to her Facebook, Amy also juggles being a studio manager/yoga instructor alongside Amazin’ Grace.
4. Tan U–Mae
U-Mae now surrounds herself with the sweeter side of life with her venture BITTER/SWEET where she is the baker and cake decorator. However, she was once in the line of business development for close to two years. After a chance opportunity at baking, she chose to pursue entrepreneurship full-time and has never looked back since.
5. Chan Chui Shia
Chui Shia left her corporate life in order to pursue Barkery Oven, a doggie-friendly business which provides food suited to a dog’s dietary needs. She told Vulcan Post that she sold off her previous business in order to pursue her current passion-turned-business. “My dream has always been to own a business that is based on my creation. And I’ve always enjoyed baking. I believe, in order to make this a success, full-time is the only way,” Chui Shia said.
6. Harmini Asokumar
Harmini Asokumar, the founder of Deeper Than Fashion, was working as a communications exec and prior to that, as a copy writer and even wrote for a lifestyle magazine. She has been skipping jobs since the age of 22 and decided that it was time that she called it quits working for someone else and pursued her passion full-time instead.
Now, her venture Deeper Than Fashion has over 13,000 fans on its Facebook page. She also has another line called Deeper Than Beauty, which focuses on homemade items such as face masks, body and lip products.
7. Tan Mei Chel
Mei Chel told Vulcan Post that she was previously a lawyer for 5 years in a private practice as well as a legal counsel at a venture capital company, working with MNCs and startups in order to set up their businesses locally and grow regionally.
Leaving the corporate world behind her, she then founded Office Parrots, a startup that helps job seekers in the legal, accounting, finance and banking field to find out more about companies they could work with, for instance, the culture and salary.
8. Adlin Yusman
Adlin Yusman’s name may be synonymous with startup BeMalas now, but he was once the head of travel for Groupon for close to three years as well as the Director for Lazada for a short stint. He told Vulcan Post that he’s always had the entrepreneurial drive and the one thing being an entrepreneur has taught him is “to hire people smarter than you and to know that being a good leader is learning first how to follow”.
9. Suthenesh Sugumaran
Suthenesh Sugumaran is one third of BeMalas, a personal concierge service in Malaysia, but he started his career as a creative executive for Red.FM 104.9 and later moved on to Groupon for 2.5 years, which was where he met his eventual business partners, Adlin and Puvan.
He took the entrepreneurial route because he felt that the culmination of his experience was enough to start something on his own. He enjoyed the chemistry that he had with his partners, and Suthenesh told Vulcan Post, “We hit off straightaway and knew what needed to be done to start and grow the company.”
10. M. Kanashan
M. Kanashan is now one of the two forces behind NeonRunner, but he was previously an advertising professional, specifically in digital marketing where he worked for approximately 15 years. He told Vulcan Post that it was hard giving up a stable paycheque but in the end, his heart was with entrepreneurship. With his wife’s blessing he took up the role of starting up something of his own, alongside partner Arvind Patmarajah.