<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Nov 9, 2008
me & my money
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Marketing grad's aim: To be a big fish
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Claire Au has opened two fish soup stalls in a year and that's for starters </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Lorna Tan, Finance Correspondent
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Ms Claire Au wants to be an entrepreneur like her father Boyd Au, the founder of electronic components distributor Enzer (next picture). -- ST PHOTO: LIM WUI LIANG
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Last year, business degree holder Claire Au, 26, hung up her power suits and opted for a sweaty job with long hours selling fish soup.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Spending within limits
'When we were young, my parents taught me and my younger brother, now 15, the importance of spending within our budget. My mum's simple advice was: 'If you earn $1 and spend $1.10, you will end up in debt one day.' ' - MS AU, on the advice her mum gave her when she was young
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>With $30,000 of combined savings, she set up 7Fish Pte Ltd with her mother Lisa Lee, 51.
She opened her first stall in June last year. Now, she has two stalls - both called King's Fish Soup - located at Jalan Bukit Merah ABC Brickworks Market and Maxwell Food Centre.
When asked what prompted her to go into this line of work, the graduate from the Singapore Management University said she wants to be an entrepreneur like her father Boyd Au.
Mr Au, 57, was the founder and chairman of electronic components distributor Enzer, which was listed on the Singapore Exchange in 2001. He divested of his stake in Enzer last year and is now attending a bible school.
To stand out from the competitors, Ms Au's stalls offer fish that is air-flown from India and a Cantonese-style fish soup that is derived from a secret family recipe.
'Our differentiation is in the soup, which has 12 ingredients and which we brew for a few hours at the same time while painstakingly monitoring the strength of the fire. This is to ensure that the essence of the ingredients is fully drawn out,' she said.
Four workers man her stalls and she divides her time between the two locations. But Ms Au, who has a Bachelor of Business Management in Marketing, is not content to stop at two. She aims to have 15 stalls around Singapore by opening two new ones every year, if she can find the right locations.
And she harbours a dream of venturing into franchising and opening other food outlets like cafes.
Prior to her business venture, she was earning more than $2,000 as a marketing executive at local firm L.D. Waxson, which markets beauty-care products such as Bioessence and Ginvera. Before that, she was a customer service associate at French firm Louis Vuitton.
Q: What do you like about being your own boss?
The most important part is that I will not complain no matter how much hard work I put in because I see the effort come to fruition.
The stalls open from 10.30am to as late as 9pm. I am up by 7.30am to prepare the secret recipe (fish soup) and I do not go to bed till 2am. My work includes food preparation, cooking, purchasing, marketing and serving customers.
I also like the autonomy. For instance, I set my own costs and implement my own creative ideas. From the start, I was determined to run my business professionally the way a corporate company would be run. We chart our results and we even have a database of our clients through our loyalty programme.
I set up my business with the intention of making it big. My aspiration is for it to grow and be the name in fish soup in Singapore.
Q: Are you making more money now than when you were an employee?
Not yet, as the company is at the initial stage of building up the business.
Q: What are your money habits?
I learnt the value of money when I started working, so now I do not spend a lot except on the occasional trip, food and attending plays and musicals. I save about half my income. Whatever I save is for the expansion of the business.
Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?
I have a balanced portfolio including life and hospitalisation insurance, and investments in unit trusts and shares such as SGX, Keppel Corp and KS Energy.
I started investing in shares when I was 18 or 19, and I like stable firms that pay out good dividends consistently. Now I am waiting for the market to correct some more, when things get really bad. That is when you see empty taxis and banks cutting headcount.
I also parked some money in gold at below US$700 per ounce earlier this year. Gold is a good place to park money in when times are uncertain. I used to invest in the Aberdeen Pacific Equity fund. Now I have two Indian unit trusts. Last year, I made 150 per cent returns from my Indian funds.
Q: Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?
When we were young, my parents taught me and my younger brother, now 15, the importance of spending within our budget. My mum's simple advice was: 'If you earn $1 and spend $1.10, you will end up in debt one day.'
We lived in a three-room flat in Everton Park. I used to stay with a nanny next door and return home only on weekends.
Dad started Enzer in 1984 when I was two. Mum worked at DHL as its marketing vice-president till her retirement early this year. She is now my adviser in my business.
Q: How did you get interested in investing and being an entrepreneur?
From a very young age, I was exposed to investment and business jargon such as 'marketing is everything' and strategies from my parents' discussions during dinners and from the backseat of the family car.
Q: What has been a bad investment?
I bought a global equity unit trust shortly before the terrorist attacks on Sept 11, 2001. Its value nosedived about 70 per cent within days but I was fortunate that I could hold on to it and did not lose money when I finally sold it last year.
It was not a bad investment per se but rather a question of bad timing which was unforeseen.
Q: Your best investment to date?
It would be my business because I can reap what I sow.
Q: What's your retirement plan?
I am only 26 and retiring is very far from my mind. But one thing is for sure: I plan to continue to be involved in giving back to society. My business enables me to carry out God's work by blessing the needy.
For instance, I work with the Community Development Council and other charitable organisations such as the Yong En Care Centre in Chinatown to provide complimentary King's Fish Soup food vouchers to those in need.
I also volunteer my time with the organisation Food From The Heart. Once a week, I pick up unsold bread from a bakery and deliver it to an old folks' home.
Q: And your home now is...?
I live with my parents in a two-storey landed property near Holland Road. We moved out of the Everton Park flat years ago and lived in a number of places before moving here 12 years ago.
Q: And your car is...?
A dark grey Toyota Rav 4 SUV which doubles up nicely as my delivery van. [email protected]
me & my money
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Marketing grad's aim: To be a big fish
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Claire Au has opened two fish soup stalls in a year and that's for starters </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Lorna Tan, Finance Correspondent
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Ms Claire Au wants to be an entrepreneur like her father Boyd Au, the founder of electronic components distributor Enzer (next picture). -- ST PHOTO: LIM WUI LIANG
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->
Last year, business degree holder Claire Au, 26, hung up her power suits and opted for a sweaty job with long hours selling fish soup.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Spending within limits
'When we were young, my parents taught me and my younger brother, now 15, the importance of spending within our budget. My mum's simple advice was: 'If you earn $1 and spend $1.10, you will end up in debt one day.' ' - MS AU, on the advice her mum gave her when she was young
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>With $30,000 of combined savings, she set up 7Fish Pte Ltd with her mother Lisa Lee, 51.
She opened her first stall in June last year. Now, she has two stalls - both called King's Fish Soup - located at Jalan Bukit Merah ABC Brickworks Market and Maxwell Food Centre.
When asked what prompted her to go into this line of work, the graduate from the Singapore Management University said she wants to be an entrepreneur like her father Boyd Au.
Mr Au, 57, was the founder and chairman of electronic components distributor Enzer, which was listed on the Singapore Exchange in 2001. He divested of his stake in Enzer last year and is now attending a bible school.
To stand out from the competitors, Ms Au's stalls offer fish that is air-flown from India and a Cantonese-style fish soup that is derived from a secret family recipe.
'Our differentiation is in the soup, which has 12 ingredients and which we brew for a few hours at the same time while painstakingly monitoring the strength of the fire. This is to ensure that the essence of the ingredients is fully drawn out,' she said.
Four workers man her stalls and she divides her time between the two locations. But Ms Au, who has a Bachelor of Business Management in Marketing, is not content to stop at two. She aims to have 15 stalls around Singapore by opening two new ones every year, if she can find the right locations.
And she harbours a dream of venturing into franchising and opening other food outlets like cafes.
Prior to her business venture, she was earning more than $2,000 as a marketing executive at local firm L.D. Waxson, which markets beauty-care products such as Bioessence and Ginvera. Before that, she was a customer service associate at French firm Louis Vuitton.
Q: What do you like about being your own boss?
The most important part is that I will not complain no matter how much hard work I put in because I see the effort come to fruition.
The stalls open from 10.30am to as late as 9pm. I am up by 7.30am to prepare the secret recipe (fish soup) and I do not go to bed till 2am. My work includes food preparation, cooking, purchasing, marketing and serving customers.
I also like the autonomy. For instance, I set my own costs and implement my own creative ideas. From the start, I was determined to run my business professionally the way a corporate company would be run. We chart our results and we even have a database of our clients through our loyalty programme.
I set up my business with the intention of making it big. My aspiration is for it to grow and be the name in fish soup in Singapore.
Q: Are you making more money now than when you were an employee?
Not yet, as the company is at the initial stage of building up the business.
Q: What are your money habits?
I learnt the value of money when I started working, so now I do not spend a lot except on the occasional trip, food and attending plays and musicals. I save about half my income. Whatever I save is for the expansion of the business.
Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?
I have a balanced portfolio including life and hospitalisation insurance, and investments in unit trusts and shares such as SGX, Keppel Corp and KS Energy.
I started investing in shares when I was 18 or 19, and I like stable firms that pay out good dividends consistently. Now I am waiting for the market to correct some more, when things get really bad. That is when you see empty taxis and banks cutting headcount.
I also parked some money in gold at below US$700 per ounce earlier this year. Gold is a good place to park money in when times are uncertain. I used to invest in the Aberdeen Pacific Equity fund. Now I have two Indian unit trusts. Last year, I made 150 per cent returns from my Indian funds.
Q: Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?
When we were young, my parents taught me and my younger brother, now 15, the importance of spending within our budget. My mum's simple advice was: 'If you earn $1 and spend $1.10, you will end up in debt one day.'
We lived in a three-room flat in Everton Park. I used to stay with a nanny next door and return home only on weekends.
Dad started Enzer in 1984 when I was two. Mum worked at DHL as its marketing vice-president till her retirement early this year. She is now my adviser in my business.
Q: How did you get interested in investing and being an entrepreneur?
From a very young age, I was exposed to investment and business jargon such as 'marketing is everything' and strategies from my parents' discussions during dinners and from the backseat of the family car.
Q: What has been a bad investment?
I bought a global equity unit trust shortly before the terrorist attacks on Sept 11, 2001. Its value nosedived about 70 per cent within days but I was fortunate that I could hold on to it and did not lose money when I finally sold it last year.
It was not a bad investment per se but rather a question of bad timing which was unforeseen.
Q: Your best investment to date?
It would be my business because I can reap what I sow.
Q: What's your retirement plan?
I am only 26 and retiring is very far from my mind. But one thing is for sure: I plan to continue to be involved in giving back to society. My business enables me to carry out God's work by blessing the needy.
For instance, I work with the Community Development Council and other charitable organisations such as the Yong En Care Centre in Chinatown to provide complimentary King's Fish Soup food vouchers to those in need.
I also volunteer my time with the organisation Food From The Heart. Once a week, I pick up unsold bread from a bakery and deliver it to an old folks' home.
Q: And your home now is...?
I live with my parents in a two-storey landed property near Holland Road. We moved out of the Everton Park flat years ago and lived in a number of places before moving here 12 years ago.
Q: And your car is...?
A dark grey Toyota Rav 4 SUV which doubles up nicely as my delivery van. [email protected]
