From street smarts to business smarts

Boss of interior design company was already hawking wares at age seven.

Sat, May 08, 2010
The Straits Times

By Lorna Tan

Mr Wilson Teh, chairman of interior design firm Rezt & Relax Mobili, has his mother to thank for his business smarts.

When he was seven, his father died of kidney failure and a brain haemorrhage, leaving his mother, who was washing laundry for households, to provide for four young children.

The income from her job was not enough, so she switched to selling costume jewellery.

She began hawking it in Orchard Road, and every day after school, the seven-year-old Wilson would travel from his school in Bedok to help her.

By the time he was 10, she trusted him enough to let him run his own 'stall' outside Centrepoint.

Mr Teh, 35, said she also got a few friends to run their own roadside 'stalls' in two other areas. She earned income from them since she was the middleman supplying the goods.

Today, he adopts the same concept when running his business. His employees know that if they work hard and are keen to run their own businesses after a few years, they will get his support to do so.

He even takes equity stakes in their firms. So far, four employees have opted to go that route, and Mr Teh is now a significant shareholder and director in their firms.

He studied at the former Vocational and Industrial Training Board where he did precision machining and obtained a National Trade Certificate Grade 2 in 1990.

After his national service, he worked as a door-to-door salesman for five years, selling skin-care products.

He then joined a local interior design firm for two years before venturing out with a colleague, Mr John Foo, to run their own interior design business in 2000.

Mr Teh is married to housewife Ma Li Li, 38, and they have four children: Jovan, 10; Vicki, six; Sarah, four; and Macy, two.

Q: Are you a spender or saver?

I'm both a spender and a saver. I spend about 40 per cent of my income, save another 40 per cent in fixed deposits for future investments, and invest the other 20 per cent in firms.

Q: How much do you charge to your credit cards every month?

I have two credit cards. My monthly credit card bill comes up to $1,000 and I withdraw $2,000 from the ATM once a month.

Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?

My investment portfolio includes my businesses, land banking, insurance and savings.

In 2007, I invested about $60,000 in three lots of land in Canada through Walton International. The investment period is three to four years.

I have six insurance plans comprising investment-linked, whole life, endowment and a medical plan. I have a life cover of $300,000 and a maturity benefit of $200,000 when I reach 65. My annual premium is nearly $10,000.

Q: Money-wise, what were your growing-up years like?

I come from a family of six and I was the third child.

My father died when I was seven. He was 46. My mother, who had only a Primary 2 education, was just 35.

She was doing laundry for households before he died. After his death, the laundry job didn't bring in enough income, so she sold costume jewellery like earrings, necklaces and bracelets illegally at a pedestrian bridge in Orchard Road.

When I was young, we lived in a rented one-room flat but we moved to a three-room flat in the Bedok Reservoir area when I was 10. Mum rented one room out while the family crammed into the other room.

I learnt from her that to do well, one has to venture out, take risks and look for opportunities. I learnt from her enterprising spirit.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

When I had some surplus from my businesses in 2006 and 2007, I started to look at how else I could invest my money and make it work harder. I also read about the importance of investing and picked up tips from newspapers.

Q: What property do you own?

A four-storey 3,500 sq ft cluster house in Yishun bought for $1.25 million in October last year. It is currently worth $1.4 million. I plan to buy more residential properties for investments in the near future.

Q: What's the most extravagant thing you have bought?

A Panerai watch that I bought in Bangkok for $9,000 when I was on a family vacation in 2007. I wear it to work daily. I had wanted the watch for a long time before I finally bought it.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

My wife and I would need $5,000 a month when the kids are independent.

Q: Home is now...

My house in Yishun.

Q: I drive...

A white Volvo S80.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.