Businessman used to guard eggs in a coop

		Tue, Jan 12, 2010 The Straits Times
By Lorna Tan, Senior Correspondent Entrepreneur Boyd Au could easily have retired in 2007 when he pocketed a few million dollars from selling off his 60 per cent shareholding in his business. But he did not. In fact, he is busier now than before. Prior to cashing out, he was chairman and founder of Enzer Corp, a Singapore-listed distributor of electronic components. In 2008, he set up an investment and training firm, 7 Notes Capital, with $200,000. It conducts entrepreneurship programmes under the brand name Revelations for aspiring business owners. He also coaches and mentors chief executives of small and medium-sized enterprises on how to grow their businesses. 'I am equally passionate about being an entrepreneur as well as training and coaching. After 26 years of successful entrepreneurship, having founded and listed the company Enzer, with sales turnover of around $80 million, I am even more equipped to train and coach,' he said. A student of the school of hard knocks, Mr Au, 58, spent six years, between the ages of six and 12, at the Singapore Salvation Army Children's Home. It was there that he promised himself that he would make good in life. His first job after finishing his O levels at Chip Bee Secondary (now Buona Vista Secondary) was as an assistant at an electrical goods outlet in Tiong Bahru market. After his national service, he joined National Semiconductor in 1971 where he worked as a technician and later as its training manager. He left in 1982 to join Multi-Corporation, which was a subsidiary of Indonesian heavy machinery firm PT Astra, for a year. In 1984, he founded Enzer with a partner. In 1996, he obtained an MBA from Britain's University of Hull. Mr Au was awarded Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Britain in 2004. He is married to Ms Lisa Lee, 52, and they have a daughter Claire, 27, and a son Joshua, 16. His wife retired from DHL Exel in 2008 as its vice-president in marketing, and is currently a director and shareholder at 7 Notes. Q Are you a spender or saver? I am a careful spender. Hence, if you see any expensive shirts on me, they were bought by my wife. I would rather spend on necessities and invest in stocks, companies and God's kingdom. Because of my tough childhood, I still think very hard before I buy anything. In the past, I saved 25 per cent to 30 per cent of my salary. Q How much do you charge to your credit cards every month? I charge less than $80,000 a year. I have three cards and I pay the bills promptly each month. Most of my expenses are charged to my cards. I don't own an ATM card and don't know how to use one. My wife just learnt to use one and has been telling me it's useful. I get cash from the bank once a month. Q What financial planning have you done for yourself? I have approximately 30 per cent invested in private equities, which are of local and overseas firms, mainly in the education and food businesses. I look for firms with good cash flow, strong management and I expect a return of at least 15 per cent. Another 25 per cent is invested in a stock portfolio which my daughter Claire, who runs her own King's Fish Soup business, is monitoring. Currently, I have Golden Agri, Bio-Treat, Sinotel and Mercator. About 35 per cent is in cash and the balance of 10 per cent is in insurance, mainly health policies. Q Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like? My parents separated when I was four. My mother, who was a cook in a rubber plantation, could not support my older sister and me. When I was six, she sent me to the Salvation Army Children's Home, before she went with my older sister to Malaysia where she worked on the rubber plantation. She wanted me to have an education. As they also could not afford to pay the monthly $20 maintenance fee at the home, they did not visit me for the following six years. When I was eight, while sitting in the home's chicken coop to guard the eggs, I told myself I would be successful one day and would not lack in means. When I was 12, my mother sent enough money for my aunt to take me into the latter's attap house in Tiong Bahru. Q How did you get interested in investing? My first investment was in my business and as I went along, I believed in investing in myself, that is, in training and self-development. Learning never stops. When I networked with business associates in the course of my business, I started investing in firms. Q What property do you own? I own a two-storey, 9,000 sq ft bungalow in Bukit Timah, with a built-up area of 5,000 sq ft. I do not wish to disclose the exact purchase price, but it was bought in 1996 at a lower price than the current $900 per sq ft. Prior to the bungalow, I owned a 5,600 sq ft semi-detached house in Bukit Timah. It had a built-up area of 4,500 sq ft. I bought it in 1994 in excess of $900,000 and sold it in 1996 for $3.1 million. Q What's the most extravagant thing you have bought? It's a Franck Muller watch which cost over $50,000. I bought it in 1999 and I am a slave to it as I have to wind it every day. Besides, it's not a watch for daily use, so I don't get much mileage out of it. Q What's your retirement plan? Retirement? I've never thought of retiring. But I knew that I would want to be involved in training entrepreneurs when I decided to leave my first business, something that I'm doing now. When my son is independent - he has just completed his O levels at Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) - I believe I would need $150,000 to $200,000 a year for Lisa and me. We keep our lives simple and we eat wherever food is good, including at hawker stalls. Both of us will continue to be involved in Christian missionary work. Q Home is now... The house in Bukit Timah. Q I drive... A black BMW 523. [e-mail] My resolve When I was eight, while sitting in the home's chicken coop to guard the eggs, I told myself I would be successful one day and would not lack in means. ENTREPRENEUR BOYD AU, on the promise he made to himself at the Salvation Army home where his single mother put him as she could not afford to bring him up  WORST AND BEST BETS Q My worst investment to date... In 1998, I decided to invest in wireless products when I was executive chairman of Enzer. It resulted in Enzer opening a retail outlet dealing with mobile phones in Thailand. Unfortunately, we didn't know the business well and in 2001, the company wrote off a loss of $500,000. The lesson learnt is that if you do not have domain knowledge and a strong team, it's better to wait and not jump in. Q My best investment to date... It was in building up Enzer, which sold electronic products in over 25 countries, and listing the company on the Singapore Exchange in 2001. It provided me with 23 years of rich and invaluable experiences. In 1984, I founded Enzer with $5,000 with a partner who also invested $5,000. I had no intention of selling my shares but did so in July 2007 after God's prompting to spend more time doing his work. My best investment is also in the time and money channelled into building God's kingdom. I believe in tithing and 10 per cent of what I earn goes to my church monthly. When I got about $3 million to $4 million from the sale of my Enzer shares in 2007, 10 per cent of that went to my church. This article was first published in The Straits Times.