Entrepreneur Information

Name Contact Number Address Nationality Gender Birth Of Date Birth Of Place Age

: Kee Cheng Chooi : 012-4073318 : 1954,Lorong Liku Bakar Bata,05050 Alor Setar Kedah : Malaysian : Male : 25 January 1958 : Alor Setar : 56 Years Old

Identical Card Number : 580125-02-5839 Education Background : Standard one until standard six at Keat Hwa (S)

Description Of The Founded Company

Domica Furniture (M) Sdn. Bhd . (403619-P)

Registered Office : No . 1010-1012,Kompleks Sri Putra, 05150 Alor Setar,Kedah

Principal Place of Business : 12,Jalan Pinang Jaya, 06200 Kepala Batas,Kedah

DOMICA FURNITURE (M) SDN. BHD is a manufacturer and exporter of wood and metal furniture. They have 107 people as workers.This organization offered following products to their customers : 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Single Bed Double Decker Bed Bedroom Set Dining Set Bunk Beds Occasional

DOMICA Furniture Industries Sdn. Bhd. is a local Malaysian manufacturer specialising in metal furniture been established since 1995. Later in 2001, a woodworking department added into factory operation in order to expand and diversify the scope of business. Operating from an initial modest start-up land of 11,958 sq feet, the company now stands on its own 235,000 sq feet of manufacturing space and 4,500 sq feet of permanent showroom area. Company commited to delivering DOMICA products in terms of quality, design and durability. Marketing strategies are based on a long established tradition of providing attractively-priced quality products, timely delivery and backed by a responsible customercare team to valuable customers a touch of exclusivity.

This organizational are fully aware that Customers are the reason we are in business. Their on-going aim is to gain an even more intimate understanding of customers needs, enhance the range of innovative products, improve quality management and uplift productivity. Every task or programme will be carried out in the spirit of DOMICAs values, which revolves around customers' trust, teamwork, integrity, accountability and effectiveness. Quality Achievements Being certified ISO 9001-2000 in January 2004 underlines DOMICA's commitment in maintaining a focused approach towards becoming a truly committed manufacturer and exporter of high quality furniture. Their continuous effort to preserve the DOMICA brand as a hallmark of excellence by virtue of its flexibility, style, practicality and superior quality has earned us:

Best Product in the Bedroom Furniture category in the Malaysia Furniture Export Exhibition in 2001. Golden Bull Award in 2003 for being voted one of the few outstanding Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) entrepreneurs in the country.

Founding Story

Why venture this? Why that particular time? What motivated to make the leap? Mr Kee Cheng Chooi just finished his highest education at Standard Six. At age of thirteen he and few of friends venture in small business. They open up a stall of Ais Kacang. As beginning they encourage to keep the business expand. However later they found that gain RM15 per day as income could not bring them nowhere. Many obstacles come and go in their business. Eventhough put all the effort on that stall,seems the lackness still exist everywhere.. In addition the demand of their product did not have potential to be generated as high class business due to less skill and outdated machine. Somehow the profit was seasonal. People do not keep looking for it everytime. After strive and struggle for years, they determined not to continue the business. They went looking for the job with other company. Variety jobs they do in order to get income which indirectly gave them a lots of experiences and knowledges. There was one day, a friend of Mr Kee suggested to scratch their own business in furniture manufacturing. As they already have enough capital and experience so the knowledge,the decision is determined among them. The decision is not just an empty talk from ambitious person who know nothing. The result came from deeply thinking based on years of expertise in that field. According to Mr Kee,this furniture manufacturing business have bright future. This business was categorized as oligopoly because just few of firms venture in this field. Hence,the chance to gain more profit is wider. Less of competitors contribute to excellence of one company.
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Who helped in the process? Everyone said success do not come alone. Someone will not excel by himself. Someone must be helping him to achieve the dream. Friend indeed is friend in need . Mr Kee is lucky person because have friends from school always by his side through hard and please time who eventually become the partners.

What were the entrepreneurs greatest fears and desires? Main element of business is human. Old saying that it is easy to handle the machines compared to one person. Definitely, rationality was needed to control the people. The entrepreneur admitted not to hire too many labour to reduce the problems. It such a hard task to handle human. Conflict among subordinates either origins from personal issues or regarding about workplace will harm organisations performance. But sometimes supervisor irrelevant behavior also contribute to this dilemma. Society might view capitals,cash flow or technology give huge percentages to failure and triumph of one company. However the fact is vice versa. Human do have play role as main character. The entrepreneur desire to strengthen the relationship between management and subordinates. Shown appreciation by company certainly affect the positive feedback from staff which indirectly good to organizationals goodwill and performance.

The venture succeed Less organization emerge in this field of business. Hence the chance should be grabbed wisely to enlarge the scope. Business will keep its sustainability when doing based on strengthness,weakness,opportunity and threat (SWOT) analysis. Comparative advantage should be fully exploited by company. It is something precious owned by company that others do not have. The profitability will be gained by organization when utilize it efficiently. The company do apply all stated above.

Possible failed Lack knowledge how to handle workforce. Since the company use more labor force compared to machine force,the management have to spread humanism spirit in workplace. Besides,poor financial control has risen from being a nominated cause of business failure Poor strategic management is easily the highest cause of business failure, featuring of all external administrator reports and remaining fairly constant over the past six years. Inadequate cash flow or high cash use also ranks high. Fraud, natural disasters, industry restructuring and disputes among directors barely rated as reasons for business failure. Poor management of accounts receivable also scored much less than expected.
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Effective relationship building skills- two tips Relationships between people can exist in many forms, however, those that are most productive, effective and rewarding operate in a state of inter-dependence. This occurs when the parties involved develop high trust in their relationships. Respect for others sets the environment that allows the parties to interact with each other in a dignified way. Even if the individual people do not have personal friendships with each other, a respect for each others values and beliefs enables conversations to lead to sharing of views and the discovery of opportunities. Shared purpose becomes the will of the relationship. It is their reason for being. The shared purpose may be a simple as the desire for companionship between lonely people or as complex as a commercial venture between business people. Regardless, their shared purpose emerges as the individual motivations of people meld into a central energising force for the relationship. Just as important, whenever a relationship is confronted by obstacles, diversions or conflict that discourage or distract people, a re-focussing on their original purpose for being together can re-energise the relationship to move forward together again. If the shared purpose is strong enough, the relationship will respond appropriately, survive and prosper. If the shared purpose is weak, the relationship will probably flounder and fail. These characteristics not only enable a relationship to grow and deliver outstanding results, but just as importantly, they also prevent a relationship from unravelling under the pressure of turmoil and external influences a vital factor in todays fast-paced and ever-changing world. Strength in a relationship builds in stages

Personal lesson learned by the entrepreneur

Walk and observe According to Mr Kee,at first he know nothing. Since he is not highly educated, keep learning via real experience is the best teacher. Eventhough it is a hard task at beginning but he keep strive to accomplish his ultimate goal. When been asked how could he start interested venture in manufacturing furniture,he simply said it is not based on interest actually. It more on what scope we have to look in to gain profit. Nowadays, interest is not comes first. We have to put priority on how to earn money not blindly just about the interest. Nevertheless if you have met both,it is an immense bonus for yourself. Bear in mind,no matter who you are triumph is belong to struggle person. Strive and put all effort on it without forget about your origin, nothing is impossible. When walk, do not forget to observe surrounding you. Take it as useful knowledge and experience which you will not find it in class.

Most interesting or useful take-always for you from this interview

You Dont Know Everything While you may start to build a business and it actually begins to work, dont think that youve become a superstar and mr. know it all (or mrs.) Im not Mr. know it all. I dont have all the answers my business needs. Feedback is crucial to building a business, which leads to my next lesson. Build a Good Team Around You If you think one person builds a company, youre wrong. A company is built by a team of people. If you want to build a good strong organization, then you need strong players. Think of your company as a sports team. Plan and Strategize Every company needs a game plan to keep moving forward. It must analyze data and really put a plan together so that you, as an entrepreneur can map out and guide yourself with. While of course things change, it creates a picture in your mind and gets you ready for what you need to do. Let the Numbers Guide You But Its Not All About Numbers This is a business. At the end of the day, the numbers have to make sense in order for the company to keep moving forward. I want a healthy bottom line. This is what can determine if you can sell your company, if you can get investors interested in your company or frankly, the numbers can and most likely will determine if you stay in business. Im not a numbers person. I never was and may never be. You have to understand balance sheets & profit and loss statements. You have to understand a lot more than that. Establish Good Relationships / Partnerships Youll learn and understand that without good partners, providers, whatever you want to call them, your business wont reach its full potential. Working with companies (or individuals) who really like working with you, for you can make all the difference in the world.Theres a saying that goes its not what you know but who you know. That may be true, and I think many times it is. But I also think its not just about who you know, but who you meet and what type of relationship you build with them.