From Lau Pa Sat stall to 34 outlets in 4 countries

From Lau Pa Sat stall to 34 outlets in 4 countries 
Riding on the success of their V-Kool window film business, these two partners bought over Pastamania and took brand into Asia and Middle East

By Leong Chan Teik 

BY THE age of 35, Colonel (NS) Wee Hian Woon had worked for 15 years in the Ministry of Defence and wanted to embark on something different, such as starting a business. 

His mother told him bluntly: 'You would be silly to quit - you have a good income and a degree from the United Kingdom.' 

The senior officer also had two children aged seven and 10 then and he was the sole breadwinner in his family. 

Tough start 

AFTER some agonising, he took the plunge in 1990 - and promptly found out how tough it was to turn in a profit when he started selling corporate gifts such as diaries and T-shirts, and timber products. 

However, he had prepared himself to stay the course - by accumulating enough savings to even pay off the mortgage on his flat in Normanton Park. 

For a car, he bought cheap - a 15-year-old Mitsubishi Lancer 

which took the place of the Mazda 626 provided by his employer. 

'In the first few years, we didn't have overseas holidays and our meals were home-cooked,' he says. 'I discovered a truth: People can survive on little, if they cut back on big expenses.' 

Those tough early days of starting a business are over: Mr Wee is now comfortably in the driver's seat of his two main businesses - V-Kool, the solar film for car windows, and Pastamania, the popular Italian restaurant chain. 

Mr Wee and his partner, Mr Andrew Kwan, won the Asme-Rotary Entrepreneurs of the Year award in 2004. 

Mr Kwan was a 24-year-old executive in a property development company when he left to take over his father's flailing window-film business 16 years ago. 

To ensure he could ride out any rough patch, he and his wife, Lily, agreed that she would stay put in her job as a secondary school teacher, juggling work with raising a family. 

'We had an agreement on that, so that if the worst came to the worst, we wouldn't have to eat grass!' recalls Mr Kwan, 40, with a chuckle. 

A few years ago, as Mr Kwan's business expanded, his wife resigned from her job to devote herself to bringing up their three children, now aged six, 10 and 12. 

The turning point in the two men's business fortunes came in 1993 with a knock on their door from an American salesman marketing an innovative product - transparent film that reflected most of the heat from sunlight. 

Mr Wee and Mr Kwan, by then business partners, seized the business opportunity, and were appointed the distributor for Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. 

They came up with the name for the product: V-Kool. 

From the second year, V-Kool became profitable with sales exceeding $1 million. 

Within five years, Southwall Technologies, the Nasdaq-listed inventor of V-Kool, awarded global rights to Globamatrix, the company set up by Mr Wee and Mr Kwan. 

V-Kool has helped to cool more than 16 million vehicles worldwide in the last 13 years, they say. 

In 2000, American magazine Popular Science named V-Kool among the top 100 inventions of the millennium. 

Pasta frenzy 

ONE day, Mr Wee and Mr Kwan heard of an Italian business being put up for sale, and made some inquiries. 

Shortly after, in 2002, they paid $1.5 million for Pastamania. 

At that time, Pastamania was just breaking even with two stalls in foodcourts in Scotts Road and Lau Pa Sat. 

Mr Wee and Mr Kwan envisioned a chain of restaurants and the branding for it. 

They opted for very strong colours for the brand logo and decor to appeal mainly to a younger crowd. 

Pastamania succeeded from day one. 

'At Causeway Point, our first restaurant ran out of pasta in the evening on the first day. 

'We didn't expect the response to be so good,' says Mr Wee. 

With their experience in franchising V-Kool, Mr Wee and Mr Kwan expanded Pastamania to 16 outlets in places from Tampines Mall to Suntec City. 

Globamatrix's annual sales - including Pastamania, V-Kool and its in-house variations for different segments of the car market - have reached about $50 million, yielding a net profit of about $5 million. 

Globamatrix now does business in 30 countries. This achievement is set to be surpassed as Pastamania will start operations in Malaysia this year, adding to its network of 34 outlets in Singapore, Indonesia, Kuwait and Dubai. 

Mr Kwan reminisces: 'When we started we didn't have any grand plan. We lived just one day at a time.' 

Adds Mr Wee, sitting comfortably in the boardroom on the top floor of Globamatrix's six-storey office in Bukit Merah: 'Now we can talk about strategy and growth. Previously, it was: 'Where's the next sale coming from?' ' 

And his mother? 

'She died last year. She didn't compliment freely but I knew that she was proud of my achievements,' says Mr Wee. 

chanteik@sph.com.sg 

Source taken from here