The Passion and Energy of Youth
October 2009
Banner photo: [Sanna Lindberg/Getty Images]
Young Entrepreneurs
Yow Siow Kooi, 32, from Kedah, Malaysia, has run a stationery wholesale business for the past 10 years, employing five people. She supplies schools and government departments.
Rajan Handa, 33, is from New Delhi, India. For the past nine years he has run a business importing and selling state-of-the-art high-tech ambulances and special utility vehicles, and has recently added a health and emergency management solution software developing company.
What are the most enjoyable aspects of your work, and what are the most challenging?
Rajan Handa: I truly love my work, and I'm passionate about achieving the targets I set for myself each day. Through my job, I get to interact with people who are leaders in their field, even meeting heads of state, and that gives me immense professional gratification. I also get to travel to different countries and interact with people of diverse business cultures; this is a huge learning experience for me. Having said that, I face numerous challenges, like back-to-back travel within and outside my country. I am perpetually on the move and get very little time to spend in one place.
Yow Siow Kooi: I enjoy continuing to learn new things, learning the process of building a business, developing the skills of dialogue, developing faith in myself and my actions. The recent economic downturn has been a challenge. Other challenging aspects for me are maintaining good communication and relationships with customers, which includes solving conflicts, and managing my time.
What elements of Buddhist philosophy are most useful to you in your day-to-day work?
RH: I like to build bridges between people; I strive to be ethical, hardworking and driven by my passion and not money. I like to dream big and then go about finding ways to make my dreams come true, and to grow as a human being first and then as an entrepreneur. I have no competitors, as I only compete with myself. My aspiration is to bring recognition to my mentor SGI President Ikeda through my work.
YSK: I attribute my success to my practice of Buddhism. I believe in the principle of "turning poison into medicine"--that no matter how bad the circumstances, they can be transformed into benefit and happiness. Whenever problems occur, I try to persist single-mindedly until I overcome them. This is my philosophy of victory. I try to continue to learn new things and be versatile. The spirit of hard work and the ability to adapt to change are important, and whether it is a staff member or a customer, we need to treat each other sincerely. I always bear in mind SGI President Ikeda's guidance that it is not people's circumstances that make them unfortunate, but their pessimism and loss of hope.
Why did you decide to start your own business?
YSK: I lost my father when I was young, and my mother had to raise me and my elder sister by sewing clothes. Because of our poverty, I made a deep determination to change the financial circumstances of my family. With the assistance of friends, I began operating a wholesale stationery supply business. I lacked experience, but luckily I met with a stationery wholesaler who advised me to start a wholesale business for schools.
RH: When I was 18, I left home feeling very angry and dejected. Three years later I was hopeless and penniless and broken down. My mother introduced me to the philosophy of Nichiren Buddhism, and soon after that, I decided to venture out as a businessman.
To begin with, it was a huge learning curve. I had no working capital, no experience and, being young, no one took me seriously. Through my Buddhist practice and reading President Ikeda's writings, I realized the need to create my own niche and stand on my own feet no matter what. I made lots of mistakes and paid very heavily for them by running into debt, but I continued to persevere based on the Buddhist principle of "faith equals daily life."
How do you see the mission of entrepreneurs in society?
YSK: Entrepreneurs must be able to benefit the consumers, for example, by selling products at affordable prices. Fostering employees to become capable people and expanding the network of friendship with business partners are also important.
RH: I see entrepreneurs as possessing the ability to take calculated risks, thereby creating organizations for the benefit of human beings at large. Building an organization which can contribute to the growth of its employees by fostering security and happiness in their lives--whereby the employees can genuinely contribute to the company's growth--is perhaps the mission of an entrepreneur, in my view. However, the recent economic meltdown has shown how organizations have used their employees as expendable resources, as a means to an end. In fact, my mission is to create a robust organization steeped in the fundamentals of world peace. As an entrepreneur, I am determined to contribute to society by all means.
What challenges have you encountered as a young entrepreneur?
RH: Being young in my field is in itself a huge challenge, as youth is synonymous with inexperience. Countering that stereotype is a big struggle, so I have to constantly work my way uphill and gradually make a name for myself. Operational challenges are lack of working capital and commercial work space, managing and inspiring my employees and, most of all, managing time between family and work.
Once I dream of a project I like to implement it, and during that process I face many hurdles. This learning process helps me confront my inefficiencies and as a result I grow. This is what success means for me.
YSK: At one time, due to a lack of experience, my business was destroyed. I tried to keep going with a "never give up" spirit and prayed that I could create value in society through my career. As a result of this mind-set, things shifted. I met a food supplier who persuaded me to make a new attempt by supplying food as well as stationery to schools. It was an unusual idea, but unexpectedly successful; and I became the sole authorized agent in northern Malaysia. This gave me confidence to venture into the stationery industry again, and I learned how to stand firm in the market.
I realized later that this problem helped me develop myself as well as my business. I learned the value of having a challenging spirit in the face of my problems, and of tackling first simple goals then bigger ones.
What kind of advice can you give to youth who are interested in starting their own business?
YSK: I would advise people to win the trust of customers through being sincere, tolerant and confident, and to have courage and persevere. I think it is important to see that whatever we gain today is due to people and society, and so we must repay that debt of gratitude to people.
Start from what interests you, and as long as you feel that what you do is right, then you should advance courageously. The more obstacles you encounter, the more you need to tackle them with courage. You must do better than your best in everything, learn whatever you are able to, develop your abilities in problem solving and understand market demand well.
RH: Be ethical, keep commitments. There are no short cuts to hard work. Choose something you are passionate about and persevere. Be prudent, but don't forget to dream big, and be sincere to your customers. I learned all of this through Daisaku Ikeda's encouragement.
