UTAR Institute of Chinese Studies’ (ICS) Academic Development and Undergraduate Programmes Deputy Dean-cum-I Culture Berhad (I Culture) Advisor Assoc Prof Dr Wong Wun Bin was invited to be one of the speakers for the Wen Qi Xue Tang (文企学堂) online talk series to present a talk titled “From Education to Enterprise: The Path of My Life since the Establishment of the I Culture” (从文到商：自从发起文化理想企业之后的人生道路) on 22 May 2020 via Zoom.

The talk was co-organised by I Culture Kampar and UTAR Department of Soft Skills Competency (DSSC) of Sungai Long Campus. It was attended by UTAR staff, students and the public.

Dr Wong started his sharing session by introducing himself and sharing his background. He started his teaching career at UTAR in 2004 and majored teaching and research in Malaysian Chinese Studies and the history of Chinese thought.

Speaking of the changes in merchants’ status since the ancient time, Dr Wong explained, “The descending order of social prestige in ancient China goes by scholars, farmers, artisans and finally merchants (士农工商). However, the status of merchants was greatly promoted during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Many scholars were involved in business activities during the two dynasties. More importantly, the development of the Malaysian Chinese community is said to be largely supported by businessmen, especially in the early days; they invested money in running schools, building hospitals, clan association and many more efforts for the benefit of the Chinese community and the country.”

“As an educator, I had not expected to start my own business before this. However, I have always believed that one has to create value for society and humans. Hence, I started my journey as an entrepreneur. At the same time, I also believed that culture holds the power to ethnic survival and creation and can be transformed into a new economy,” Dr Wong said.

I Culture was established in August 2019 by Dr Wong and his partners. He said, “I Culture is an enterprise that aims to utilise the history and culture of old towns to boost tourism activity and encourage local economic development. We wish to transform the history and cultural elements into enterprise activity and provide more job opportunities for people who like history and culture. Besides that, we have a dream to develop I Culture into an enterprise that can be passed on to the next generation as wealth.” He mentioned, “We will be based in Kampar. This is because Kampar is a town with many old streets and has the potential to revive itself. Same goes to the other towns in the Kinta Valley, many old streets that can be revitalised and transformed.”

Furthermore, he introduced the overview of I Culture’s development and said, “We have carried out various kinds of business with themes such as Tin Road Treasure and Cafe Sdn Bhd, Tin Road Hakka Restaurant, Tin Road Travel Sdn Bhd and many more. For example, the Tin Road Hakka Restaurant that is located nearby a few Hakka clan associations in Old Town not only aims to promote Hakka cuisine but also hopes to forge it to become a Hakka cultural promotion centre; the Tin Road Travel Sdn Bhd will focus on promoting localised tourism experience, including orchard visit, experiential education, new villages visit, local historical and natural landscape tour, temple historical tour and old streets guided tour.”

He also shared the changes he experienced after starting his journey as an entrepreneur, “I personally feel that doing business is more complicated than teaching. As a novice in business, I had to learn all kinds of new knowledge and skills, and also build thinking skills on profit and cost calculation. I have contributed money and effort when participating in social activities in the past, but running a business is different; business is profit-oriented and it must make money to support the company and employees.”

“I have attended many courses and workshops to learn various business-related experiences and knowledge, such as capital operation, equity financing and many more. Furthermore, I may need to understand how to organise, raise and use the company’s funds since I started to lead the I Culture’s team. I also frequently communicate with the relevant industries such as tourism, fruits and vegetable plantation and others to gain a deeper understanding of those industries which may benefit our business,” he mentioned.

He expressed, “In the past, my educational philosophy was ‘a gentleman must be cautious of speech but swift to act’ (君子欲讷于言而敏于行) and ‘a gentleman must be ashamed to have his words exceed his actions’ (君子耻其言而过其行). But after becoming an entrepreneur, I realised that I may need to present myself to the public and praise my own wares. From there, I learnt tolerance and negotiation skills and learnt to downplay myself through communication and cooperation with others. Most importantly, no matter how challenging the process is, we must always do our best to believe in our own plans and beliefs, move forward bravely, and never shrink.” “Let us work together to create a unique platform for cultural enterprise in Malaysia,” he concluded.

During the Q&A session, Dr Wong exchanged with participants topics related to the development of Kampar’s businesses, local residents' views on I Culture, the historical and cultural development, parents’ attitudes towards young people’s participation in the field of history and culture, entrepreneurship and others.