SEAD Industries Sdn Bhd founder shares his entrepreneurial journey

The Department of Entrepreneurship and Supply Chain Management, and the Department of Marketing of UTAR Faculty of Business and Finance collaborated with SEAD Industries Sdn Bhd to organise a talk titled “Entrepreneurship, sustainability and innovation: My bamboo journey” on 5 April 2023 through Microsoft Teams. Lucas Loo Ze Xian, the founder and executive director of SEAD Industries Sdn Bhd was invited to deliver the talk.

Lucas Loo at the meeting

Lucas Loo sharing a short video of what he has accomplished

At the start of the talk, Lucas Loo stated, “Venturing into the bamboo business was the toughest decision in my life. I am a person who likes challenge and always puts myself into it.” He also mentioned that the business venture was one of the riskiest moves he has ever made in his life. The only thing that kept him pursuing his business was the “purpose”.

“It all started when I began questioning myself ‘What do I want to do with my life, what is worthwhile to pursue?’,” he stated. He then shared a Japanese formula to achieve happiness known as “Ikigai”. He explained that Ikigai is built on four quadrants. “If you can pull all those four things together then you will achieve happiness,” he said. “Those four things are what you love doing, what you are good at, what the world needs and what can the world pay in return,” he shared.

Lucas Loo mentioned that the bamboo business fulfilled every single part of the quadrants of the Ikigai ffor him. He realised that he loves building things using bamboo structures. Although he wasn’t good at it in the beginning, his passion for the business enabled him to learn quickly and get better at it. Speaking of the third quadrant, he highlighted that the construction industry contributes up to forty per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions that pollute the air, expediting climate change. “Hence, bamboo is the best sustainable solution for it,” he said. Addressing the last quadrant, he said that the whole idea of business is to always start small as an entrepreneur and slowly get better, especially in terms of profits.

He concluded the talk by sharing the pros and cons of utilising bamboo and explained how bamboo is sustainable for the environment.

The talk ended with an interactive and insightful Q&A session.

Group photo

 The poster