The Entrepreneurial Leadership Series brewed up an insightful talk on entrepreneurship and leadership on 1 March 2024 at the Grand Kampar Hotel. The talk was organised and sponsored by Great Eastern Life Assurance (M) Berhad, in collaboration with UTAR’s Faculty of Business and Finance (FBF) and Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT).

With the aim to inspire and cultivate leadership and entrepreneurship, provide invaluable insights on leadership and entrepreneurship, and provide opportunities for networking with like-minded peers and industry leaders, the talk also substantiated the partnership between UTAR and Great Eastern Life Assurance (M) Berhad, which was established with an MoU, signed in December 2023.

Co-Founder and Head of Barista of ZUS COFFEE, Mr Terrence Ho, was the first invited speaker, who enlightened more than 200 participants on his experience in making ZUS COFFEE a success. He shared that his endeavour taught him some important key life lessons, including loving the things one does. This point was elucidated as he spoke about his passion for becoming a barista and the joy of having to be surrounded by colleagues who are like his second family.

He also emphasised the importance of remaining optimistic and for the need to constantly grow, because entrepreneurship is an uphill battle, which requires one to constantly try and innovate. On overcoming this challenge, he pointed out the need to leverage on one’s current skills, people, and experience to realise the opportunities presented.

“It starts from you. If you want to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, then you need to bear in mind these questions: (1) Do you love what you are doing? (2) Is there a bigger picture? (3) What is your identity? And (4) What is your channel? The people whom you work with are also important because, in a business, it is a team marathon,” said Mr Ho. 

Mindful that competition is common in entrepreneurship, Mr Ho advised participants to pivot or position themselves, but yet remain humble. He explained, “There will always be competition, so you don’t always have to be the best, and that is alright. There will always be someone better than you and me, so we should not be proud of the successes we achieved, so stay humble. With all that we have achieved, let us remind ourselves to be grateful, and to always bear a heart of gratitude.”

Participants also learnt from Mr Ho that success is a combination of effort, choice, and realised opportunities. He illuminated, “When you want to achieve your goals, you need to manifest that; meaning to say, express it out because, with the law of attraction, you will attract the people who share the same goals with you, and who are willing to work with you on achieving these goals.” He then ended his talk by reminding participants to love and respect oneself, including taking breaks from a hard day’s work, and to look after oneself.

Another glimpse into successful entrepreneurship was granted by the second invited speaker, Ms Margaret Foo Ying Pan, who is the founder of Younity Consultancy. Her testimonial sharing debunked many misconceptions that the public held towards the insurance industry. As an insurance agent with more than 20 years of experience, she joyfully enlightened the participants on the potential of establishing a career in insurance. Some of the potentials that were made aware to the participants were high earning, not affected by the economy, giving a win-win situation and having a massive market and autonomy.

Present in support of the event were FBF academics, namely Dean Assoc Prof Dr Au Yong Hui Nee, Deputy Dean for Student Development and Industrial Training Dr Kuah Yoke Chin, Department of Marketing Head Dr Choy Johnn Yee, and Department of Entrepreneurship and Supply Chain Management Head Dr Ng Yin Kuan, Department of Finance Head Dr Lee Chee Loong, along with staff.