Scowling millionaires strike fear into the hearts of aspiring entrepreneurs each week on British TV as they refuse to invest in some crazy business schemes. But CMS Asia Director Chye Ann Soh has been making an even braver bid for success in the Asian business world – following Jesus into the Dragon’s Den.Your palms sweat. Your throat dries. Your mind goes blank.
Suddenly the camera pans out from the bead of sweat on your forehead to reveal five pairs of eyes staring right through you. A couple of them roll towards the ceiling.
It’s a scene familiar to millions of British TV viewers of Dragon’s Den, the popular pitch-a-business show. Each week aspiring entrepreneurs fluff their turnover figures and business projections before a panel of millionaire investors who may or may not invest in them.
But imagine you’re a missionary who wants to start a business in Asia, the region that’s fast becoming the dominant force in world economy.
You’d imagine a few investors might laugh in your face.
“Everyone says to me, ‘Don’t you know how hard it is to start a business,’” says Chye Ann Soh, CMS Asia Director. “Of course I know how hard it is, especially in Asia. But that just makes me think bigger and work harder!”
Some years back, Chye Ann saw the potential for business as a mission enterprise.
“Asians do business, they don’t do charity,” says Chye Ann, a Singaporean Chinese who converted from Buddhism. “It’s our mindset.”
He wanted to find out how that mindset could further his missionary aims – and it led to his own Dragon’s Den moment.
“I met a coffee magnate in Singapore,” he explains. “I asked him to come on board with my idea for a coffee shop business in China – where most people are tea-drinkers which means there’s a huge potential market for coffee!”
Chye Ann believes a business can make a profit and make social, spiritual and environmental impact too. It’s what they call ‘the quadruple bottom line’.
“The coffee businessman just told me he wasn’t interested. He’d made his money and my proposition sounded like hard work.”
It seemed like the latest in a long list of enthusiastic potential investors who bottled when it came to writing the cheque.
Speculate to accumulate… wisdomChye Ann had started small – with a 15 per cent stake in a restaurant business.
He had high hopes – but the restaurant was in a poor location and simply didn’t make enough money.
“But it was doing wonderful mission work. People were coming to faith but as a business it didn’t cut it. And do you know why? It was run by a missionary like me – not a businessman!
“So I knew I needed professionals to run the business. I learned so much from that experience.”
So six months after their first meeting, Chye Ann went back to the Singapore coffee magnate with a business proposition. “I told him, ‘I’m setting up a coffee shop business – will you be my supplier, provide machines and training. How much?’
“That made him stop and listen. Before I was a missionary pastor. Now I’m coming to make a deal.”
The deal was struck but it was the phone call later that evening that left Chye Ann speechless.
The same businessman was ringing to ask if he had found any investors yet. “I want to be your partner.”
He had realised Chye Ann was serious and had been captured by his vision of a profitable business that would recruit those who would not get jobs elsewhere (Chye Ann dreams of employing marginalised deaf people) in a Christian atmosphere that offers people plenty of opportunities to find out why such an unusual business exists.
“Some people still think I’m mad, and I know it will be incredibly hard. But once we are successful, people will be queuing up to invest.”
Don’t forget to diversifyBut Chye Ann is not a man to put all his eggs in one basket. Released half-time by CMS to explore his business ideas, his other main track is in the world of English teaching.
Demand for learning English continues to soar as it is the language of international business. Chye Ann came across a small English school who were charging the equivalent of £20 a month – in that remote rural region a significant sum that only the well-off could afford.
“I gave them an idea – instead of charging £20, why not charge them £2. Then you’ll get 10 poorer students for every one who could pay the original rate.”
The language school could run a successful business by filling its classes with 5–10 year olds from poor families who will benefit from a head start in education.
Now they’re aiming for 3,000 students and a business that will transform local communities while making money. “All I need from CMS is to find me teachers,” says Chye Ann.
And I sense that for everyone who still thinks Chye Ann is mad, they’ll be at least one who gets fired up by his vision – which has at least persuaded one Singapore ‘dragon’.
This is a man who only has big ideas. Will one of them, one day, sweep the largest continent on earth?