Overcoming Obstacles For Start-ups


Mr Welson Ang, Group Executive Officer of ExpressPrint Pte Ltd started his entrepreneurship journey in late 2004.  Welson expressed that he felt quite disappointed with the society when he was searching for a full-time job after he had completed his bond with the Singapore Navy. 

“With no related working experiences, no company is even willing to offer me a job and give me a chance” he claimed.  Hence, he decided to start a company and venture into business.     

While Welson pondered about the nature of his business, he related the basic needs of meeting people and networking into his business plan.  He realised that it was important to have a good and unique business card which would leaves an impression on people.  Every business required a business card.  In Jan 2005, Welson started his company “ExpressPrint” as a sole proprietor focused in printing and designing of business cards.

With no experience in running a business, it was not easy for Welson to be the “boss”. 

Firstly, Welson’s financial situation was very bad when he started out.  He married his wife and had a baby boy with another one due half months later.  He did not have any extra money for the business and still owed $30,000 to the bank.  His starting capital was only $5000 which was all he had in the bank.

With such low capital, where could he rent an office?  Welson humbly approached his relative for a space in an engineering factory located in an industrial park.  Although he was offered the space at no charge, he had to help in the maintenance of the computers in the factory.  Nevertheless, he was still glad that he managed to secure himself an “office” which was less than 60 sq ft, with no company signage.

Next, Welson could not afford to purchase the required materials for his new start-up.  He needed new and powerful computers and the complete license of design software.  Welson had to find alternative ways to solve these problems.  He bought an “OKI” laser printer and brought in his own personal computer from home.  He downloaded the trial versions of the designer software so that he could at least use them temporary and did not have to worry about piracy issues.

Welson is not a designer and knows nothing about design software.  However, nothing stopped him from going into business.  He conducted some surveys in the market and realised that most printing shops used Macromedia software.  He searched for related references in the internet and downloaded the trial version of the software for practice.  He worked very hard and spent most of his weekends in the library reading on books of the software.  He also researched on design concepts by collecting business cards from friends and relatives.

There were, of course, no exact cash for marketing of his business.  Welson had to think of ways to market his business at low cost.  He did door to door sales by himself and also promoted his business services via the internet.  He printed out the price list as pamphlets and gave to the companies in the vicinity. 

 
 

Welson shared when he recalled the problems arising from his young start-up,
	Be it big or small, and problematic, I had faced and resolved it.  At many times, I was required to play different roles; as boss, manager, salesman, delivery man, receptionist etc.  Having faith in oneself is very important.

For more information about ExpressPrint, please visit:  http://www.expressprint.com.sg.