FINANCE 49simultaneously work hard to bring their expenses under PRINCIPLE #6control. It is vital to understand that everything linked Construct And Update Your Net Worth Statement.to moving from a state of (seemingly) perpetual debt toone of eventual abiding riches boils down to exercising As you get into the habit of monitoring your cash flowself-discipline in day-to-day spending decisions. It also patterns and your net worth’s evolutionary changes,doesn’t hurt to focus on increasing your mental store you will figure out how to squeeze ever more cash outof knowledge and experience in your career speciality; of your budget to fashion into a killer ‘silver bullet’ aimeddoing so will permit you to earn more money in the years at the heart of your debts. Each month you are ableahead. Money you may then use to improve matters to bring your total debt position down, the more fundsfurther through judicious decisions focused on personal you will have the following month to do the same thingeconomic expansion, not contraction! again... only better! PRINCIPLE #4 PRINCIPLE #7Decide which is more important to you – having As the principal sum on debts is reduced, thesome shiny new toy today or growing super-rich interest charged on the loan drops. This frees uptomorrow. even more cash the following month to step up the battle against debt.As wise people make the decision to declare war ontheir debts, they always figure out ways to spend less. Eventually, all your debts will be eradicated. This willThis aim is usually achieved by establishing a spending free up a great deal of monthly cash flow to aggressivelyplan or budget. flow into savings and investments. PRINCIPLE #5 PRINCIPLE #8Pay attention to your cash flow statement – Don't wait to get out of debt before saving andcomprising cash inflows and cash outflows. investing something each month; but note that you should become much more aggressive on this The month you are able to exciting riches accumulation front as your debts earn more than you spend are beaten into a smaller and smaller pulp! is the month you end up cash flow positive! Once Don’t let the simple wording of these 8 principles fool you get to that stage, it is a you. Reread them, take careful notes, carry out mathematical certainty you will appropriate research, decide u p o n c l e a r steps you start growing richer. This truth will take and watch yourself begin your personal can and should be verified by trek from debt to riches! regularly updating your net I wish you every success on this exciting journey you worth statement – comprising can begin… today! assets and liabilities.Rajen Devadason, CFP, is a Securities Commission-licensed financial planner, professional s p e a k e r a n d a u t h o r .H e i s CEO of corporate mentoring consultancy RD WealthCreation Sdn Bhd, which helps companies increase profitsby teaching their best people how to enhance their personal effectiveness. Many of his articles may be read, and hiselectronic magazine GET BETTER can be subscribed to at no cost, at www.FreeCoolArticles.com Rajen welcomesgenuine potential client queries at: http://rajendevadason.com/contact/ AUGUST 2014 |
THE NON QUITTER MR SUBRAMANIAM KANDASAMY SC SOUTHERN TOURS & TRAVEL SDN BHDThe wise advice of Booker with Mrs Chandra Kuppusamy he attend classes to enrich himself T. Washington “If you want whom stood strong behind her with necessary knowledge about to lift yourself up, lift up man at all time and was blessed industry.someone else,” was recalled by with two beautiful girls. HisMr Subramaniam Kandasamy entrepreneurial journey began in He continued his journey as busthe Founder and Director of SC 1999 while still bachelor however driver upon his return to MalaysiaSouthern Tours & Travel Sdn. Bhd. it doesn't last longer mainly due where he gained additionalwhile sharing his entrepreneurial to lack of industry knowledge. knowledge of the tour business.Uponjourney with MIB recently. Read \"We faced lots of problem during tying the knot with Mrs Chandra,more on his rough success path, that time as we don’t have proper he continued his entrepreneurialhow he overcame challenges documentation related to the industry journey with formation of SCincluding obstacles and hurdles to thus we abandoned all our effort, Southern Transport Agency in 2001get 100% Malaysian Indian owned practically we left everything,” Mr. and operated until 2009 as biginbound tour operators license. Subramaniam conquered the failure sum of investment required to start of first entrepreneurial venture after a good tour operation company.HIS ENTREPRENEURIAL 19 years of working experiences. “We need to place RM 250,000JOURNEY cash deposit with Government His burning desire to succeed and of Malaysia to get tour operatorBorn in Bukit Badak Estate lesson learned from the inaugural license, so I need to work harder,near Layang-Layang, Johor Mr defeat brought him as far as Canada my wife took voluntary separationSubramaniam started his working to acquire more knowledge about scheme (VSS) from her work placelife as bus driver. He got married Tour and Tourism Management. He in Singapore and gave me around worked there and when time permits RM70, 000 as seed funding for the| AUGUST 2014
ENTREPRENEUR 51license. The rest I need to gather it HIS HERO AND HEROINE THE CHALLENGING BUSINESSlittle by little by operating business ENVIRONMENTaffiliating with others and in some Do the heading flick you ainstance without license too,” Mr moment either to bollywood or The hard knock entrepreneurSubramaniam daringly exposes his kollywood? MIB tries to identify reveals that main challenges hemodus of operandi then. the persons behind the success of faces is being an Indian in Malaysia. Mr Subramaniam. “The person He explained “When I enter into thisHIS DREAM BUSINESS changed my life, and made me business limited Indian this travel a better person and my only role agencies industry, we can easilyWe incorporated SC Southern model is my father Mr. Kandasamy. count them. Maybe 3 to 4 of themTours & Travel Sdn. Bhd on 13th Raising seven children in an estate whose shares probably are ownedFebruary 2009 with only myself requires lots of effort monetarily. I by bumiputras, when I openedand my wife as Director and finally know the difficulty he went through, this company we are 100% nonmanaged to get tour operator what kind of job he worked to see bumiputra company. Due to thelicense from Tourism Malaysia. At us moving away from the bottom fact of being 100% Indian ownedpresent the company specialize in of social status. He has taught me company I faced a lots of challengeslocal sightseeing tours, adventurous what life is really about and one of in getting financial assistancetours, Eco and Agro-tourism catering the key traits that I admire about from banks and business frommainly to inbound tourist. The my father is his untiring hardwork. government sector. Banks nevercompany also organise specialized I am really thankful for having such wanted to give us financial assistanceincentive trips to anywhere father as whenever I see him, it at time we desperately in need.within Malaysia as well as our always flash on my mind that I must During our start-up phase banksneighbouring country, Singapore. do something and show others avoided us, again I need to work stepAlthough, we are capable to handle our success. I tribute my current by step and grow little by little to thisboth inbound and outbound we achievement 100% to my father” he stage. Now at this stage after goingfocus more in mobilising foreign heartily declared. through all the growing pain andtourist into Malaysia and ground able to stand with our own, they arehandling works due to limitation Not to forgot my wife’s offering us. We humbly accept theirset by authorities. Almost 90% contribution to the company offer and servicing our loans withoutof our businesses are generated and her sacrifices during our life fail. “I would like to suggest that bankthrough inbound tourist from India, turmoil. She helps me work out consider lending their services at timeand then rest from Singapore and my problems. When I am feeling of starting not after business grownIndonesia. Our own staffs based in down she helps me and talk up and walking stable,” says theChennai, India are doing great job things through with me. Managing Director of SC Southernin promoting Malaysia in general Tours & Travel Sdn. Bhd.and our services there. These helpus to provide more opportunitiesfor particularly Tamil educatedtour guides, drivers and groundhandling staffs. “All our workersincluding drivers are Malaysian,mostly Indians as I feel they shouldbe given more opportunities\"Su b ra ma n i a m proudly says. AUGUST 2014 |
52 ENTREPRENEUR\"Beside the policy challenges, we member went a step ahead by “Our Indians looking travel industryface stiff competitions from our identifying Southern India as their in a wrong angle, they thinkChinese and Malays friends too niche market. He opens his own there isn’t any big benefit . In thissince they have strong financial office and developed tour packages Industry there isn’t any retirementmuscle and support. For example, that most suit for tourist from the even the driver and tour guide cana hotel will quote us $50 room rent region. He also appointed marketing serve as long as they can. Wewhile when another competitor of companies in India to promote his must understand a tour guide withnon Indian request they will offer tour packages and pays them on minimum qualifications of SPM [Sijil$20 below market. \"Apart from that, yearly basis. Pelajaran Malaysia] is being paidIndian consumers generally has RM250/day but we can count theperception that rates offered by The company with 5 buses, 5 vans number of Indians involved. Evenother race travel agents are much and 2 mini buses also cater for local our practical trainees are mostlybetter. Despite our best pricing tourist by promoting Malaysian tour Malays as there aren’t any Indiansand quality services Indians tend packages via Tamil newspapers taking up this subject as their careerto do business with other , a rare and other local dailies despite only path. Every month we have 2-3phenomena for others in Malaysia. operating from Johor Bahru. Last trainees, I don’t mind offering the\"Apart from that, Indian consumers year SC Southern Tours & Travel opportunity for interested Indiangenerally has perception that rates Sdn. Bhd was nominated for Johor students even on part-time basis.”offered by other race travel agents Tourism Award in Tourism Services: Mr Subramaniam tells MIB onare much better. Despite our best Best Travel Agent category, the first his feeling about our communitypricing and quality services Indians for Indian company in Johor. attitude towards the industry.tend to do business with other ,a rare phenomena for others in COMMUNITY AT HEART HIS NEXT PLANMalaysia. So, we need come outof creative ways to remain relevant The Tamil education enthusiast had Currently my company was licensedand competitive in the industry,\" Mr a policy of contributing 10% from his to bring in only inbound tourist fromSubramanian postulated. business profit for the development overseas while our clientele base of younger generation education looking for more from us as we onlyHIS BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT even after his Chairmanship as promise whatever we can provide, Parent and Teacher Association thus I’m seriously consideringSC Southern Tours & Travel of SJKT Pasir Gudang. His expanding vertically by venturingSdn. Bhd created its own website social efforts mostly concentrate into providing outbound tourand active on internet marketing in providing educational books services. Myself also looking for aincluding in Social Medias. They and materials to economically workaholic with desire to successhad appointed dedicated staff to displaced pupils. The Malaysian Indians in guiding and mentoringhandle their online marketing and Indian Congress [MIC] Kota Masai them into this business sector asbusiness development activities. branch Chairman actively meet opportunities are immense.The Malaysian Association of people every week to fulfil publicTour and Travel Agents [MATTA] requirements too.
54 TECHNOLOGY • by Ganesh MuruganNanobotsTDheeFuatudrelCyuDrieseFoar sesan IntroductionIt is really quite interesting to know, How Nanobots are being created by researchersand scientists? Before we go to that topic of how, let’s have an eagle’s view onwhen the concept of Nanoscience started.This research began during Scanning Tunneling Microscope. BUT WHO WILL GO UP TO THE early 80’s itself, because LEVEL OF INDIVIDUAL CELLS researchers want to control Then researching companies and AND REPAIR THEM...?and manipulate molecules and doctors joined hands to effectivelyatoms individually and perform use Nanotechnology in the field Here is the entry of our super-herospecific actions on them. In 1981, of medicine where they could Nanobot, whose size accordingProfessor Norio Taniguchi of Tokyo cure chronic diseases using this to scientist is 5 to 6 atoms across.University of Science coined the technology, so they could control Could you able to imagine that?term “Nanotechnology” once he the activity of atoms and molecules Lets swoop a little deeper and seecould able to see individual atoms in living beings. the shape, size and attribute ofand molecules with the help of these Nanobots.| AUGUST 2014
TECHNOLOGY 55 Do you know that 1 Nanometer is a Billionth of a Meter. For an example a sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick.NANOBOTS: HOW THEY ARE MOLECULAR ROBOT: AN “In normal robotics, the robot itselfCREATED IN REAL-TIME? AWESOME CREATION contains the knowledge about the PROCESS commands, but with individualNanotechnology has opened molecules, you can’t store thatthe door of new possibilities by Researchers and Nanotechnology amount of information, so the ideaintroducing Nanobots to us. The scientist suggest the best possible instead is to store information oncreation process of Nanobots are way to create Nanobot is using other the commands on the outside, byvery complex which requires well nanobot in a self-assembling way. imbuing the molecule’s environmentequipped labs and people who We cann’t view these nanobots with with informational cues.”says Nilsare competent, expert and have a normal microscope at schools, it G. Walter, professor of chemistryresearch experience in that area. requires an atomic force microscopy and director of the Single Molecule and single-molecule fluorescence Analysis in Real-Time (SMART)Complexities to face while creating microscopy to view the locomotion Center at the University of Michiganthis “tiny” hero, of the robot in its assigned path. in Ann Arbor.• Real nanobots can’t depend These molecular robots are being Researchers explained the on electronics, as the size created to do a specific kind of procedure of building a 4nm of creation is based on repeated task, for example to detect diameter molecular robot, they Nanometers cancerous cells in human body initiated with a common protein and to deliver drugs or destroy the called Streptavidin, which has• Nanobots should rely upon cells. Theoretically speaking, these natural Chemical bonds nanobots can be created to sense between atoms their environment i.e to detect a specific kind of chemical emitting• Its locomotion is based on cells and it can also be programmed Nanoscale with limited energy to destroy or deliver drugs to diseased cells.• Store information in a Nanobot to finish the assigned task AUGUST 2014 |
56 TECHNOLOGYfour symmetrically placed bindingpockets for a chemical moiety calledBiotin. As this goes more technical,let me draft an example scenario,if they want to create a 4nm sizedmolecular robot similar to a “Spider”,and if they want to move thatnanobot in a path which was laid bythem to keep track its locomotion,so they need the following things tobe done to make the nanobot moveand to complete the assigned task:• For this scenario the body is because of this special capability, • Imagine thousands of Nanobots made up of a common protein the nanobots can build or destroy go in our blood stream and fix called Streptavidin, which has particle by particle. Cancer cells. four binding pockets to join 4 legs As a whole, the world’s most • Using Nanocage inside human expected area of Nanotechnology body to deliver drugs based on• Each leg can made up of an implementation is in the field of reaction and temperature. enzymatic DNA, and one of medicine compared to other areas the four legs has to tether the because, it could save human lives • DNA Nanocage self-assembled process from highly chronic diseases like from molecules of human body. AIDS, cancer etc. But we are still• The spider has to move on the many years away from seeing real • Indigestible pills which can stay path laid and to complete the medical nanobots at work, what we in our body and perform actions assigned task have now is stunning prototypes of for our illness. nanobots created by scientists.• The spider has to stop when it With Nanotechnology in medical reach a DNA which it could not Let’s have a glimpse how it could field it seems to be everything is cut, but can bind impact the medical field in the future, possible! Let’s keep our fingers crossed.There are other ways as well tocreate Nanobots in real-time, butthat is beyond the scope of thisarticle.THE FUTURE OF NANOBOTS Complied by Ganesh Murugan, MBA,IIT (PMP), PhD (Perusing) Business Analyst, Solution Architect and CEO of eSolutionsAs we already seen that nanobots Webbers Sdn Bhdare very small, so that it can interact : [email protected] any materials on their molecular Skype : esolutions_ganeshand atomic level. Researchers say, : ganesh murugan| AUGUST 2014
EDITORIAL 57FVERNATUNRECINHTIOSE BUSINESSINDIAN BUSINESSMEN TOLD, BUT ?I think there is no excuse for being poor inthis country, even for the handicap there areopportunities of doing business – YA Bhg.Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad“Malaysian government is very much business • Provides consultation services and trainings, friendly that’s why many foreigners identify and develop suitable local businesses into investing in this country. By comparison we franchise modelhave done extremely well developing the country fromagriculture base to Industrial trading nation. It means • Promote cooperation between key industry players.there are opportunities to do business in Malaysia;maybe you don’t have enough capital. The easiest way Despite the enormous potential offered by franchiseto go business in Malaysia is by franchising a business. Industry and as one of industry recommended by theI don’t see many Indians in this area of business” former Prime Minister, chances for Malaysian Indiansays former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir. He was venturing into the industry remain gloomy despite Draddressing Indian businessmen gathering organised by Mahathir’s claim that “this is multi racial country weMalaysian Indian Network of Entrepreneurs Association all accept this, that it is a country cann’t be ruled byat Royal Lake Club Kuala Lumpur recently. any one single community or race it must be ruled by all three races but then off course all three racesThe share of retail business conducted through franchise must prepare themselves to play a role.” A check byindustry in Malaysia hovering around 10% as opposed Malaysian Indian Business at PNS website found thatto 40% at the developed economies. Meanwhile, the most of the financing scheme conditions are not basedNational Franchise Development Blueprint [NFDB] 2012- on the population segment making this Malaysian Indian2016 is expected to drive the industry for a 9.4 per cent community disqualified at the first entry point.Gross Domestic Product [GDP] contribution by 2020.The Ministry of Domestic Trade, Consumerism and Co- The leaders are claiming the country offers immenseoperative are expecting the industry to contribute some opportunities with the delivery system putting barricadesRM25.4 Billion to the GDP this year. To spur the ambitious to certain segment of the population. Any idea on howgovernment target of RM100 billion by 2020 Perbadanan do we overcome the obstacles? At time of writing thisNasional Berhad [PNS] an agency owned by the Ministry article MIB still awaiting official confirmation to meet theof Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc.) was setup. Managing Director of PNS.PNS plays vital roles in; ENTRY WITH CONDITIONS• Secure master franchise rights of foreign brands to be developed domestically,• Conduct promotional activities at overseas trade fairs for Malaysian franchise brands,• Offers various financing schemes to franchisor and franchisees, AUGUST 2014 |
58 LIFESTYLE • by Thevi SinnaduraiSTOP & Think: CREATe YOUR FUTUREYour thoughts, your actions, feelings, beliefs, goals and The second is believe: Believe in yourself based ondreams create your future. NLP in its core is modeling of the thinking you’ve done about the values you’re goinghuman excellence. There are some people in the world who to live your life by.we call geniuses. There’s something that they do, that clearly The third is dream: Dream about the things that cansets them apart from an average performer. Enjoy reading be, based on your belief in yourself and the valuessome of these success stories. you’re going to live by. The last is dare: Dare to make your dreams become a reality, based on your belief in yourself and your values. ” And with that, Walter E. Disney said to the little boy, Think, Believe, Dream, and Dare. Walt Disney was an American motion-picture and television producer and showman, famous as a pioneer of cartoon films and as the creator of Disneyland. Walt Disney grew up from humble beginnings He was not a born success instead he made his own success. Walt Disney is the perfect example of a man of dreams. He dreamed big dreams. And he made his dreams come true.To start with I love using Walt Disney as one part of the Disney's interest in art started when he was just a littleexperience. Walt Disney is my inspiration. There is so boy. As a teenager, he wanted to take his drawings andmuch we can learn from how his company operates and his artistic abilities to new heights and that is exactlythe words of wisdom he left behind. what he did. It was his dream, and he never gave up“Think Believe Dream and Dare.” – Walt Disney hope. And he did all he could in order to make that dream a reality. Disney's quest to fame and fortune was not anA Walt Disney Story easy one, but he never let anything bring him down. After a small company that he started called Laugh-O-An eight-year-old boy approached an old man in front Grams fell bankrupt, Disney headed to Hollywood inof a wishing well, looked up into his eyes, and asked: hopes of starting a fresh, new career. He was not even“I understand you’re a very wise man. I’d like to know twenty-two. Combined with a lot of vision, planning, andthe secret of life.” The old man looked down at the hard work, Disney made dream after dream come true.youngster and replied: “I’ve thought a lot in my lifetime, Disney introduced the world to Mickey Mouse, a simpleand the secret can be summed up in four words talking Mouse which eventually became Disney'sThe first is think: Think about the values you wish to trademark. He introduced Walt Disney amusementlive your life by. parks all over the world. Disney combined his talent and his sense of what the public would want with lots of hard work. Today we might call him a “workaholic.” His work was driven, not by guilt or insecurity, but by a dream. “Of all the things I’ve done, the most vital is coordinating those who work with me and aiming their efforts at a certain goal.”- WALT DISNEY| AUGUST 2014
LIFESTYLE 59Here are 5 things to learn from one of the most has made provision for 100,000 people to take refugesuccessful entrepreneur in history. underground during a catastrophic event.Vision: Walt Disney had amazing vision. Even today the Also, Disney employees get benefits if they work onlyplanners, artists and engineers at Disney are known as 30 hours and virtually all of them are happy about theirImagineers! And despite the fact that he died in 1966, jobs.five years before opening day at Walt Disney World in Recognition That One Person Cannot Do It All: WaltFlorida, his vision has continued to become reality. Disney wisely understood that he was an artist and aAnd what is even more amazing is the fact that in visionary, not a businessman. That’s why he had his2013, forty-seven years after his death, the people brother Roy handle the business-side of the operation.at Disney still believe in his vision, “a place where Granted, there are some people who are multi-talented,children and parents could have fun together”. How but even these folks can take a lesson from Disney andmany organizations or companies can say they have find people who are better than them in the areas whichretained the original vision of its founder to the extent can be given away.Disney Incorporated has? Sadly, most visions die when Walt Disney’s life doesn’t just provide an insight as totheir founders die or retire. Have faith in what you want how one should plan one’s life but also how one shouldseriously. You have to believe before anyone else can.: not plan his life and always do what one is good at and intends to do. Taking risks, not settling down thinking “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – one knows enough, to keep dreaming till it comes true Walt Disney and beyond are just some of the traits of the great man “When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly that have inspired generations. and unquestionably.” – Walt Disney “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” –Walt DisneyWorld-Class Customer Service: At most theme parks “Get a good idea, and stay with it and work at it until it’s done,you wait in a hot, boring line with lots of fences and and done right.” – Walt Disneyrailings, but not at Disney! Special effort has beenmade to entertain even the smallest of children while Another favorite example is Tiger Woods.you’re waiting in line.Consider this: If you stay at one of the 33 Disney hotelsyou will notice that the cleaning staff doesn’t just cleanyour room, they add fun to an otherwise boring room!For instance, they pride themselves in fashioning washcloths into animals and creatures and using them tohelp decorate your freshly-made bed! Who else in theworld does this?Attention to Detail: Every ride and attraction hasbeen thoroughly researched to maintain the utmostattention to authenticity. For instance, when planningthe Expedition Everest (Yedi) roller coaster in AnimalKingdom, their “Imagineers” traveled to Tibet and Nepalin order to best capture the flavor of the Himalayanculture.A Safe And Fun Work Environment: The entire staffand their families can take shelter underground at theworksite in the event of a hurricane. Specifically, Disney AUGUST 2014 |
60 LIFESTYLEWhen Tiger Woods, the great American golfer, was confident. Keeping the goal positive will help youra little boy he wrote down all of his golfing goals on a RAS sort for feelings of calmness and confidencepiece of paper. Every night before he went to bed, he throughout your unconscious mind. If you set alooked at his goals and thought about what it would goal to not be nervous, then the RAS will have tobe like to be the greatest golfer in the world. He then process being nervous first.unconsciously stepped into his future by imagining what 3. Ask yourself, “Is achieving the goal under myit would be like to break all the greatest golfing records control, and can it be initiated by me?”in history. 4. Setting a goal for you’re your boss to quit being a jerk is not a well-formed goal because you can’tTiger firmly set his intent to make this goal happen, control what your boss does. The only thing you canwhile pretending that it had already happened in his control is your own behavior and attitude towardsunconscious mind’s eye. He then put all of his conscious your boss. So instead, you could set a goal to beattention on achieving the goals that he wrote down more assertive around your boss, or to ignore hisas a boy. As a result of doing this, Tiger developed a behavior.deep unconscious belief that it was entirely possible 5. Define the sensory based evidence for achievingto achieve his great dream. By the time Tiger was 25 your goal. To do this, ask the following threeyears old, he was well on his way to becoming one of questions:the greatest golfers in the history of the game. • “How do you know when you have achievedAll of your future goals and dreams are not only a your goal?”reflection of your unconscious thinking, they are • “What images, feelings and sounds will youmediated by your Reticular Activating System (RAS).The RAS is the part of your brain that serves as a filter experience when you achieve your goal?”between your conscious mind and your unconscious • “If you were to run a movie of you achievingmind. The RAS, which is located in the core of yourbrain stem, takes instructions from your conscious mind, your goal, what would it look like?”and passes them on to your unconscious mind. From a • Keep in mind that the more specific you canvery young age, Tiger Woods had begun the process ofprogramming his mind to achieve his goals. There were be, the better it is for your unconscious mind toseveral things that Tiger did to unconsciously create the help you achieve your goal.future that he wanted... 6. Be ecological. Think about your goal, and define any possible downsides.1. He set a goal, and wrote it down.2. He maintained a positive state of mind and attitude For example, a client named Jay set a goal to become a successful motivational speaker who traveled the whenever he thought about his golfing dream. country. Jay knew his goal was possible because he3. He focused all of his attention on achieving that was already a talented speaker, however, his goal ended up not being so ecological. After setting his goal, goal. Jay thought about its ecology and quickly realized that4. He set his intention to make it happen, and he achieving his goal would have a negative impact on his three small children because of all the travel involved. believed that it was possible. He immediately decided not to do it because his children5. He also mentally rehearsed his goal over and over were more important to him than traveling around the country. in his mind, as if it were a movie that had already happened. We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading usEventually, Tiger brought forth the very future that he down new paths.- Walt Disneyhad dreamt about for so long.1. Describe your goal in positive terms. Be certain Thevi Sinnadurai is a Practitioner in to indicate what you do want, as opposed to what Clinical Hypnosis, Practitioner in Cognitive you don’t want. You may want to ask, “Is my goal Behaviour Hypnotherapy, NS-NLP Master something that I want, or is something that I don't Practitioner, Certified Law Of Attraction want?” Trainer and Emotional Freedom Technique Practitioner (EFT). She can be reached at:2. Rather than setting a goal to not be nervous during a [email protected] job interview, you can set a goal for being calm and | AUGUST 2014
62 TRADEMARK • by P. KandiahMost SMEs are started by persons who were to remain in business and for the SME to grow and once employees in an organisation where expand into new territories. This is where Government they had acquired the necessary technical sanctioned “monopolies” come to assistance. Yes,skills and knowledge to manufacture the product their I am referring to Trademarks (brands), Patents,employer was manufacturing. These same individuals Industrial Designs and Copyright (collectively referredhad the entrepreneurial spirit burning deep inside them, to as Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs)). Anyone whoand so, armed with the skill/knowledge and a little obtains a registered Trademark or a grant of Patent orcapital (usually from personal savings, a little help from Certificate of Industrial Design has a virtual monopolyfamily members or friends), they venture out on their over the usage of the right for a limited period of time.own to start a business, usually in competition with their The proprietor of these IPRs has the exclusive rightprevious employer. Nothing wrong with that, unless they to stop others from using an identical or substantiallyare in breach of their employment contract or misuse similar Trademark or from using their Patent-protectedtheir employer’s trade secret or confidential information. technology. With this exclusive right to the IPRs, theThe entrepreneur is now on his/her own to conquer the proprietor can charge a premium price to their productbusiness world. or service to recover their investment – R&D costs, branding costs, etc.Initially, the entrepreneur or company started by theemployee-turned-entrepreneur will compete in the Many entrepreneurs and SMEs perceive the costs ofmarket on price and probably superior service to attract obtaining IPRs as expensive and IPRs themselves asnew clients. However one cannot use price advantage difficult to enforce. Plus there are other misconceptionsfor long if one intends to remain in business or for about IPRs too, and it would probably take an entirethe business to grow bigger. The entrepreneur of the article in itself to address these. The fact is, the costnew SME has to secure other competitive advantages of obtaining IPRs – at least in Malaysia – is not high| AUGUST 2014
TRADEMARK 63and is affordable by most SMEs. It is more costly to the P. Kandiah is the Founder and Directorbusiness if IPRs are not secured. of KASS International, an established intellectual property firm with offices inImagine spending thousands of ringgit and years to Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.build up a brand name and yet neglecting to spend Mr. Kandiah has vast experience ina thousand or two more to protect the brand as a obtaining patents, trademarks andregistered trademark, the registration of which enables industrial design rights on a globalthe SME to sue any infringer. Let me cite an actual case scale, and also specializes in identifyingthat happened in Malaysia: A restaurant business was patentable inventions, designing aroundset up in a prominent part of Kuala Lumpur. Business patented technology, and advising onboomed. The partners never bothered to register the the commercialization of IP Rights,name of the restaurant as a trademark. Unknown to franchising and licensing strategies. Forthem, some ex-employees registered the business more information,name as a trademark, and it did not end there. Afterobtaining the registration, they sued the restaurant for visit www.kass.com.my orinfringement of “their trademark”. drop an to [email protected] restaurant had to face a long trial in the High Court.Not only did the partners suffer loss of sleep, they(along with the restaurant) were also made to look badin the media (thus affecting their reputation) and incurthousands of ringgit in legal costs. However, they didfinally manage to “get back” their trademark. Theirignorance on not recognising the market power of theirtrademark nearly cost them the loss of their business.So SMEs, no matter what business they are involvedin, should always seek their IP consultants’ advice onobtaining IP rights for the competitive advantages theyenjoy.In the current business world and rapid globalisation oftrade, IPRs have come to play a crucial role in the verysurvival of SMEs. Unless entrepreneurs and SMEs fullyappreciate the strategic role IPRs play in the existenceor survival of their business, they may be wiped outfrom business by their competitors who have learnt touse IPRs as a business weapon to destroy or maim rivalbusinesses. AUGUST 2014 |
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