You can learn a lot from your mistakes, says Bernard Ng, NTU entrepreneur and co-founder of KC Group, the company behind salons such as Apgujeong, Aoyama and kcuts

by Bernard Ng

I was very cheeky when I was a young boy. I broke a mannequin’s finger and until today, I can still remember that my aunt had to fork out $16 to the store owner at Far East Plaza. Of course, I also got a scolding.

As a nine or 10-year-old, I was curious to see if the mannequin’s finger could move. At that age, I learnt a lesson that actions could be costly in more than one way.

For every decision and action we make, there are consequences; there are always lessons to be learnt. Mistakes make you wiser – you are more careful the next time as you can draw on your experiences.

I wasn’t from a well-to-do family and $16 was a lot of money back then. During the 1997 financial crisis, my dad got retrenched. He was in his 40s, and it was difficult for him to look for another job.

This incident triggered a new perspective for me. My parents had always told us to study hard and find a good job. But I saw how tough it could be to hold on to a job. I decided there and then that I would be my own boss.

I decided to study accountancy at NTU’s Nanyang Business School as it is a three-year direct honours programme, the shortest offered by any local university. I remember the first year well because I almost got kicked out. It was the thing back then to look for past examination questions in the library as a reference. I hit on the idea to print copies of these questions for distribution. The idea was tremendously popular and I got lots of orders. But the Dean got wind of it and I was called up for infringement of copyright. Fortunately, the Dean appreciated my entrepreneurial spirit and did not expel me!

I soon began thinking of other enterprising things to do. While still in university, I started a printing and marketing business together with my course mates, Brian Ng and Samuel Pei. Before we graduated in 2005, we opened a laptop repair service shop at Sim Lim Square. Rental was our priority then. But we found that the effort spent in marketing did not compensate for the lack of a good, visible location. That was one lesson learnt.

From starting a company as accountancy students at the Nanyang Business School, to turning heads in the big business of beauty, Bernard Ng, Brian Ng and Samuel Pei, founders of KC Group, have embarked on many business ventures together. 

When we opened our hairdressing business almost a decade later, we made sure our salons were in very good locations.

Another lesson learnt from our laptop business: don’t build your business around one key expert. It’s very tiring for that person. The business was breaking even at best and had to be closed eventually. Now, we always have a team of at least a few experts for all our businesses.

We also learnt to be humble. Sometimes, pride gets in the way and we cling on, hoping to make things work. When something fails, admit defeat, acknowledge your mistake and move on. Think of other ideas.

We hit on our idea for kcuts when the Government announced the White Paper on Singapore’s population growth in 2013. With more heads coming in, what could be better than going into the hair business?

At the time, such quick haircut salons were Japanese-themed. And being former customers of these express salons, we knew their prices were on the rise. So we decided to go the Korean way to give the Japanese-style salons a run for their money.

We’ve come a long way since starting our first business in NTU. It was really tough back then. We worked very late into the night because of our studies in the day. Brian would drive us back after work in his family’s van. One night, it was very late, and we were all sleepy. He sent us home safely, but he bashed into a trailer on his way home as he was so tired and we weren’t around to keep him awake.

We took a lesson from this. So now, there are no more sleepless nights for us. We keep very balanced lifestyles and try to have dinner with our families whenever possible. We appreciate and cherish our time more with our families and friends.

Work is not everything because we do not know what tomorrow will bring. Having adequate rest is also absolutely necessary.

This family-care culture also runs through our businesses. When we face our teams, we want to be the best bosses that we can be. We don’t just sit in our office. We walk the ground. We are always reachable and approachable.

Life is dynamic and destinations change. The Korean wave may be replaced by some other waves one day. Our plans should be as fluid as possible to ride out each change. Today, we still run Bideas Group of Companies, the business we started as NTU students, which now covers printing, advertising and marketing.

This story was published in the May-Jun 2017 issue of HEY!. To read it and other stories from this issue in print, click here.