It has not always been smooth sailing in the respective careers for the owners and directors of Blazebiz Innovate Sdn Bhd, which is involved in business software systems catered for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia and across South-east Asia.
For Eric Chan and Christine Chari, this business has very much become their daily passion. Being in charge of sales and client servicing and support, they evidently enjoy the process of setting up and implementing solutions for their clients.
Christine was previously involved in pharmaceutical sales, which was stressful and of long hours. Eric started his work life in the corporate side of things, his last job being in the accounting department of a large company. While it was a good learning experience, he realised that this was a dead end in terms of career and health.
He recalled being stressed and dreaded going to work, and his health was deteriorating.
The turning point was when he dove into the F&B industry, at the supply and retail side.
“I was doing anything to put food on the table, including operating ‘pasar malam’ stalls, events, catering, and even a short-lived cafe at one point. It was fun, I was never hungry, and I learnt a lot about customer service and customer experience in that industry.”
The fierce competition in F&B, however, also meant that the business didn’t really take off.
One of the biggest hurdles was certifications essential to scale up, and the team then was not prepared to invest that amount. “We learnt a hard lesson then – having a good product was not good enough. Malaysia is a bit complicated when it came to F&B, and eventually we closed this business”.
Around 2006, Eric ventured into the software systems business – specialising in Accounting, Payroll (HR) and POS systems, in partnership with Estream MSC and GTC Associates, an audit firm, enabling them to provide comprehensive business solutions to clients.
He took a year to delve deep into the systems, providing technical support to clients, before actively doing sales and marketing.
The first few years was a struggle as not many companies believed in investing in systems and automation.
“You will not believe how many companies still rely on Excel sheets, even multinationals!” opined Eric.
However, as time went by, Blazebiz’s reputation grew, and at this point they have multi-nationals, government bodies, and GLCs in their client list.
Eric attributes the increase in awareness of businesses using systems to the introduction of GST in 2015.
“Due to the complexities of the GST structure, suddenly everyone needed to have a system. I hardly slept during that period, working twenty-hour days,” he recalled.
The government has also spurred investment in automation and systems through the MDEC digitalisation initiative, whereby 50 per cent of the cost is subsidised by MDEC.
Eric said that while there is much to improve in the implementation, it does encourage new businesses to look into setting up their business flow properly to ensure long-term stability and enable up-scaling of business plans when it happens.
Eric believes that hard work always pays off, and recognising your interests and passion when choosing a career or business is very important, as this will ensure that one is aligned to the job being carried out.
Knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses, and having team members who complement each other, guarantees corporate and personal growth. He is also a strong advocate for entrepreneurship – technology has made it very easy to start off a business, and it is only a click away to turn your interests into profit.
Eric has never looked back at being employed, and enjoys every day now, whichever way it turns out to be.
“Well, I guess, the saying “Do What You Love, and You’ll Never have to Work a Day in your Life Again” holds truth, he said.
