SME NEWSPAPER

Cover Story Sept 7

Header: Inventing a Society Stand First: The University of Hard Knocks with its growing alumni of big names have made a significance to the economy and society. Bugs Tan, of Uncle Bugs Creations, is just one of the many impressive entrepreneurs who have impressed Fiona Biggs.

Born and raised in the once beautiful and peaceful town of Klang, Selangor, Bugs Tan had significant influences learning under the tutelage of his father that he would carry into his adult life. The middle child of nine, Tan was the first of the remaining five siblings to be English educated. But what was the reasoning behind the succession plan of sorts? My father is a second-generation Chinese in Malaysia and back then in the 60s, businesses were run by the Chinese predominantly. As such it seemed like a better prospect at that time to be educated in Chinese. But my father had a very good friend who was a head master of a Chinese school and he advised him against enrolling all nine children into the school. He cautioned him not to place his eggs in one basket, explains Tan who shares the same birthday with two other siblings born in different years. He stressed that his father was aware that the way forward with times would see the English language being used widely. But such is not the route he took for his own children! I was tricked. Till today my wife laughs at how she managed to accomplish it. I was adamant on them attending a Kebangsaan school. She is Chinese educated and wanted them to follow a similar stream. She convinced me back then that they would only do their first three years in a Chinese school. But once that happened and the kids had settled in well and had friends, my wife insisted we couldnt possibly take that all away from them. She is good. She knows me well, says Tan. The two initially met at a squash club at the Royal Klang Club. She was very fair. Beautiful indeed. She stood out like no other. We courted for about two years and then we married. But Tan was not established yet. Right out from school, he worked with his father at his hardware machinery shop. This is my University of Hard Knocks. I got to learn a lot from handling customer enquiries and needs. They come from various industries. Some from construction, some are farmers, fishermen, small factory owners, those in the chicken poultry business. So many different industries. They have different needs. They needed generators, tools, and a variety of things that eventually led to me learning all the necessary parts to meet their sometimes confusing demands. I didnt just learn the ropes from the users; I also got a whole load of knowledge from the suppliers too. Its a big range of products to study and learn to best advise the customers on how it can benefit and improve their situation, says Tan. He left his father after working for him from 1978 to 1984 and went on to start his own trading business, supplying machinery to those in the agriculture sector to known names such as FELDA, RISDA and FELCRA. But it was not a smooth journey entirely when he ventured out on his own. Participating in tenders was stressful. The problem was this I bought from a supplier and sold it to those who needed it. Now, how much can you really mark down to compete and win those tenders? That pushed me against the wall and then

the realisation dawned on me that if I want to make money I am going to have to create my own products. And so that new journey begun, hand in hand with his missus. She was there through the transition period. She even experimented with him making home-made beer which they named Bugs Beer and tended to his compost worms too. She was in support of all his ideas. She was the one who truly had faith in me, states Tan beaming with pride. Soon enough, Tan managed to secure government loans that allowed him to invent his own products. The turning point happened when I started to put my designs out there and participated in invention competitions. My first attempt at such a platform was in 2000 and I was the only Encik participating. Everyone else had some professional title like Doctor or Professor something ahead of their names. I took home the grand prize and RM20,000, he shares. It was at this competition where Tan first realised his true potential, which lies in creativity. It gave him a great boost of confidence. I came to realise that I do have something others do not have. I am able to see things differently. My edge would be the industrial knowledge I gathered from the University of Hard Knocks. You will never have this sort of opportunity if you are a focused academician. Tan has since steadily chalked up some impressive accolades, to which he shares, I no longer participate in competitions. Please dont get me wrong. I enjoy it but I honestly hope to give others a chance at this platform to be noticed for their inventions. We shouldnt want to deprive others. Ive had my days. Let someone else have theirs, says the man who ceased actively participating after having won his 10th award locally. His next move? Compete overseas. To my surprise, my inventions were also well received and I bagged awards in Korea, the US, India to name a few. And like a true gentleman, he felt he had to make way for the rest and quit participating overseas too! But dont be fooled. Tan continues to bag recognition awards even without participating in them. Most would assume that Tan has hit the nail on the head having already done so much to have made a name for himself. But he claims otherwise. No, it doesnt stop there. My knowledge has to be shared. Particularly with SMEs who are losing out in the local game for playing supporting roles to MNCs who have since relocated to Vietnam and China where it is more cost effective. The government soon noticed the trend and called on me to assist to develop a programme that will help them get creative to make their own products as opposed to purchasing it elsewhere and then reselling it again. The margins are so much smaller when thats in practise. CIPCO (Creative and Innovative Practising Company) was then designed in nine months and fun, creative methods were introduced to help people discover their creative side. The private sectors such as Jobstreet and Perwaja Steel looked towards Tan to help push the envelope too. He also used the same module to train 28 government ministries including PDRM where he thought them how to best manage logistics, rifles, bomb disposals, the buildings, the cells, and many other areas. I am very happy to have had that opportunity to do so. I am glad that I was part of the process of waking them up to discover new and great things. Besides having only been an inspiration to others, Tan has had a tremendous effect on his two girls aged 19 and 17 respectively. I am not an overbearing parent. I want them to experience the bitterness of life too. I will do all to teach them. I have even authored many books for their sake and its currently being sold in the market today. But like he said, he will guide them, never spoil them.

Daddy being a huge influence on their lives, the two young inventors have had the opportunity to represent Malaysia and travel to Korea some 10 years ago. I sibuk lah you know, so I paid my way and joined them too. We visited a school that was about 30 years old at that time and their main subject was inventing. They had specific labs just for wood and clay, and so on and so forth. From a young age they are already playing and meddling in these labs! But I found one thing very odd though all the Korean kids I met wanted to work for Samsung. I couldnt understand why! Of all the things these brilliant kids could become, they wanted to work with Samsung! Baffling! I couldnt sit still till I found out why. Tan went on to do the math on his own and discovered that at that time (10 years ago) Samsung had already made USD10 billion after taxes. He then totalled up the profits from 1,000 listed companies in Malaysia and found that their combined profits do not match this one companys profits. Its sad. It is very sad that Malaysia hasnt such a brand or product. We need to develop the next generation of thinkers. Its crucial. In comparison with Korea, how did he feel we faired in comparison where the education systems were concerned, he says I personally feel that Finland has the best education method in the world. One of the things we should learn from them is that the facilitators (teacher) are made-up of those who have high qualifications. In Malaysia we have it the other way around. We get the lower qualified people to become teachers for the young ones. Which I feel is wrong. In Finland, the high qualifiers with Master Degrees and PhDs are hired to facilitate the young ones from 7 to 12 years of age. The reason for doing so is because these are foundation years for the children. And hence by having a better qualified person to teach them at this juvenile age, the children have a chance of absorbing the right techniques from the very beginning through this highly qualified person. They learn the right things from day one. Clearly there is a lot more for Malaysia to learn and Tan maybe just be that missing link, the missing link in society that can make a better Malaysia. With the Uncle Bugs Inventor Academy, animations and books, Tan is eager to guide young ones to become a lot more than the children of yesteryears. The man who has more than 10 intellectual properties (IPs) to his name, with some patents filed locally and other overseas, feels that the way forward for this country is through innovation. If you look at all the countries with high-income, it leads back to innovation, meaning the country is innovative hence they enjoy prosperity. Here in Malaysia we do not have a good ecosystem for innovation. The government has and continues to put a lot of effort in this but there is still a lot of missing links. If we continue to buy elsewhere and not make our own, we become a technology-less country because we are not producing anything of our own, states Tan who either sells his IPs or licenses it out. If its too difficult to manufacture, he will seek out partners to manufacture and market it. Tan, whose office is in TPM (Technology Park Malaysia), shares that he is currently in the midst of working on a new innovation together with TPM, University Malaysia, and a plantation to assist the oil palm industry. Its a machine that collects fruits with ease. He divulges that it will be a total-solutions based machine that can count the fruits, how many trees are producing it, and how many workers worked on the produce, and all this can be monitored off-site. A man who looks past people's disadvantages to find solutions to help them, Tan stresses that one must first want to do it to make a positive change. Never do it for the money. Thats the only focus one should have to make it a success.