Mark Choon

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Ever dreamed of having your own mini underwater world in your home or office? These are the guys you should look for. They do customized aquascaping to enhance your home or office. Their large scale works can be seen at Singapore’s Jurong Bird Park and the Singapore Night Safari. This makes an impressive track record for this young and humble local company.

Humble beginnings

Green Chapter was started by Mr Roland Seah and his partner in September 2004. Both men left their fulltime jobs; one was a software engineer and the other was in the dental supplies line. Initially they thought that it would be a plain sailing, rosy business with lots of potential, but as they started, they found the going tough initially.

Their initial projects were through referrals through their good friends. Roland admits that in the first year, the going was very tough where they had a lull period of 2-3 months. What tide them through was a spin-off business of export and trading of aquatic plants. They did mass publicity marketing through pamphlets and flyers but they discovered that their business grew mainly on projects through word of mouth. Now, they partner with architects and interior designers to do big signature tanks in commercial aquariums and zoos.

Why aquascaping?

It was Roland’s love for his hobby, aquascaping, which spurred the start and the growth of Green Chapter and its related trading businesses. Roland was a webmaster for a popular internet forum for aquarium and aquascaping hobbyists, http://www.aquaticquotient.com/. “Once, I did a revamp of AquaticQuotient. I did up the database for fish and plants. Manually keyed in thousands records of plants. I learnt quite a bit from there,” explained Roland, on where most of his knowledge came from.

The idea to turn this hobby into a business then came when Roland realized that there is much value in combining aquascaping with architecture. Coupled with the fact that there are not many players in the market that can provide the service that Roland has, Green Chapter was born.

 

Niche

However Roland also points out that many local fish shops in Singapore provides similar services. So how does Green Chapter differentiates itself from these competitors? Roland explains further that it is his experience and his aquatic designs that make Green Chapter stand out. His working partnerships with architects and interior designers also make him stand out from the other local fish shop that just sets up a tank.

As business grows, Roland plans to develop Green Chapter to be a regional consultancy firm in the aspect of aquatic design, something that local fish shops are not able to do. Already, Green Chapter has plans to launch projects in neighbouring countries.

Why leave a comfortable job?

As mentioned earlier, Roland was a software engineer in a prestigious local company in Singapore. He mentions that it was the realization of the current economic climate that made him decide to move out on his own. He also adds, “Guys dream to do something of their own” when quizzed on leaving a comfortable 9-5 job.

Roland knows very well the big difference in being an employee and being his own boss. He relates that there is a different responsibility level being a boss, where one needs to plan his own time which is usually not enough. However he points out that there is immense satisfaction when he plans for something, executes it and seeing its results.

 

Big moments

“When we finally had our showroom. It signifies we are stable,” says Roland. To him and his partner, the opening of their showroom in Clementi, was a coming-of-age moment for Green Chapter. It reflects on the previous successes which they have accomplished. Very recently, they celebrated their second anniversary at this new showroom as well. Coming up as well, is their second showroom located in the Macpherson area.

The other happy moment that Roland recalls was on their first project and receiving the first cheque. It was an introduction by an architect friend to a home owner where the architect friend asked this home owner to give Green Chapter a little support. Although, Green Chapter were not the home owner’s first choice, almost immediately, he gave them a chance and wrote a cheque for the project. To Roland, that was a big step when they first started out.

Future developments

The future looks bright for Green Chapter, with regional partnerships and projects being developed and in the pipeline. As mentioned earlier, one of Roland’s dreams is to develop Green Chapter into not just a regional aqua design consultancy but a global one.

Together with the expansion of its trading and export supporting businesses, Green Chapter is on track to reaching that goal. They just received the ADA distributorship rights and more product distributorships will be coming along the way.

Parting words for would be entrepreneurs

Roland has these advices for young bosses and those intending to venture on their own.

“Passion is a must. If there is no passion, after the 1st year you’d quit,” as he explains in the first year how his partner and him struggled through with very barely enough money to pay bills and keep cash flow going.

“Next would be your network. Without it, if you’re the most skillful man in the world it’ll be useless,” says Roland as he points out that his business was built through contacts.

“Family support is no. 1.” Roland emphasizes that this is very crucial as one’s starting business may have to endure some period of down times where money is tight and hard to come by.

“Don’t overspend. Think carefully. Plan carefully.” Very apt advice on handling money for business as Roland pointed out that he learned many things the hard way by spending large amounts of money on advertising and unnecessary items.

Thank you very much Roland for your time and sharing your experience! We wish you all the best in realizing your dreams for the future!
Green Chapter’s website is located at http://www.greenchapter.com/. There you will find more information and showcases of their large range of projects. For sales enquiries kindly email: sales@greenchapter.com

Their related trading and export websites are located in the links below:
http://www.eaquaticshop.com/
http://www.aquaculturesg.com/