What is the most surprising thing about you that most people don’t know?

I spent most of my youth in North Africa and it taught me to adapt and connect with many different cultures. 

What are the most important decisions you made in your career?

To create my own company. It was a very difficult decision. Especially if, like me, you come from a corporate background, where everything is set and rather stable. When you start your company, you’ve got three to four years of when it's a very tough time. Building my second company was actually much easier.

At the age of 31 I had a turning point in my life when I decided I wanted to be my own boss. I think entrepreneurship was running in my blood. So after seven years of being working at the publisher of Elle in Asia, I quit and started my own media company. No one is ever ready for how tough this journey is going to be. But I never looked back and never thought I should have not done it. When you make a decision, it is very important to stick to it.

About 12 people invested in my company and it was very important to maintain the trust of these people intact. I was committed to make it a success. And, amazingly, after a successful exit from my first company, 80% of the shareholders supported my second venture, including my first boss. At the age of 38 I sold my first company and became a multi-millionaire. It is very rewarding to bear the fruits of your hard work.

I don’t think entrepreneurship is for everyone. If it is for you, it’s a major decision to make and it changes your life.

What will be the most valuable skill for your profession in the next 3 years ?

In entrepreneurship it's resilience. You go through lots of ups and downs. There are external and internal disasters. And also prioritisation and staying focused. For us that means we don’t do e-commerce. We stay focused on print and digital media and events, but we don’t build e-commerce platforms as it is a totally different job. We invest in e-commerce to understand how it works, but not to operate it.

And for any industry, I think you need to be very open to what’s happening in the world, open to new media, open to new technologies and willing to test all these new solutions. And to learn all the time. I personally try to use new technologies as much as possible.

I’ve just been re-elected as the President of the Media Publisher’s Association of Singapore and it is also a way for me to learn from the members.

Tell us about your worst professional mistake and how did you overcome it?

Not hiring some people and regretting it. Media business is all about people, people are the only asset we have. So making the right hire is very important.

What’s your biggest ambition now?

We’ve got a revolution out there. Media is facing so many challenges. So my ambition is to build a balanced sustainable business that would be successful long-term. 

Can you recommend any recent books that have influenced or changed the way you work?

I am a big fan of unauthorised biographies. The one I would recall is of Richard Branson by Tom Bower. It makes him much more human, with the good and bad sides. Even though [Branson] he hated the author of it.

What industry columnists, blogs or influencers should we bookmark right now?

For me it’s Business of Fashion and also I follow a lot of fashion magazine publishers from Conde Nast group.

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