AT the workplace, they are merely colleagues who happen to share the same surname. That's how 29-year-old Patrick Teo Zhun Shuen, the business development manager of Tachitica Sdn Bhd, describes the family business.
Tachitica is involved in the manufacturing, distribution, supply and installation of window covering products.
Teo, also a Tachitica director, said while he loved his weekends, he was not one to suffer from the Monday blues.
The middle child of three siblings added that he remained committed to building up the business that his parents started 30 years ago.
"My parents were the first in Malaysia to invest in roller blind cutting machinery. Today, Tachitica offers, among others, panel blinds, Roman blinds, Venetian blinds and fibreglass roller blinds, as well as fabrics from Indonesia, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Belgium, Australia, France and the United Kingdom. We have more than 1,000 clients nationwide.
"My parents only studied until Form Five but they could build a business and send their children to universities in the United States. My elder brother joined the company in 2019, while my younger sister joined last year.
"When I was still in school, I remembered helping my grandmother trim the threads while she sewed the curtains. She is now 80 years old while my parents are both 55 and active in the business.
"My father handles his clients while my mother manages the accounts and finances.
"When I was a teenager, my parents would take me overseas to exhibitions, followed by visits to our suppliers' factories. I was impressed when I visited a factory in Stuttgart, Germany, and another in London.
"These suppliers had already adopted the barcode system and that was more than 10 years ago. I was also captivated by the colourful fabric displays," he said.
Tachitica has invested more than RM1 million since 2020 to renovate its manufacturing plant in Puchong, Selangor.
It also allocated RM1.5 million to upgrade the factory, including building another floor to showcase its new products.
"We aim to make it into the top three in the industry," said Teo, who graduated with a degree in management from Northeastern University in Boston in 2017.
He himself had joined the company's production line two weeks after his graduation.
"One of the challenges of the business is working with older staff, including my father. We have employees who have been with the company for as long as 28 years. They are loyal but are also set in their ways. It is challenging to get them to take risks and try out new things.
"There were also times when I had argued with my father over business matters, which caused some discord in the family. At first, my father was also set in his ways of running the business. But once the older staff saw that new blood like me and my brother could bring success to the company, they started to accept our ideas," he said.
However, Teo said while the younger staff were often more energetic, they could lack patience compared with the older staff.
"In the construction business, it takes time to see the fruits of one's labour. But once a project is completed, seeing your window coverings in an iconic development is a reward that is beyond words.
"We do not believe in competing solely on price. Instead, we like to add value by advising our clients on which designs and products that can help them obtain a Green Building Certification or increase rental yields.
"In the next two years, we will focus on high-end residential projects, as we have primarily focused on commercial projects in the past. We have found that the Covic-19 pandemic has made people value their homes and family time more in a bid to achieve work-life balance.
"Our company's notable projects include PNB118, Parcel F Putrajaya, KLCC Lot 91 and Crowne Plaza Hotel."
On why he said they were "just colleagues with the same surname", Teo jested that he could not be scolding his grandmother or sister at work.
"However, if I were to regard my colleagues as 'very good friends', I can suggest that they do things in certain ways to benefit the company. Ultimately, that is what all of us want — for the company to grow and improve," he added.
The writer was a journalist with the New Straits Times before joining a Fortune Global 500 real estate company. This article is a collaboration between the New Straits Times and Tradeview, the author of 'Once Upon A Time In Bursa'.
