A Treasure of a Friend
A holiday break is always refreshing, particularly one with lots of pool side time and, better yet, one with the opportunity to catch up with a long-missed friend.
At times when I count the number of genuine friends I have, I wonder how popular (or unpopular) a person I really am. But I have a wonderful friend, someone in fact I am rather proud of and, amazingly, whom I have known since our time in the same kindergarden - decades ago.
Our friendship survives various stages of evolution and, like a vintage, improves subtly with ages. She is perhaps the only friend I can face with my ego laid completely bare and all guards comfortably down. But it is not so much her affable personality which I am proud of as, for the latest decade that I discovered, her proven business acumen and her resilience in face of different kinds of domestic adversity.
Her wonderful tale in a nutshell: leaving her hometown to follow her textile employment in a foreign land in her 20s, she picked up the language, started her own business, built her own factory, made a fortune when many others lost theirs during the Asian financial crisis a decade ago (as all her orders were denominated in US dollars), expanded her production capacity; but in time realized that the tide had turned in face of increasing competition from cheaper sources of supply, sold her business; then, by chance or luck, sourced a promising supply of alternative products and started a completely new business, and have since sustained its good going.
She was not at all a high-flyer in school and, to me, a classic demonstration of what it takes to be an entrepreneur - a successful one. But that is only part of her wonder. She takes care of virtually everyone in her parents' family, in addition to her own - a husband and 3 children - in big ways. She is simply amazing.
At times, I also wish I were an entrepreneur rather than an executive.
I attempted a bit of blogging by the tranquil pool side of a vacation resort on my BlackBerry but could not quite work it out. Now, back to life and reality, after catching up with the bustling office work, it feels home to blog again. Perhaps this is where I could feel a bit like an entrepreneur.
At times when I count the number of genuine friends I have, I wonder how popular (or unpopular) a person I really am. But I have a wonderful friend, someone in fact I am rather proud of and, amazingly, whom I have known since our time in the same kindergarden - decades ago.
Our friendship survives various stages of evolution and, like a vintage, improves subtly with ages. She is perhaps the only friend I can face with my ego laid completely bare and all guards comfortably down. But it is not so much her affable personality which I am proud of as, for the latest decade that I discovered, her proven business acumen and her resilience in face of different kinds of domestic adversity.
Her wonderful tale in a nutshell: leaving her hometown to follow her textile employment in a foreign land in her 20s, she picked up the language, started her own business, built her own factory, made a fortune when many others lost theirs during the Asian financial crisis a decade ago (as all her orders were denominated in US dollars), expanded her production capacity; but in time realized that the tide had turned in face of increasing competition from cheaper sources of supply, sold her business; then, by chance or luck, sourced a promising supply of alternative products and started a completely new business, and have since sustained its good going.
She was not at all a high-flyer in school and, to me, a classic demonstration of what it takes to be an entrepreneur - a successful one. But that is only part of her wonder. She takes care of virtually everyone in her parents' family, in addition to her own - a husband and 3 children - in big ways. She is simply amazing.
At times, I also wish I were an entrepreneur rather than an executive.
I attempted a bit of blogging by the tranquil pool side of a vacation resort on my BlackBerry but could not quite work it out. Now, back to life and reality, after catching up with the bustling office work, it feels home to blog again. Perhaps this is where I could feel a bit like an entrepreneur.
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