Serve, Learn & Lead with Raymond Tay

Think Big, Focus One

Written by Raymond Tay on July 19, 2010 – 8:27 am -

This is my 2nd interview with another inspiring entrepreneur, Mr. JK Saravana, Founder & Chairman of Tantra Incorporated Pte Ltd. Get charged up and make your dreams into reality!!

Mr. Saravana, Chairman of Tantra Incorporated Pte Ltd

Mr. Saravana and Me

Here is a sample of my interview with Mr. Saravana:

Sypnosis on Nominee:

No one is born as an entrepreneur and everyone can be nurtured to be one. Mr. JK Saravana is the living example as he gained valuable experience and learnt to take risks from his enterprising parents. Starting a business at a young age created difficulties and barriers for him to stands tall among the senior competitors but he is determined and fought with hard work and creativity. He is also a serial entrepreneur who managed Cheeky Monkeys and is doing liquor distribution and import & export businesses.

Business Profile: 

Tantra Incorporated is a one-stop International Production house and Entertainment Company established in 2002. In the years of their existence they have established a unique and strong business network within the production and entertainment industry. The Company is well represented having successfully produced, managed and assisted top ranked projects.

As an established production and entertainment company they are diversely active in their respective divisions – Tantra Films, Tantra Records, Tantra Television, Tantra Live,Tantra Advertising and the newly added wings to meet to the expanding market needs, Tantra Animation and Tantra Studios. They have specialized professionals working with different genres of divisions, with years of experience in their field.

My Comments & Thoughts about Nominee:

Not many entrepreneurs whom I met so far are able to build businesses within businesses and I can envision his dream of creating his own television and radio stations where he can integrate all of his subsidiaries and be self-sustainable. Think big, focus one. He targets not just Indians in Singapore, but the whole Indian population in the world.

Starting Up

1. What is the nature of your business?

My business revolves around the entertainment industry and is a one-stop media hub. We have 7 subsidiaries e.g. television, film, records and studio. We provide all the different services in the entertainment industry from marketing to programme, film and music productions. We have our own studio facilities and also offer rental services.

2. When and why did you decide to become an entrepreneur / take over your family business?

We began off as an Art of Entertainment company in 2002 and were doing events mostly. Before that, I was serving NS and working in Cheeky Monkeys. I was actually preparing to go for further studies after my NS, however my mother passed away at that time. Thus I had no choice but to survive (either to work or to do business) and also I had to take over my mother’s beauty salon business. However I couldn’t do much for it. You can say that I am a situational entrepreneur. Hence, I decided to work at the same time in Cheeky Monkeys as a cameraman and a crew boy. Soon, I was promoted to an executive producer. Then in 2004, I put in more effort in my event company and changed it into a production company. Both my parents definitely inspired me and my father was a business owner in entertainment industry too. At a very young age, I was nurtured and exposed to entrepreneurship and risk taking from my parents.

3. What are your reasons for choosing to do business in this particular industry?

My father has inspired me a lot because since young, I was helping my father and was part of management committee for the concerts which bring artists to perform in Singapore. I also love watching movies and thus decided to make movies.

4. How did you put together all the resources needed to start your business? For example: getting the start-up capital, hiring staff, doing sales and marketing, advertising, etc.

I started my business with just $15 and I believe a true businessman or entrepreneur does not require a huge funding but needs a lot of hard work, planning and being conservative in your spending. After a certain level, you need more funds to grow the business. For us, we are self-funded and what we earn we re-invest back into the business. Most of my staff was from my family and friends in the entertainment industry. Some of them I had to meet and interviewed and I will see whether they are driven, inspired to work and have dreams. I will also think of how I can help them.

5. What are some interesting stories you have about your first few customers/first few years in business?

It was really a hard time developing programmes for television. The industry is full of seniors, in their 40’s and many well-established companies. We were a group of young people, in our early 20’s and our competitors were feeling intimidated by our young team. At that time, whatever we did, people complained a lot by passing comments like “you are a bunch of rookies” or “not knowing what you are doing.” Therefore, it was very difficult to break away such connotations or stereotypes. We just fought against them and continue to work hard in our production. By showing our product output, the customers were convinced. As our deals grew more and more, and we are getting a bigger share of pie, my competitors become quiet.

Business Challenges

6. What are some of the challenges you faced when you first went into business?

The challenges were those connotations or stereotypes that I mentioned earlier.

7. How did you overcome these challenges? Please share some specific examples of the action you took to overcome the challenges.

We need to have perseverance, discipline and thick-skin. In order to secure our first deal, we had about 13 or 14 meetings with our customer and after that, we had over 20 meetings in the progress of making the programme. Discipline is doing the things you that you supposed to do but do not compromise the things you want. I played a lot and have fun after work. I believe in working hard and playing hard.

8. Can you remember your worst day in business or a time when you felt like giving up? What happened that made you feel that way and how did you triumph over it?

There were days of my team falling apart and having to fire someone who was very loyal and close to me. Failing to fire the person could jeopardise the whole team. I had to be thick-skinned and cannot be judgemental. I had to make a tough decision. The person had made a big financial mistake and caused a loss that we could not explain.

9. Can you share some of the lessons you learnt from overcoming your own business challenges that you think will help other businesses?

Finances’ decisions and planning forward (like 5 to 5 years) are very important. Also, planning of funds’ injection at the right time is equally crucial as too early can be disastrous or too late can put the company into a cash-trap. We have grown pretty fast in the years due to good planning. Even though we have progressed fast, I am quite restrictive in our growth and expansion. Growing to a level where it is within our capacity. If you can’t cope with it, it can cause you to collapse. Growth and expansion are two different issues. Growth is a healthy progress but expansion is a risk, like setting a business in a business or taking a new project.

Achievements

10. When was the moment you realised the business would work and support you?

Honestly, I have never just focusing on one business. I have a couple of other businesses such as Cheeky Monkeys, liquor distribution and import & export. But my core business is always this, Tantra. After the 4^th year in operation, I realised this business is able to support me.

11. What are some of your proudest business achievements to date? And why are they so important and meaningful to you?

Every one of our programmes has either obtained an award or rated one of the best. My top three programmes are “Uncle Taxi” – a travel show, “Nilakanda” – First 3D Animation in Tamil, funded by MDA and “Chennai 600028” – a cricket movie in India. They are the milestones of our company.

Business Strategies & Tips

12. How do you differentiate your business from your competitors? Please provide specific examples.

Our competitors are mostly seniors. We are young, creative and staying on the edge. We are always introducing and utilising the latest filming techniques or production technology. My creative and production teams are always trying to find out new or better ways to work. We keep ourselves updated and change our routines regularly. Be on top of the ball, not under the ball.

13. What are some business ideas you have implemented that created great results in your business?

Whatever we create, we always plan to use our contents for at least 5 to 10 years and to facilitate our growth. For example, when we have our own television station, we can re-use our contents and not relying on other production houses. It is like a re-cycling method within our company. Another business idea is finding the appropriate time to handover the leadership. In my example, I have just passed over the leadership to my new CEO who is younger and has more ideas even though my tenure is just 8 years. If I stay any longer, I might become an old person with old ideologies and won’t be able to produce creative programmes. This business is all about ideas and need to be refreshed. I think most of the bosses won’t never be able to let go as their businesses are getting to close to their hearts and always thinking they are the best person to run the companies. Fundamentally, it is always good to hand over to someone who is more capable but still be there to give guidance.

14. Where or who do you get your business ideas from?

Anything can inspire me. We work as a team and there are many brainstorming sessions. Once something strikes us, we will go ahead with the idea. To me, a simple drive can give me many ideas and I love imagination along the way. Even my daughter’s baby talk can give me idea like producing something similar to Sesame Street.

Future Plans

15. What do you see for your business in the next 5 years, and does it include any plans for expansion?

It is our forward integration. We are going to set up our own Television and Radio stations for the international market i.e. the whole Indian community, 25 million of them. As much as we produce all languages, I want to focus to be a niche as an Indian provider. However, all my contents will be in English but cater for the Indian population. As much as we have our ethnic or native languages, the common language has become English.

Personal Business Philosophy

16. What does entrepreneurship mean to you?

No one is born to be an entrepreneur; everyone is nurtured to be entrepreneur. Entrepreneur doesn’t mean only doing business. We have to be positively competitive and even students can be competitive by studying hard. But being an intrapreneur and entrepreneur are two different things. Entrepreneur uses his/her own money to start business but intrapreneur uses other people’ money and is focusing on climbing up the corporate ladder. Entrepreneurship is just not about money but also thinking about social, staff, growth or satisfaction.

17. What are some entrepreneurship qualities that you have which has helped you come this far?

The qualities are punctuality, discipline and the attitude of “work hard, play hard”.

18. In your opinion, what does it mean to have the “spirit of enterprise”?

The spirit of enterprise can be demonstrated at any age, any time and any place. You can be an entrepreneur at home by showing to your parents that you can handle yourself.

19. Who or what motivates and inspires you?

My family and friends motivate me and they are there for me when I am down or happy. My parents are the biggest inspiration for me to be into business.

20. What are some of your business values and what would you like to pass down to others, particularly the younger generation?

Punctuality and discipline. You need to have the discipline to be at the office at a particular time. Also, be sure to giving yourself deadlines. A true entrepreneur will complete any task within the shortest period of time and ask for more. 

21. Can you share some of the more significant events / incidents that affected or shaped your business philosophy and the way you conduct your business?

The first business I ever wanted to do is making a movie. It was supposed to be Singapore’s first Tamil movie. I was 22 years old and did not know what it takes to make a movie. We thought as long as we write a script and go to the government body, they will give us money. We spent 1½ years doing nothing except writing proposals and proposals. At the end of the day, we realised that it was a stupid thing we did. The whole world revolves around money. In order to produce a project, you have to have either your own money or the funding. A dream alone is not enough. You cannot just have a dream and expect anyone to help you. Thus we compromised and we produced a television programme which is lower graded than a movie. After making the money, we went to produce a movie. Our industry is good in a way, whether you are happy or sad, you have to watch T.V. Thus you can say that our industry is like recession-proof.

22. With the changes in the market today, do you think it has become harder or easier to succeed in business? Why do you say so?

There is no such thing as harder or easier. It is the amount of hard work you have to put in. It is always challenging to start and sustain. There are always new minds or new companies coming in. At the end of the day, you must be competitive. The problem is as you grow bigger, people expect more from you and your ideas have to become bigger as well. Your team have to grow bigger too and you have to read, surf, imagine, and dream more.

23. What advice would you give young people who want to start their own business?

Before you start a business, fundamentally evaluate yourself whether you want to be an entrepreneur and intrapreneur. Intrapreneur works within a company and gets a salary, and eventually promoted to become CEO or CFO. Entrepreneur starts off with your own money and at level zero. If you are the type of person who likes challenges, that’s both. If you like challenges, willing to lose money, still fight on and won’t break down or cry, then you can be an entrepreneur. At a young age, don’t wait until 25 or 26 years old, decide whether you want to work for yourself or others and then focus on that path.

Tags: Entertainment, JK Saravana, Production, Tantra Incorporated Pte Ltd
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