AS A child, Ms Grace Sagaya Chia was surrounded by music. She grew up in rural Malaysia in a musical family - in fact, the whole family played in a church band.
Her other great love is children, so it was only natural that her first business venture involved a mix of the two.
In 2003, Ms Sagaya Chia, now 31, set up a musical education course for children.
That has evolved into Grace Kids, a chain of five outlets specialising in children's education and entertainment.
The chain rakes in $1.5 million a year in revenue, and has requests from as far afield as Australia, Britain, Germany and Canada for franchises to be established.
Humble beginnings
THAT is no mean feat for a woman raised in a kampung in Kuantan.
Ms Sagaya Chia attributes her business boldness to her formative 'rough and tumble' years, which instilled in her a sense of adventure and risk-taking.
She moved to Singapore from Malaysia with her husband John Chia and 'literally just a suitcase', she recalls.
They were so poor then that they could not afford to rent a house, so they squeezed into a single rented room.
She took on many jobs, from real estate to insurance. 'You name it, I've done it,' she quips.
Ms Sagaya Chia saw an opportunity to start her own business when she realised that the many music courses on offer for children in Singapore tended to follow a strict syllabus.
She was trained in the Orff method, which advocates teaching music through exercise and improvisation.
The aim is to impart musical skills in a less structured and enjoyable way - and Ms Sagaya Chia was so convinced of the effectiveness of this method that she invested her life savings of $100,000 to start Rhythm in Me with a friend.
Her daughter Suzannah, now five, was her first student. Her other child, Elijah, is three.
In the classes, youngsters got to experiment with coming up with tunes rather than the traditional rote method of musical learning.
Ms Sagaya Chia's courses were a huge hit with expatriate families, as word-of-mouth reviews spread about her business in UE Square.
Business began to pick up after just three months, and by the end of her first year, the operation was breaking even.
However, she says, locals were less receptive to her ideas. Even now, about 90 per cent of her clientele are expatriates.
'Singaporeans tend to have this idea of foreign - good, local - bad. Singaporeans will always prefer a foreign company.'
Branching out
TWO-AND-A-HALF years after her maiden venture, Ms Sagaya Chia set up Busy Buddies, a play centre for children. This was followed in 2006 by a children's gym called My Gym, cafe-cum-party caterer Thin Crust Cafe, and Jolly Party, now Singapore's top-selling party supplies shop - all in a 6,000 sq ft space at Great World City.
She had decided to branch out to playgroups, exercise programmes and supplying parties, as she always had a vision of Grace Kids being 'a one-stop centre, a sort of kid's club where children can just come to enjoy themselves'.
One of the most profitable arms of her business is party-planning. Ms Sagaya Chia estimates that her company organises 120 parties a month, charging parents an average of $1,000 a party.
Explaining the popularity of children's parties, she says: 'Parents are increasingly willing to shell out money to throw extravagant parties for their children compared to a few years ago, as birthdays are a once-a-year occasion.'
Other aspects of her business are also booming. Grace Kids trebled its customer base in two years, from 2005.
Not all child's play
DESPITE the considerable success of the business, it has not always been easy getting business loans.
She likens this dilemma to a chicken-and-egg situation in which banks will give out loans only if businesses show they are making money.
But small and medium-sized enterprises need these loans to expand their businesses in order to rake in the cash to get going in the first place.
'I wish financial institutions would be willing to take more risks,' she says.
Ms Sagaya Chia hit a particularly rough patch last year in a management crisis that led to her 'losing 4kg in one week due to the stress'.
'I had an employee that went around claiming my business as her own, and she 'poisoned' my staff against me.'
Eventually the employee left the company, but not before taking several of the firm's employees with her. It was a painful lesson, but Ms Sagaya Chia managed to recover from it.
'I learnt that one should always trust one's gut when hiring people, and to always keep tabs on and stay connected to your employees, especially new staff, as you never know what they might do,' she says.
'No matter how well the business is faring, it takes only one bad egg to ruin much hard work.'
Secret to success
HARD-WORKING, passionate staff are a key factor in Grace Kids' success, she says.
To win their trust, she makes an effort to be 'a friend instead of a boss' to her employees.
Every employee gets an all-expenses paid holiday every year. She once surprised an employee who was a photography buff with a gift of a digital camera.
She hires only staff with a passion and love for the job. She believes her 'high energy' helps her business stay ahead of the competition, and she is even nicknamed 'Crazy Grace' by her employees.
Ms Sagaya Chia believes aspiring entrepreneurs must not only love what they do - they must also understand the nuts and bolts of their job.
'I am able to find sponsorship and obtain loans more easily now as I know my products better,' she adds.
One must also be prepared to take risks, she says. She has learnt from experience that it is practically impossible to run a business alone.
She also credits her faith as an instrumental force in guiding her through tough times.
Grace Kids will open another child-centric store next to the party-supply store at Great World City by next month, giving it a total space of 18,000 sq ft there.
The new store will have a children's disco, areas for parents and kids to relax, and play areas with life-sized dollhouses and manicure services.
Ms Sagaya Chia hopes to expand into the region in the future. Already, there are plans to set up overseas franchises for her Rhythm in Me concept and the children's gym in countries like Canada and Germany.
Right now, though, she is counting her blessings. 'I love what I do every day, and I wouldn't exchange it for the world.'
This article was first published in The Straits Times on May 21, 2008
