Mrs Nanz Chong-Komo says the crash of her One.99 chain of shops taught her several business lessons.

1 YOU NEED SMART PARTNERS

'Apart from my family members, I ran One.99 alone. I have since recognised there are limitations to my strengths.'

2 ALWAYS LOOK AT THE MACRO PLAN

'I'm very conscious about not getting sucked in by day-to-day operations, which is a deadly sin for most entrepreneurs. I do a quick mental sum if my team are producing with quality and efficiency. I often ask: 'Are we spending too much time for too little results?''

3 THINK ABOUT CASH FLOW

'It is like blood. You need it to survive. It is what I think about carefully.'

4 BE READY FOR CHANGE

'I share my business ideas and plans with different people, different industries to make the model more 'bullet-proof' over time. Many SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises) are too afraid to share, thinking people will steal their ideas.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.