HELLO MANILA!
Yes I’m back in the Philippines again. This time for a management training course.
Ming and I have been facing new challenges this year. In the past year, our company has grown significantly to some 120 or so staff from our 7 offices in 7 countries. Growing is fun and something we never take for granted. That being said, it comes with its own set of “growing pains”. As a company grows, the entrepreneurs need to put in a strong command & control and reporting structure so we can better maneuver the company to new heights.
It was fun when we were a 20 man startup. But when you have over 100 employees, middle managers and lots of departments in between it’s a challenge to make sure that everyone shares the same culture, vision and is able to work efficiently past the necessary structure we have to put in.
That’s what Ming and I, and 4 other Nuffies are here in the Philippines to do. To learn.
We’re attending a 4 day training session by speakers from the USA on a course that was based from MIT. The other participants here are entrepreneurs from all sorts of different companies in various industries all over the world. One of the guys we met here was the boss of an air-con contractor in Australia that brings in revenues of some RM500 million a year.
That’s huge!
The course was expensive though. Costing us almost RM30K but it’s only the first of many investment Ming and I know we have to make to improve ourselves to better run the company. We’re all working really hard. Our sessions in the morning start at 8AM and last the whole day. After that we have dinner and then our team meets up every night to see how we can apply whatever we learned into our company. So that we don’t forget everything we learn too quick.
So I’ve been really busy. So busy that I just realized I don’t even have any pictures of myself with anyone at the conference. I did manage to grab a few of the event though…. conscious that I was going to blog sooner or later.
In between all these meetings and courses I have to find time to clear all my emails and manage whatever other daily business we have to do so forgive me if my updates have been a bit lacking. I’m with you at heart 🙂
Now I need to finish clearing my emails and then go for our discussion tonight. Have a great 2nd half of the week everyone!
PS: Guess who I met on the plane to Manila. Our Bank Negara governor Zeti. I saw her sitting at the front row when I walked into the plane. I leaned in and said “Hello Governor!” with a shy smile Kinda felt a little starstruck. She nodded and smiled back at me 🙂
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space