Life wasn’t always sweet for the Group CEO of Focus Network Agencies (FNA) International, which owns The Cocoa Trees chain of chocolate boutiques. One of nine children, Paul Loo Lip Giam grew up in difficult circumstances that taught him the value of education early on. His parents did all they could to give him and his siblings the best in terms of schooling and a proper upbringing. Hunger for a better life led to a successful career as an engineer and then a stockbroker, but it is as FNA’s helmsman that Paul has really proven his mettle. Not only has the 23-year-old company recorded handsome revenue figures year after year, Paul was also named overall Singapore winner at the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards in 2013.

Just as Paul has benefitted from innumerable lessons throughout his life both in the classroom and outside of it, he is always ready to share his experiences with budding entrepreneurs. In fact, he and his wife, Esther Tang-Loo, who is executive director of FNA International, consider education a sustainable means of giving back to society. They regularly mentor students from tertiary institutions as part of FNA’s corporate social responsibility efforts.

Melissa Gail Sing talks to Paul about his experiences at school and discovers that even though he is a firm supporter of education, he isn’t always one to go by the book.

How did your schooling years shape you?

My parents believed strongly in a Chinese-based education so I spent six years in a Chinese Catholic primary school. At Maris Stella, all subjects were taught in Chinese except English. Looking back, that was good, because there were many opportunities to learn about the Chinese culture, and that emphasis on culture and values was good for character building. I also found that people from that environment were more closely knit. At Maris Stella, I was taught by a few Catholic brothers, all wonderful men who were great philosophers. One Irish brother, whom I kept in touch with until he passed on, used to tell me, “In school, there’s no such thing as a bad student; everybody is good.” He lived in the quarters above the school and would spend a lot of time with the wayward boys, talking to them and encouraging them. He provided a lot of guidance to the poor boys and to those with family issues. Those early experiences influenced me a lot.

At secondary school, I was a Science student all the way. Then I did engineering at university.

What is your business philosophy?
A business should be built over the long term, not a hit-and-run thing. I am very particular about reputation and relationships, which are even more important. You have to be in a position whereby when you make a commitment with a handshake, it’s as good as a contract. I am old school in that way. I don’t believe in contracts. With all my suppliers, all the big guys, I don’t sign contracts. They know that when I say something, I am serious about it. When I make a promise, I deliver. But I always tell them, if they fail me just once, I will be very careful with them in future. Of course, this has happened so many times, but the damage is usually not great. When I make any move, I must be able to take the shock. Because my business is quite diversified in terms of brands, this is easier for me. I am not overly-dependant on any one supplier. After dealing with me for a while, most people know my style. If you want to work on a long-term sustainable basis, then you must be serious. I’d also rather be shortchanged than shortchange others; if people say good things about you, word spreads and your life will be easier. But if you shortchange others, you’ll be cursed and sworn at. That will bring your downfall.  In the long run, you won’t survive. I believe we should be very down-to-earth, straightforward and believe in each other. Only when everyone is happy with you will you be able to do very good business. And when you face challenging times, people will come out to support you. 

What makes a brand excellent?

Quality products. Offer only premium products that are fresh and made using the best ingredients. For example we would never offer products that our suppliers produce from their China factories where cheaper substitute ingredients such as vegetable fat instead of cocoa butter are used. We choose better quality products made in suppliers’ home market such as the UK or Australia.

Make no compromise on service. Service should always be prompt, courteous and efficient. Staff should go the extra mile, and above and beyond the call of duty.

Create a unique customer experience. This doesn’t just apply to the retail customer but also for our distributors. With the retail customer experience, good store layout and design, inviting colours, lighting, an efficient checkout, knowledgeable and pleasant staff, clear pricing and transparent promotion mechanics as well as innovative and on-trend products all play a part. Meanwhile, satisfaction for the distribution customer is affected by factors such as efficiency of order fulfillment, timely deliveries, offering a wide selection of internationally renowned brands and competitive prices.

 Reliability. It is important to jealously guard our reputation as trustworthy, transparent and fair. We will offer refunds to customers if they are not happy with their purchase.  

High perceived value. Offer value for money by offering a superior “package”. We do not seek to be the cheapest but to be the best, measured by the package of benefits we deliver.

Recently, the Ministry of Education approached you to share your views at a dialogue session about the school curriculum. Tell me about that and what sort of education you think will groom a generation of successful businessmen?

The ministry wanted to hear from my experience about the sort of curriculum that should be tailored to encourage entrepreneurship. I’d say you don’t need students to sit for 10 to 12 subjects at ‘O’ levels. Instead, they could sit for just eight subjects and get involved in more CCAs. I use my children’s educational journey as case studies. My daughters took the conventional route. They attended a PAP kindergarten, studied Mandarin from a young age and so on. With my youngest child however, a son, I took the advice of a British educationist who said, ‘Don’t stifle kids between the ages of three and seven with learning; learning should be flexible.’ So, I took a more relaxed approach with my son. In the first few years of primary school, he was scoring a miserable 10 points for this tests. However, his curiosity and logic skills were incredible. He was asking questions like how cheques work. He learnt through project work. He made cars and learnt about gravity. It was a very practical, hands-on approach to learning. The downside was that his Mandarin suffered. Over time, his Mandarin levelled up and he scored an A for it at PSLE. When he was at St Joseph’s Institution, he was getting mediocre scores. He wasn’t quite studying as much as his sisters who were ahead all the way. When it came to the “A” levels though, all of them ended up with distinctions. What I am saying is that there are so many routes to an education, but the route my son took gave him an invaluable skill: flexibility in thinking. He was in canoeing and on the student council, and as a scout, he would ask for Jobs during Job Week. He would also help with church fundraising efforts. To me, character building is as important as the desire to learn.

What is your company’s approach to corporate social responsibility?

We approach it in several ways. One is very direct: we reach out to the poor and needy by visiting homes, donating to churches, charity events or to private hospitals like St Luke’s Hospital. The other way is by engaging students through internships.

Are there any marginalised communities you particularly feel for?

Recently, I have been going into education on a more long-term sustainable basis. My wife Esther, who oversees marketing, public relations and retail operations, and is very involved in community work with schools, churches and charitable organisations, and I have set up bursary funds with National University of Singapore and Singapore Management University. We hope to do more eventually. I feel that helping the needy to get a proper education is a more sustainable way to do community service. With proper education, these individuals can move up and get a job. They won’t need to be supported anymore. This initiative could also be skewed towards entrepreneurship. If the programme could nurture more entrepreneurs then the economy would benefit too. So we want to focus more on education where the multiplier effect is greater. I hope that in some years down the road, we will be able to see a greater impact from our efforts.