This slides will be used in a talk for Engineering Students at NTU. Please help to assist to provide comments so that the students can be excited and consider taking entrepreneurship as their career.

1. LEE Kar Heng
Chief TBSS Group
Ph.D, M.Eng, M.Sc, B.Tech(Hons), MIEEE
Certified Teacher in Higher Education SEDA & TP
Engineers can be good
Entrepreneurs too
Technical Seminar at NTU
IEEE Singapore Section
Education Chapter
28th March 2016

2. 2
Outline
• Outline
• Disclaimer and Acknowledgement
• Objectives
• Who is an Entrepreneur? (What do I do?)
• Why become an Entrepreneur? (reasons to become
one and reasons to remain as one)
• Engineers can make great entrepreneurs
• Some weaknesses (strengths in engineers are
weaknesses in business)
• How did I start?
• Who is a successful entrepreneur?

3. 3
Disclaimer
• There are many other more successful
entrepreneurs, although few are engineers.
 I am humbled to be given this opportunity to share
my experience
Acknowledgement
• The speaker is grateful to Prof Ma for arranging
this talk

4. 4
• To excite the audience to consider taking up
entrepreneurship as a career
 “Policies to foster Entrepreneurship are essential to
job creation and economic growth”, Business and
Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) , 2003.
• To share experience
 There is no success formula, there are experiences
though.
Objectives

5. 5
Who is an Entrepreneur?
• One who sacrifices time, effort and money to
turn an idea into a marketable product or service
 I spent most of my time now running the business
providing services and products in Vietnam,
sometimes Singapore (consultancy, courses and
solutions)
• One who takes the risks of a new venture when
there is a significant chance for profit
 I decided to concentrate in Vietnam as the
opportunity appeared to be better then (now it still
is)

6. 6
Who is an Entrepreneur?
• Innovator who markets his innovation
 In progress of seeking a grant from one statutory
board for a Product Development
• One who develops new goods or processes that
market demands which are currently NOT
available
 I do not develop new goods (as of now), but I had
worked out some services that were in demand in
Vietnam
 In Singapore, there are still some demands for some
of my services

7. 7
Who is an Entrepreneur?
• Provision of services in the installation,
commissioning, integration and testing of radar
systems in Vietnam

8. 8
Why Become an Entrepreneur?
• Actually, ….
 I had few choices as I quitted my full time job (years
ago) due to rationalization problem, so I chose to
start up, …
 Kids grown up
 Had wanted to do it (dream was still there)
 Believe I had been suppressed and was not given
opportunity to handle good projects
 Too much paper work
 Too much desire to prove
• You must be into Entrepreneurship before your
realize, …

9. 9
Why Become an Entrepreneur?
• Personal Satisfaction
 Choose the work I love
 Goods, services or works are accepted by clients
• Financial Benefit (at later stage)
 Reap profit from personal hard work and enterprise
• Independence
 Do not need to report to any boss
 No red tapes (I was in the public sector for decades)
• Self-fulfillment
 You use your own skills, abilities, decisions
 You career is your passion

10. 10
Why Become an Entrepreneur?
Financial Satisfaction
Financial SatisfactionKids Grown Up
(Being Enterprising in Grooming Kids too)

11. 11
Why Become an Entrepreneur?
With Dr Balanis, author of the
popular books “Antenna Theory”
and “Advanced Engineering
EM”, IEEE ATC, Vietnam, 2015.
Invited to attend the 50th National
Day Reception by the Consulate
of Singapore.

12. 12
Engineers Can Make Great
Entrepreneurs
• We can build trust better
 Engineers tell the truth (pros and cons of a solution,
design or product), hence gained trust
 Salesmen likely only speaks the pros to win a deal
(common)
• Analytical Abilities
 We are good at researching and evaluating each
aspect of a business, from development, finance,
design/production to sales and marketing
 Important in decision making and risk taking

13. 13
Engineers Can Make Great
Entrepreneurs
• Problem Solvers
 We are trained to solve problems
 We do not only help our clients to solve their
problems, we solve our problems too
(entrepreneurship comes with many problems)
• Perseverance
 Good engineers persevere until a problem is solved
 This is important during the start up phase of the
business (just too many things to address and
problems to solve)

14. 14
Some Weaknesses
• Too precise
 I tend to focus on the precision that are actually not
worth the effort and time or money
 I realize I had to make some quick decisions
 Entrepreneurs just have to manage risks
• I need to handle it personally
 Better control but team working gives better results
• Dislike unpredictability
 Risks are opportunities at times
 I was too cautious and not too daring to take risk initially

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Some Weaknesses
• Work First Money Later
 I tend to dwell into getting work done
 But if I could not make money then it isn’t a business
 We need to include all costs in pricing
• We Do Not Need Funding
 Lately I started to look at various schemes
 Funding helps to accelerate the growth
• Functionality before Customers
 I tend to believe that if I provide the best methodologies
and products
 I focus on customers now and tweak the methodologies
accordingly

16. 16
Some Weaknesses
• These weaknesses will be corrected after a few
money losing incidents
 I had to correct them, or else I am not running a
business
 We apply the engineering strengths in us to handle
technical matters and solve real engineering
problems
 In going after sales and clinching deals, we will have
to leave some of those strengths out

17. 17
How Did I Start?
• Before anything can happen, register a legal entity
(ACRA)
• Come out with a simple structure of the company
• Generate business ideas
 Knowledge based – technical know-how of my specializations:
Radar, Electronic Warfare, Coastal Surveillance System, Vessel
Traffic Information System
 Skill based – training (customized), consultancy, project
management, solution design and implementation,
engineering (ICIT), … of my specializations
 Product based – my companies represents products that are
viewed to be in demand

18. 18
How Did I Start?
• Finance
 Personal savings, loans, grants, … (I used my savings)
 Initial state was tough, most of the profit generated was used
to fund new job to generate more income
 The accounts must be closely monitored
• Market research
 Do potential customers like the products or services? (the
radars my company represents are well received customers)
 Applications of the services or products (sometimes, we have
to assist the customer on the applications)
 Budget (they will tell you if they want your service or product)

19. 19
How Did I Start?
• Target audience
 Do potential customers like the products or services?
 Applications and budget of potential customers
• A business plan
 A live plan that was changed many times, it is still being
tweaked now
 The plan and the account are necessary for seeking funds or
loans

20. 20
Who is a Successful Entrepreneur?
• There is only one Mark, Bill, Sim or Steve
• A successful entrepreneur does not necessarily
change the world or the way we work
• My definition,
“A successful entrepreneur is one who takes the
risk to start up a business, provides unique
services or products so as to generate an income
to substitute a salary.”
• If a business runs well, then it will expand and
you can re-define your desired success

21. 21
Who is a Successful Entrepreneur?
• Enjoy what you do – the sweet, difficult and
struggle and happy parts…
• Be serious – take your business seriously and
own it with pride
• Plan – nothing but plan, salary, expense, …. are
all your responsibilities
• Manage your profit wisely – the cash flow is your
lifeblood
• Your customers are everything… make sure you
KNOW them

22. 22
Who is a Successful Entrepreneur?
• I am a shameless marketing guy – you have to do
it! Always find opportunity to promote, …
conference, charity, volunteering, …
• A positive business image – give good service,
working solution and effective courses
• Technology – use it! Not necessary newest ones
• A team – start to employ as and when necessary
• Make yourself the expert in your field
• You must be competitive

23. 23
Who is a Successful Entrepreneur?
• Have a conducive workspace
• MASTER negotiation, I was weak in it (engineers
are generally weak in this department)
• You need to multitask, but you DO NOT hold on
to too many hats – delegate
• Enjoy talking to clients, partners, suppliers –
follow up, constant contact, …
• You must have time to REST, RELAX and
RECHARGE

24. 24
Conclusion
• All entrepreneurs started with only two winning
factors: dream and passion
• The route to your success will NEVER be identical
to others’ route, but your success will come …
• Am I successful? It depends on what I want
next…

25. 25
Sharing
• A great presentation, a dream, a desire and a
passion, …

26. About the Speaker
My Academics
My Radar-Related Works
My Teaching Leader Roles
My Professional Activities
My Publications
My Voluntary Works

27. 27
• Tiong Bahru Secondary School
 Top Student Book Prize, GCE ‘O’ Level
• Singapore Polytechnic
 Diploma in Electronics and Communications Engineering
 Private Pilot License, Singapore Junior Flying Club
• National University of Singapore
 Dean’s List in 4 out of 8 Semester, B.Tech(Hons) Electronics Engineering
 Asia Compaq Book Prize, Top student in Year 1998, B.Tech(Hons)
 M.Eng (Electrical Engineering)
• The University of Sheffield (UK)
 M.Sc Control, Information and System Engineering
• Staff and Educational Development Association (UK) and Temasek
Polytechnic
 Certified Teacher in Higher Education
My Academics

28. 28
• Georgia Institute of Technology (USA)
 Certificate in Principles of Continuous Wave Radar
• Madison Hills University (USA)
 Ph.D Engineering Management
 Certificate of Excellence for Engineering Management Project
 Certificate of Distinction for Qualitative and Quantitative Research
My Academics

29. 29
• TBSS Group
– Installed, commissioned, integrated and tested Vessel Traffic
System Radars for the Port of Hai Phong
– Assisted in conducting Radar Technical Course for the Port of Hai
Phong Officers
– Provision of professional services and designed and developed
radar tools for a Taiwanese company
– Designed Omni-Directional Corner Reflectors and retroflectors of
various Radar Cross Sections for a Taiwan Coastal Surveillance
system project
– Designed, developed and delivered a Radar System course for
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
– Designed, developed and delivered a Electronic Warfare course for
the Republic of Singapore Air Force
– Organzied and lectured on Coastal Surveillance System for the
Border Defense Force, Vietnam
My Work

30. 30
My Work
• Ministry of Home Affairs (Police Technology)
– Specified the Coastal Surveillance Radar System for the
Police Coast Guard of Singapore
– Installed, commissioned, integrated and tested Raytheon
Mark2 Radars
– Designed, developed and delivered Radar System course for
Police Coast Guard of Singapore
– Designed, developed and delivered System Engineering
course for Police Coast Guard of Singapore
– Carried out feasibility study on radar detection of swimmers
with Terma Radar, Police Coast Guard and Maritime and Port
Authority

31. 31
My Work
• Defense Science and Technology Agency
– Specified the Coastal Surveillance Radar System for the
Republic of Singapore Navy
– Carried out simulations and study on multi-radar tracking and
fusion
– Initiated, Installed, commissioned, integrated and tested
Secure and Covert Automatic Identification Transponders for
the Republic of Singapore Navy
– Carried out study of electromagnetic waves propagation in
wall penetration radars
– Carried out critical study on Frequency Modulation
Continuous Wave technique and solid-state transmitter
technology for radar applications

32. 32
My Work
• Maritime and Port Authority
– Specified the Vessel Traffic System Radars for the Singapore Port
– Initiated, Installed, commissioned, integrated and tested Automatic
Identification System for the Singapore Port
– Managed the Vessel Traffic System
• Temasek Polytechnic
– Designed, developed and delivered 3D Radar, Airborne Radar and
Radar Tracking courses for Ministry of Defense
– Designed, developed and delivered Radar System Engineering and
Phased-Array Radar courses for Republic of Singapore Air Force,
Republic of Singapore Navy, DSO National Laboratories and
Singapore Armed Forces
– Designed and Fabricated Antennas and Antenna Arrays for
detection

33. 33
My Work
• DSO National Laboratories
– Carried out radar tracking algorithms development for
maritime applications
– Installed, commissioned, integrated and tested Radar Tracking
System for an air platform
• Republic of Singapore Navy
– Maintained Fire Control System
– Conducted Fire Control Radar and Computer Systems courses
– Designed and Developed Gun Alignment Trial for electronic
learning platform
– Installed, commissioned, integrated and tested the automatic
fire control radar and missile systems alignment facility

34. 34
My Teaching Leadership Roles
• Senior Adjunct Lecturer, Bachelor of Engineering,
Edith Cowen University, Responsible for the B.Eng
Program in Singapore
• Course Chair, Bachelor of Engineering, SIM
University, Wireless Communication Systems
• Program Leader, Bachelor of Engineering,
Northumbria University, Responsible for the
operations of B.Eng Program in Singapore
• Subject Leader, Diploma in Telecommunications,
Temasek Polytechnic, Developed and managed the
“Integrated Project” module

35. 35
• Institution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
 Member, 1995 – present
 Chairman, Education Chapter, IEEE Singapore Section, 2016 -
present
 Member, Educational Activities Board, IEEE Region 10
 Treasure, Education Chapter, IEEE Singapore Section, 2015 –
present
 Chairman, Education Chapter, IEEE Singapore Section, 2008 –
2009
 Secretary, Education Chapter, IEEE Singapore Section, 2006 –
2007
My Professional Activities

36. 36
My Professional Activities
• Association of Old Crows (AOC)
 Member, 2015 – present
 Founding Member, AOC Singapore Chapter
• Inderscience Publishers
 Article Reviewer, 2015 – Present
• Vietnamese Association, Singapore
 Advisor, Science and Technology, Senior
Advisor Board, 2015 – Present
 Founding Member

37. 37
My Publications
1. K. H. Lee and M. S. Leong, “A Study on Coupling Effect Between
Antennas Installed on a Common Structure”, IEEE Asia Pacific
Microwave Conference, 1999.
2. K. H. Lee, “Antenna Coupling”, B.Tech(Hons) Project Report, NUS, 1999.
3. K. H. Lee, S. A. Hamilton and M. S. Leong, “A Tri-Band Circular Polarized
Microstrip Antenna”, IEEE APS/URSI Intl. Conf., 2002.
4. K. H. Lee, “A Simulation of Tracking Algorithms Used in Radar Data
Processing”, M.Sc Dissertation, University of Sheffield, 2001.
5. K. H. Lee, “Design and Development of Broadband and Multiband
Antennas”, M.Eng Research Thesis, NUS, 2003.
6. J. W. Teo and K. H. Lee, “The Propagation Properties Of Electromagnetic
Waves In The Application Of Through-Wall Radar Sensors”, NUS Science
Research Congress, 2003.

38. 38
My Publications
7. X. Q. Tan and K. H. Lee, “A Study on Data Fusion Techniques Used in
Multiple Radar Tracking”, NUS Science Research Congress, 2004.
8. B. Moh and K. H. Lee, “A Study on the use of Frequency Modulated
Continuous Wave Radar in the Detection of Swimmers”, NUS Science
Research Congress, 2005.
9. K. Li, T. S. Tan, J. Tan and K. H. Lee, “Taxi on The Way”, ScilabTEC
International Conference, 2015.

39. 39
My Voluntary Works
• Volunteer Special Constable, Singapore Police Force, Police
Officer in Police Coast Guard, 2010 - 2012
• Founder and Administrator, Tiong Bahru Secondary School
Facebook Group, 2008 – 2013
• Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, TBSS Group, 2012
– Present

40. 40
Name: LEE Kar Heng
Email: karheng@tbssc3e.com
Mobile: +65 9191 6893, +84 1638 006 000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karheng
(personal interests, thoughts, comments and reflections)
Linkedln: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karheng
(professional profiles and short articles on business and
entrepreneurship)
Academia: https://edithcowan.academia.edu/KarHengLee
(technical papers, students’ projects, course materials of academic
programs and short courses)
Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/karheng1
(company information of TBSS Group and Companies)
My Contacts