Jan Wong, 23, is a certified E-Commerce Consultant, an advocate for youth entrepreneurship, online strategist armed with a Masters degree in Technology Management and the founder and director of 3 growing businesses, founder / project director ofMalaysia’s Online Fashion Entrepreneurs’ Weekend (MOFEW) and leading the youth and online marketing endeavors of A&O Brandbuilding Consultants.In case you’re wondering – this site also reveals part of my happenings in life, injecting a little bit more flavour to the site as a whole; something lighter than the usual information dosage, especially for the weekend :)
The Early Years
Jan’s journey is likely to have begun back during his childhood days, 7 years old, where he successfully sold plain A4 pieces of paper to almost every class in school during the examination season to satisfy the ‘demand’ for scrap paper for the upcoming math’s paper. As he grew slightly older at the age of 10, he began selling trading cards, making more than 5 – 10 times the cost but eventually splurged the profits on books, comics and model cars.
The Journey
Having completed high school at 16, Jan enrolled into University College of Technology & Innovation (APIIT / UCTI) to pursue his Degree in Internet Technology and also started to work as a Technical Assistant in the institute. At the age of 18, hestarted his first business – Genesis IT Solutions & Services with a close friend and subsequently led to his second business cum hobby, Shirts 4 Real, an independent t-shirt label with his childhood friends which was featured on local publication Business Times (NST) in 2008. What’s interesting to note is that both businesses started with zero capital and has yet invested a cent in advertisements since inception and yet remains sustainable until today, relying fully on online marketing and strategic positioning.It is also just a year after that where Jan underwent training under ICECC and eventually became certified as a Certified E-Commerce Consultant at the age of 19. He then graduated with a first class honours and was immediately accepted into a Masters programme by the very same university, given oversight by Staffordshire University, UK.
Throughout his life a student, he has also been actively involved in several entrepreneurship driven projects such as the Malaysian Entrepreneur Challenge in 2008 and 2009. He was given the opportunity to share his experiences and facilitated entrepreneurial / business seminars on various occasions. Jan also received the opportunity to represent Malaysia as a business delegate along with business owners from all over Malaysia to Thailand in 2008 and was the youngest delegate on the week-long trip.Along the way, Jan’s entrepreneurship abilities were constantly tested and failures were inevitable. Investment mistakes, inaccurate business judgement and oversights, he has been through them. However, his perseverance, vision and strife for success pushed him further as he continues to challenge greater heights, learning from past failures and to learn continuously without putting an end to the journey.
“Your mindset determines the size of the life game you play”
The Now..
..as an Online Strategist
Jan is often seen applying his resourceful insights in today’s organizations as an online marketing consultant, strategically implementing online solutions for greater corporate presence online as he strongly believes in INTEGRATION of technology into today’s businesses, such as social media. He also continues to be on the branding team for A&O Brandbuilding Consultants, assisting brands in positioning their marketing strategy online.The core of his work involves providing advice on how best one can present a person, brand or business online through strategic planning and positioning for maximum results. For those without a clear forward vision, mission and communication plan, Jan steps in to formulate an effective online ‘go-to’ strategy to suit the business / brand value for clients to identify with it better online. He understands that brands and business may have problems with their existing online strategy and he is ready to help them gain control of their online marketing strategy, making it work.
..as an Entrepreneur
Genesis IT Solutions & Services made further progress, forming it’s very own specialized subsidiary: Genesis Data Recovery Services catering to the niche data recovery industry in Malaysia, serving many SME / SMI and even MNCs and government bodies within the country and beyond – without any offline advertisement at all – businesses are generated 100% on an online basis.
In 2010, Jan went forward to establish Openminds Resources that functions as a dynamic youth based company specializing in social media, marketing and web development with the sole objective of assisting today’s businesses align themselves with the technological and rapid demands of the consumers, primarily among the youths.
..as a Youth Advocate
Jan’s most recent brainchild, the Malaysia’s Online Fashion Entrepreneurs’ Weekend (MOFEW) 2010with the primary objective to highlight young Malaysian online fashion entrepreneurs drove over 10,000 fans and over 500,000 monthly hits in less than 6 weeks, having over 40,000 visitors at the actual exhibition itself! Once again, more than 90% of the marketing and promotions were done using the online platform.
Jan’s passion for the youth stems out from years of active involvement amongst the young people, serving as Calvary Church Kuala Lumpur’s musician, youth cell group leader, events coordinator and recently in 2009, as the youth president leading 8 core leaders, more than 20 lay leaders and multiple departmental teams. Throughout his service, Jan has organized and coordinated youth camps, concerts, church-wide events and has also been leading the youth leadership building program being both the speaker and program director himself reaching internal youth leaders, and from hundreds to thousands of youth through his service in many ways within his home church and beyond.
His passion for youth entrepreneurship took on a new level when he was offered a part time job as a lecturer at one of Malaysia’s top IT Universities – the Asia Pacific University College of Technology and Innovation (APIIT / UCTI) at the age of 23, allowing him to share his experience and knowledge at a ground level – a quest to reach out to a greater number of young people and future entrepreneurs!
The Future
The journey definitely does not end here! In fact, it is just the beginning of even greater things to come. Although it will not be an easy road ahead as life continues to throw challenges but one thing for sure - it will be worth it all. My goal is to be inspiration but at the same time, to be inspired by your successes, your failures, your story, YOU, so that we can build our entrepreneurial career together for the better.
Source :
http://www.janwong.my/about/
