Business

Monday April 13, 2009

A joyful ride in media business for Wong

By LEONG HUNG YEE


DATUK Ricky Wong’s involvement in the media industry has been, in his words, “exciting and new” as he stumbled upon a unique idea while travelling abroad.

“I’ve always had that interest in media. I wasn’t encouraged to get into the media industry nor was I discouraged. The idea that I had and the urge to have my own business were strong, so I decided to give it a try,” said the founder and chief executive officer of Asia Media Sdn Bhd.

Wong, an accounting and finance graduate from Britain’s Lancaster University, practised accounting for about a year in London before returning to Malaysia.

Datuk Ricky Wong on a bus equipped with an Asia Media TV screen. He says he is enjoying running the business and wants to build a business model that is self-sustaining.

Upon his return, he joined a manufacturing firm before calling it quits to start Asia Media in 2007.

Asia Media is a leading transit media company based in Puchong.

It owns and operates Asia Media TV, which runs ads on LCD screens onboard buses.

Asia Media TV screens are installed on RapidKL buses, Causeway Link buses plying between Singapore and Johor Baru, and Plusliner and Nice++ express buses.

The company’s transit TV network reaches about 500,000 bus passengers daily, according to Wong.

Asia Media TV plays infotainment programmes, advertisements, community-driven messages and public service bulletins on public transportation.

It has also been endorsed as the “Biggest Transit-TV Network (Bus),” with 3,175 LCD screens in 1,391 stage and express buses by the Malaysian Book of Records in 2008.

“I saw an area in out-of-home digital advertising that has not been explored in Malaysia and the entrepreneur in me discovered that there was a great growth potential in this niche segment,” Wong said, adding that he got his idea from what he saw in China, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Like many new start-ups, Asia Media also faced funding problems initially as most banks wanted a solid track record.

The group’s start-up capital was “all self-generated,” Wong said.

“There (is a lot at stake) in running my own business. I am now fully responsible for my own performance and work productivity,” he added.

Sometimes the pressure really gets to him and that is when he learns how to calm down and thinks of strategies on how to do things better.

Wong also practises two-way communication with his employees as he realises communication is one of the underlying reasons for the success of an organisation.

Asked if he was a workaholic, he said: “No. Not really, but I really enjoy running this business. I want to build a business model that’s self-sustaining.”

Without disclosing too many details, Wong said Asia Media should recoup its fixed investment by the second half of this year.

“We should be able to recoup half of our investment next year. We hope to make some operating profit this year,” he said, adding that the investment per bus was between RM6,000 and RM8,000.

Asia Media is also looking to expand its services to places such as Ipoh and Kuantan.

It is also in the midst of developing an online portal for commuters to watch their programmes after getting off from the bus.

He said some interested parties had contacted him to bring the Asia Media business concept overseas.

Most of its clients are from the telecommunications, banking and fast-moving consumer goods sectors.

Wong said his company was also working with several ministries and non-governmental organisations on public announcements.

He said the company had not been affected much by the economic slowdown.

In fact, he foresees getting more advertisers due to its product affordability, extensive network and regular captive audience of about 500,000 daily.

In less than two years since its establishment, Asia Media has received numerous awards, including the SME Rising Star Award 2008 by the SMI Association of Malaysia and MSC Malaysia APICTA Best Start-up Company by Malaysia Development Corp.

Wong was also recently awarded the JCI Creative Young Entrepreneur 2008 by the Junior Chamber International Group.

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