ONE of the most important qualities an entrepreneur must have is a proactive attitude. This is something that Dropee CEO and co-founder Lennise Ng has in spades. She didn’t start out wanting to be in the technology industry. Rather, she was studying music at an international college in Kuala Lumpur, with a view to transferring to the Berklee College of Music, when she first caught the start-up bug.
After that venture failed, she pursued a university education — not in music but in business.
Exposure to a venture capital business; a stint at Yelp, and a tour of duty working for the family business led her to create Dropee (www.dropee.com), an online platform that matches wholesale suppliers with retailers.
While the business-to-business (B2B) is generally not as sexy as its business-to-consumer (B2C) cousin, Dropee is poised to disrupt the old ways of doing things that will fundamentally improve the sales of old school retailers.
LET’S START OFF WITH YOUR NAME, WHICH IS LENNISE NG. HOW COME ONLINE THERE ARE SOME REFERENCES TO YOU AS LENNISE MIA?
That’s a story that dates back to my time as a student. I lived in Klang but I studied in Damansara so it really wasn’t easy for me to be around for social activities. My friends started calling me MIA because I was always “Missing in Action”. That nickname kind of stuck through the years.
HOW DID YOU END UP STARTING A BUSINESS WHILE IN COLLEGE STUDYING MUSIC?
A lot of my friends in music weren’t very good at marketing and salesmanship so they turned to me for help. After a while, I realised that there could be a business opportunity here and decided to start a talent management company with the help of another friend.
WHAT MADE THEM GO TO YOU FOR HELP ON BUSINESS MATTERS?
I guess it was because I always talked about the business side of things! I came from an entrepreneurial family and I’d been helping with the family business since young so I was really comfortable with things like negotiating, salesmanship and so on.
WHAT DO YOU THINK WENT WRONG?
For one thing, my partner and I were really young and inexperienced. I was only 19 at the time. But this market also grossly undervalues live performances. A five-piece band playing for three sets – meaning one-and-a-half hours – would be paid something like RM500! Running that talent agency really opened up my eyes about the music industry here.
SO, YOU DIDN’T CARRY ON WITH YOUR MUSIC EDUCATION PLANS?
No, I went on to study management and accounting in Melbourne. At first I thought I’d end up becoming an investment banker or a consultant but after the end of my second year, I got to know some people at a tech accelerator and venture capital company. I ended up doing some part-time work there. It was my first taste of what a tech start-up was like.
WHAT DID YOU DO AFTER GRADUATION?
Right before I graduated, I got an email from Yelp saying that they were interested in talking to me about a job. Since I hadn’t applied for a job with them, I thought it might be a scam. But I figured no harm having a Skype conversation. Long story, short, I found out they were looking for a launch manager for Yelp to enter the Malaysian market. The thing is, they didn’t know that I was an undergraduate. When they found out, they actually asked me if I knew anyone suitable they could talk to. I said no, and asked them to give me three months to prove myself. I even offered to work for free to show them I could achieve any of the KPIs they set for me. Three months later, I got the job.
HOW DID YOU END UP CREATING DROPEE?
When I came back to Malaysia, I helped launch Yelp and worked there for about a year and a half. After that I joined a few friends at an accelerator and venture capital business for about a year. Then I joined my family business and it was during that time that the idea for Dropee came to me. I noticed that a lot of things were still being done manually. You might find this surprising but even at big companies a lot of things are still being done with a pen and paper. I wanted to do something about that.
WHAT IS DROPEE, IN A NUTSHELL?
We bring together suppliers and retailers on a single online platform. Retailers can source products directly from qualified suppliers at a faster, cheaper and more reliable way.
ARE MOST OF YOUR RETAILERS, PHYSICAL OR ONLINE ONES?
Most of them are physical because they’re the ones whom our technology can help the most. They’re the ones with the big technology gap.
HOW CAN YOU HELP THEM BEYOND FINDING CHEAPER SUPPLIERS?
One big issue for retailers is stock. Because retailers usually do things manually, quite often things go out of stock. This means lost sales. We can help them auto-replenish their stocks. Through us they can also have more variety in the items they offer. We can even suggest things they should carry that would help improve sales based on our analysis of their situation.
MOST OF YOUR RETAILERS ARE SUNDRY STORES?
Lots of sundry stores but also restaurants and cafes, bakeries, hotels, clinics and hospitals — we even cater to weddings and events. Our technology is very flexible and can cater to big and small players.
DO YOU TAKE A CUT FROM THE SUPPLIERS OR THE RETAILERS OR BOTH?
We make money from charging suppliers. We don’t charge retailers at all. For the suppliers, they can choose to pay a commission or opt for a really affordable management fee instead – basically a subscription model for being on our platform.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO AN ASPIRING ENTREPRENEUR?
Whatever you do, give it 110 per cent. You never know who’s observing you or what impact you might make on someone. The reason the Yelp folks contacted me was that one of my bosses at a company I had interned at had recommended me highly. When I was an intern, I did everything and anything they asked me to do… and more. I always believed in going that extra mile.
WILL DROPEE EXPAND BEYOND MALAYSIAN SHORES?
Yes, we have plans to expand to Thailand or Indonesia. Actually, if everything goes well, we might even be able to do both.
HOW LONG DO YOU THINK YOU’LL BE DOING THIS?
I don’t know. I never planned this. It started off as a project to help my family business go digital. Now, it has grown to become much larger than I ever expected it to. But I enjoy creating things that can help businesses grow. So, I guess I’ll be doing this for as long as I can.
DO YOU STILL SING?
Yes, very much so but only in the shower!