Diploma in Business Management, Derrick Goh
Derrick Goh owns two online businesses. In fact, being an entrepreneur is in Derrick’s blood. He is spurred on to start his own business by his dad, who runs his own transportation and logistics business. Even as a student from Woodland Ring Secondary, Derrick was already dabbling in small businesses, such as flyer distribution and second-hand mobile phone trading.
Derrick's first company, set up in 2008, is an internet solutions company, specialising in web design, development & hosting. His business was a thriving one, with clients from US, China, India & the Middle East. Derrick has since handed over the day-to-day running of first his business to a NYP classmate, so that he can concentrate on his second busines, which he set up in August this year, together with a Diploma in Business Informatics graduate who is currently in NS.
His new business is AdVertive, an international Online Display Advertising Network. Explained Derrick, "We act as the bridge betwen web publishers and advertisers. What is unique about our business is that we offer behavioural targeting, unlike traditional targeting opinions, which is centred around channels or categories. Behavioural targeting allows us to serve ads relevant to the web user and ads are serve according to the user's previous online behaviour. For example, if you are interested in business courses, we can identify your interest based on your past web surfing patterns. And as a result, ads related to business courses will be shown to you the next time you surf the internet."
Juggling work and studies has not been easy for Derrick, who has regular business meetings with clients & also stays up late at night to call his US-based clients. He spends much of his free time in his office, located at Red Dot Building along Maxwell Road.
What are his future plans? Said Derrick, "We hope to expand to the Malaysian market, and the Asia-Pacific region, and explore new networks willing to work with us. Our target is US$1 million revenue by the end of our first financial year."
An entrepreneur since he was 13 years old
Diploma in Marketing student Tay Liming, current 3rd year student
Liming started his own online business at the age of 13 years old when he was a student at Montfort Secondary School. He was inspired to run his own business after reading about the success stories of other entrepreneurs. He was also encouraged by his dad, who is also an entrepreneur.
The business Liming started deals with online media buying. He helps clients to generate targeted leads online using various digital advertising tools, such as Search Engine Marketing & Email Marketing. His clients are mostly based in the United States and come from a wide range of industries, such as health & finance.
The former CCA chairman of Montfort Secondary's Entrepreneur Club said, "I love the freedom and flexibility of this business. Being my own boss gives me control over my future. Like any business enterprise, i also enjoy the risk involved, especially when venturing into new areas."
Liming admits that running a business is not an easy task as there are ups and downs, as with most things in life. In 2010, for instance, his business went from making over a thousand-dollars-a-day in profits, to being in the red for a few months due to fierce competition. Thankfully, his resilience managed to pull him through and his business is now doing well again. Liming’s good networking skills has also strengthened his business. During his studies at NYP, he met like-minded entrepreneurs whom he could work together as partners. For example, he met Diploma in Business Management student, Derrick Goh, who runs AdVertive, a company which specialises in online advertising.
His good networking skills also earned him a coveted internship with Yahoo! Singapore. In June 2010, he met representatives from Yahoo! at a marketing conference called Ad:Tech where he expressed his interest to join the company. Subsequently, he was put through an interview and test which he did well, and he managed to clinch an internship.
To share his knowledge & experience in online marketing, Liming recently teamed up with two online marketing gurus & authors to produce a series of online training courses. This project has generated over $500,000 in gross sales in just a few months. With the successful launch of his online courses, Liming hopes to be a speaker at marketing conferences in future.
