Countdown II

It certainly has been a busy week. There was work in the office, a trip to Singapore and finally a ride back to hometown in Batu Pahat. Hence, once again, it has been quiet week for blogging both here and at Education in Malaysia.

I've written earlier that a month ago, I've disposed of all my interest in the company which I founded. Last Thursday, I've handed in my resignation as the Director and Chief Executive Officer effectively ending my 10-year association with the company. To a certain extent, I've achieved my ambition of financial retirement by the age of 35, albeit after a 5-year delay. ;)

It is my wish here that the new management of the company will take the company to greater heights. And it is certainly my hope that they will never have to face some of the toughest years I faced in the information technology (IT) industry both pre- and post-listing on the Singapore Exchange.

However, not all the toughest years were necessarily caused by the economic environment (although it certainly didn't help). In various bids to grow the company and expand it's scope and operations, there has certainly been various missteps along the way which exacerbated the difficult years. But such mistakes are always easy to identify on hindsight, and the experience could only have made us stronger, having survived them.

It is therefore important for the new management to ensure that the mistakes are not repeated. With a much more stable financial footing achieved in the past year, as well as precious lessons learnt from the past, I'm optimistic that the new team will be able to take the company to new heights, heights which I could only wish I have achieved during my tenure with the company. ;) I would certainly wish them all the best.

Looking forward, there's appears to be plenty that I'll be doing. To a certain extent, a little bit of me must have been hoping that I can now visit the golf courses on a daily basis. After all, I've hardly walked on one for the past year or so. My clubs and a fairly new pair of golf shoes have been lying idle for quite a while. But it appears that such dreams will continue to take the back seat for the moment.

The Descartes Education Counselling Centre (DECC) is one of the little personal projects which I'm starting post-'retirement'. I've blogged about it here, and I've received some very good responses to date – keep them coming. (I'll get back to all who have responded right after the Chinese New Year).

But as some of you have already known, it is not the only project I'm looking forward to, which will keep me busier than ever. I have been informed that Jocelin Tan (who did an interview with me) will be publishing this development in the Star tomorrow (Sunday 18th February). So remember to get your Chinese New Year copy! ;)

I'll blog more about it in due course ;) Thanks for reading.