YCM 43th CEO Series : Rauf Rashid

Pardon my 'in-formality' in writing the following post...LOL

So, on the 23 of January, my classmates and I attended the Young Corporate Malaysians (YCM) 43rd CEO series featuring Rauf Rashid, the managing partner for Ernst and Young Malaysia. And, the event was pretty interesting.

Before the talk started, we had a networking session with people from different industries. I met a few people, mostly ACCA students and a financial analyst from Shell. And, yea...it started out pretty awkward at first, after that, you'd slowly grab a grasp on the whole conversation. 

The talk was about Rauf's life experiences. He's from Kedah, went into a borading school, got a scholarship to UK, did his degree, worked at KPMG and earned his ICAEW qualification. He pointed out that a degree is different from the ICAEW qualification, which is when he tasted a little bitterness...ok...maybe lots of bitterness. He didn't make through the exams. This means that he had to spend another 5 months in the UK. And worse, that's the last exam before the syllabus is about to be changed. Do you have any idea how tough and frustrating is it? 

After hearing those words from his colleague. 

Failure is character building. 

He rose and he succeeded. 

He came back to Malaysia, and worked in and manages Arthur Anderson, later sold to Ernst and Young, which today is one of the largest accounting firms in the world. 

Rauf's response towards the questions raised and issues addressed during the Q&A session has truly been an breath-taking one, unlike the ones that makes you listen, listen, listen, listen....∞ (infinity)

Some of the pretty hot topics would be job-hopping among Gen-Y employees. And, basically he mentioned that this phenomena is probably due to the lack of patience in nowadays youngsters. ANd, it would be fine if the hop progresses you in terms of job prospects. A person like Rauf did received a number of job offers, despite having himself tied with E&Y. But, another thing that got him turning down the offer was....wait for it....freedom in work.... Yea, I know, but, it is a rare thing.

success is getting what you want, 

                        but happiness is wanting what you get...

Caffeine Craze: Part I : Starbucks VS J Coffee

I know its been quite a while since the last post and I didn't update anything on my Deepavali holidays, despite Christmas is just around the corner. And most you guys wouldn't care. so, bye~

So, today I'm gonna do something different here, rather than whining and talking about life. Let's compare on stuffs...

Remember the Starbucks book that I've read? yea...I've finished it like a few months ago.... it was a pretty good book. It gives you a non-business perspective, as Clark (the author) was not of business background and it was his first book. 

Starbucks is basically unstoppable. at least, that's what I've gained from the book. So, I wondered how relevant is it? Does the concept applies in Malaysia....to be precise: Klang Valley? 

Time for some hands-on.

So, throughout the months, besides studying, I've been playing around and visiting places. And yes, most of them have Starbucks and they are ubiquitous. For example, there's 2 in Pavilion itself and they occupy pretty-strategic spots of the location (we'll get to that part later). And if the shops are not confined in the mall, they'd be operating till midnight, like the 2 Starbucks in Sunway Pyramid, which are situated at the entrance. And, mind you, they're still pretty crowded at that hours (which is weird. People drinking coffee at night?) again, mind you, they are no just limited to malls and shopping complexes, one could be as near as your doorstep, like the one in Sunway Monash Residence lobby. They're everywhere! 

Since the distance between 2 Starbucks could be that close, both shops could still be packed by customers. In other words, those shops do not drain off each other's sales and customers. And some would even call it "the 3rd place" (which I think not so relevant, since people would spend more time in the car or online). One thing that would explain this is the design. Every store is designed carefully, which creates a comfortable and vibrant atmosphere. Each store resembles one of the four themes that differentiates one store from another, which are the Heritage, Artisan, Regional Modern, and Concept. 

Like I do, some customers perceive Starbucks as a form of reward rather than a waste of money. Some would see it as a routine that they must have, because they think they serve the best coffee (which is not necessary true). Some would just hang out in the store  "exhibiting" themselves. Some would see Starbucks as a suitable place to meet up. In short, people choose Starbucks because of the brand. You'd feel that you're of a premium class the moment you have a cup of Starbucks. You would hold the cup with pride, and normally, with the logo of the Mermaid shown outwards. And through that, it is the best marketing strategy that one could create. 

And like what a customer would expect, Starbucks tries to fulfill all....

Ruthresh and I went to KLCC during the Deepavali holidays, and decided to have coffee at Starbucks. It was around 1pm which was during peek hours. Still, we queued. In 3 minutes, we managed to placed our orders: a hot coffee and a hot Cappuccino. There was a bunch of people waiting for their coffee, so the barista wrote my name on the cup with a smiley face on it. We paid the bill and waited for like 2 more minutes and then we heard our names called out. We fetched ourselves a few sachets of sugar and were ready to go. Clear and efficient. The coffee was hot...and aromatic. Pure and strong...

This afternoon, I stopped by J Coffee (JCo) in Sunway Pyramid, because JCo happened to be located in a more strategic corner, compared to the Starbucks one floor above. I entered the JCo store and the guy at the counter smiled at me. I browsed through the list of drinks and some were really creative. Avocado coffee? who would ever thought of that? But, I ordered myself a cup of iced Cappuccino....a Uno size Cappuccino, to be precise. The, the cashier asked whether I would like to go for a larger size one, which costs another RM1. I can't hear that clearly because the music they were playing was kinda echo-vy. So, I simply nodded. Altogether RM10.70. and, I waited for about 5 minutes. And the barista called me. But he hasn't finished preparing the drink, which took another 2 minutes, while he went to get a new bottle of syrup. Then, he put the Cappuccino, a small cup of syrup and a doughnut. Ooooo~a doughnut! I tried the doughnut first, iced with sugar syrup. It was soft and sugar syrup was still water-ry (the icing has not hardened). No problem on that. Then I tried the Cappuccino. It was also water-ry. When I finished, the cup was one-third ice. 

I guess that explains all....

soon....in 

Caffeine Craze: Part II: Starbucks vs McCafe    or     Starbucks vs Nescafe