Pink Slips Can Lead to Entrepreneurship

Could we ultimately be seeing a round of economic Darwinism in the world of business today?

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When Mr Steven Low was retrenched two years ago from his sous chef job at Meritus Mandarin hotel, he received calls from hotels in Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines with job offers the very next day.

But the man credited for helping to create the famous Chatterbox chicken rice had already made up his mind to be his own boss.


He took the pink slip, the $20,000 payout for his 31 years of service and his winning recipe to start a stall selling - what else - chicken rice.

'It was a blessing in disguise. It came at the right time,' said Mr Low, 53, who was already harbouring thoughts of venturing out on his own when the axe fell.

With only the hard-earned experience of running a kitchen but not a business, the early days were, he admitted, 'a struggle'.

'There were so many things to worry about: whether customers would come, doing the sums, inventory issues,' he said.

On that first count, at least, he didn't have to worry. Loyal patrons followed him to his humble stall in a foodcourt at Downtown East in Pasir Ris.

Last April, he expanded his business, Mr Chicken Rice, into a 1,260 sq ft restaurant, also at Downtown East.

Retrenchment may be the biggest fear among employees in this gloomy climate, but it could also be a driver for entrepreneurship, said industry pundits.

While there are no statistics, Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (Asme) president Lawrence Leow said that anecdotally, those made redundant in the current downturn are more open to starting their own business.

'There does seem to be this trend. Maybe it is because of the pro-business environment the Government has been putting in place. In earlier downturns, the amount of incentives and pro-enterprise policies were not there yet,' he said.