By G. Sharmila
Versalink Holdings Ltd chief executive officer Matthew Law grew up surrounded by all things furniture and learned to love the family business early on. He shares the company’s beginnings with KINIBIZ. _____________________________________________________________________
The Malaysian furniture industry has long moved on from a traditional cottage industry to an export-oriented, technology-driven industry it is today. According to the Malaysia External Trade Development Corp (Matrade) website, there are more than 2,400 furniture companies in Malaysia today. In fact, the furniture industry is one of the country’s biggest revenue generators, exporting over RM7 billion to more than 160 countries annually.
The industry has been doing well over the years. Statistics from the Malaysian Furniture Promotion Council (MFPC) website show that the local furniture industry earned RM5.9 billion in export revenues from January through September 2014, an 11.9% increase from the same period the previous year. The top 10 export destinations during the January-September period last year were the United States, Singapore, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, India, Saudi Arabia, and the Philippines.
Matthew Law
But what does it take to start and sustain, an export-oriented furniture company in Malaysia? KINIBIZ caught up with Matthew Law, chief executive officer (CEO) and executive director of Versalink Holdings Ltd, a Malaysia-based furniture manufacturer listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), for the story of the company’s success.
The story of Versalink began with Law’s father, the now 64-year-old Roland Law, who started out in the furniture manufacturing business at the tender age of 16.
“My father started out as an apprentice in a small workshop; he learned how to make furniture when he was 16. He left school early to earn money so he could help take care of his siblings,” Matthew Law told KINIBIZ in a recent interview.
The elder Law played a pivotal role in the success of Versalink, which he founded in 1991. “Before that, he was in the home furniture business with his company called Top Ten Sdn Bhd, which he founded in 1979,” said Law of his father.
“My father started out by manufacturing home furniture, and found it a tough business as it is seasonal in nature. He gradually changed the strategy to making office furniture. His big break came came when a client from Dubai wanted them to do office furniture and so they moved forward from there,” Law said of his father’s beginnings in the office furniture business.
To a question on how much capital his father had when he founded Versalink, Law replied that he wasn’t sure of the exact amount, but knew that his father started the company with his own savings. “He is now semi-retired, since last year,” said Law of his father.
Law, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Camden University in the United States, went to school in Singapore. His involvement in the furniture business began when he was a young boy.
“When I was younger, during school holidays, I would visit my father’s company and play with wooden carvings and tools used in making furniture. When I got older, I accompanied my father to furniture exhibitions in Malaysia and Singapore. This way, not only did I learn about the furniture business, I also met many types of people,” Law recalled.
These days, Versalink is run by Law and his siblings. His sister Arica Walters is the chief operating officer and his brother Adam Law is an executive director with the company. “I joined the company when I was 20 years old in 1994 and my sister came onboard a year later,” said 41-year-old Law.
Law has been Versalink’s CEO since 2012 and he is responsible for the furniture group’s strategic direction and expansion plans, developing and maintaining relationships with customers and suppliers, as well as overseeing the group’s general operations.
Although Law started out as a sales, production, and purchasing assistant with the company, he shared that prior to his current position, he had previously been involved in all aspects of Versalink’s business, including the making of furniture.
“I can tell you from experience, exactly how many screws there are in this conference room table, because I have actually worked in this area before,” he said matter-of-factly. Other roles he had held prior to becoming CEO were export sales-cum-production coordinator and export manager.
What were the challenges in his early days with the company?
“When the company was still small, we were quite hands-on and we spent a lot of time detailing things.
However, we didn’t have a complete system, we continued to do things the same way when we started out, and we found that we couldn’t grow fast enough.
So we decided to be more systematic and adopted the ISO 9000 standard and moved on from there. We saw a lot of changes happen. For example, people who weren’t willing to change and grow with the company were slowly phased out,” he recalled.
“We’ve always stayed close to our customers. I am quite hands-on – I continued taking care of certain customers, and even visited customers located abroad. We had conversations with clients to find out what they wanted and to produce what they wanted,” he said of the early days.
The extra effort seems to have paid off for the company. According to Law, today, Versalink ranks among the top five furniture manufacturers in the Malaysian market. Currently, Versalinks exports its furniture to 40 countries. Top markets include Canada, the US, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific countries. Some 60% of the company’s revenue comes from the export market, while the remaining 40% is from the domestic market, Law said.
In our next article, Law talks about Versalink’s business today, how they are countering the competition, and the plans he has for the company.
Tomorrow: Road to success paved with challenges
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