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For a 31-year-old, Ethel Neo has gone through quite a few ups and downs.
She has built two brands with her husband Peter Lau -- jewellery brand Éclat by Oui and collagen soup brand Chu Collagen -- and won an entrepreneurial award last December.
Oh, she's also a mother of two young boys.
The only daughter of Singaporean director Jack Neo might seem to have everything going her way, but things weren't always this smooth sailing.
Speaking to Mothership, Neo recalled being behind her peers when she was in primary school. Describing herself as a “late bloomer”, she felt demoralised when her results did not meet expectations despite putting in a lot of hard work.
However, she wasn't that easily discouraged -- when her then-teacher remarked that she would grow up to do "odd jobs", she took the comment in her stride and made it her goal to become the best shampoo girl — her chosen "odd job".
At the grand old age of 18, she decided to take the plunge and set up her first business.
First taste of entrepreneurship
Neo's first venture was selling stick-on bras in Singapore.
This business was short-lived as she realised that there was no branding and differentiation between her products and those sold by other blogshops.
About a year later, in 2010, she moved to Australia to pursue a degree at the University of Melbourne.
At the time, blogshops were raking in the big bucks in Singapore.
Noting that the trend hadn't yet caught on in Australia, she convinced a friend to set up a clothing blogshop there.
This brilliant idea failed her once again as there wasn't demand in the Australian market.
With outfits that they had to get rid of, the university students would lug suitcases of clothes to flea markets, where they would sell "one, maybe two pieces" a day.
Needless to say, it took some time for them to clear the stocks they had.
Unwilling to give up building a clothing business after returning to Singapore, she approached another friend to sell gowns together.
Neo’s friend eventually bought the idea and the two began gathering their inventory of bridal, bridesmaids and evening gowns.
Again, the business failed due to the heavy inventory required, and other costs such as the dry cleaning services required for the gowns.
Just keep trying
Neo then placed her entrepreneurial ideas on hold and started working as a full-time tuition teacher.
After around four years, she began to feel stagnant at her job.
“Being a teacher is great, it is very noble. But I felt like I was still young and energetic, and if I really wanted to start something by myself, I had to do it then,” she shared.
The seeds of her next business, jewellery brand Éclat by Oui, were sown after she almost lost her engagement ring while on holiday.
She wanted to buy a "holiday ring" -- a ring you would wear while travelling and not be afraid of losing -- but was unable to find one that she liked.
This personal quest became a business with encouragement from her loved ones.
As the business slowly grew, she realised how much she enjoyed building her own brand from scratch.
Recognising this as something she wanted to pursue, she decided to quit her job as a teacher to focus on growing the biz.
Having three failed businesses prior to this did not deter Neo from setting up her fourth.
In fact, she considers the unsuccessful ventures as stepping stones, rather than roadblocks.
She laughed:
“Anyway, I’m very used to failing because when I was studying, I would always work hard but the results would be subpar. So, I was very used to that. I think I knew that I just had to try again.”
Fourth time’s the charm
Éclat by Oui slowly grew as customers saw the appeal of diamond simulants -- gems that look like diamonds but have different physical, chemical and optical properties.
Lau also started to get involved, managing logistics while juggling his full-time job.
Sales continued to grow, which prompted Neo to encourage him to quit his job to co-manage the brand.
Today, the majority of orders come from Singapore and Malaysia, but the brand has customers from the UK, U.S., Australia, Taiwan and Japan.
In 2020, the couple launched a collagen soup business, Chu Collagen.
Inspired by Neo's love for cooking, and for soupy food, Chu Collagen's target audience is those who enjoy having hotpot in the comfort of their own homes, especially when dining out was affected by Covid restrictions.
Chu Collagen currently offers five soup flavours, along with two flavours of crispy rice puffs.
According to Neo, her soups are so well received by those in and out of Singapore that some customers living overseas pack frozen soup packets in their luggage.
This has led them to explore the possibility of expanding Chu Collagen internationally.
As Lau explained:
"We already got our trademark registered in most of the countries, it's just that we haven't expanded yet.
When we expand, we also hope that our capability expands – in terms of resources and manpower – so that we can focus on business development and spend time with our family.
We used to be a two-man team, but as time went by in the last five years, we have also increased our headcount.
She is the dreamer, I'm the executor. We complement each other very well lah."
Top images by Hayley Foong & from Peter Lau's Instagram