EO Singapore Founder Stories Jacob Puthenparambil

From being a university graduate that no one wanted to hire, to becoming the boss of a media company that generates a revenue of more than $10 million today, Willie Lee’s life over the past decade has been dramatic, to say the least.

Willie Lee (35), never thought that he would start a business at such a young age. He studied Business Management at the Singapore Institute of Management and originally wanted to be a banker. However, due to the global financial crisis in 2008, he was unable to find a job when he graduated that year.

Weak men wait for opportunities; strong men create them

Willie remained resilient in the face of adversity and with his indomitable spirit, he eventually succeeded.

“When I was in university, I worked part-time as a Sound Engineer for pocket money,” he recalls. “No one wanted to hire me after I graduated, so I decided to turn my part-time job into a full-time one.”

In the same year, he registered a production company with only $60 and started the business by recording songs for clients.

He was astute to observe that with the rapid rise of social media, many traditional media production companies failed to keep up and were thus left behind. He turned this so-called “crisis” into a “business opportunity”, and guided the company to success by creating a niche in producing digital videos.

For example, he chose to use modern technology for recording instead of the traditional recording tapes that were more common back then. He also used social media to form a creative advertising campaign for his clients.

After his business got off the ground, Mr Lee began venturing abroad and set up studios in China, Malaysia and India. After 11 years of hard work, the once unknown company has grown into a sizeable media group.

Today, his company has offices in Kuala Lumpur, Xi’an and Mumbai, employing more than 200 staff with a revenue of more than $10 million.

At present, the group has a total of 11 wholly-owned, joint venture subsidiaries and affiliated companies. From conception and writing to shooting and post-production, the group provides a one-stop service for its clients.

He wants to continue expanding the business to the Asia-Pacific region and to develop Big 3 Group into a powerful media and entertainment group, with “Disney of Asia” as his vision.

Earning only $100 per month in the beginning

Violet saw a business opportunity in the competitive world where the lives of busy professionals revolve around work and the boardroom. Further observation of her family, friends and colleagues who complained about having little time for love due to their busy schedules convinced Violet even more and led her to set up her own matchmaking company called Lunch Actually in 2004 with her then fiancé, now husband Mr Jamie Lee.

Today, Lunch Actually is Asia’s biggest premier lunch dating company with offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Bangkok with the largest lunch dating membership base. Together with Jamie, Violet also founded esync and LunchClick to fill the gap in the market for trusted online and offline dating service platforms. Lunch Actually Academy is established to provide singles with Dating and Image Consultancy, and Peerage provides high-end matchmaking services for clients who are the crème de la crème of leading professionals.

The first Asian to be certified by the Matchmaking Institute in New York City, Violet has gained tremendous insight into the dating and matchmaking industry and is the pioneer in her field. She has appeared in over 2500 media coverages in top magazines, television and radio, and featured in local and international media such as The Straits Times, ABC News 20|20, CNBC Asia, BBC, Bloomberg and Radio Australia. She was also featured in Singapore’s National Day video in 2005 as one of Singapore’s most aspiring people.

Violet is happily married to her university sweetheart cum business partner Jamie, and they have two young children, Corum and Cara. Having been blessed with a fulfilling marriage and enriching family life, Violet's life goal is to create 1 million happy marriages through the works of Lunch Actually Group.

Marc Nicholson is a serial entrepreneur whose past endeavours include venture capital, advertising, and a chain of barber shops. He is the founder of the popular private members club in Singapore, 1880.