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Business @ AsiaOne
Charging ahead with new career
For one man, the pink slip was not a letter of doom but the
push to start anew. -ST
Tue, May 12, 2009
The Straits Times,
Singapore
[Photo: Mr. Woo believes his service will be
in demand amid the downturn.]
For one man, the pink slip was not a letter
of doom but the push to start anew. Former IT engineer
Marcus Woo saw the warning signs of retrenchment looming as
early as a year ago.
So, when he was laid off in late March 2009,
he was mentally prepared to move on.
Within a fortnight of losing his job, the
49-year-old set up his own laptop battery reconditioning
business with a partner. He sank in $35,000 to buy the
necessary equipment.
'I had sent out resumes by the hundred but
there were no replies at all. I didn't want to sit down and
wallow in self-pity wondering why this or why that,' he
said.
'If I show my family that I am down and
troubled, this will only create more stress for them.'
He believes that his business, which will be
fully operational later this month, will be popular in the
current economic climate.
Instead of buying new and expensive
replacement batteries for their laptops which can cost about
$100, users can opt to recondition them for just $40, said
Mr. Woo.
New laptop batteries have about two hours'
capacity before they need to be recharged but this ability
dwindles to as little as 15 minutes over the years.
Mr. Woo is confident that after he has
reconditioned a battery, it can last for six more months
while providing about 90 minutes of power between charges.
'In a downturn, companies will be looking to
cut costs and such a service will definitely be helpful to
them. It's environmentally friendly too,' he said.
He has already started advertising his
service in online classifieds.
His business partner, Derrick Tan, 33, will
pick up and deliver the batteries while he will handle the
IT operations. He hopes to expand into providing IT services
and importing mini-notebooks.
This article was first published
in
The Straits Times. |
