What’s it like running a company with your mother? In the first of CNA Women’s Mother’s Day series, we look at three entrepreneurial mother-daughter duos navigating the joys and perils of working together.
Teaspoon of Love and YeoMama Batik are both co-founded and run by mother-daughter pairs. My mum and I can barely agree on where to have lunch, so it’s with the greatest respect and admiration that in celebration of Mother’s Day this year, CNA Women presents three intrepid mother-and-daughter duos who have decided to work together.
“Me going on holiday means that I’m not at work, which is not ideal for my mum. So she books holidays without me now,” joked Pek.HER Wellness ClubCheo Hock Kuan, has a more sanguine view of things: “The best thing about working with Li Jun is that I get to see her much more than at weekly visits or occasional trips overseas.”
At the same time, the mother and daughter, who are both certified pilates instructors, felt that movement alone was not enough, andPek oversees the running of these companies, from marketing to human resources and operations, under the banner of Pilates Connect, while Cheo supports with her corporate experience.On being in business with her mum, Pek said: “It is very meaningful, though not always easy. We end up hijacking family conversations when we’re not careful.
Her homemaker mum, Indonesian-born Wenny Tan – YeoMama – who was in Yogyakarta, and had made a casual morning call to check in on her daughter. “She asked me: ‘How’s your ankle? Are you recovering well? There’s a lot of batik here – shall we sell it in Singapore?’” said Yeo. “And I gave a casual ‘Okay, lor’.”
YeoMama Batik has garnered a colourful community of customers-turned-friends and fans, who dress their entire family in twinning batik togs come special occasions such as Chinese New Year. The brand also recently held its first overseas trade show at Fashion World Tokyo. Yeo said: “This journey has brought us closer, and we’ve been able to put ourselves in each other’s shoes and communicate a lot more. There are times when we don’t see eye to eye, but at the end of the day, we learn to step back, listen and compromise.”The generation gap, instead of being a weakness, becomes the secret weapon in a business like this, with both parties showing off different skills and perspectives.
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