From Huawei Engineer to Restaurant Owner

The Corporate Life

In 2018, I joined Huawei Technologies — one of the world's biggest tech companies — as part of a team covering 13 countries across Asia Pacific.

I automated payroll processing for 5 countries. I built a COVID-19 risk assessment system for 8 offices. I won the Global HR Automation Contribution Award.

By every corporate metric, I was succeeding.

The Turning Point

But I kept having this feeling: I was solving problems for someone else's business. What if I solved problems for my own?

The ceiling wasn't about salary — it was about impact. I could improve Huawei's operations by 15%, and it would be a line item in a quarterly report. Or I could build my own thing and the impact would be 100%.

The Leap

I left Huawei in 2020 to found Femy Wellness Group — a women's health brand. We got featured in newspapers and even exhibited in Taiwan. It validated that I could build something from zero.

Then came Seoul's Wellness Group — Korean wellness concepts that made DreamFactory Malaysia's Top 10 Startups. Investment in De Core Wellness Center (now 3 branches). CEO of Songhwa Korean Cuisine.

And then Byond Walls Pizza Bar & Cafe.

Why F&B?

People always ask why I'd choose the restaurant business — arguably one of the hardest, thinnest-margin industries out there.

Here's the truth: most restaurant owners are running on gut feeling, paper notebooks, and WhatsApp groups. The industry is full of problems that nobody is solving properly. I saw that as an opportunity.

Scaling With Deliveries

When Byond Walls first opened, we were a dine-in focused pizza bar. But I saw the delivery opportunity early. I pushed hard on Grab and other platforms — optimizing our menu for delivery, managing promotions strategically, and making sure our food quality held up in transit.

The result? Delivery became a major revenue channel that kept us profitable even during slow dine-in periods. While other restaurants were struggling, our delivery sales kept growing month after month. It was one of the key decisions that saved the business from losing money in our early days.

Building My Own Tools

In 2025, I taught myself to build software — not from a course, but from solving real problems I was facing every day. An inventory system so my staff could track stock on their phones. AI assistants that send me daily business reports. Dashboards that show me exactly what's happening across every outlet.

My background at Huawei taught me how to think in systems. Running my own businesses taught me what problems actually matter. Combining both is my unfair advantage.

What I'd Tell My 2018 Self

Don't be afraid to trade a big company's name for your own. The skills you build at a place like Huawei — process thinking, automation, working across cultures — they don't disappear. They become your competitive edge as an entrepreneur.

The best career move I ever made was leaving the career track entirely.

Today

I run 2 pizza outlets, consult for an 80+ outlet coffee chain, manage wellness investments, and build tools that make all of it run better.

I don't just run businesses — I build systems that run businesses.

And that sentence only exists because I left Huawei.