16-09-2012, 02:27 PM
Glad to hear of her success story, and how she is helping others. Thumbs up to her! 
The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Published on Sep 16, 2012
me & my money
77th Street founder is living her dream
Elim Chew is in a happy position of earning enough so that she can contribute to social projects
By Joyce Teo
Ms Elim Chew, the well-known founder of streetwear fashion chain 77th Street, is one busy woman who happily professes she is "living her dream".
She is involved in various social projects while she runs her business and, on top of that, she is on a mission to wean her friends off luxury goods and get them to support local brands.
You get the idea that she would not mind having more money but it would be quickly channelled into yet another social project.
Ms Chew, 46 and single, says: "I don't look at things to see how it would benefit me, but how it would benefit other people, the community or industry. Everyone has an ambition to be rich but it's what you do with the money that makes you different.
"I am lucky to have a business that is making money, to allow me to play. I am involved in several projects. One of them is The Marketplace Exchange, where people can go to sell their recycled and handmade goods."
Through this exchange, she can transfer the knowledge of making money to less advantaged people, including stroke patients, the disabled and the poor.
Ms Chew, who recently chaired the Hawker Centre Public Consultation Panel, is a South West Community Development Council district councillor and on the Singapore International Foundation's board of governors. She is also a director of Scape, a non-profit organisation for youth development.
She has been working for the past four years to make Singapore an Asian fashion and design hub.
Ms Chew, who has only an O-level certificate, got the idea for 77th Street while studying hairstyling in London. She returned to Singapore to start the shop with her older sister while working as a hairdresser.
The first 15 years were hard. They stayed in crummy motels and ate bread on buying trips overseas.
She set up a salon in 1987 - and used the cashflow to fund 77th Street - and sold it in 1994 to focus on 77th Street, which today has seven outlets in Singapore and one shopping mall in China. It is also a wholesale distributor in Malaysia, Indonesia and India.
A member of City Harvest Church for 21 years, Ms Chew was Pastor Kong Hee's hairstylist until she sold her salon. The church leaders may be in trouble but she has pledged her support as she considers the church her family.
Q: Are you a spender or saver?
I am more of a saver. I have been squirrelling away money since I was young. I used to give money to my nanny and ask her to keep it for me.
But if you are a saver, you are losing money because of inflation... So the idea is to deploy your money so as to make it work for you.
Actually, I barely have time to spend on myself. I give away up to 50 per cent of my monthly income, including a fixed 10 per cent tithe to my church. The rest goes to various church projects, my social projects and my mother's churches in parts of Asia.
I shop only when necessary. I would rather not buy luxury goods because I can use the money to do something else, like supporting underprivileged kids for a whole year and helping my mum support kids in Myanmar. She has a children's home there.
I am careful with my money. It helps that I have simple tastes. I love hawker centre food so I don't go for fancy food. And I enjoy a simple lifestyle.
Q: How much do you charge to your credit cards every month?
Less than $1,000 a month.
Q: What financial planning have you done?
I have bought insurance products, including a few endowment plans. I don't invest for the sake of investing and I don't invest in shares because I have no time to monitor the market.
I do have one investment property - a warehouse for my business. I paid about $800,000 for it and I lease it to 77th Street. The price has gone up by about $15,000 in the two months since I bought it.
I never used to like property, but now I can see how it can be a good investment.
In hindsight, I should have kept the shop at Far East Plaza as it is now worth about $2.6 million. It would have been better to buy property than to do business where I sell items piece by piece.
I bought the shop for about $500,000 in 2003 and sold it the next year for about the same price when we ventured into China - 77th Street Plaza is in Beijing.
Property investments may seem like a good idea but they come with risks. For a long time, I was afraid to buy property because I saw how the value of my first property purchase can just drop by half. But when I invest in my business, I can still control it.
At 77th Street, we have the habit of using what we have, instead of borrowing money.
When you do business, you always need to grow. You cannot stay stagnant.
Q: Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?
I was quite thrifty when I was younger because like most Singaporeans during the 1960s and 1970s, I didn't have much money to spend.
I have two older siblings. My late dad was a manager at a family business dispensary and my mum had her own hair salon. I watched my parents try to make ends meet as they brought up three children, and decided then and there that I must do better in life.
Q: How did you get interested in investing?
I bought my first endowment plan when I was in my 20s. My hairdressing customer convinced me that it was a good investment. I put in $200 a month, which is deducted from my bank account. I like the savings plan because I can just forget about it.
Q: What property do you own?
A warehouse that I lease to my business.
Q: What's the most extravagant thing you have bought?
My vintage Star Wars Collection toys. I have spent tens of thousands on it. I just wanted the best items and I completed my collection quite some time ago.
-----------------------------
Q: Home is now...
A rented landed property in the east, where I live with my mum.
Q: I drive...
A black Toyota Picnic
joyceteo@sph.com.sg
---------------
WORST AND BEST BETS
Q: What is your best investment to date?
Other than my business, I guess my townhouse has turned out to be a good buy.
I just sold my townhouse in the east because I had a good offer.
I made about $200,000 from the sale.
It may not seem like a lot but it’s a good price, considering that my neighbour sold his townhouse for half his purchase price during the 2008 crisis and that I’ve lived there for many years.
It was good timing as we were preparing to move out to a landed property so that my mum has more space to do her gardening.
Q: What is your worst investment to date?
A quarter of my vintage Star Wars toys collection was eaten by termites. That cost me at least $15,000 and it is all gone. Otherwise, the value would have appreciated by now.
The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Published on Sep 16, 2012
me & my money
77th Street founder is living her dream
Elim Chew is in a happy position of earning enough so that she can contribute to social projects
By Joyce Teo
Ms Elim Chew, the well-known founder of streetwear fashion chain 77th Street, is one busy woman who happily professes she is "living her dream".
She is involved in various social projects while she runs her business and, on top of that, she is on a mission to wean her friends off luxury goods and get them to support local brands.
You get the idea that she would not mind having more money but it would be quickly channelled into yet another social project.
Ms Chew, 46 and single, says: "I don't look at things to see how it would benefit me, but how it would benefit other people, the community or industry. Everyone has an ambition to be rich but it's what you do with the money that makes you different.
"I am lucky to have a business that is making money, to allow me to play. I am involved in several projects. One of them is The Marketplace Exchange, where people can go to sell their recycled and handmade goods."
Through this exchange, she can transfer the knowledge of making money to less advantaged people, including stroke patients, the disabled and the poor.
Ms Chew, who recently chaired the Hawker Centre Public Consultation Panel, is a South West Community Development Council district councillor and on the Singapore International Foundation's board of governors. She is also a director of Scape, a non-profit organisation for youth development.
She has been working for the past four years to make Singapore an Asian fashion and design hub.
Ms Chew, who has only an O-level certificate, got the idea for 77th Street while studying hairstyling in London. She returned to Singapore to start the shop with her older sister while working as a hairdresser.
The first 15 years were hard. They stayed in crummy motels and ate bread on buying trips overseas.
She set up a salon in 1987 - and used the cashflow to fund 77th Street - and sold it in 1994 to focus on 77th Street, which today has seven outlets in Singapore and one shopping mall in China. It is also a wholesale distributor in Malaysia, Indonesia and India.
A member of City Harvest Church for 21 years, Ms Chew was Pastor Kong Hee's hairstylist until she sold her salon. The church leaders may be in trouble but she has pledged her support as she considers the church her family.
Q: Are you a spender or saver?
I am more of a saver. I have been squirrelling away money since I was young. I used to give money to my nanny and ask her to keep it for me.
But if you are a saver, you are losing money because of inflation... So the idea is to deploy your money so as to make it work for you.
Actually, I barely have time to spend on myself. I give away up to 50 per cent of my monthly income, including a fixed 10 per cent tithe to my church. The rest goes to various church projects, my social projects and my mother's churches in parts of Asia.
I shop only when necessary. I would rather not buy luxury goods because I can use the money to do something else, like supporting underprivileged kids for a whole year and helping my mum support kids in Myanmar. She has a children's home there.
I am careful with my money. It helps that I have simple tastes. I love hawker centre food so I don't go for fancy food. And I enjoy a simple lifestyle.
Q: How much do you charge to your credit cards every month?
Less than $1,000 a month.
Q: What financial planning have you done?
I have bought insurance products, including a few endowment plans. I don't invest for the sake of investing and I don't invest in shares because I have no time to monitor the market.
I do have one investment property - a warehouse for my business. I paid about $800,000 for it and I lease it to 77th Street. The price has gone up by about $15,000 in the two months since I bought it.
I never used to like property, but now I can see how it can be a good investment.
In hindsight, I should have kept the shop at Far East Plaza as it is now worth about $2.6 million. It would have been better to buy property than to do business where I sell items piece by piece.
I bought the shop for about $500,000 in 2003 and sold it the next year for about the same price when we ventured into China - 77th Street Plaza is in Beijing.
Property investments may seem like a good idea but they come with risks. For a long time, I was afraid to buy property because I saw how the value of my first property purchase can just drop by half. But when I invest in my business, I can still control it.
At 77th Street, we have the habit of using what we have, instead of borrowing money.
When you do business, you always need to grow. You cannot stay stagnant.
Q: Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?
I was quite thrifty when I was younger because like most Singaporeans during the 1960s and 1970s, I didn't have much money to spend.
I have two older siblings. My late dad was a manager at a family business dispensary and my mum had her own hair salon. I watched my parents try to make ends meet as they brought up three children, and decided then and there that I must do better in life.
Q: How did you get interested in investing?
I bought my first endowment plan when I was in my 20s. My hairdressing customer convinced me that it was a good investment. I put in $200 a month, which is deducted from my bank account. I like the savings plan because I can just forget about it.
Q: What property do you own?
A warehouse that I lease to my business.
Q: What's the most extravagant thing you have bought?
My vintage Star Wars Collection toys. I have spent tens of thousands on it. I just wanted the best items and I completed my collection quite some time ago.
-----------------------------
Q: Home is now...
A rented landed property in the east, where I live with my mum.
Q: I drive...
A black Toyota Picnic
joyceteo@sph.com.sg
---------------
WORST AND BEST BETS
Q: What is your best investment to date?
Other than my business, I guess my townhouse has turned out to be a good buy.
I just sold my townhouse in the east because I had a good offer.
I made about $200,000 from the sale.
It may not seem like a lot but it’s a good price, considering that my neighbour sold his townhouse for half his purchase price during the 2008 crisis and that I’ve lived there for many years.
It was good timing as we were preparing to move out to a landed property so that my mum has more space to do her gardening.
Q: What is your worst investment to date?
A quarter of my vintage Star Wars toys collection was eaten by termites. That cost me at least $15,000 and it is all gone. Otherwise, the value would have appreciated by now.
