Charles F.  Moreira

The Goh Brothers (left to right) - Macro Kiosk Berhad CEO Kenny Goh, chief operating officer Henry Goh and consultant for regional business development Goh Chee Seng.

Macro Kiosk has gone many places, with offices in 10 Asian countries, including Malaysia. What made you start Macro Kiosk?
Kenny: It all began back in 1995 as a hobby to earn some pocket money, when I was 17 and we were all still in school. Paging was still big back then and we started by developing software and solutions for businesses like opticians, doctor’s clinics and so on. It was only in 1998, when Henry, Chee Seng and myself formed a partnership named Macro Kiosk. We wanted to focus on paging but when we learned more about text messaging we were convinced it would make pagers obsolete, so we decided to focus on SMS.

In  1996, we set up a website, www.etracker.cc where registered users could log in through their PC web browser and send SMS. We approached banks, hospitals, marketing and promotions companies to use SMS to contact their customers and businesses soon realised the value of SMS over traditional fliers.Since then we have moved on into providing content and services like video streaming, commercials and dramas on 3G phones and are moved to the higher-end of mobile technology. Now we have a broad portfolio of services for different types of mobile infrastructure, from basic GSM to 3G and we operate in Malaysia, Thailand, China, Brunei, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan.

Which countries are your best markets so far?
Kenny: Malaysia has been a very good market for us and now Vietnam and China are very enthusiastic markets for new technology for our type of industry in general and Macro Kiosk in particular.

You must travel a lot in line with your work. What do you enjoy most about your travels?
Kenny: Henry and I are away for a total of about two weeks each month and we enjoy learning the different local cultures, the different ethnic groups speaking different languages.



So what are your responsibilities?
Kenny: As chief executive officer, I have overall responsibility for Macro Kiosk operations and handle the strategic aspects like business development.
Henry: As chief operating officer, I take care of the tactical aspects like accounting, finance and daily operations and am responsible for our subsidiaries in north Asia, while Kenny handles central and south Asia.

Chee Seng: As consultant for regional business development, I keep colleagues in other countries updated with company information and development, monitor regulatory changes in different countries and ensure the Macro Kiosk culture is instilled in our companies and colleagues in all countries.

What is Macro Kiosk’s culture?
Chee Seng: We instill a strong family culture in Macro Kiosk and maintain a flat hierarchy to counter the development of bad culture like office politics and red tape.

Kenny: Our average age is 27. We encourage team work and give opportunities for colleagues to exercise their skills and responsibilities at levels above counterparts of their same age in other corporate environments, so they can grow as quickly as they can. I make it a point to communicate with our 100 staff across the region everyday.

How old are you guys?
Kenny: I’m 29, Henry is 26 and Chee Seng is 23. Our Dad certainly adopted some good family planning to have us three years apart.

What did you guys study?
Kenny: I have a Bachelors of Commerce degree from Curtin University of Technology in Australia.

Henry: I studied electrical and electronic engineering at Universiti Tenaga Nasional (Uniten) for two years but left to join Kenny to develop Macro Kiosk and continued studying through distance learning while still working and obtained an Executive MBA from the University of Boston in 2003.

What do you guys do in your leisure time?
Kenny: We all share a macho interest in cars, again influenced by Dad’s automotive business and we watch the F1 races in Sepang. We spend lots of money on cars and race go-karts, including on international go-karting tracks in Bangkok and Pattaya.

Henry: Kenny and I would love to form a team to race BMW cars in the Merdeka Challenge and Macau street racing but that would take up a lot of our limited time, so the easiest is to race go-karts, which is the nearest thing to racing an F1 car and moreover, it’s a great stress reliever from work.
 
What cars do you guys have?
Kenny: Both Henry and I each have exactly the same type of car – a 220 horsepower Titanium Silver coloured BMW 325 sports car with BMW’s M sports package, while being the youngest, Chee Seng has a more powerful car with a harder suspension.

Chee Seng:  I have a 350 horsepower Fiat Coupe with 20 valve 2 litre, turbo-charged engine.

Can’t you race them on one of the F1 tracks?
Henry: We have. When there are no races, you can pay RM150 to drive your car on the F1 circuit in Sepang, which is pretty expensive in addition to the cost of the petrol and wear on the tyres, especially for road cars like ours.

What ‘fast’ phones do you guys carry?
Kenny: I have a Samsung SGH-D900, Henry and Chee Seng carry Sony Ericsson K600 phones and to top it off, all three of us have BlackBerry Pro 3G devices.