Into the ocean blue

As the downturn occurs, more and more expatriates are heeding the call to be their own bosses and set up a business. Though the call of an entrepreneur looks easy, passion, guts and a high tolerance for risk are just some of the traits you’ll need

Words & Photography Sam Coleman

As with the important moments in life, you can remember where you were, what you were doing, the temperature of the air. Dato’ Kenneth Kolb, the industrialist entrepreneur, can remember with crystal clarity the pivotal decision of his life, the moment when he knew his destiny. Drawing back the curtains on that memory, he chuckles under his breath, one that speaks volumes about the simple notion that was then and the journey that ensued—one that has bred both moments of exhilaration and ones of head in hands frustration.

“I was in university in pre-med, it was my senior year, my last year, and whilst going to school I was working for a Nobel Laureate,” he begins, “and then I realised, based on his pay grade he was only making USD45,000 a year. And that blew me away, that someone so talented and brilliant was making that little amount of compensation. It was at that point that I knew my dream of being a research doctor wasn’t going to make me a lot of money. And I remember thinking, ‘no way, I enjoy the finer things in life, I can’t go down that road,’” his youthful determination knowing no boundaries, no obstacles that his pure will couldn’t overcome.

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