Building Institutions, Not Just Companies

Building Institutions, Not Just Companies

Over the years, my perspective on building businesses has evolved.

In the early stages of entrepreneurship, the focus is naturally on growth — building products, serving customers, and expanding operations. Speed and momentum matter.

But as a company matures, the priorities begin to change.

The conversation shifts from growth alone to something deeper: institution building.

Institutions are different from companies.

They are designed not just to grow quickly, but to endure — to serve communities, stakeholders, and future generations long after the founders step back.

This shift requires a different mindset.

It means building:

• strong governance structures
• disciplined capital allocation
• leadership teams that can operate independently
• systems that scale sustainably

In many ways, the real work begins once the foundation is strong.

Over the past year, our focus has been on strengthening these foundations across our education platform. That includes investing in leadership, operational systems, and governance frameworks that allow the organisation to grow with resilience and purpose.

Education, by nature, is a long-term commitment.

The impact of what we build today will be felt by families and communities decades from now. That responsibility requires patience, discipline, and a clear long-term vision.

As we continue building this EduCity platform, we are increasingly thinking beyond individual campuses or projects.

The goal is to contribute to something larger — education infrastructure that supports lifelong learning ecosystems within the communities we serve.

Scaling is exciting.

Scaling is exciting.

But systemizing is what makes it sustainable. Over the past few years, I’ve learned that growth without structure is fragile. As founders, we are often the engine — driving sales, capital, people, strategy. But if the business only works because of us, then we haven’t built a company. We’ve built dependency. 2026 for us is an anchoring year. Less noise. More governance. Clear capital allocation discipline. Stronger second-line leadership. Structured decision frameworks. Not because growth isn’t important — but because scalable growth requires repeatable systems. We’re building for durability. For our team. For our shareholders. For our families. Wealth is not created by speed alone. It is created by structure, patience, and disciplined execution. The goal isn’t just to grow. It’s to build something that compounds.

Building a big business is very hard.

Building a big business is very hard. If the people do not align with your values & standards - Get rid of them.

Perhaps you now want to say wow that is so harsh, this and that. Always do remember that there are a few stages of starting, sustaining, growing & scaling a business. No entrepreneurs start a business to be mean and hire to torture their people. However the reality is also true that entrepreneurs do not start businesses to just take care of their people. We build businesses to achieve profits with a mission for a greater good and a better life for most.

Every entrepreneur has their own purpose and reasons for starting up a business. When it’s a start up, most just think about survival. And once they are in the sustainable stage, they start to build “family” oriented business to make everyone feel like they have ownership of the business until the people got tired and just don’t care. There are many reasons for this. But most of the time everyone at some stage of their lives have different needs and wants. And when a business does grow, some are left out, some left behind and some just continue to thrive with the speed of growth till it reaches the scaling phase. And when the business is in this phase, that usually means investors capital both private and institutional are in and they expect results with a very tight timeline.

When this happens, everything changes and that’s just part of growing pains for a business especially the entrepreneur. At this stage an entrepreneur can either struggle to continue trying to appease everyone and suffer privately alone or they just set the direction and expect everyone to move towards that single minded focused direction to achieve the outcome that is beneficial for all stakeholders.

So before any entrepreneur, Human Resources consultant, speakers or trainers talk the smart talk, try building a 8 to 9 figures and beyond company that is sustained over a prolonged period of time then let me know how you did it without much headache & heartache. From most Billionaires & Multi Millionaires that I speak to and that I have observed and watched in action are just brutally outcome focused. The rest are just PR talk for the media and cameras to look like they do care. Bottomline, we are all responsible for our own livelihood. We just have to continually create value or be replaced. 😉

Moral of the story is simple.
We care for those that care for the business. We share the rewards with those that are not just loyal but contributed to the bottom line and growth of the company for a prolonged period of time. That’s life and there is no such thing as a free lunch. If there was I would be concerned too. I alway prefer everyone having a clear agenda so that we can work well together as we can fulfil the agenda of everyone that is aligned for a focused objective. Contribute or be replaced by other more efficient & effective solutions. Welcome to a world where everyone is replaceable. Literally. 😉

Thank you, 2025, for the lessons and memories.

As 2025 gently comes to a close, my heart is filled with gratitude.

This year has been one of growth, courage, and countless meaningful moments. Every challenge stretched us, every small win strengthened us, and every shared laugh reminded me why this journey matters. Life feels richer and more purposeful because of the people I walk it with.

To my little Chen family, Cheryl & Genesis — thank you for being my anchor, my safe place, and my constant source of love and belief. You are my reason, my balance, and my greatest blessing.

To my core team at PORTMAN — thank you for standing beside me with resilience, trust, and heart. Together, we didn’t just build projects; we built culture, purpose, and impact. Every late night, every bold idea, and every step forward was made possible because of your commitment and shared vision.

As we step into 2026, I do so with clarity, faith, and excitement. We will create achievements that are not only amazing, but significant and deeply impactful — for our students, our communities, and the future we believe in. This is just the beginning of something far greater.

Thank you, 2025, for the lessons and memories.
Here’s to dreaming bigger, building stronger, and leading with purpose in 2026 and beyond.

See you next year. ✨

Want Better Results? Become a Better You

Most continue to fail at work & life is because they think by working hard at work they will get what they want. The reality is that you got to work harder on becoming better so that you can get better results for work and life. Work on your attitude. Work on your skills sets. Work on your knowledge & most importantly work on your habits. It’s never just about your job, your company or even your boss not giving you the opportunity you need. It’s always about you not working on your self to get better ahead in work and life. Have a great week and get better every single day just by 1% and you will be better by 365% this year. 😉

Taiwan - LA - Chicago - Vegas - LA - Taiwan

24 days on the road for business & pleasure with both the PORTMAN Top Management team & my little family. We officially launched our AI Powered PORTMAN University Global HQ at the University Club of Chicago. We were also very busy doing the recce for the inaugural graduation in 2026, setting up our banking facilities with the US Bank & East West Bank. In addition to that we also came to meet up with investment firms & private investors for our funds to be invested into South East Asia & American projects with the American Group. We also met up with a few business partners to develop new opportunities for the PORTMAN Education Group. 

Business aside, this was a very important learning management retreat for my top management team as we also visited a lot of iconic tourist attractions and most definitely ate all the Chicago favourites that include deep dish pizza, Italian Beef, cheese burgers, Hot dogs, wings, nachos and of course lots of ice cream and coffee with a Halloween home party! All in all, it was an extremely productive trip for business & pleasure with my team. 

As we move towards 2026, we have new and exciting exciting plans ahead for the next wave of exponential growth within the group and we look forward to work with each and everyone of you that are aligned with what we want to achieve globally. Have a great last quarter of the year in 2025 and close off with a big bang. 🇺🇸💯

Being an entrepreneur is not easy

Being an entrepreneur is not easy. Surviving the early days, sustaining for stability, growing for profitability and ultimately scaling for the right exit all require different skill sets. So many give up way too easily and if you need to be motivated and encouraged then you really should not be an entrepreneur in the first place. It’s a tough and lonely journey as most will not understand it. And pls do not think that there is work life balance. That’s just bullshit some so called fake lifestyle entrepreneur telling you that there is. The truth is you just have got to work hard, smart and fast to get to a stage where you can have a better work life integration. That’s how most successful entrepreneurs really get to where they are today. It’s great to get inspired by some social media posting, at some motivational entrepreneurs convention or even seeing people in fancy business class travels. Just always remember that it takes a whole lot more and failing forward to success is just part of the process. All the best. 😉