ALL GEARED UP
LENA TANG
E CAPITAL LIMOUSINE PTE LTD
“Endurance and perseverance is key to entrepreneurship. Challenges are common, so it is important to stay motivated and determined. Don’t let complacency set in, but look beyond and envision how to bring your business to a higher level.”
Despite an unfamiliarity with the limousine services industry when she first started, nothing posed a deterrent for Lena Tang, who now owns and runs E Capital, a company that provides bespoke limousine services to international corporate customers and specialises in ferrying influential and high-net-worth individuals to their important engagements around Singapore.
The company’s initial years marked a period of stellar growth. Established with a full scale of 24-hour, 365-days operations supported by a team of professionals, the company garnered a pool of 150 drivers and employed ten full-time drivers. Within four months of operations, it secured four long-term contracts from multiple MNCs, and in just 20 months, the fleet size grew to close to 30 vehicles.
Lena further reveals that E Capital’s impeccable service delivery track record enables the team to strive to surpass industry standards with its integrated booking system (IBS) based on operational processes aimed at streamlining all bookings and accounts. This increased operational efficiency and enhanced the tracking system of all jobs, including direct and indirect customers experience.
The entrepreneurial path hasn’t been a walk in the park, but she takes all challenges and obstacles in her stride.
What spurred you to enter the limousine service industry?
With the rising demand of limousine services and little supply to meet the demand, I’ve decided to invest in the limousine service industry as it is very niche and has plenty of potential.
What were/are your biggest hurdles? How did/do you overcome them?
This is a masculine industry and as a woman, there were many instances where I felt challenged. I often put myself in their perspectives to think like them and better understand them.
How has establishing a digital presence helped to evolve your business capabilities?
The digitalisation of our business eliminates manual labour excessively within the operations and it allows us to track all of our associate drivers. With the enhanced ability, we are able to provide live updates of our drivers’ location. This increases trust both from our business as well as our corporate partners. Other than enhancing consumer experience and providing them maximum convenience, digitalisation also provides a seamless booking process and a cashless payment service for consumers through a payment gateway. Internally, digitalising also provides a more accurate and error-free accounting process as it helps to track our jobs better, especially with ad-hoc last-minute additional charges.
How has it captured new and different markets?
We are able to tap on consumer segments where we will be able to cater to every event that one can possibly think of, such as weddings, funerals, corporate social events, MICE, and so on.
What have been the rewards of going digital? What are some pain points?
Digitalisation increases our productivity and efficiency which puts us in a competitive advantage over our competitors. Our customised and organically built source codes put us in the lead, and this is possible only with experience, that we are able to build our own source codes most suitable for both B2B & B2C markets. The challenges I did encounter were due to the fact that I lacked a firm foundation in IT, so understanding the technical jargons as well as determining every function in the app proved difficult.
What in your opinion is the most critical success ingredient in building a sustainable enterprise?
Think about the difference you can make for your clients. This is the way to stay relevant and to be upheld.
