HE AIN'T HEAVY, HE'S MY BROTHER

We speak to a couple of business partners who grew up together

- Aaron Pereira

While blood may be thicker than water, there are plenty of people who advise against going into business with family. This International Brothers Day, we talk to two sets of siblings, Jason and Alvin Chen, as well as Neerav and Divesh Valiram, who successfully navigate working together while maintaining their brotherly love.

STATIONERY, BUT NOT STATIONARY

Brothers Jason and Alvin are both very involved in the operations of their family business. CzipLee’s history harks back to 1968, when their father, Peter Chen, started the business in Kajang, Selangor—which is now run by other family members.

“We’ve been running the business together for about 18 years, so it’s like having a teenage child. We grew up in the business in Kajang, and it’s not easy; we saw our parents have issues at work, and sometimes it’s like a cold war at home. But over the years, we saw how they managed it and really tried to draw a line. They provided proper guidance for us, and we try our best to keep work as work and leave professional matters at the office once we leave. The running joke we have is that, ‘Thankfully we don’t have to share the same bed at night’,” quips Alvin about the blurred lines of professional and private lives that comes with family-run outfits.

Alvin was already doing work for his father part-time—digitising the company’s catalogue—until Jason, the eldest of three siblings, returned from Australia and joined CzipLee full-time. “I was already in the business then dad asked Alvin to join us at Bangsar, saying that we’re starting a new project, and that it would take about three to five years. Look how that turned out,” quips Jason.