By Ahmad Osman

A NEVER-SAY-DIE attitude is the hallmark of 42-year-old businessman Jason Sim.

The managing director of his own company, Jason Parquet Specialist, did not go beyond the first year in Changkat Changi Secondary School.

His teacher told him to go to a vocational school because he could not cope with academic subjects.

A late bloomer, he spent two years to get a certificate in metal machining before he became an infantry soldier serving national service.

In 1988, Mr Sim and another worker started his company to do small residential parquet flooring projects using credit extended by suppliers.

He recalls: 'I had no cash to pay them. So I gave them post-dated cheques for their supplies. They trusted me and gave me two to four weeks to pay up after I collected money from my customers.'

Mr Sim worked hard to secure the trust and confidence of his suppliers and customers.

He built up and trained a pool of workers to provide top-quality workmanship sought by his customers.

'The people I deal with trust me,' he says. 'I do whatever I say I will do for them. I always strive to do my best to serve my customers.'

Mr Sim's business grew, but he was hit very badly during the financial crisis that swept Asia in 1997. He owed about $1 million to his suppliers then.

He persuaded them to continue supplying materials for him to go for more and bigger projects to get the revenue to settle his debt.

He worked harder to get contracts based on his good reputation, and he paid the $1 million he owed his suppliers within two years.

His company now has a 60 per cent share of the market here for big parquet flooring projects in up-market residential properties.

Last year, it bagged contracts worth $80 million.

Mr Sim's never-say-die attitude, hard work and perseverance are rewarded as he becomes one of the top entrepreneurs in this year's Rotary-Asme Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

He was also one of the top entrepreneurs in 2003.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on October 22, 2008.