PUBLISHED ONOctober 01, 2026 6:46 AMBYYeo Shu HuiSimonboy recently spoke about the difficulties managing and operating multiple businesses, as well as what led to the closure of his chicken rice stall in 2025.
The 38-year-old local actor-content creator, whose real name is Simon Khung, was a guest on director Jack Neo and actor Terence Cao's YouTube talk show Money Vs. Banana, with the episode released on Sept 29.
He was asked what he thought led to the closure of Singabola Chicken Rice within six months of operations.
"I didn't think too much into the details [when I first started the business], including how I should manage each aspect. I just thought that as long as it's delicious, that's good enough," he explained.
Simonboy started the food stall at coffeeshop Lepak One Corner @ Canberra in June 2024 with local actor Peter Yu and their business partner Winson Ng.
He shared in the talk show that they had some issues with the chef.
"Sometimes, when I eat the chicken rice, I had to look at his mood. If he was in a good mood, it would taste better. If he wasn't, then it wouldn't taste good. He also scolded the customers," he explained.
Simonboy added they had financial problems with the chef, which led to a police case later.
"We also had issues recruiting staff members, as seen in many food and beverage businesses. We couldn't find suitable candidates. There were just too many inconsistencies in the food quality that I decided we should stop doing this. It caused too much headache and wasn't worth it," he recounted.
While Singabola Chicken Rice is now shuttered, Simonboy said he and his former business partners remain friends: "If the business can't succeed, then it just can't. There's no point in blaming each other."
When Jack asked what he had learnt from this experience, Simonboy quipped: "I learnt not to anyhow do business."
Simonboy also owned multiple businesses including Heavenly Beauty nail and beauty salon, Kenwa Orenji Omakase restaurant and No. 1 Helper Agency.
He revealed that in 2025, his estimated loss from these businesses was about $160,000 to $170,000.
He admitted: "I think I was too rash to be very honest. I had always thought of setting up these businesses, and I could either close down all of them or just succeed in one where I would earn back the losses in a few years' time."
He said that fortunately the helper agency is stable business and they saw returns within a year. It is now fully managed by his wife Chloe Eong, also known as Simongirl.
The other two ventures are now closed after suffering losses.
"There was a period of time when I had anxiety attacks while sleeping because I would wake up to my partners telling me that more money was needed for the businesses," Simonboy recalled.
After these experiences, he said he would still do business in the future but only focusing on social media-related fields, including sales livestreams.
Simonboy now owns Peace Street Productions, a media production and creator agency which he started about three years ago.
Business is stable, and he shared that he received a lot of assistance when he first started trying to understand various aspects in running it.
He also credited local content creator-businessman Mayiduo for helping him: "I asked him a lot of questions before I started the company, including talent agreements and client invoices because I didn't have such experience.
"I asked if he could send me some references and he did. So when someone is trying to start such a company now, I am also willing to send my references for them to refer to."
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