Rho ryun/201001081/interview/Tues 3, 4

My Proud Friend as a CEO & Founder of a Company

 

I got a phone call from a friend of mine recently. That phone call was a little bit awkward to me because of the caller and I did not make a phone call each other often. We normally contacted each other through Facebook messenger. But that does not mean that we were not close. It was like a kind of man's way of connection. Actually, we are pretty close. We traveled together, spent time together and drank together. His name is Lee Hyeon Ha.

With the weird thoughts in mind, I picked up my phone. He said, "Rho! I founded a company and we earned nice money this year. So I want to treat you a dinner as a celebration." There was no need to hesitate. I made an appointment with him, 8^th of the November, 2013. We met in Wangsimni. And I thought it will be a great opportunity for me to do my writing assignment. It was interview under the pretext of friend's meeting.

He came to meet me in a fancy suit. Because he always wore a tracksuit, it was pretty surprising. So I asked, "Dear my friend, I am not a girl. You do not need to wear that kind of nice suit!" He answered "No way! I wore a suit because I had a contract right before I met you. I had not enough time to change my clothes." He said he just got a contract for a video art in Samsung's products presentation show in 2 months. As I interviewed him, I found that the appearance was not the only change. All I remembered about him was a little and quiet boy who always followed my opinion. But now, he was a CEO who leads the company.

We went to cafe to talk. First, I asked him about his company. The name of the company he founded is 'ARTECH LAB,' and it is a media art business company. His company has made many video shows for well-known corporations, such as Nature republic and Estee Lauder. Because I knew those companies well, it was surprised. Then he showed me the media arts the company made. It was well organized and well-made video.

Next, I asked him a next question. "Why and how did you found the company?" He started with the assistance to business starters of his University. At first, he tried to start with the consulting company because that's what his major was. But he thought that the entry barrier was too high, and most importantly, that was not what he interested in. He said "It was hard for me to write a detailed memorandum to my University so that I can win the support fund. When struggling with the proposal for the support fund, I got a proposal from my friends who I worked with before to prepare public subscription contest." Because I had an idea what public subscription contest he prepared, I asked, "Oh, do you mean the video contest for the fashion design?" He answered, "Yeah! You remembered! As you know, we won the first prize." When saying that words, I found proudness and eagerness in this eyes.

He explained that he got an unexpected proposal from his friends to work with them. They had a great technique to create a visual image, but they had no manager. They need management specialist. "That proposal was like a ray of sunshine," he added. So he took their proposal, and changed the content of his detailed memorandum. Finally, he won the contest and got a support fund. That's how and why he founded the company.

Finally, I asked a question about plans he had in mind for the next year. It took several minutes to get an answer. After much consideration, he started to talk. "I plan to establish a corporation. That means, I will change my company into corporation, because of the size of my company begin to become larger and larger. And we plan to hire more engineers and technicians to make the quality of the productions higher. It is only a blueprint but I hope I could make it."

I finished my interview about him at this point. The interview took about an hour and I learned many lessons from him. The little and shy child became a vigorous man who had a transparent vision for the future. I felt really proud of what he has done. I hope the ambitious CEO named Lee Hyeon Ha will achieve success ever after, and I strongly believe that the entrepreneurship he has will help him to become a successful CEO.