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[2018-1 Global CEO Lecture] “Always Be Prepared for the Worst Case Scenario”…Yeong Yul Seo, CEO of P
2018.05.18 Views 2786 경영대학
[2018-1 Global CEO Lecture] Yeong Yul Seo, CEO of PT.Pratama Abadi Industri
“Always Be Prepared for the Worst Case Scenario”
“Always Be Prepared for the Worst Case Scenario”
On May 17th, KUBS invited Mr. Yeong Yul Seo, CEO of PT.Pratama Abadi Industri for the special lecture series by Global CEO. The topic of his lecture was ‘The Rule of Opportunity: Opportunity comes to those who devote themselves to something they want’. Mr. Seo is one of our proud alumni (Business ‘69) who is currently the CEO of PT.Pratama Abadi Industri (PT.Pratama). He is a successful CEO who established PT.Pratama in 1989 in Indonesia, the Nike OEM manufacturing business has grown to a big corporation. He was the winner of 2017 KU Alumni of the Year, and he also made a contribution of 300 million won to the Business School. (▶ See Article)
Mr. Yeong Yul Seo started his undergraduate study in 1969, and yet his had to defer his study until later because at first, he wanted to re-take the university entrance exam to go to Seoul National University. “However, I had had comments advised me to take an exam to be a tax officer. On the first attempt I passed the exam, and so I started my career as a tax officer.” Unlike what he planned, looking at friends passed the Civil Service Entrance Examination, he changed his mind to quit his job and started tertiary education 4 years later. “Like every university student, I also studied for CPA exam during my undergraduate years. But I ended up applying for a job at offices because I did not pass the exams.”
Nevertheless, getting a job was not easy for him. Due to the age restriction applied to job applicants, he was not even able to pass the document screening. Daesung Timber Company contacted him one day because his tax officer experience caught their attention. “I came to work on Sundays. I never took breaks. Not that I had overloads of work to do, but I went to the office anyway.” One day he saw a job opening at Saudi Arabia branch of Lucky E&C (now GS E&C) on the newspaper. He decided to apply for it given its 2.5 times higher salary.
Nevertheless, getting a job was not easy for him. Due to the age restriction applied to job applicants, he was not even able to pass the document screening. Daesung Timber Company contacted him one day because his tax officer experience caught their attention. “I came to work on Sundays. I never took breaks. Not that I had overloads of work to do, but I went to the office anyway.” One day he saw a job opening at Saudi Arabia branch of Lucky E&C (now GS E&C) on the newspaper. He decided to apply for it given its 2.5 times higher salary.
Since then Mr. Seo worked for few other offices abroad. While he built his professional career, he met a person from footwear industry which led him to start footwear OEC manufacturing business ‘PT.Pratama Abadi Industri’ in Indonesia. “Inspired by Samsung’s ‘Samsung First Policy’, I named the company ‘pratama’ which is ‘the best’ in Indonesian,” he added. However, he failed to be appointed as the CEO. His effort only reached the establishment phase of the business. “Back then the company took advantage of me. So I rather focused on my other jobs.”
5 years later, PT. Pratama went bankrupt, and this time the company asked for his help. “What they needed was 5 million dollars. I applied for a loan at Indonesian bank, and they accepted my application. Although the bank did not give credit to the company, I was able to prevent bankruptcy based on my credibility.” As a consequence, he was appointed as CEO of PT. Pratama. Since his appointment, the business achieved an exceptional success. For three years in a row, PT. Pratama was evaluated as the top factory out of 48 other Nike distributions in the world. It has grown to a big corporation, with its outstanding annual sales of 380 million dollars, and 30,000 local employees.
As a conclusion of his lecture, Mr. Seo advised the audience to ‘keep in mind what is important’. He explained, “Looking back, my late start of tertiary education, financial difficulties, and all other issues running my business, I believe I was able to overcome all those years because I kept reminding myself what is important.” “By that I mean, it is important to keep in mind and set a goal to be the best in your area.” Mr. Seo also pointed out the importance of setting out a negative mindset, “because you will be able to prepare and prevent the worst case scenario.”
With positive reviews so far, the Business School is expecting the last two lectures of ‘Global CEO Lecture series’ by △ Kyung-Soo Park, CEO of PSK (5/24) △ Young-Sik Kim, President of PwC Korea (5/31).
With positive reviews so far, the Business School is expecting the last two lectures of ‘Global CEO Lecture series’ by △ Kyung-Soo Park, CEO of PSK (5/24) △ Young-Sik Kim, President of PwC Korea (5/31).