Mark Phooi Peck Lye (born 22 August 1962) is a Singaporean entrepreneur in the design industry. He is the founder and CEO of First Media Pte Ltd (FM), a holding company that manages a collection of design agencies and design institutions.
His first business venture at the age of 27 was a design agency he started on his own with a capital of S$2,000. He called it Lancer Design,
deriving the name Lancer from the word "freelancer".
At the age of 32, he earned his first million.
In 2006, Phooi founded First Media Design School (FMDS), a progressive private educational institution specialising in the field of design. In August 2011, FMDS was awarded the Council for Private Education's (CPE) four-year EduTrust mark.
Early life and education
Phooi was born in Singapore. His father worked as a contractor for
PSA International
PSA International Pte Ltd is a port operator and supply chain company, with flagship operations in Singapore and Antwerp. One of the largest port operators in the world, PSA has terminals across 26 countries, including deepsea, rail and inland f ...
and his mother was a contract labourer. At the age of 9, he joined
The Singapore Scout Association
The Singapore Scout Association (; ms, Persatuan Pengakap Singapura-PPS; "SSA") is one of the oldest youth movements in Singapore.
History
Scouting was first introduced in Singapore in 1908 but was officially founded on 2 July 1910. A young S ...
(SSA) as a Sea Scout and at the age of 12, he became a qualified lifeguard.
Phooi attended his secondary school education at
Tanglin Secondary School
Tanglin Secondary School is a co-educational government secondary school in Clementi, Singapore.
History Tanglin Technical Secondary School (1964 - 1993)
Tanglin Secondary School which was located at 369 Commonwealth Avenue in the area called T ...
. At the age of 24, he enrolled into a Fine Arts diploma program at the
Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts
Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA); (Standard Chinese: 南洋艺术学院; ms, Akademi Seni Halus Nanyang; ta, நன்யாங் அகாடமி ஆஃப் ஃபைன் ஆர்ட்ஸ்) is a publicly-funded post-secondary ar ...
(NAFA), but switched to a Graphic Design pathway soon after. He graduated from NAFA in 1989 at the age of 27.
In 2002, he graduated from the
University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...
with a Master of Design.
Career
Lifeguard and swimming coach
While waiting to be enlisted into the National Service, Phooi worked for a year as a lifeguard at Big Splash, a water theme park in Singapore that was launched in 1976. During this period, he also taught swimming to a handful of students, aged between 6 and 10 years old, on a part-time basis.
While serving his term with the
Singapore Armed Forces
The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) are the military services of the Republic of Singapore, responsible for protecting and defending the security interests and the sovereignty of the country. A military component of the Ministry of Defence (MINDE ...
, Phooi continued to coach swimming during his weekends to supplement his income. After his National Service term was completed, he started to teach on a full-time basis, only retiring from coaching at the age of 29.
Midway through his coaching career, Phooi embarked on a training program to attain the CLASS 1 Swimming Coach qualification. As part this program, he was attached to the
People's Association
The People's Association (PA) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) of the Government of Singapore that oversees neighbourhood grassroots communities and social organisations. Established in 1960, it wa ...
swimming team, under the tutelage of the late Kee Soon Bee, a prolific national swimming coach. Kee was well known for being able to spot and groom
competitive national swimmers such as
Junie Sng
Junie Sng Poh Leng, (; born 6 June 1964) is a Singaporean former swimmer. She was a three-time double winner of the SNOC Sportswoman of the Year and the Sportsgirl of the Year awards in 1978, 1979 and 1980. Sng was awarded the Public Servic ...
,
Mark Chay
Mark Chay Jung Jun (simplified Chinese: 蔡荣俊; born 18 February 1982) is a Singaporean freestyle swimmer who has represented the Republic in, amongst others, the SEA Games and Summer Olympics. His international swimming career began at the ...
and
Joscelin Yeo
Joscelin Yeo Wei Ling (; born 2 May 1979) is a former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) from Nov 2006 to Apr 2011 and a former competitive swimmer from Singapore. Yeo won 40 gold medals at the Southeast Asian Games. She also represented S ...
.
Designpreneur
Phooi began his career as a designpreneur (entrepreneur in the design industry) by setting up Lancer Design in 1989.
During its early years, he was running the company as a one-man show, which meant that he had to adopt all the required roles to sustain his company, such as being the salesman, project coordinator, creative head, planner and administrator.
In 2002, Mark established First Media Pte Ltd (FM) as a holding company for his design firms and design schools. His design agencies specialised in various design and media disciplines, such as corporate design, interactive media, events, publishing and advertising and promotion. Companies under the First Media brand include Lancer Design and Mint Editions in Singapore, Brand Smart in China, Auromedia, Discover Jakarta and Imago in Indonesia, BnBc Advertising Sdn Bhd and BnBc Events and Promotions Sdn Bhd in Malaysia, Clever Brand Strategy Co. Ltd in Taiwan, and P.0.P. House in Thailand.
In 2005, FM was one of only five recipients to receive the Enterprise 50 Award – an annual business award recognising Singapore's most promising privately held companies.
In 2006, Mark was awarded one of the Top Entrepreneurs of the Year Awards (organised by the
Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME) and the Rotary Club of Singapore) – one of the highest business award recognitions in Singapore, and one that no trained designer had ever attained previously.
In 2007, Mark was also selected as one of the finalists in Singapore's top design accolade – the President's Design Award.
Principal
In 2006, Mark founded First Media Design School (FMDS), a boutique private design institution that offers diploma, advanced diploma and degree programs in the areas
Graphic design
Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...
,
Multimedia
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...
and Fashion design. Its
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
program is conferred by the
University of the West of England
The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a public research university, located in and around Bristol, England.
The institution was know as the Bristol Polytechnic in 1970; it received university status in 1992 and ...
(UWE).
The institution's mission statement specifies that FMDS strives to cultivate a new generation of 'whole brain' trained, industry-ready designers who possess both creative and commercial cognitive abilities, through its holistic design thinking and design management teaching system.
Vision & Mission
Its teaching methodology is partly derived from the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument
The Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI) is a system to measure and describe thinking preferences in people, developed by William "Ned" Herrmann while leading management education at General Electric's Crotonville facility. It is a type of c ...
system.
The students enrolled in FMDS consist of a mixture of local and international students, mostly from Indonesia and China. FMDS equips career starters and career switchers with the necessary skills to go from mere practitioner to business-owner. In an interview in 2006, when Mark was asked about how he envisions FMDS to be different from other design schools in Singapore, he said:
Books
In 2013, Mark co-authored '' Think like a Sage, Work like a Fool, Act like a Criminal'' (), which consists of his biography, and a compilation of business theories, life lessons and personal reflections garnered from the early years of his career as a designpreneur to the present.
References
External links
First Media Pte Ltd Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phooi, Mark
Singaporean businesspeople
Singaporean people of Chinese descent
Living people
Singaporean educators
Education International
Singaporean Christians
1962 births
21st-century Singaporean educators
20th-century Singaporean businesspeople