With over 30 years of experience under her belt, Christina Tee is a well-known veteran in the manufacturing industry. She is the founder, CEO and architect behind Cape EMS Manufacturing (M) Sdn Bhd, a market leader in providing innovative solutions and cutting-edge technology in the wireless and technology module manufacturing industry. In the early years, there were times when Christina kept the company afloat with all of her personal savings. Cape EMS operates in an extremely competitive sector and being the new kid on the block compounded the challenges.
Along the way, Christina saw a gap in the wireless and technology module manufacturing sector that Cape EMS could fill. With great determination to prove that they are the real deal, the company designed a complete manufacturing ecosystem to assist their clients. CAPE EMS worked hard to resolve their clients’ problems, obtain industry certifications, invest in R&D and innovate new products. The genuine desire and interest to help their clients didn’t go unnoticed and Christina and her company built good rapport and trust especially with their long-standing clients.
Humble beginnings
Few people know about Christina’s journey that speaks of years of hard work, determination and sacrifice that began in the small provincial town of Jelebu in Negeri Sembilan. She was born into a very big but impoverished family. Although there was an abundance of love and care, her family lacked material wealth, possessions and comfort. Christina’s father was away from his family for weeks due to work commitments. However, whenever the family needed him, he would return to extend a helping hand. Christina is very much like her father, adopting his traits of generosity and kindness. Her father would literally borrow to give to others and so has Christina. Christina’s mother ran a school canteen. She also sold sugar cane water and vegetables in the wet market. On top of all this, she also found time to tap rubber in the morning. Her mother took on the formidable challenge of looking after an extended family of 20 young children when her husband was away. To Christina, however, her maternal grandmother was the bedrock of the huge Tee family clan. Christina, along with her eldest sister, had their first experience running a business with her grandmother. Her entrepreneurial spirit was nurtured at a very early age.
Growing up with all the struggles that her family had to face, Christina was determined to build a better future for them and ease their financial burden as they did not even have a home to call their own. With this as her driving force, Christina started her first business venture with her grandmother. She provided tuition services at home in the afternoon. Parents in the neighbourhood sent their children and paid her with chickens or potatoes at the end of the month. Christina recalls, “I would then help my grandma to rear the chickens and grow vegetables”. Christina continued her secondary studies in ACS Seremban and then attended Form 6 at TAR College. She learnt self-sufficiency in the process. Throughout those years, she never lost sight or wavered from her main purpose to provide for her family. Christina took on a variety of part-time jobs after school and continued to send money back home. Christina remembers this well, “My only aim when I was young was to make a lot of money for my family.”
Eventually, her financial commitment to her family grew and Christina gave up her studies after Form 6 to join a fast-food company as a full-time employee. During her seven years with A&W, Christina received management training, learnt how to read the profit and loss statement and managed costing. She also worked in marketing and operations, and the skills she gained there prepared her for future roles. After leaving A&W in 1992, she took on a job as a storekeeper in a manufacturing company. To supplement her income, Christina sold burgers after working hours at the Ipoh Railway Station. She did all of this to support her family. Using her experience at A&W, she reorganized and restructured the warehouse and was quickly promoted to become the warehouse manager. Being a firm believer in lifelong learning, Christina also learnt how to operate a forklift. This newly acquired skill became pivotal in the next course of Christina’s career due to an interesting turn of events.
One year, during the Hari Raya festival, all the drivers were on leave but Matsushita Singapore had an urgent order to be delivered. Not one to back down from a challenge, Christina used a forklift to load an 8-ton truck, which she drove from Ipoh to Johor Bharu. The customer arranged for another driver in JB to drive across the causeway. Upon arrival, Christina was greeted by the Japanese managers who appreciated her hard work for driving overnight and taking on the critical delivery. The customer’s production line was able to continue because of the delivery of the critical order by Christina. She was treated like a VIP for the day in Singapore but all she wanted to do was to sleep! Because of this bold and unconventional move, Christina was promoted to production manager when she returned to Ipoh. Her career trajectory from storekeeper to Factory Manager took place within a short span of 18 months. Christina was subsequently promoted to General Manager and stayed with the company for eight years. In 2001, Christina went on to work for a printing company in Johor Bahru and later moved to Indonesia to join a Japanese-owned printing company as the Managing Director. She stayed for three years at the company until her mum passed away. She didn’t want to be in a comfort zone. So she took on a more challenging position and joined another Malaysian owned company.
Christina concluded her stellar career as Executive Director in a Singapore holding company and was posted to China as Group Executive Director. After restructuring their China factories, she was promoted to group CEO and handled not only the factories in China but also in Malaysia and Indonesia. She also helped them to set up a sales representative office in the US and UK. Christina’s milestones in life coincide with the passing of her loved ones. For example, when her grandmother passed away, she moved to Johor Bahru. When her mother passed away, she left Indonesia and when her father passed away, Christina became her own boss. 2013 was a watershed year for Christina as that was when she finally started her own manufacturing company, Cape EMS Manufacturing Sdn Bhd. “We have always considered ourselves a service business rather than a manufacturer. Being able to offer a good product is requisite but we take our service seriously because that directly affects the experience of working with us,” she says.
Business plans
In 2017, Christina decided that it was time for Cape EMS to pursue bigger goals and sold its most profitable line of business to generate cash for further expansion. Investments were made to scale up production and incorporate automation in addition to reengineering design for manufacturing. From that sale, Cape EMS was able to further expand their business into four different areas:
- Wireless Antenna & broadband transmission Infrastructure module
- Smart Home Appliances & Devices
- E-cigarette / E-vape
- Data Gathering System for utilities meters
- Credit Card Mobility Devices & Scanners
Despite diversifying and carefully managing their resources during that period, Cape EMS held a distinctive advantage over their competitors. Their motto to always go the extra mile to best serve their clients remained unchanged. This core value and unique selling point has given them an edge in the past, helps them to thrive in the present and positions the company for success in the future.
