Inspiring People:

"I don't come from a rich family. Some people will say 'yah, you can do this and do that because you have money,' but when I was a kid, we had a one room house which fit my parent's bed, that was it. I don't come from a privileged background."

Ban also did not do well in school as he was often lost in his own thoughts, but he nevertheless maintained a level of confidence in himself that enabled him to do well later on because he understood that "sometimes you are labeled 'not good', not because you are not good, but because you are in the wrong culture."

So while others may resort to complaining about how the Singapore educational system stifled their creativity, destroyed their self-esteem or stunted their ability to think for themselves, Ban simply trusted his instincts and his talent.

"My parents worried about me all the time. But I wasn't worried. I knew I was good at designing and I could make a living designing."

For a few years after school, he did work for someone as a designer. But again the culture wasn't right for him. We are all different, with different sets of skills, tastes, passions. "Why do we have different friends? Why do we like something or someone and not others? It's all about culture."

So instead of insisting or deceiving himself into fitting a certain mold, he struck out on his own. Stikfas was not an easy birth. Although the idea and designs were ready, manufacturers were not interested in producing small quantities of unheard of toys, much less a toy whose image is precisely to have no personality whatsoever.

But persevering in his dreams, Ban eventually found the right partners. And after a lot of hard work with his TEAM (defined by Ban as "Together Everyone Achieves More), they got their big break when toy giant Hasbro picked up the toy and loved it. With a huge distribution network and marketing budget, Stikfas would soon hit the shelves internationally in a big way.

The big success of Stikfas led to more little successes (back home) and even cult followings, especially in Japan. But Ban is not interested in growing Stikfas into too big a company. After all, this would throw him out of the very culture he and his carefully recruited staff (it takes about 6 months of "dating" to get hired) thrives in.

His parting words are one that underline our humanity, "Success is balance in life. What does it matter that you have built something really big and made so much money, but have no time for your family, or have lost your health. Each of us has his own definition of success, and a lot of times it is defined by money, but ultimately success is balance."