From Huawei Engineer to Restaurant Owner: The Full Story

The Comfortable Path

By 2019, I had everything a young Malaysian tech professional could want. A role at Huawei Technologies — one of the biggest tech companies on the planet. A job that took me to 13 countries across Asia Pacific. A Global HR Automation Award that validated my technical chops.

I was building systems that automated payroll for thousands of employees across 5 countries. I was solving complex problems with elegant technical solutions. My career trajectory was clear and upward.

So naturally, I left.

Why Leave?

It wasn't about money or dissatisfaction. It was about a question I couldn't stop asking: What if I built something of my own?

At Huawei, I could improve a process by 15% and it would be a footnote in a quarterly deck. If I built my own business, that same effort would have 100% impact. The ceiling wasn't salary — it was ownership.

There's also something my parents taught me. Both schoolteachers, they showed me that impact isn't about scale — it's about depth. Teaching 30 students well matters more than broadcasting to 30,000 poorly. I wanted that depth in my work.

The First Ventures

2020: Founded Femy Wellness Group — a women's health brand. We got featured in Malaysian newspapers and exhibited in Taiwan. It proved I could build something from nothing.

2021: Co-founded Seoul's Wellness Group — Korean wellness concepts. Made DreamFactory Malaysia's Top 10 Startups. Two years later, completed an M&A with a larger group with sights on IPO.

Invested in De Core Wellness Center — now expanded to 3 branches (Pavilion Bukit Jalil, OUG, Eco Ardence). Became CEO of Songhwa Korean Cuisine — authentic Korean BBQ at Millerz Square.

Each venture taught me something different. Femy taught me brand building. Seoul's taught me startup speed. De Core taught me investment discipline. Songhwa taught me F&B operations from the inside.

Then Came Pizza

Byond Walls Pizza Bar & Cafe was the venture that changed everything. Two outlets — Millerz Square and SS2 PJ. Wood-fired pizza, craft beer, live music every weekend.

The early days were brutal. We were dine-in focused, but foot traffic was unpredictable. I made a bet on delivery platforms — Grab, foodpanda — and pushed hard on optimizing our menu, photos, and promotions for delivery.

That bet paid off. Delivery became a major revenue channel. While competitors struggled, our delivery sales grew month after month. It was the decision that turned the business from surviving to thriving.

Today, Byond Walls has 4.9 Google stars and won the Grab Signatures Award 2025.

Teaching Myself to Code

Here's the part that surprises people: despite having a Computer Science degree, I never worked as a developer. At Huawei, I was on the business/HR automation side. I knew how to think about systems, but I hadn't built web applications.

In 2025, I taught myself full-stack development. Not from a course — from solving real problems I faced every day running my restaurants.

The inventory system came first. Staff were tracking stock on paper, managers re-entering into spreadsheets. I built a PWA that 20+ staff now use daily across all outlets.

Then came the AI bots. Three Telegram assistants — Flash, Kimi, and CEO — that handle everything from stock queries to daily business briefings. My morning routine went from 45 minutes of spreadsheet-checking to a 2-minute Telegram read.

Then the enterprise dashboard for HWC Coffee — live POS analytics for 80+ outlets. AI marketing campaigns. Voucher automation.

The Huawei Advantage

People think leaving corporate was about rejecting that world. It wasn't — it was about bringing those skills into a new context.

Huawei taught me process thinking. How to break complex systems into manageable components. How to automate repetitive work. How to work across cultures and time zones. How to document and standardize.

Every single one of those skills made me a better entrepreneur. I just apply them to my own businesses now instead of someone else's.

What I'd Tell Someone Considering the Jump

Your corporate skills are more transferable than you think. Process design, stakeholder management, data analysis, project management — these are entrepreneurship skills, just with corporate labels.

Start before you're ready. If I'd waited until I knew everything about F&B, I'd still be at Huawei. You learn by doing, and the learning curve is steepest (and most valuable) in the first year.

Build systems, not just businesses. Any restaurant owner can make pizza. The ones who build systems — for inventory, for operations, for marketing — are the ones who scale without burning out.

The best career move I ever made was leaving the career track entirely.

Today

I run pizza outlets, consult for Malaysia's largest specialty coffee chain, manage wellness investments, and build AI systems that make all of it run better.

I published a Chinese novel at 18. I automated HR for 13 countries at Huawei. Now I build AI bots that run restaurants while I sleep.

None of it followed a plan. All of it followed curiosity.

Interested in working together? [Check out my case studies](/case-studies) or [book a meeting](/connect).