A celebration, a story and a poem

I attended my company's Annual Dinner last night, which is the reason why I can afford to be late at work this morning and quickly post an entry...yeh!

The Annual Dinner is held in conjunction with their 20th. year anniversary celebration. By request, I wrote and contributed a piece of poem to the Board of Directors, which was read so badly by the emcee that I almost flew off my chair!!

The poem : THE BONITA STORY

Every story begins with a chapter.
The chapter here is about an ambitious couple.
It all began with one simple journey,
A journey of a husband and wife’s passion for fashion and beauty.

From a humble beginning in Johor Baru way back in 1990,
Mr. & Mrs. Teo Ai Siong started the Bonita Group of Companies.
With diligence and perseverance, the business expanded and grew,
We saw how those sales charts flourished and flew!

When the couple’s desire to expand the business increased,
They ventured into cosmetics to fill the customers’ needs.
Products are that good, affordable and of variety,
Bingo! And the rest they said is history.

The Brand was born 5 years ago,
It is none other than the famous elianto.
To fulfill the needs of women from head to toe,
Today, millions of elianto units are sold.

The birth of Tiamo speaks of Sylvia’s love for fine, elegant fashion and shoes.
It boasts a wealth of designer pieces and jewelleries for customers to choose.
Tomorrow at Gardens Mall, a new Tiamo Concept Store you’ll find,
The concept of designer Ballerina Flats that is first of its kind.

So, it started with one simple dream twenty years ago,
Now we’ve seen that dream beginning to overflow.
An empire filled with handbags, shoes and cosmetics galore!
Also with accessories, time-pieces and many many more.

Bonita Group of Companies - 20 years old.
The chapter of her achievement has now been told.
Yet to unfold are twenty thousands more…
Her success stories still plenty in store.

Mr. & Mrs. Teo (my bosses) are one of the most successful couple in the retail industry and I'm inspired by their humble story. I'm glad our paths crossed.