Pest buster has finger in every pie

He is a mentor and author; has stakes in local pub and medical centre in Cambodia.

Tue, Apr 13, 2010
The Straits Times

By Lorna Tan

It was his drive for professionalism and a better way to do things that motivated Mr Thomas Fernandez to spend US$5,000 (S$6,900) on a trip to Toronto in 1983 to attend a national pest control convention.

He was then working at his brothers' pest control firm. He had joined it after finishing his secondary school education at St Gabriel's in 1970. He started out as a pest control technician, and his job took him to construction sites, homes and offices.

The convention was an eye-opener for him. He got to know an experienced pest control expert, Mr Ken Doty, who became his mentor and took him under his wing.

Mr Fernandez continued to upgrade his knowledge and skills through various pest management courses in the United States, and put them into practice.

In 1991, he set up PestBusters with $250,000 and carved out a niche for his pest management firm in the hotel and hospital sectors.

From running an office with a staff of 10, he now has 200 employees in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Besides running his firm, Mr Fernandez, 54, has shareholdings in nightspot Timbre @ The Arts House and in a medical centre in Cambodia.

He also keeps busy by mentoring two other businesses, and is the co-author of two books which he considers his best investments. The books are Secrets To Dominate Your Niche, which sold close to 8,000 copies when it was published in 2008; and Niche Dominators: Success Secrets Exposed, published in December last year, which has sold about 3,000 copies so far.

He is married to homemaker Audrey Gomez, who is in her late 40s. They have three daughters: Nicole, 24, Denise, 22, and Natalie, 13.

Q: Are you a spender or saver?

I am a saver who knows how to spend on necessary things.

When I was working in my brothers' firm, I was earning $800 a month. Even then, I was saving $600 every month. I've always tried to save at least half of my income.

Q: How much do you charge to your credit cards every month?

I have a specific credit card just for my travelling expenses, and it could reach $10,000 a month.

For my other personal expenses, I try not to spend over $3,000 a month.

I make my payment in full every month, since the interest and late charges are high. I withdraw $500 from the ATM once a week.

Q: What financial planning have you done for yourself?

I have various kinds of insurance plans to cover my medical, life and kids' education expenses. I have an endowment plan to cater to each of my children's studies. The monthly premium is more than $100 per plan. I have about $1 million in life cover.

I invested $10,000 of my CPF savings in Keppel Corp, Cerebos and Sembawang Corp more than 10 years ago and it has grown to $70,000.

Besides PestBusters, I invested in Q Bar at Old Parliament Lane in 2005 with nine people. It was renamed Timbre @ The Arts House a year later.

In 1997, two partners and I invested US$100,000 to set up the Somary Raffles Medical Centre in Cambodia. It houses six doctors who specialise in evacuations to Singapore and Bangkok. My investment share was US$33,000, and now I own 60 per cent of the centre.

I also have a 30 per cent shareholding each in Silhouette Bridal boutique in Stamford Road and solar film firm Cool n Lite in Toh Guan Road, in return for mentoring the management. I see them once a week.

Q: Moneywise, what were your growing-up years like?

I grew up in a big family of 10 and we had limited money for luxury spending. I was the second-last child.

My father was a businessman who made cane furniture. He had a factory in Indonesia but he gave up the business and retired when I was very young, after he found out that one of his employees had cheated him. My mother was a housewife. We lived in a single-storey corner terrace house in Serangoon Gardens.

With so many of us, life was tough and I realised that savings are very important. I had a piggy bank in the shape of a house and I dreamt that I would have a house just like that one day.

Q: How did you get interested in investing?

I wanted to achieve higher yields than just leaving the cash in the bank, so I started looking for opportunities. The returns from financial investments are higher than that from money parked in the bank.

Q: What property do you own?

The first property I owned was a resale five-room HDB flat in Ang Mo Kio. I bought it for $160,000 when I got married in 1985 and sold it for $140,000 after two years.

I then bought a landed property in Serangoon Gardens. It was a 21/2-storey corner terrace house with a land area of about 3,200 sq ft and a built-up area of about 5,800 sq ft. I bought the property at a low price of $375,000 in 1988. It is worth between $2.5 million and $2.8 million now.

I'm considering buying a property in Australia as Denise is studying there and Natalie will be joining her soon.

Q: What's the most extravagant thing you have bought?

My first car, which was a dark-green BMW 318. I bought it in 1986 for almost $100,000. I used to admire people who owned a BMW and set a goal that it would be my first car. I drove it for four years.

Q: What's your retirement plan?

Just like my mentor, Ken Doty, who is 80, or even Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, I have no plans to retire. When my kids are independent, my wife and I would need $15,000 to $20,000 a month.

Q: Home is now...

The house in Serangoon Gardens.

Q: I drive...

A black Mercedes E240.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.