He spent a year paying rent on an empty factory. Now he's tripled his revenue.
Lucent Dekz had the machines, the market, and the drive to grow — but without a credit history, no bank would give them a chance. Here's what happened next.
Paying the bills before a single product is shipped
Picture a factory floor that's running, but not yet producing. The machines are in. The team is there. The rent is due. The salaries need to go out. But for the first full year of Lucent Dekz's existence, not a single roll of bubble wrap or sheet of insulation foil had made it out the door.
Wong Choon Meen, founder of Lucent Dekz, was building something real: a manufacturer of bubble wrap and bubble foil for the packaging and construction industries, supplying locally and exporting to Taiwan, Vietnam, and China. But manufacturing isn't like a service business — you can't start small and scale gradually. You need the right formula, the right temperature, the right speed. And getting all of that dialled in took time. A full year of time.
All the while, the clock kept ticking, and the cash kept draining. By the time production finally stabilised, the savings were nearly gone, and the real work of building a business was only just beginning.
"We took one year to set up the production. We were paying rental and salary for one year, but we didn't run anything. That was a big challenge."
Orders were coming in — but the money always ran out first
Once production was up and running, a new problem emerged — one that will feel painfully familiar to any manufacturer or product business. To fill an order, you need raw material. To buy raw material, you need cash. But your cash is tied up waiting for last month's customers to pay their invoices. And those invoices are on 30-day terms.
When business started growing — tripling, in fact, the cash gap didn't shrink. It got wider. More orders meant more raw material needed upfront, which meant more cash required before a single ringgit came back in.
The natural solution was a bank loan. But Lucent Dekz was less than three years old. No track record, no credit history. Bank after bank said the same thing: " Come back when you're more established. “ The business was growing fast enough that investors would take notice, but it was too young for the institutions that could have helped most.
"If your customer pays late, you have no money to pay your supplier. Without cash flow, you cannot roll the business. That's the challenge."
Not one lender, but a lifeline — and what made FundingBee stand out
Wong didn't wait for a single solution to appear. He went out and found every possible source of short-term financing he could, and finally discovered FundingBee (Bee Informatica). Where the banks saw a company too young to trust, these lenders saw a business with real sales, real customers, and a founder who understood exactly what he needed the money for.
The process was direct and fast. No lengthy approval chains, no demands for a track record that didn't exist yet. FundingBee focused on where the business was going — and provided the short-term liquidity that kept the factory floor moving.
The need
Raw materials had to be purchased before any revenue came in, and monthly turnover required a working capital buffer at all times.
The application
Straightforward and fast. FundingBee evaluated the business on its actual trajectory — not a credit file that hadn't had time to build.
The result
Funding secured. Production continued. The second machine — and the doubling of capacity it represented — became possible.
Wong is candid about the cost: the interest rate is higher than a bank loan, and the one-year repayment term means significant monthly commitments. But he's equally clear about the alternative. Without it, there was no business to speak of.
"Without them, I could not have survived until today. No bank loan — so you can only rely on them."
Triple the revenue — and a founder who taught himself everything
Lucent Dekz has tripled its revenue in a year. A second production machine is on its way, doubling capacity again. Export markets in Taiwan, Vietnam, and China are growing.
Running the business almost entirely alone — handling technical, marketing, finance, and operations — he taught himself to read financial statements, plan cash flow six months in advance, and manage supplier negotiations to keep the business liquid when customers paid late.
He didn't wait for the business to get big enough to hire experts. He became one. And now, with a credit history established and revenue growing at a rate that investors notice, the door to larger financing, and the next stage of growth, is open.
"I never stop learning. Even now, I learn how to do marketing, finance, and management myself. You have to. Because if your business hasn't grown yet, you have to do everything."
The best time to arrange financing is before you need it. Join business owners like Wong Choon Meen who use FundingBee as a growth tool. Get started today
