In 2017, Ms Madeline Toh left a promising corporate career to take over a handmade udon restaurant in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia.She had learnt through a friend that the two owners of the restaurant were retiring to return to Tokyo and were looking for someone to take over."I had a pretty solid corporate career trajectory that I was actually looking forward to," said Ms Toh, who was then 28 and a management trainee at a multinational company. But the draw of running her own business was too strong especially since the restaurant was already up and running, with staff and equipment in place.It was the opportunity Ms Toh, who had long imagined opening a cafe or restaurant of her own, had been waiting for. After taking over the restaurant, Ms Toh and her three investors expanded into two more outlets in KL selling freshly made tamagoyaki (Japanese omelette) – a concept that became popular and drew media attention.But by late 2019, declining footfall and mounting costs forced Ms Toh and her partners to decide whether to commit more funds or walk away.By then they had pumped S$150,000 (US$118,000) into the business and in the end they chose to wind up the business."Winding the business down seemed like a failure," said Ms Toh. Like her, many workers in Singapore feel the need to scratch that itch of venturing out on their own and starting a business. A 2026 survey by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) found that out of 11,389 accountancy and finance professionals across 160 countries, 54 per cent wanted to become entrepreneurs at some point in their careers. The survey included 140 respondents in Singapore and found that 46 per cent of them had similar aspirations.Another 2022 study by the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) and insurer Great Eastern, which surveyed 2,500 Singaporeans aged 16 to 25, found that one in five respondents under 20 was looking to start a business.While the appetite for starting a business remains strong, the challenge of launching and sustaining a business has doused the fire of many an aspiring entrepreneur.Former business owners told CNA TODAY that striking out on their own proved harder than they had imagined, and that failure is the norm, not the exception.Figures from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) from January to August this year show this too: While 56,548 business entities were formed in Singapore, 42,741 ceased.
When going all in doesn’t pay off: Meet the ex-entrepreneurs who chased their dreams and failed
The dream of starting a business can be alluring, but founders told CNA TODAY that the reality often meant punishing hours, financial sacrifice and the sobering discovery that even a useful idea may not make for a viable business.
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