(A snapshot of the couple in Maldives, their most memorable place on Earth)
It's been said that couples test their mettle and compatibility when they travel together. For Mikhail Goh & Tengku Suzana (both BBM, 2014) however, they turned their passion for travel into a successful business, Have Halal, Will Travel (HHWT), an online portal making it easy for Muslims to travel around the globe. Beyond simply providing guides on where to find halal food and more, the couple actually has a higher, nobler purpose for HHWT -- fostering peace between Muslims and non-Muslims through travel. With a monthly reach of 9.1 million and counting (no mean feat for a site that started only four years ago), we believe Suzana and Mikhail are making huge strides to achieving this goal. Read on to find out how they met in SMU, embarked on their entreprenuerial endeavour, and became a legitimate force in the travel and hospitality industry in Singapore.
Hi Suzana and Mikhail! Before we start, it seems you both met in SMU, fell in love... and the rest is history, as they say! Could you share more about this fateful encounter in school?
We met in class in our Year 1 Technology and World Change (TWC) module under Prof Soon Loo, who's known to have really crazy TWC projects (well, we didn’t know that when we were bidding for his class). We were in the same group because we happened to sit near each other and that’s how we got to know each other!
P.S. Prof Soon Loo’s TWC class was insanely difficult -- we had to apply design thinking to come up with two of our innovations in one semester (including the prototype!) *but* we both learnt so much from that class, and bonded in his class. :) (Editor's note: We will leave the mushy questions for a Valentine's Day issue!)
(Mikhail and Suzana, extreme left and second from left respectively: a throwback photo of their freshie days in TWC class)
Wow. Starting a business or working with a spouse presents certain challenges! Did you both have any reservations about that?
Not at all actually! Trust -- a common issue between co-founders -- is not a worry because we have been working together on countless projects before starting the business so we’re very familiar with each other’s work styles. In fact, our other co-founder is Suzana’s best friend whom she’s known since she was 15.
However, after we got married, we made a conscious effort to prevent ourselves from talking too much about work at home. It’s unavoidable when HHWT feels like our baby but making sure we keep a balance keeps us sane!
Alright, please share with us about your journey in starting HHWT, starting from your exchange in South Korea.
We went to Seoul for our student exchange programme back in 2013. Seoul was relatively popular as a travel destination back then, so we thought it would be easy for us to find information on halal eateries on the internet. However, information was fragmented and unreliable. It was difficult to determine if it was worthwhile to go all the way down to Itaewon (our university was 45 minutes away) to get our meat fix.
We realized that many other Muslims face the same problem and we understood how challenging it can be to find halal food options and prayer spaces overseas when we travel - especially in non-Muslim majority destinations.
We started HHWT as an experiment. We wanted to know if Muslim travellers would be interested to try local experiences like Halal Dim Sum in Hong Kong or authentic Japanese cuisine in Tokyo. We soon started an online publication to test this idea and I remember that our very first article was a guide that covered the top halal local food in Hong Kong. It was a hit.
Encouraged by our small success, we started churning out more guides covering popular and upcoming destinations like Japan & Korea, week by week. With a reach of 9.1 million monthly today, we now have native advertising campaigns with governments and brands such as VISA, Hong Kong Tourism Board, Singapore Tourism Board, Tourism Western Australia, KLM, Scoot, AirAsia, Nestle, Klook and more.
(Mikhail and Suzana in Cairns, Australia, on a rare work trip together organised by SilkAir and Tourism and Events Queensland)
However, we discovered the true purpose and vision of our company during a trip to Tokyo. We were having dinner with a group of Japanese businessmen and it was a few days after the Paris bombing incident in 2015. They asked us why were Muslims killing non-Muslims. It was an epiphany at that very moment... to realise that most of them (in fact, probably for most of the non-Muslim world) have never interacted with a Muslim before and whatever we were going to tell them about Muslims and Islam was going to go a long way in shaping their perception of our faith.
It was then that we began to realise the true value of our work - to foster peace between Muslims and non-Muslims through travel. Enabling each and every Muslim traveller to serve as ambassadors of peace, wherever they may choose to travel to. This has become the vision of the company and the guiding purpose of our organisation.
Since you started HHWT in 2015, it has grown to be the go-to travel portal for Muslim travellers. What are some of the best lessons you had learned along the way?
Every startup will have to traverse the minefield of mistakes to earn their rightful position in the market. However, if we were to pick the greatest lesson, it would be to ONLY go on this journey with people of good character and drive. Many new entrepreneurs will think of snapping up the brightest talent available in the market but the truth is that every company has a unique culture and its own set of values. It only takes one person to upset the whole balance. It makes for a much more enjoyable ride if you take a longer time to screen for cultural and ideological fit.
(Mikhail & Suzana with their HHWT co-founder)
Did studying at SMU help in the running of HHWT?
Suzana: As a BBM graduate, I majored in Marketing and Corporate Communications. I chose this because social media was starting to take flight then. I was excited by the future of digital marketing and saw the opportunity to grow and scale rapidly career-wise. I remember people debating if Facebook would still be a marketing channel in the future. Looking back, it all made sense because we had to start a digital publication with HHWT and the skills I picked up were essential for our business. My biggest takeaway was my Marketing Research module which taught me the importance of analyzing data as this skill now drives key management decisions at HHWT. Also, the multiple projects every semester also taught me how to manage and lead people from different walks of life.
Mikhail: As a BBM graduate with Marketing major, my biggest takeaway was Marketing Research too! Not forgetting our student exchange programme in Seoul which led us to create HHWT in the first place!
What is the greatest misconception that people may have about the travel industry?
Most people think that being in the travel industry means that you get to travel day in and day out. We’re blessed to be able to work with regional and global brands but it also means a lot of hard work when we’re overseas.
We wake up at the crack of dawn to gather as much footage and material as possible and return really late at night. Before we turn in for the night, we have to back up our footage and plan for the next day. We average less than 5 hours sleep a night when we’re overseas but the support from our audience and partner brands really keeps us going.
Our recent trip to New Zealand was a particularly memorable one because we had the unique opportunity to work with Tourism New Zealand to help promote the country as a Muslim-friendly destination. However, this trip was different from all the trips we have ever made in the past because we had visited the Christchurch Mosque just two weeks before the shooting incident. When the news broke, we were horrified; this time it was even more personal than the 2015 Paris Bombing incident. It was another reminder of the vision of our company and what we stand for.
After the incident, we assisted Tourism New Zealand in their crisis response. Thankfully, the Kiwis and Muslims stood together to overcome this tragedy.
(Left photo: Suzana at Mount Cook, New Zealand, on a work trip organised by Tourism New Zealand)
(Right photo: Suzana, second from left, with colleagues and a Singaporean living in New Zealand at the Christchurch Mosque two weeks before the attack)
If you both were not in the travel industry, what else would you have done/pursued?
Both of us would probably be in the digital marketing industry but Mikhail would most likely still have a company of his own -- he has entrepreneurship in his blood!
What advice would you give to juniors who would like to enter the travel & hospitality industry today?
Today’s travel industry is largely dominated by global OTAs (online travel agencies). In a highly competitive online environment where returns can be calculated to the cent (Editor: yikes!), employers value individuals who have a good grasp of performance metrics and can make good decisions based on these insights.
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