Happy Sparrow on National Television — Our Mediacorp Features

Chen is the founder of Happy Sparrow Pte Ltd, where he serves as the chief planner and host. His official title is “Chief Happiness Officer.” Established in 2011, the company primarily organises corporate team-building activities, hosts corporate dinners and conducts corporate retreats.

Before starting his business, Chen was a captain in the Singapore Air Force. His military career taught him the importance of teamwork and showed him that the greater the pressure, the more important trust between people becomes.

After leaving the military, he noticed that many corporate team-building activities had become overly formulaic. He therefore decided to start his own business, hoping to bring genuine laughter and human connection back into the workplace.

Chen is also a fan of classic motorcycles and owns a 1980 BMW R100T. Riding motorcycles led him to an important realisation: “Small is the new big; slow is the new fast.”

He believes that doing business is not about seeing who can run the fastest, but about slowing down, taking care of each client and putting genuine thought into the work.

He once organised a charity event for a multinational company, where employees worked together to build a carnival venue for children with Down syndrome. Through a “Christmas Wishing Tree”, they also helped the children fulfil their wishes.

Seeing how happy the children were deeply moved him. Since then, he has organised similar charitable activities every year.

From doing everything to finding a niche

When Chen first started his business, he accepted almost every type of event and eventually became much like a conventional event-management company.

Later, he realised that competing through low prices and high volume would inevitably sacrifice quality. He therefore decided to transform the business. Instead of selling standardised packages, the company began creating customised solutions for individual clients.

Then came an unexpected hospitalisation that gave him an entirely new perspective on his team.

At the time, there were only three days left before a major event for 120 people, but Chen was unable to attend. He had no choice but to activate “Plan B”, handing the event over to his senior team and arranging for an appointed “deputy commander-in-chief” to take over as host.

Although Chen was initially nervous and uncertain, the team performed beyond expectations and successfully completed the event.

Ironically, the crisis taught him an important lesson about leadership: “True leadership isn’t about doing everything yourself. It’s about knowing when to let go and trusting your team.”

COVID-19 and going online

When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2020, physical events came to a standstill.

Chen quickly led his team through a transformation, launching online team-building programmes.

One of these was a “Toilet Paper Relay” activity, inspired by the toilet-paper-buying frenzy during the pandemic. The activity received widespread media coverage, and the company’s business subsequently expanded into Asia and Europe.

His philosophy

When talking about management, Chen says the most important qualities are sincerity, flexibility and happiness.

“If an activity cannot genuinely bring happiness to people, then there is no meaning in doing it.”

What’s next?

Over the next three to five years, the company plans to expand its customised activities into Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries.

It also plans to develop activity toolkits incorporating game elements, while continuing to give back to society through charitable projects.

The lesson he lives by

Looking back on his entrepreneurial journey, Chen shares a simple principle: “Start every new day with a sense of purpose.”

Whether enjoying the quiet of a morning coffee at a café over a cup of Kopi-O Kosong Gao, or slowly riding his motorcycle through the streets, he believes that life’s beautiful moments often appear when we are willing to slow down.

He believes that when a person learns to slow down and truly experience both work and life, success will naturally follow.