Behind the Scenes: What is in a name?

Behind the Scenes: What is in a name?

I was reflecting over some of the decisions I have made over the past 5 years and will be articulating my thoughts in this Behind the Scenes series.

I have always believed in reflective leadership. Being self-aware, observant then responding to situations in a flexible manner. It is also part of the self-care mechanism of acknowledging, accepting tough decisions that have been made and then moving forward with improvements in mind.

On a personal growth level, this has also allowed me to know myself better, my strengths and limitations when it comes to leading a team and growing the business.

I have fronted a series of topics from colleagues, stakeholders in both public and private sector ranging from my motivations, ideologies, business principles, strategies, battle plans etc. I have never shied away from openly sharing my honest thoughts, what I thought I did well or did not do well in. I think having open and honest conversations with everyone is a way for us to learn from one another.

Just do it

I would like to start the series with a question that I addressed during the SME Conference held just a couple of weeks ago. The genesis of the company: what does Speco mean?

Most of you may have heard the story of how we started. We started off wanting to do good; as a social enterprise hiring a group of retrenched elderly workers to do housekeeping work. There was not much thought put into the name at that point as I did not think much of what this little project would become. Spic & Span was chosen out of convenience to represent hygiene and cleanliness.

Was it a mistake though? We faced certain levels of teething issues. As we started gaining credibility and publicity within the sector, some of our potential customers who were looking to engage us went to competitors with similar names. It also did not help that we could not secure the direct domain for our website. We had a running joke among our team at that point that we should have charged our competitors for SEO.

Something special

We learnt our lesson. When we were in R&D for our antiviral coating, we knew we needed something more unique. We were brainstorming over the names that could reference a protective coating. From shields, to defenders, to protection, we were scratching our heads over what anagrams we could use.

We were having a quick working lunch one day and I casually asked my team.

“I am having difficulties piecing the puzzle together, what kind of shield should we call ourselves?” I was fixated on an Active Shield kind of name.

“Since it is a Special Coating, why not call it Speco?” It was an intern that suggested it.

I looked around the room to see most of the colleagues not disagreeing with the suggestion.

“I like it. Let’s run with it until someone figures out a better name.” And I guess we took the ball and ran with it ever since.

Eureka moments are never lengthy discussions. Sometimes it is about engaging the team and listening to the intern for ideas. You never know where it takes you.

Entering the Chinese market

I wanted to share part 2 of the story as well. Fast forward 2 years, we were entering the Taiwan market. Once again, we had a naming dilemma, what should our Chinese name be?

I shared with my team that having a good Chinese name should fulfil 3 objectives:

1. Accurately describe the company’s offerings,

2. Reflect the personality of the business, and

3. Have a positive connotation.

I cited examples of good Chinese names that resonated well with me. From 可口可乐 (Coca Cola) suggesting joy and great taste, 宝马 (BMW) suggesting precious horse to 宜家 (IKEA) suggesting convenient and affordable home. All of the above fulfilled the holy trinity of a good name. 

We decided on the name 必合 . Aside from the phonetics similarity to Speco, it is also a word play. 必合 meant that it was sure to bind. It also fitted nicely with the ethos of our business as 合 meant harmony, a social compact element that we believe strongly in.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to understand more about our journey, do let me know. I would love to expand on the topics that would interest you as well.