Choosing Sons or PC Parts in a Cramped Apartment
October 28, 2005
Saul Yeung was a hardworking student needing a personal computer to write a paper for his master’s in political science. Not able to afford one, he bought parts to build one. When he showed it to his college friends, many were so impressed they asked him to assemble one for them. This became a great side business Saul could do in the small apartment he shared with his wife and two sons, but soon he had too many orders for him to work on and continue his schooling at the same time.
So in 1986, Saul hired two employees to assemble computers full time in his apartment. And thus, his company, Central Computer Systems, Inc., was born.
By 1990, the Yeungs were able to buy their first building. Fifteen years later, they operate three retail stores in Santa Clara, San Francisco and Hayward, employing close to 100 workers. Their eldest son, Chester, a graduate of Georgetown in international relations, and Craig, a UC Berkeley graduate, have joined the company. Together, the family has expanded to new businesses such as Central Floors, Central Real Estate Company and Central Automobile Company, an auto brokerage.
Yeung is clear on his steps for success: “We have a wholesale volume with a retail price. I am my own manager. I treat my customers as well as my employees with honesty and caring. We built a reputation for giving good service for a better price, and our customers, from small business owners to large government buyers believed in us enough to buy from us exclusively. I still remember my first big contracts coming from the Navy and NASA.”
Central Computer Systems provides assembly parts, consulting and networking to the Internet for IBM computers and PCs, besides carrying high-end products for companies like Applied Materials, IBM and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories.
As Yeung looks back, he said: “I had always worked to achieve my academic dream to teach, but when I turned 40 and faced the practical side, I realized I had an opportunity to become an entrepreneur in the business world and provide better for my family. I always felt I deprived my boys a normal growing up life, as we lived in cramped apartments where computer parts were always being assembled around them. So I wanted to get a home and give my sons a better life.”
Justifiably proud of the growth of his business, Saul Yeung modestly admits that the rules he works by are actually very simple: “For the customer, give him good selection, good service and a good price. For the employees, give them a positive environment, benefits, good training and bonuses. For the vendors, give them cooperation and feedback. Lastly for the community, give it your loyalty, enthusiasm and participation.”
Yeung has learned not only from the academy, but also from a hard life. His father fled China in 1948 during the Communist Revolution, leaving behind two-year-old Saul with his mother, who worked in a sewing factory to keep them fed.
Escaping in 1968 to Hong Kong alone in a small boat, Saul luckily met an American scholar who gave him translation work and taught him English. He married fellow student, Sherry, and they both immigrated to America. Saul swept floors as they lived in San Francisco’s Tenderloin. In 1975, Saul got his master’s and Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, then moved south so Sherry could get her MBA at UCLA. They worked hard, arranging schedules to take turns caring for their two boys. Upon graduation, she got a product manager position at IBM and they returned to the San Jose area.
Eldest son Chester says the business is also part of his destiny, despite his international college degree.
“I always thought of returning,” he said. “No matter how you look at it, there’s a feeling of family responsibility. My dad used to say that his business was his “third son” so I guess I considered this business as “my second little brother. … My feelings go deep of extra pride in the accomplishments my family has made through my father’s leadership.”
The Yeungs have divided the responsibilities so that, as Saul laughingly put it, “we don’t get in each other’s way, but we respect each other’s opinions.” Sherry, as general manager, handles the daily execution of all the businesses, particularly the computer service parts division. Chester, 30, is handling the SFO airport and San Francisco General Hospital accounts. Younger brother Craig, supervises Central Floors in Santa Clara and the Central Automobile Company.
The longevity and success of Saul Yeung’s Central Group empire might be due to the way he thinks of his employees. “They are like family to me,” he said emphatically of his predominantly Asian American employees. “We have some who have had two generations working for us, and many are still with us from the beginning years,” he added. The soft-spoken immigrant businessman bustles about with hands in all parts of the business, but says he does look forward to retirement someday. “I’ve always loved history and want to be more active in the community which has been so good to me.”
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