Founder and Principal of House of Groomers Academy
Mr. Gan Wee Yet is the founder of one of the most exciting and successful pet grooming business in Malaysia, House of Groomers Academy & Pet Salon located in SS14 Subang Jaya. He is known to be a pet grooming guru with people of all ages regardless of race, creed or religion. Many professionals turn up at his Academy to master the art of pet grooming. The Star reported that even bank executives and professional managers signed up for its courses.
“It’s really the next big thing in Malaysia. Every few shops you walk into there’s a pet grooming place or a pet shop. It’s big. It’s coming and this is the thing that is happening right now,” he said enthusiastically.
Dog grooming businesses thrive in an urban city like Subang Jaya of middle income group. Pet grooming industry is flourishing as indicated by the multitude of pet grooming centres popping up in numerous locations. A total of 333 establishments (mainly in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur) including pet stores, grooming salons and vet clinics are listed in the Petster Magazine, April 2011 edition.
Gan explains pet grooming was a new concept ten years ago. “I don’t think during my time there even existed much pet grooming in Malaysia. [Now] everyone wants to do it. Back then it was much harder. Parents think this is something that people do for fun. Now, at House of Groomers Academy, we change the perception, we transform hobby and passion into career.”
Indeed Gan was among few pioneers that made this his career. Previously an Investment Analyst in the stock broking industry with a university degree in Accounting and Finance, he must have thought very hard about switching to pet grooming as his career.
“It was not a childhood dream, no,” Gan says. He was involved in dog shows during his university days in England and it was his hobby. Gan was among many who lost their jobs during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. It was then that he decided to pursue pet grooming as his career and never looked back since.
Gan wore a melancholic smile as he recalled the day he decided that pet grooming was to be his career. “Well it was tough. My mom was strongly against it.” He briefly spoke about Asian parents’ expectations towards their children, which is to hold good jobs after receiving overseas education. “I went through hard times. It was a hard thing to do. No one supported my switch of career and everyone frowned upon my decision. Well, my dad was quite supportive. He gave me some money to start this business and told me to live up to my passion and to achieve greater heights. So I promised him I would and I did,” says Gan.
Gan went to the United States of America to acquire the skills needed to start his own pet salon in 1999. Then Ms. Annie Goh, currently Chief Instructor at the Academy, returned to Malaysia after her education in Australia. Gan sent Annie to numerous countries for further exposure. “After a couple of years, the demand for pet grooming increases. People like it and then we realised that the industry was so short of qualified pet groomers,” says Gan. Thus House of Groomers Academy was born in 2005.
In 2008, the Academy achieved a milestone, Open University Malaysia was interested in House of Groomers Academy. “It was a marriage made in heaven,” he said. The government wanted Open University Malaysia to promote skill-based training. The timing of the grooming business matches perfectly with the government policy. “So Open University Malaysia collaborated with us because of our good reputation and we’ve been around for more than 11 years,” says Gan.
“In order for the university to work with us, we have to design a proper syllabus,” Gan said. A proper syllabus includes students learning the skills of the trade such as grooming, an understanding of different breeds and their anatomy, diseases and nutrition. The recognition of these standards is what gives prospective students the edge in this industry.
The starting salary a graduate can expect ranges from RM1,500 to RM1,800. Notwithstanding, many employers raise their salary to RM2,000 within three to six months. Some can even earn up to RM5,000. This is good compared to a fresh university graduate earning around RM1,800 to RM2,000. The Academy’s Diploma course takes 9 months while a degree takes 5 years including foundation courses. “As far as I’m concerned, all of them get a job. Here, they are almost picked up immediately,” he said. Since the inception of House of Groomers Academy in 2005, all its graduates have been absorbed into the market.
House of Groomers Three Levels of Education
Now this sounds like a sweet deal but what is the likelihood of someone obtaining this diploma? “Our passing rate is about 85% to 90%. Having said that, we actually achieved almost 100%. The failures are those that do not turn up for classes.” Gan quickly added. “We have three levels of education,” Gan says. Level Three is the most important as that’s when students perform in the real working environment. “So if you can prevail at the end of the period we will pass you,” Gan assured.
House of Groomers Academy is working with Malaysian Pet Groomers Association (MPGA) to launch a short course for people to better understand pet grooming. So watch out for that.
House of Groomers Academy also plans to have an international college campus environment in two to three years. “We are collaborating with Open University Malaysia to do that,” Gan said.
Illustration by Jillian Ng
Related Articles:
International Judges Association
Jillianngnyinnyin's Blog 
Posted on May 3, 2011
0