For Khoo Bin Soo, setting up office in the business district of Phileo Damansara in Petaling Jaya may seem ordinary for most business people. What’s extraordinary isn’t the fact that Khoo is a woman managing director, or that she’s just 28. Did you say 28?

Khoo helms software firm FC Net which acts as sole distributor in Asia of the Fidelio Cruise software. This cruise ship management software developed by Germany-based Fidelio Cruise is used by more than 20 cruise line operators around the globe.

Established in January, the company is part of a joint venture with four partners to develop innovative cruise software.

Khoo on the job

"Among our biggest clients are Star Cruises, a leading cruise liner in Asia Pacific which has a current fleet of 12 ships. With the acquisition of the NCL group last year, Star Cruises is now the world's joint-third largest cruise company," says Khoo.

Travelling three times a month to the States, United Kingdom and Europe which has a strong ship building tradition is part and parcel of her work.

"As part of a support team, my job requires me to travel a great deal. On-site visits are essential as then I can have a better grasp of the situation and therefore better able to rectify the problems.

"Most major cruise ships have very complex systems of automation from the cabin and crew admistration to security management. In fact there are more than 5,000 km of cable wires in a ship’s belly," she said.

"For problems that are easily identified, they are usually solved via the phone, teleconferencing or email."

She is always on the move and on call. She doesn’t need a secretary to plan and manage her schedules or fix her appointments. All that’s needed is a nifty Toshiba notebook and a Nokia WAP phone.

"I live life in the fast lane. That’s why I find e-mailing the most productive and efficient form of communication," declares Khoo.

For this young entrepreneur trained in computing and software engineering in UK, it was her sense of adventure and strength in project management that got her the opportunity to eventually branch out on her own.

The company Khoo had worked for two years prior to FC Net saw the potential in her and suggested she came out on my own.

"It was an opportunity both challenging but filled with uncertainty. But after much consideration and months of doing freelance work, I decided that this was what I wanted to do. Besides, there weren’t many cruise softwares available in the market," explained Khoo who plans to develop customised software with web-based and WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) technology.