Telecom Square President Yuji Yoshitake has ambitious plans to revolutionize the travel industry
Telecom Square is a global communication services company based in Tokyo. With more than 25 years of history, they have focused on the selling and lending of mobile communication equipment such as Wi-Fi routers and mobile phones to both inbound and outbound travelers. Yuji Yoshitake, President of Telecom Square discusses the story behind his companies success, and his long-term plans to continue to provide travelers with ‘safety, convenience, and enjoyment’ on their trips.
A boy from a conservative Japanese family founding a global startup
Born in a conservative family in a rural area of Japan, I was not the most active kid. My family ran a few book stores in the Kyushu region. Our family has a long history since the Edo period, and the motto of my father, the head of the family was to be protective and aim for small but consistent growth, rather than to voraciously aim for a high level of growth. I guess this is an ordinary business model for long-running businesses in the countryside of Japan. He taught me that it is very important to work diligently and aim for small goals, in order to become successful. I grew up watching my parents run their business in this way, and so I think that the way I run my business is influenced by my father to some extent. I also knew, from a long time ago, that I was eager to start my own business rather than spend my entire life working for somebody else’s company.
Learning about the management of ‘people, product and money’ at McDonald’s
I knew I wanted to start my own business, but because I had no background knowledge in how to do so, I decided to start my career working at another company first. I chose to work at McDonald’s Japan, because I learned that the growth curve is very high there. After only a few months working there, I was assigned to manage and operate a store, where I had tens of subordinates, and was expected to manage millions of sales annually. McDonald’s back then was also known as a company where the product management was the most developed in the industry. I knew this was the most suitable place to start my career and build experience.
After spending 2 years there, I once again felt I was ready for change. I joined a company called Bartar Link, the predecessor of Telecom Square. Again, I did not start my own business but decided to join a startup because I still did not feel ready to start my own business from scratch. My salary was halved from what I was earning at McDonald’s, but I had no hesitation.
Starting a mobile phone rental service, before the smart phone boom
When I first joined this company, there were only five employees. It was a very small company and the business was not always successful, but I learned a lot here. After working for 3 to 4 years, I inherited the company from the then president, and started a new business.
In the beginning, our main business was a brokerage business of a mobile phone company. Back then, mobile phones weren’t as common as they are today. We entered the mobile phone rental business in 1992, after receiving a request from the Russian embassy of Japan to lend them the mobile phones we owned. Gorbachev was coming to Japan and the embassy needed communication tools. This made me think that a phone rental service would be an interesting business to enter because it actually added original value to the company rather than the brokerage business, which could be replaced by other companies very easily.
After conducting research, I came to a conclusion that mobile phones would become one of Japan’s main industries, with a value of tens of trillions of yen. I was able to imagine very easily that mobile phones would be a common tool for everyone, just like how cars became very common and accessible in the past 100 years or so. I realized that you didn’t need to have the knowledge, skills or money to build cars or mobile phones themselves, but rather needed to think of the side industries they would ultimately generate. For example, with the case of the rising popularity of cars, this drove the demand for rental services, manufacturing of guard rails and their parts, or even guide books with the increased freedom of travel that cars offered. This same concept popped into my head unconsciously to initiate the rental service for mobile phones.
Adapting to the market trend: mobile phone rental service, Wi-Fi routers, SIM cards, and beyond
The reason that we have been able to achieve stable growth is just down to constantly doing the simple things right. I’m not trying to make this sound fancy or anything but it truly is just a matter of admitting that there are things you are not exceptional at, asking those around you for help, and continuously working hard at your role. This has naturally brought about growth in the company spirit along with growth in the company itself. Reflecting now, I would describe what we have achieved until now as steady growth rather than evolution. At the end of the day, we have just steadily expanded our business size and product offering rather than making any major changes to our business area or market. From here though, the vision is to evolve the company. This will entail competing in a completely new market and with it no doubt will come many difficulties, but this is what I have been preparing for a while now.
A new service to facilitate ‘safer, more enjoyable and convenient’ travels
Our company is currently in the transformation phase. We have kicked off a new service: a platform for those traveling around the world. Presently, platforms such as Expedia are available to travelers, where you can find various pre-travel tours, hotel options, and so on. However, there are very few platforms that cater to those who are currently amidst their travels. The reason for this is that although people take their phones on their overseas travels, the majority of the time they do not have any internet connection. So, there is currently a mismatch between those providing and receiving information during trips. But, we are convinced that we can make safer, more enjoyable and convenient holidays and business trips if we can provide information by creating a network for travelers. This ties into our Wi-Fi router business, as we’re now able to provide relevant travel information to customers who are using our routers. We would do this not simply from a web page but through the PinnAR navigation application.
PinnAR, Telecom Square’s new service for all travelers globally
PinnAR is an AR navigation app, with a text scanning feature. Let’s say if I were a foreigner traveling in Japan, I would be able to import addresses from flyers, business cards etc. without knowing how to type in the language. Just by taking an image of the address, the app will navigate you to your desired destination. You can just show the embedded information to the taxi driver and you will be good to go, and if the driver starts heading in the wrong direction you can point it out straight away. PinnAR is also in sync with free travel guide books that we are publishing, which contains various coupons for different places of interest. Given that PinnAR can be used by travelers all over the world, it has the potential to reach out to a wide audience. For instance, last year there were 1.4 billion people in total who travelled overseas globally. Therefore, the potential value of advertisement revenue that PinnAR could generate is at least several trillion yen.
Although our current main business is the selling and lending of mobile communication equipment, PinnAR will provide us with a new line of business to further expand our service offering. In the case that our current business does face a downturn due to external factors such as decreases in cost of data roaming, PinnAR will not only provide a hedge against such change but will also become our main stream of business, because the demand for this service is expected to grow.
Beyond nationality, gender and age: What we look for when recruiting
A third of the staff at Telecom Square are foreigners, but that is not so big of a deal. We are not recruiting our staff based on their nationalities, but by their motivations to engage in creating new values at a globally expanding business. From my experience, I generally find that people with international backgrounds tend to have this kind of challenge oriented mindset and problem solving skill-set that we look for. I would say our company is a good fit for those who are self-motivated, as you are able to play an active part from the first year of joining regardless of your title or age. Personally, I hate to distinguish our staff by their title, so regardless of them being an executive, or a temporary worker, we treat each individual as an individual.
We are hiring! Join our upcoming company briefing sessions
We are currently looking for new graduates passionate about making traveling safer, more convenient, and enjoyable for all travelers worldwide. If you are interested in tourism, telecommunication, advertisement, media, or the IT industry, please do join one of our company briefing session and learn more about us. Even if you are currently unsure about how you would like to shape your career I would be more than happy to offer any advice, so please do not hesitate to reach out to me. I am looking forward to meeting you all at the briefing sessions!
Interested in learning more about jobs offered at Telecom Square? Sign up for the company briefing session here.
