Celebrating 10 Years of Success in PR

BACK in 1992, two good friends decided to throw in the towel and started Pat-Lin Communications Sdn Bhd, a public relations agency.

Keeping their business investment low, S.S. Patricia and Azlin Shahrin, started their company with office tables bought from a junk store in Section 17, a personal computer borrowed from Azlin’s father-in-law and worked from their bedrooms.

“We even wanted to buy chairs from the junk store but my mother stopped us from doing that. If we could not afford that, she said she would pay for our chairs.

“In those days, there was no Internet. So, we would drive a few kilometres to a friend’s office just to use his fax machine. We gave ourselves six months to see if we could get business,” Patricia related to the inception of Pat-Lin – Pat(ricia) -(Az)lin.

When the sixth month came, the two women were already too busy with their project to even notice. And they have never looked back since. The company celebrates its tenth anniversary tomorrow.

“With projects coming in, we worked from a rented house in Bukit Damansara, which we shared with another friend who was also running his own business. When our staff strength increased, we decided that we needed an office near conveniences,” Patricia related. “The choice of business address was Phileo Damansara 1 in Petaling Jaya.”

An economics graduate from University of Malaya, Patricia also holds a Diploma in Education majoring in Economics and English. She serves as a lecturer in a private college as head of its intensive English programme unit for two years before starting Pat-Lin.

“We are looking into hiring more staff to beef up our team and try to tap a bigger market. We have stayed low profile all these years and most of our clients have been recommended through word of mouth,” she said.

Having gone through a decade of growth, Patricia attributes much of her success to support of her friends, family and “tremendous showers of blessings from above”.

Cliets whom she has worked with include Abbott Laboratories (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Tetra Pak (M) Sdn Bhd, Lazare Kaplin, Neutrogena, Johnson&Johnson and Novartis Corporation Malaysia.

The company has also handled the publicity for Duopharma Biotech Bhd and Engtex Group Bhd for their listings on the KL Stock Exchange.

If by now, one is wondering about the Lin of Pat-Lin, she is no longer in the picture. Upon her husband’s job transfer to Hong Kong, Azlin has called it quits to take care of her two daughters.

We still see each other whenever she comes back. She can’t be around for our company’s tenth anniversary, but she was back here a few weeks ago and we met up. I am still trying to convince her to start Pat-Lin Hong Kong,” Patricia said.

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This story appeared in The Star on 9 September 2002.