In this episode of the Priority Lane podcast, host Nigel Catt interviews Jonathan Kwon, a successful entrepreneur from South Korea. Jonathan shares his journey from managing a franchise business in the food and beverage industry to venturing into the modular and prefabricated homes market. He discusses the key elements of a successful business, the challenges faced in the food and beverage sector, and the importance of personal drive and continuous learning. The conversation also delves into the cultural significance of soju in Korea, the trends in the construction industry, and Jonathan's vision for the future of his business.
Real growth can be achieved by doing less, but better.
Identifying trends is crucial for business success.
Business ethics are essential for long-term success.
Continuous learning is key to adapting in business.
Soju is deeply embedded in Korean culture and society.
The modular homes market is rapidly growing worldwide.
Effective communication is vital in business operations.
Social media marketing is a powerful tool for customer acquisition.
Currency exchange risks can significantly impact business profitability.
Investing in automation can enhance competitiveness in the construction industry.
sound bites
"Soju is the soul of Koreans."
"The market is growing so rapidly."
"YouTube is the main thing nowadays."
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Jonathan Kwon and His Journey
01:46 Key Elements of a Successful Business
05:38 Personal Drive and Commitment in Business
08:07 Navigating Information Overload
11:53 Cultural Significance of Soju in Korea
16:19 The Cultural Significance of Soju
17:16 Trends in Modular and Prefabricated Homes
20:42 Business Operations and Communication Strategies
24:00 Navigating Currency Exchange Risks
25:44 Challenges in the Modular Housing Industry
29:45 Innovations in Construction: CLT Technology
32:22 Future Aspirations and Global Market Opportunities
Nigel Catt: Welcome to the Priority Lane podcast, the show where we explore the power of prioritizing and how real growth can be achieved by doing less, but doing it better. I'm your host Nigel Catt, and each episode I sit down with successful people to uncover how they filter out the noise and focus on what really matters. Today on the podcast, we're joined by Jonathan Kwon from South Korea. Jonathan studied hospitality management in Edinburgh, Scotland, and became the first Korean manager in Edinburgh Marriott Hotel. After Edinburgh, he returned to Korea and started a number of franchise businesses, mainly in the F&B space. One brand alone, Jonathan opened 350 franchisee shops from 2005 to 2010. After more than 10 years in the franchise industry, Jonathan turned his focus to the modular and prefabricated homes market, an area which he believes is the future of the construction business. Jonathan currently operates his modular and prefabricated business and strongly believes that this business is the game changer in the construction business. Jonathan, welcome to the show.
Jonathan Kwon: Thank you. Thank you for inviting me.
Nigel Catt: No problems at all, no problems at all. Now I was fortunate enough to spend a week in South Korea a few years ago now. It was November and it was very cold, unseasonally cold. What's it like over there today?
Jonathan Kwon: It was November. It's getting better but it was freezing last week. Minus 12, minus 15 something. Yeah, but it's now approaching to the summer. No, no, no, no, spring actually.
Nigel Catt: Wow. Okay, approaching spring. Actually, we'll just stop there. I just want to check this audio to see if it's okay. Let me get on to, I'll just give no quick call. I just want to make sure this audio is coming through okay.
Jonathan Kwon: It's always tricky.
Nigel Catt: Hello, hello, I'm on the podcast with Mr. Jonathan Kwon from Seoul, South Korea. Well, he can't hear you. I've got my headphones on, yeah. But hey, I was just gonna see, are you able to jump in here, so we've started recording, we've just done a quick intro, and check the audio at all? Are we...
Jonathan Kwon: Yep, it's getting better.
Nigel Catt: Okay. So what will we see you pop up here as well?
Jonathan Kwon: Mm-hmm.
Nigel Catt: Okay, righty-o. Now, will we be able to hear you if I hang up here or?
Jonathan Kwon: Yeah, yeah. I can hear you.
Nigel Catt: Okay. Okay, right here. So yep, she's just gonna jump in. with this, we've got a producer relevance. So she can jump in behind the scenes and so she can get on here and just check the audio. Cause sometimes, yeah, like my audio, I've got this mic here, but sometimes it doesn't connect right. So we just want to make sure it's right before we get into it.
Jonathan Kwon: Mm-hmm.
Nigel Catt: So you're just two hours behind us, aren't you? It's quarter past one.
Jonathan Kwon: Yeah, it is.
Nigel Catt: Okay. Seeing if I can muck around with settings as well, I can but I have no idea what they do. So I'll leave it alone.
Nigel Catt: So is this, I remember a few years ago I saw a video of your business. Is this the same business or a different business? So we're sort of in a, you're at a expo or something, at a warehouse or something?
Jonathan Kwon: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it's different business here. Yeah, yeah.
Nigel Catt: Different business. Okay, think... Okay, so noise joins. She's in here somewhere, but I don't think we'll be able to hear her.
Jonathan Kwon: You can't...
Nigel Catt: Hello? Hello? Yes. Okay now, okay Jonathan can you can you start talking and I was going to check the audio.
Jonathan Kwon: Yeah. Okay, can you hear me?
Nigel Catt: So keep talking. What have been up to today Jonathan?
Jonathan Kwon: Okay, okay. I'm good, know. The weather is getting mild because the spring is approaching to us. Yeah, but we've been spending horribly cold winter. Yeah.
Nigel Catt: All okay?
Jonathan Kwon: Okay great, okay beautiful, thank you very much. Okay. Yep, she said good to see you Jonathan. Okay, see you tonight. Okay, all good, so that's all good. Righty-o, so.
Jonathan Kwon: Mm-hmm.
Jonathan Kwon: Hi! Hi!
Nigel Catt: Okay, sorry about that. It may have been, I've just checked the, okay, may actually, could have been my mistake. I think it might have been a setting on my machine that it wasn't registering. Okay, great. So did you, so I just asked you about the weather and you've answered that? Yep, okay. So we'll keep going on. Okay, here we go. We'll keep going.
Jonathan Kwon: Mm-hmm.
Nigel Catt: Okay, Jonathan, just going through your achievements and experiences, you've been involved in a lot of businesses. In your experience, what do you see as the main elements that makes a successful business?
Jonathan Kwon: It's always difficult question, right? trying to see the trends and the future of each business area For example, for the franchise business I did, at that time, the dessert market, the coffee market was expanding rapidly.
Nigel Catt: You...
Jonathan Kwon: So I thought, you know, simple bakery plus coffee might be good. So I opened the first store and try to expand the franchisee business. And I opened the 30, 300, 350 shops, something like that. And now I'm in the totally different housing market, which I started.
Jonathan Kwon: Five years ago, but I prepared this business for five years. So it's total 10 years. And I saw the future of the construction business is in the modular and the prefabricated especially the eco-friendly passive house market. That's why I choose this business. And then it is always important to see the future and trends and also, you know, the business ethics, which I consider most important.
Jonathan Kwon: Whatever business you are doing, you have to be honest and then you have to be good to your clients. That is very important elements in the successful business, I guess.
Nigel Catt: Yeah.
Nigel Catt: Yeah, okay. Okay, so I mean, that's interesting what you said. The franchise business was in food and beverage. Now you're in something completely different. So the industry doesn't, you're not tied to one industry. You just have a look for the trends and see where the opportunities are and then go to that industry.
Jonathan Kwon: Yeah, that's right. And then it is quite tough to do the F&B business in Korea nowadays because of government policies and the labor cost is very high. I know labor cost in Australia is very high, but your retail pricing is much, much higher than the Korea.
Nigel Catt: Yep.
Jonathan Kwon: That's why the owners of the small businesses are really struggling. I probably, let's say 15 years ago, it was much better. But after the government policies becoming strict and strict for employees, not employers, so it is quite difficult to do the business in the FNB area anymore.
Nigel Catt: Yeah.
Nigel Catt: Okay, so they're strict on employees, not employers. Wow, that's interesting. That sort of goes against the grain of a lot of governments around the world. It's normally the employers.
Jonathan Kwon: Yeah. Yeah.
Jonathan Kwon: That's right. Yeah, I think the minimum wage raised up to 50% in the recent seven years something like that, so you know, it's quite difficult and then In Korea the percentage of small business are quite high compared to other countries.
Jonathan Kwon: But at end of the day, know, people complain that small business people complain that, you are paying rent, are paying wages, and that you end up nothing. That's typical Korean food and beverage business nowadays.
Nigel Catt: Yeah. Yeah.
Nigel Catt: Right, okay. So faced with those challenges, we spoke about what are the important elements of a business, but just as important, even maybe more so important, what do you see as important elements for a person to take on the business? So for example, what drives you to continue striving in business?
Jonathan Kwon: Mm-hmm.
Jonathan Kwon: There is also tricky question. Actually, I am not a person who is afraid of learning things at all. I haven't studied construction. I haven't worked construction area for whole my life at all. But when I...
Jonathan Kwon: Saw the chance of making business in this area, I decided to learn as much as I can. And then I spent five years preparing this business.
Jonathan Kwon: And then, you know, I contacted so many modular and prefabricated homes companies in Europe, even in Australia, New Zealand, USA and everywhere and try to get the information from them and then try to see what is the future of this business. And now, you know, let's say I've been doing this business for already five years and then before I started,
Jonathan Kwon: I was a bit hesitating because I didn't have funds to start but luckily I met one guy who is willing to build a house with me and that became my model house and then luckily that house was on TV and my company becomes quite popular in the construction area yeah that's how it goes you know.
Nigel Catt: Yep.
Jonathan Kwon: That thing was planned actually to be honest with you but whatever you try really hard the chances are always coming. So I grabbed this opportunity and I started business.
Nigel Catt: Yeah.
Nigel Catt: Wow, well that's a lot of commitment. So five years research and research in the industry and how, I mean.
Jonathan Kwon: Mm-hmm.
Nigel Catt: There's a lot of information around nowadays about everything, like with the internet, can get information on just about anything. During that research phase, I guess there was conflicting information or there's a lot of noise around. How were you able to sort of focus on what information is important and what information can be trusted as opposed to other stuff? There's a lot of false information out there as well. How were you able to siphon through the noise and...
Jonathan Kwon: Yep, that's right.
Nigel Catt: Get to the heart of what really mattered.
Jonathan Kwon: That always comes to the experience, right? I spend around 12 hours in Google every single day, including weekends. And then I contacted so many companies mainly in Europe, right? And then I was getting the design.
Nigel Catt: Wow.
Jonathan Kwon: And then I was also getting the pricing for prefabricated panels and thicknesses and then windows and stuff like that then I try to compare which information is something I can trust right and then you know...
Nigel Catt: Yeah.
Jonathan Kwon: Thousands of thousands of companies are there. So it always take a lot of time to compare the which information is totally trustful.
Nigel Catt: Yep.
Jonathan Kwon: Then, know, I met around, let's say, 10 companies who are very interested in exporting houses to Korea. And then I started communicating with them deeply and I checked every single information. Fortunately,
Jonathan Kwon: I had experiences in importing a lot of stuffs to Korea including cosmetics and food and stuffs like that. So that helped me a lot. And then I tried to compare construction cost in Korea and construction cost when I imported houses from Europe. Then I thought this business is lucrative.
Nigel Catt: Mm-hmm.
Jonathan Kwon: But now it's a different story. know, after five, six years, the transportation cost becomes really high. And then the companies I work in Europe, they start exporting houses to Sweden, Norway, Iceland, England, and they can actually charge much higher prices than exporting houses to Korea. But over the five, six years, I...
Jonathan Kwon: Actually learn the technology how to make panels for the house how to insulate efficiently for the houses how to build passive houses stuff like that so it's always slow but at the end of day you can learn everything if you want.
Nigel Catt: Wow, wow, that's incredible. So you are less reliant on those, the supplies and exporters now, is that correct? Wow, okay, okay. Well, I mean, that's a thing in business, isn't it? Nothing stays the same. What's true in one day could change the next day and a lot of it's out of your hands. Now,
Jonathan Kwon: Mm-hmm.
Jonathan Kwon: Yeah, that's right.
Jonathan Kwon: No.
Jonathan Kwon: Absolutely, absolutely. So you have to be ready for the changes. Definitely. I'm trying, I'm trying.
Nigel Catt: Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it sounds like you are. Now, episode, Jonathan, we delve into a quirky historical fact of the month that we happen to be in, which is February. So this episode is something quite bizarre, and I'm guessing you may have heard of this company.
Jonathan Kwon: Mm-hmm.
Nigel Catt: Let me tell you something, the best selling spirit brand in the world isn't vodka, or whiskey, or tequila, it's soju. And most people out, yep, you've heard of soju? Well, I'm guessing most people outside of Asia have barely heard of it.
Jonathan Kwon: It is soju. Yeah, of course. Which I'm drinking every day actually. Yeah.
Jonathan Kwon: Mm-hmm.
Nigel Catt: The number one spirit brand on the planet is Jinro, a Korean soju company selling over 100 million nine litre cases a year. To put that into perspective, that's more volume than many of the big Western liquor brands combined. Now the crazy part, for years, over 90% of those sales came from one country, South Korea. Yep, a country with a population of just over 50 million currently.
Jonathan Kwon: Is that so? Incredible,
Jonathan Kwon: That's right.
Jonathan Kwon: Mm-hmm.
Nigel Catt: So this wasn't global dominance in a traditional sense. This was domestic saturation at an almost unbelievable scale that means it dominated global sales. Now for the tie in for February.
Jonathan Kwon: Mm-hmm.
Nigel Catt: This started, or the precursor of this was in February 1965 after the Korean War, the government banned rice based alcohol because of food shortages. Producers had to pivot using sweet potatoes and other starches instead of rice. This ban led to the ultra successful modern soju. That regulation forced mass industrialisation leading to lower cost, standardised production and hyper efficient distribution. Today, soju is embedded in Korean business culture.
Jonathan Kwon: Mm-hmm.
Nigel Catt: It's more than a drink. You don't just drink it, you ritualise it. You pour for your superior, you turn your head when drinking in front of them, deals are discussed over it, hierarchy is reinforced through it. It's not just a business, it's business infrastructure. Now Jonathan, why do you think soju is so embedded in Korean culture?
Jonathan Kwon: Mm-hmm.
Jonathan Kwon: You explained all the historical factors, right? But for me, I started drinking soju when I was 19. And then reason was simple. I was a student, didn't have money enough, and soju was cheap. But
Nigel Catt: Mm-hmm.
Nigel Catt: Mm-hmm.
Jonathan Kwon: At the end of the day soju is not just one alcoholic drink it is soul of korean right and then let's see the society itself in here korea is very very competitive society and then parents are crazy about kids education it is always so difficult to enter the university and then you know
Jonathan Kwon: For our whole life, we always have stresses in education, getting a job, promoting yourself to the company, inside the company. Those kind of stuffs are really stressful. And then you need to get rid of that with the alcoholic drinks. And then you can't drink whiskeys every day, but you can drink soju every day. Right? And you experienced that already. Koreans...
Nigel Catt: Yeah, yeah.
Jonathan Kwon: Whatever jobs they have, they're always stressful. For example, I started working at 5.30 in the morning today as owner, right? And then we finished working 6, 7, and then, you know, the society has been changed and then family is also important, but you have just a couple of hours for yourself.
Nigel Catt: Wow. Yep.
Jonathan Kwon: To get rid of your stress you have whole day. Country economics is not very good and you don't spend a lot of money. You can't do that. You have to spend money for the families. Then your disposable income is very small. Soju is the only choice. As simple as that. For me and then for my friends, all my friends are saying and then nobody can drink whiskey slight before.
Nigel Catt: Yeah.
Jonathan Kwon: And the Koreans are, know, youngsters drink a lot of wines and the spritz. But the generation like myself, Soju is the only one I know. Of course, I lived in the UK and I like wines and I'm, you know, quite familiar with wines, but still Soju is a soul of Koreans. And then it is most important thing for Koreans.
Nigel Catt: Okay.
Jonathan Kwon: Daily life.
Nigel Catt: Okay, wow, wow, okay. So is this unique to Soju or are there other products that completely dominate locally that haven't really made a splash globally? Only Soju.
Jonathan Kwon: It is only soju. Yeah, It's only soju. So many other companies try to break the dominance of soju, but they can't. I don't think that's gonna happen after 500 years. Yeah.
Nigel Catt: Okay, now we'll leave Soju alone for now, we've plugged them enough. You mentioned earlier that you see...
Jonathan Kwon: Funny
Jonathan Kwon: Okay.
Nigel Catt: Okay, you mentioned earlier that you see identification of trends and gauge where the future of an industry is going. So what did you see in your business that attracted you to the business? What were the trends you saw?
Jonathan Kwon: Modular homes and prefabricated homes.
Jonathan Kwon: Around 10 years ago, my senior in the construction company told me that construction business is most conservative business in Korea. And then we build houses and buildings with the reinforced concrete. And that this senior who was 10 years older than me told me that modular homes
Nigel Catt: Yep.
Jonathan Kwon: Prefabricated homes will be very unsuccessful in the Korean construction market. And I said no. I said no. But now, for the last three years, market has been doubled and doubled and doubled. And then it's gonna be raising a lot of popularities. Simple.
Nigel Catt: Really?
Jonathan Kwon: Construction cost for reimposed concrete is extremely high already and then people have no choice right economy is shit and then they want to spend less for the houses and then only option is modular homes and prefabricated homes and then unlike Korea unlike Japan, they have wooden houses mainly but the Korea reinforced concrete houses are
Nigel Catt: Yep.
Nigel Catt: Yep.
Jonathan Kwon: Major housing component but now it is changing and changing every single year and then I think this year or next year the market will be also doubled and the market is growing so rapidly it is worldwide trend Australia is same and in in northern europe right
Jonathan Kwon: 8 houses out of 10 are built in modular or prefabricated housing. So I think the market itself is growing in everywhere in the world and it's global business. Like what I told you, I imported houses from Northern Europe and built them here. And now some Korean companies import houses from China, Vietnam and other
Jonathan Kwon: Developing countries and build them here. So cost is very competitive, but at the end of day, it is 100% simple and sure that the construction market has only answer in the modular and prefabricated housing.
Nigel Catt: Okay, now you mentioned before that due to your increased knowledge, you're less reliant on the exporters over in Europe. So how do you operate the business? Do you...
Jonathan Kwon: Mm-hmm.
Nigel Catt: Go straight from the beginning to the end of the construction or do you just concentrate on a certain part of this construction? What role does your company play in the process?
Jonathan Kwon: My company actually did all the drawings for the customers and they send the drawings to the European companies and they do produce panels and windows according to our drawings. And then I import panels and windows from there to Korea. And then I found assembly team and building team in Korea and build houses in here.
Nigel Catt: Right okay okay so okay so...
Jonathan Kwon: Yeah, yeah, It is globally all the same, right? And then a lot of the companies are importing houses from Europe and then they do exactly same thing which I did before. Yeah.
Nigel Catt: Right, okay. So what do you see as the priorities? So when you get up in the morning at 5.30, are there a couple of main priorities in the business that you need to look after as the main part of the business?
Jonathan Kwon: Mm-hmm.
Jonathan Kwon: Communication is the most important thing. I receive the emails from my partners in Europe and other partners in Korea. They send me emails over the night and then, know, especially because of the time difference between Korea and Europe, I always check the...
Nigel Catt: Mm-hmm.
Jonathan Kwon: Emails very early in the morning around 5 to 6 and then they are still working in there and then I reply them so that I can you know I can I don't waste too much time with them right if not if I reply email very late one day is already gone right so communication comes always first and then I usually do between 5 to 6
Nigel Catt: Yeah.
Jonathan Kwon: Check all the emails and replied all the questions to my clients and then I started marketing perspective from 6 to 8 before my troops coming and then you know I do Facebook, advertisement, Instagram, YouTube you saw my YouTube already right and I didn't spend even single penny I just did it myself you know yeah then you know
Nigel Catt: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I see that.
Nigel Catt: Okay.
Jonathan Kwon: There are so many bloody SNS right? TikTok and stuff like that. I know sometimes it's useless but you know all the possible channels I put my contents in it and then that takes me around two hours then I start my day with my troops
Nigel Catt: So do you get the bulk of your customers from that marketing that you do yourself? Or do you have referral partners as well?
Jonathan Kwon: No, I just do everything myself. Yeah, they saw advertisement on... Usually YouTube is 50%. Instagram is 30%. And the blogs and other SNS channels, 20%. So YouTube is the main thing nowadays. Yeah.
Nigel Catt: So well.
Nigel Catt: Okay, okay. Well, what we'll do if it's okay, we can put that YouTube video at the end of this podcast. So if people wanted to see it, they can click on there and have a look. So with exporting from Europe, how do you manage that currency exchange risk? I guess that plays a part.
Jonathan Kwon: You can do that, no problem at all.
Jonathan Kwon: This is very good question actually now Korean currency is very weak right and exchange rate to dollars and euros are very very very low it is really serious problem I actually let's say I signed the contract with the clients in let's say July and then one dollar is equivalent with 1300
Jonathan Kwon: Korean yuan but by the time I import I build one dollar is equivalent to 1,500 yuan and I'm losing a lot of right and yeah yeah that's why you know sometimes it's hard to predict but nowadays in the contract
Nigel Catt: Yeah, well that's about a 15% increase.
Jonathan Kwon: I always put down the special clause that the exchange rate has to be applied for the older construction cost. Yeah, yeah, that is very important. I already lost a lot of money because of exchange rate. That's why I learned lessons.
Nigel Catt: So with, we've spoken about the currency risk, what are the other main obstacles facing your business and what plans do you have to overcome them?
Jonathan Kwon: Okay, actually the modular business modular homes and the prefabricated homes needs decent factory. Yeah, I used to have a factory but it was labor intensive, right? Then the workers in the factory has very high salary. That's why.
Jonathan Kwon: Nowadays, the successful companies in the modular homes and the free-pavericated homes industry has semi-automated factories or fully automated factories. But the fully automated factories cost a fortune. It's millions and millions of dollars. So, which is really unrealistic sometimes. But the...
Jonathan Kwon: Semi-automated factories which I have a solution for that. If I have that kind of factory, I can certainly have much better competitive advantages in pricing and manufacturing the houses in different sizes and different ways of construction. So that is my...
Jonathan Kwon: Future plan and the future hope that I can have a decent factory which can produce houses, let's say panels efficiently. Probably we'll have some standout models and then we can just manufacturing the panels and panels and then assemble them in the different sites. That is the...
Jonathan Kwon: My next step actually. But nowadays I'm getting the panels and the houses from the different manufacturers. Of course, they also should have a better profit, right? That's why the price competitiveness is bit weaker. So to be stronger in market, I should have much stronger price competitiveness, I think.
Nigel Catt: Yep.
Nigel Catt: Yeah, yeah.
Nigel Catt: Yep, yep, okay. So, getting this factory, this semi-automated factory, that will reduce your reliance on the exporters or you can get rid of them at all, completely? wow, okay. Okay.
Jonathan Kwon: Yep.
Jonathan Kwon: I can't get rid of them actually. Because we have technologies. we can just import wood and there's necessary elements for the housing. But except that, we can actually manufacture everything in all kinds of technologies in the factory.
Nigel Catt: Okay, now I'm guessing it's not standard wood that you use. Is it specially treated wood or processed wood?
Jonathan Kwon: That's right. In Europe, we call it C24 wood which can be used for building wooden houses. And then in the US and Canada, they have different grades which we have to import for constructing wooden houses as well.
Nigel Catt: Okay, you would just import the raw materials at that stage or can you get them like, I don't know. Okay, we'll jump.
Jonathan Kwon: That's right, that's right. yeah. Also CLT, CLT, we can also import raw materials because in Korea, we can't use Korean wood at all to build houses, right? And the country is such a small, You've been there, right? And then moisture in the wood is very high. That's why we can't use...
Nigel Catt: Yeah.
Jonathan Kwon: The Korean wood for building wooden houses in Korea. So it is inevitable to import wood from either Canada or Europe.
Nigel Catt: Right, okay. You just mentioned CLT. Could you explain what that is?
Jonathan Kwon: CLT is actually in Korea nowadays. My company is the only one company which build the CLT passive houses. CLT stands for cross laminated timber. And then actually the traditional timber has some weakness in the shrinkage. And then sometimes it is...
Nigel Catt: Okay.
Jonathan Kwon: It's not really good to fire resistance but the CLT, you put the wood in the crossway and then laminated and pressed them and it is much stronger than the concrete or steel and then it doesn't burn. Yeah, so by today, hundreds of hundreds of wooden buildings which is
Nigel Catt: Okay.
Nigel Catt: Okay.
Jonathan Kwon: Let's say 30 stories are currently built in every where in the world. Right? But I think in Japan next year, 79 story wooden building will be started. 79 story. And the Korean construction market is also very conservative, but
Nigel Catt: Really?
Nigel Catt: Wow.
Jonathan Kwon: We will have 14 story CLT apartment next year. So market is changing and the CLT is the answer to future construction market.
Nigel Catt: Wow, okay.
Nigel Catt: Yeah.
Nigel Catt: And that's what your factory will, if you get this factory, that's what your factory will be able to produce. Right, okay, okay. And then no doubt there'll be other uses for it outside of construction potentially as well. Wow, okay, well I can see why you're passionate about the business. And as you said, looking out for future trends and jumping onto them or getting ahead of the curve.
Jonathan Kwon: Yup, that's right. That's right. Yeah.
Jonathan Kwon: Yeah, that's Yeah.
Jonathan Kwon: I hope so. Yeah, that's why I'm actually talking to a couple of investors who are interested in setting a factory with me. And then I hope, you know, there are some people who are interested in investing business into Korean market. But actually, it's not only for Korea.
Nigel Catt: You...
Nigel Catt: Okay.
Jonathan Kwon: All the modular homes and the prefabricated homes companies are doing global business. Let's say I have so many inquiries from the states and then they are from New York and they are from California and the construction cost is nearly doubled compared to Korea and that they want to build houses in the cheaper prices in the better quality right and then
Nigel Catt: Thanks.
Nigel Catt: All right, yep, yep.
Jonathan Kwon: Australia can be good market, New Zealand can be good market, Canada and USA Even in Japan Japan CLT price is nearly triple compared to The CLT prices I import from other European countries, so I'm also thinking about Using this price gap I can build houses in Japan By importing CLT if I have factory in Korea
Jonathan Kwon: I can export CLT to Japan and then build houses in there. It's much much competitive prices.
Nigel Catt: So, where, if I had to ask, where would the business be in five years time? Where do you think you will be at? What will you be doing? Well, you've had five years of preparing, then five years of operation at the moment, so five years in the future.
Jonathan Kwon: Hmm?
Jonathan Kwon: Five years.
Jonathan Kwon: Five years later, I see myself standing in sight building 15-story CLT apartments, for sure. And then...
Nigel Catt: Mm-hmm.
Jonathan Kwon: Korean people will admit that Jonathan is the pioneer in the CLT construction market for sure because on the internet it's everywhere. All the CLT information is provided by me in YouTube, Instagram, so people should know that. I think yeah, people will say that, okay, this guy.
Jonathan Kwon: Lead the market and then he did everything for CLT construction to change the construction market in Korea.
Nigel Catt: Well that's great and I wish you all the success in that Jonathan and we'll stay in contact and see how progress is going and would love to have you on the show again.
Jonathan Kwon: Thank you.
Jonathan Kwon: Thank you. Thank you for your time.
Nigel Catt: No problems at all and what we'll do Jonathan is in the outro here we'll put your contact details there as well as that YouTube video so if people are interested they can get in contact and learn more.
Jonathan Kwon: Sure. No problem at all. Thank you very much.
Nigel Catt: No problems and Jonathan, it's been an absolute pleasure to have you on the show today. So that's it for today's episode of the Priority Lane Make sure you tune in next week for a brand new edition. Thank you