Coco’s Spotlight - Kenneth Tan

"Home is what you make of it."

If you've spent enough time at Beyondto Co., chances are you've met Kenneth before you've officially met him. Not because he'll introduce himself first, but because he'll smile.

It's warm, genuine, and somehow familiar. The kind of smile that makes you feel like you've been here before, even if it's your first visit.

Ironically, Kenneth wasn't always this way.

"When I was younger, I never really smiled," he tells me. "My mum used to say, 'It doesn't cost you anything to smile at someone. It doesn't cost money, time or energy, but you can make someone feel welcomed.'"

It became one of those quiet lessons that never left him. Today, that simple habit has become part of who he is.

Spend an hour talking to Kenneth, and you quickly realise that almost every story eventually circles back to people.

The founder of SPARKD has lived in more cities than most people visit. His journey began in Penang before taking him to Indiana for university. Work brought him across Texas, Oklahoma, Dubai, Singapore and Houston, often moving every six months as part of a global rotational programme. Years later, after returning to Malaysia and another chapter in Singapore, he eventually found himself back home again. Each country left something behind.

Living overseas challenged his understanding of identity. Every culture came with different ways of working, communicating and living, forcing him to constantly ask himself what he truly believed in, what he was willing to embrace, and what he wanted to hold on to.

"Just because something is different doesn't mean it's wrong," he says. "Living in different places taught me to stay open."

The constant moving also shaped another part of him.

"When you're relocating every six months, every purchase becomes a question. Do I really need this? Is it worth carrying to the next place?"

It became less about owning more and more about living intentionally.

"I don't think I consume a lot anymore. What I need is enough." That philosophy feels surprisingly consistent throughout our conversation.

Nothing about Kenneth feels excessive. Even his decision to leave corporate life wasn't impulsive. He laughs when I ask whether there was a defining moment that pushed him to start SPARKD.

"There wasn't one big moment," he says. "It was many little whispers."

Long before SPARKD existed, he had already written in a university scholarship essay that one day he wanted to build his own company. But instead of leaving immediately, he made himself a promise. Before stepping away, he wanted to gain enough experience, earn a promotion, and learn what it meant to lead people well. Only after achieving those goals did he finally take the leap.

One conversation stayed with him.

"A colleague told me that the risk of failure is always there. But the cost of changing direction only gets higher as you get older."

That sentence gave him permission to begin.

Away from work, Kenneth's curiosity refuses to slow down. He and his wife Áine are constantly looking for something new to experience together. Sometimes it's discovering another neighbourhood café. Sometimes it's signing up for workshops. Pottery is currently next on the list.

Cooking has also become part of that curiosity. Ask him about food and suddenly the conversation speeds up.

Breakfast starts with kaya toast and coffee. Lunch is chilli pan mee. Dinner isn't at a restaurant at all.

"I'd rather cook."

He describes an entire three-course meal without missing a beat. Freshly baked dinner rolls, leek and potato soup prepared by Áine, roasted chicken or herb-crusted lamb, homemade desserts, cocktails, and inevitably, a late-night mamak session to end the day.

It's never just about the food. It's about gathering people around the table. Perhaps that's why Beyondto Co. feels like such a natural fit.

Kenneth originally came looking for a workspace for his growing team. What made him stay wasn't simply the design, although he still speaks fondly of its warmth and calmness. It was the people.

"Everyone here naturally puts effort into building community," he says. "We're all from different companies, but when there's lunch, conversations or gatherings, people genuinely want to make them meaningful."

His own mornings have settled into a quiet rhythm. Coffee outside. A few conversations if friends are around. A moment of stillness if they're not. Only then does the work begin.

For someone who spent years constantly moving, perhaps that ritual has become another version of home.

When I ask him whether home is a place or a feeling, he pauses.

"I think home is what you make of it."

He has felt at home in Penang, Houston and Singapore. Every city gave him something different. None replaced another.

"Home doesn't have to be forever," he says. "It can change."

Towards the end of our conversation, I ask what he's trying hardest to protect as he grows older. His answer comes almost immediately.

"My sense of curiosity."

He explains that the older we become, the easier it is to choose comfort over discovery. But comfort, while necessary, can quietly make life smaller.

"If we stop learning new things," he says, "life becomes a little boring." It feels like the thread that connects every chapter of his story.

The countries, career, business, workshops, cooking, community, even the smile. They're all different expressions of the same belief: stay curious, stay open, and wherever life takes you next, build a place that feels like home.

Before we wrap up, I ask one final question. If his life today had a book title, what would it be? He smiles again.

"Live Abundantly."

It's engraved inside his wedding ring. It's also how he chooses to live.