My name is Matthew Poh. I was a businessman with the world at my feet. My life was at its peak--my interior design business was booming and generating millions. I had everything within my control. However, one thing that I’ve learnt is that life is always unpredictable. One moment I was at the top of my life, the next moment I hit rock bottom like I was being pushed off a cliff.
It all began in 1994 on my 23rd birthday. My then-girlfriend handed me an ecstasy pill and I enjoyed the high that the pill brought me. It felt as though the entire celebration was enhanced by the high it gave me; all my worries and cares just seemed to dissipate. Little did I know that in future, this one little pill would cost me almost everything I had.
I was already hooked to the pill after my first try, consuming ecstasy soon became a routine for my night life. To make things worse, I was shortly also introduced to weed. My lifestyle started deteriorating from then due to my drug addiction. I was able to cope initially--my interior designing business had started to take off, and I had used work as a distraction by focussing on the deadlines instead of the urge to pop a pill. I was in control.
My world had fallen apart in 2013; my mother passed away and in the same year, my girlfriend who became my wife left me for another. I had believed I was strong enough to recuperate from everything that was taken away from me, but I was not; life had sucker-punched me in the face and kneed me in the gut. I was mentally broken and could not think straight. When my “friends” came over to provide support, they brought along ICE (Crystal Methamphetamine), and told me it would help with my problems. I had chosen the easy way out and my drug addiction kicked right in. Once again, I returned to the familiar toxic slump.
Time went by and my situation with drug addiction worsened. I ditched all my responsibilities at work and before long, my business was charged with multiple lawsuits as I was unable to complete my contractual obligations on time. My company then filed for bankruptcy and had to be shut down. With the new problems of unemployment and not having enough money to fuel my drug habit, I turned to dealing drugs.
In the following two years, I was dealing drugs with four other people. All seemed to be going well for me until one day, I had an altercation with my “business partners” and they kicked me from the group. The syndicate was apprehended months after I was ousted; three of the four were sentenced to 12-17 years of imprisonment, and the fourth received a death sentence. I reflected upon the consequences if I were to be arrested too. The news of their sentences served as a wakeup call to me and that was when I resolved to turn myself in. I was later sentenced to eight months in prison and four months in a halfway house.
During my time in prison, I returned to my religious roots and came clean with myself. I also reached out to the inmates around me in hope to motivate them to change for the better. Regrettably, some whom I had encouraged to better themselves after their release were back in prison within a week. As sad as that seemed, it wasn’t surprising as I was aware of how the society viewed and judged ex-convicts. The odds was surely not good.
With that, I was determined to take a stand and came up with a business idea. This was the inception of The Caffeine Experience (TCE). As I waited for my release, I worked hard on a business proposal and presented the idea to my supervising officer, Hilary Lo. Hilary had declined the proposal initially; I was fine with it as he had all rights to be sceptical about my business plan. Surprisingly, after my release, Hillary had resigned from his position and made contact—he agreed to join me as a business partner.
From then on, Hillary and I got to work on building our social enterprise, we needed provide all ex-convicts the second chance they needed. We had a mission for TCE: Our social enterprise would shine like a beacon of hope for all ex-convicts, as we would do our best to offer them jobs, the needed skillsets to earn a stable income, and the necessary long-term integration as good citizens to make meaningful contributions to the society.
We envisioned an inclusive society where ex-convicts will not be defined by their past mistakes. Everyone is equally valid regardless of their station in life.
This was 9 years ago.
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