‘I’m a hustler’: Singapore bridal industry icon Fatimah Mohsin on being a serial entrepreneur

Running a business is in Fatimah Mohsin’s blood. The Singaporean entrepreneur and bridal designer is the daughter of the legendary Encik Mohsin, who was affectionately known as ‘Raja Lelong’ (king of auctions). In the 1970s to the 1990s, Mohsin was a prominent figure in the Geylang Serai bazaar scene, known for his knack for offering great deals.

As a child, Fatimah would accompany her father to work, enthusiastically shouting out ‘Lelong! Lelong!’ alongside him. She vividly remembers the pair returning home with a whole bucket of money. “So back then, when I was younger, if people asked me what my ambitions were, I said I wanted to be a businesswoman,” she recalled.

An artist at heart, Fatimah always knew she wanted to work in the creative industry. “I loved cutting up my jeans, clothes, anything I didn’t like, and turning them into something new,” she shared. After secondary school, she turned down an engineering course at a local polytechnic in favour of studying fashion merchandising at LaSalle College of the Arts.

An internship at Puma soon followed, which eventually turned into a full-time role that deepened her love for fashion. At the time, back in the 1990s, Puma was also the national outfitter for the Singapore football team. “I got to work closely with Fandi Ahmad and all the other footballers,” Fatimah recalled.

But in 1998, in the midst of the Asian Financial Crisis, Fatimah was laid off after giving up her position for a colleague who needed to support a family. “Since I was still young and single, I knew I could find ways to support myself as a freelancer,” she reasoned.

Unsure of her next move, Fatimah eventually turned to makeup. “At that age, my friends and I loved going out to parties and I was always the creative one with some ‘nonsense’ makeup I picked up from a magazine,” she laughed. She enrolled in a course at CosmoProf Academy, which ended up completely changing the trajectory of her career.

AN ICON IN THE BRIDAL SCENE

As a freelance makeup artist, Fatimah soon made a name for herself in the Malay bridal scene. She stood out by doing things differently – eschewing the traditionally heavy, dramatic looks in favour of a more modern, subtle style for her brides and clients. That also meant that she got “scolded a lot”, she recounted with a laugh. “Mothers of the brides would come into the room to ask why I used such light-coloured lipstick or eye makeup, but I stood my ground.”

In a time before social media, Fatimah’s reputation grew purely through word of mouth and she soon became highly sought after, even among celebrities. “That was the start of the Fatimah Mohsin era. Everyone knew who I was, be it in the TV or bridal industry,” she said.

Eventually, Fatimah expanded the business to offer a full range of wedding services, including planning, venue decor and couture bridal outfits exclusively designed by her. She describes her designs as “timeless and classic”. “After being in the industry for so long, you learn that fashion is cyclical,” she quipped.

She named the business Fatimah Mohsin – The Wedding Gallery, at the encouragement of a friend, not expecting that her name would one day become iconic in the industry. In fact, she admitted with a chuckle, “I hated the name Fatimah. It is so old school, especially when you consider yourself to be a trendy fashionista.”

It has been 25 years since Fatimah first stepped into the bridal world. The business has also expanded into Perth, a market Fatimah sees as a stepping stone to greater international reach.

“We are known in the modest bridalwear scene in Singapore, but I feel that we don’t have to limit ourselves to our home market,” she said, noting a growing global demand for modest, quality bridalwear. “One of my first few steps is to enter Perth’s modest market before trying to tap into other countries moving forward.”

FROM BRIDAL TO HOME DECOR AND F&B

Beyond bridal and weddings, Fatimah has a wide range of passions – which she has turned into business ventures. “The wedding industry has its ups and downs,” she shared. “Like anyone working in the same field for over 10 years, it can start to feel a bit mundane. I didn’t want a complete career switch, so instead, I looked for other things that brought me joy.”

As a designer, Fatimah often travelled to source materials for her work. During these trips, she would come across beautiful home decor pieces which she began collecting for her own home. After sharing them on social media, her followers started asking where she got them from, sparking inspiration for a new venture. In 2016, Fatimah started her home decor business, Prop Up Store. What was meant to be just a side hustle for the annual Ramadan Bazaar turned into a thriving brand with an online store.

The business ended up keeping Fatimah and her team afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when the bridal industry faced major disruptions with weddings postponed or cancelled. Not one to stay still, she also opened a hair salon with her sister during this time, as hair services were considered essential and were permitted to operate.

An opportunity to step into F&B later came up, and Fatimah opened her first restaurant, 555 Halal Thai, in 2020. “I’m a hustler and I felt that it was a good opportunity at that time,” Fatimah said. Situated within the Gallop Kranji Farm Resort, 555 Halal Thai exuded countryside vibes and was meant to offer Singaporeans a unique dining destination at a time when overseas travel was off the table. The restaurant closed in early 2023 due to “a crazy increase in rental”.

Fatimah also started her own ready-to-wear line selling modest dresses, abayas and scarves. More recently, she embarked on her second F&B venture together with a few partners with the opening of halal Chinese restaurant Loong Dim Sum in Boat Quay.

“In Singapore, you can count the number of halal dim sum restaurants on one hand – there are fewer than five – and people even travel to Malaysia [to get their fix]. So we thought, why not open one here? This is our first stepping stone toward offering quality halal Chinese cuisine. We have bigger plans,” teased Fatimah.

The three-storey establishment also has an event space which can be used for hosting intimate weddings. Reflecting on her decision to diversify her businesses, Fatimah credits a key lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic: “You can’t put all your eggs in one basket. But if you group them together, it’s harder to break,” she quipped.

NEXT STOP: MALAYSIA

After more than two decades of building her businesses in Singapore, Fatimah recently announced a major move to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where she hopes to expand both her wedding and home decor companies. The relocation has been a long time coming – she first toyed with it more than a decade ago, but felt it wasn’t the right time to uproot her two young daughters. 

While Fatimah currently travels between Singapore and KL, she hopes to spend more time in KL soon, having already built a strong team in Singapore. But growth in her home country has plateaued, she admitted. 

“The wedding industry in Singapore, to be honest, has become quite stagnant. It is no longer like how it was before, where customers were more creative and wanted to host their weddings at interesting places. We are limited in space in Singapore, with too many templated wedding venues,” Fatimah shared.

As someone with an entrepreneurial spirit, she finds energy in change. “I always love exploring new ideas. It gives me a push when something new is happening.”

Just as how she has made Fatimah Mohsin a household name in Singapore, she hopes to do the same in Malaysia, though she is under no illusion that it will be an easy journey. In fact, she’s ready to start from scratch and one of her first few gigs in KL is a makeup booking for a school prom.

“I am turning 50 soon and it has always been a dream of mine to move to Malaysia, so I told myself, if I don’t do it now, then when?” Fatimah reflected. “I believe that when we put our heart and soul into something, God-willing, we can succeed.”

WHAT MAKES A GOOD ENTREPRENEUR

Throughout this interview, Fatimah was candid about the realities of running several businesses. Moving forward, she hopes to do more mentorship to share her experiences and guide other aspiring entrepreneurs.

When asked about the qualities that make a good entrepreneur, “everyone talks about patience, resilience and grit, because life is not a bed of roses,” she answered.

In the early days of starting a business, one may have “beginner’s luck”, added Fatimah, but that luck fades away once the real work begins. “Now we see a lot of new businesses sprouting up. To start something is really easy, but to maintain, sustain and grow it is the hard part.”

Through all the highs and lows, Fatimah is proud of what she and her team have built. “We’ve weathered many storms. We’ve been the best of the best. We have faced competition, but we continue to push forward, because we always want to be the innovators in whatever we do.”