Ms Annie Gan - Jian Huang Construction

IT TOOK Ms Annie Gan a leap of faith to strike out on her own when her business partner left the company in 1996.

She was 26 years old then and armed with only a diploma in computer studies. But she was trained as a quantity surveyor in her previous job at a construction company, and her fast learning skills put her on top of the game.

"It wasn't easy for a woman to enter and continue working in the male-dominated construction industry. I was totally in charge of site work, I managed the workers and went out to tender for projects," says the managing director of Jian Huang Construction.

The first project Jian Huang Construction successfully obtained and completed was the construction of the Traffic Police Headquarters basement at Ubi Road in 1997.

The company's core business then was also in labour sub-contracting.

Today, Jian Huang Construction's success is based on a strong foundation of good service, quality work, a reasonable budget, worksite safety and as a one-stop provider of design and build services.

"As an entrepreneur in the construction industry, it is important to deliver good and prompt service, coupled with sincerity to meet the clients' needs and a functional design plan that fits their requirements," says Ms Gan.

"We aim to be a one-stop provider where the client has to only liaise with our company and we will address their needs, which saves them the hassle of speaking to several parties, such as the sub-contractor, designer and architect, for each project."

The company also survived the construction industry meltdown by taking on projects such as the construction of a cut-and-cover tunnel for the North-East Line MRT and several other MRT-related projects, which enabled the company to survive through th ecrisis for three  years.

"I remember approaching one of the big construction companies handling the building of the new MRT stations and tendering for work through them.

"I never gave up, and on the sixth time that I approached them to propose a tender, they were surprised and impressed by my perseverance and decided to give Jian Huang our first MRT project," she says.

Ms Gan, 37, also foresaw the demand for refurbishing and rebuilding old warehouses in Singapore when the economy improved. She quickly jumped in and offered the design-and-build concept.

Today, the Jian Huang group of companies consists of 11 major entities and is a leading local company in designing and building warehouses for the industrial sector.

With 80 management staff and over 300 skilled workers, the Jian Huang group has also ventured into Malaysia and Vietnam.

The turnover for the group last year was $62 million with a net profit of $2.3 million.

Ms Gan says: "It hasn't been a smooth journey all these years, but we have done well through hard work, persistence and  creativity in offering our clients something different."

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