Hin Hin Management and Holdings

A ONE-MAN business which started out as a bicycle shop tucked away in a corner of Race Course Road has today grown into a conglomerate worth US$10.3 million  (S$14.89 million) specialising in asphalt, bitumen - the black tarlike material used to pave roads - and lubricants.

Mr Lim Chwee Seng, who was just 18 when he started the Hin Hin bicycle shop in 1970 with nothing more than primary school qualifications, decided to go into the distribution of petroleum lubricant products in his mid-20s.

"In the process of talking and chatting with my friends, I felt that the future for petrochemicals was bright, as compared to selling bicycles," says Mr Lim, 55, now the managing director of Hin Hin Management and Holdings, speaking in Mandarin.

From distributing and trading in petroleum lubricant products, the company took another giant step in 1992 when it developed special Bulk Liquid Containers to transport bitumen.

"The cost effectiveness of this method revolutionised the then prevalent method of transporting bitumen using drums and popularised bulk transportation of asphalt in the region," says Mr Lim.

Today, the company has dealings in China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and the Philippines. It manufactures, exports and transports its Cosmic brand of products. It also obtained an ISO 9002 quality certification in 1999.

"The most important quality of a high-performance business is a strong management team led by an enterprising leader," says Mr Lim. "The leader has to be a visionary, a thinker and a strategist. We lead a culture of innovation. We always stay ahead of the market, anticipate market changes and take proactive action."

Mr Lim takes pride in the fact that Hin Hin does not take a one-size-fits-all approach, but customises its products and deliveries depending on which country or area it is meant for. "We focus on the products and markets we know well, and develop well ahead of market changes," he says.

Bitumen meant for countries or areas with more developed infrastructure, for instance, might be delivered in bulk on a truck, whereas bitumen for more rural areas where less volume is required or where infrastructure is not very developed, would be delivered in smaller packaging.

Mr Lim says regional expansion - at a comfortable pace - was a strategy which worked for the company. "We grow within our means. For example, we expand and grow very cautiously, step by step," he explains. "We established our domestic market before venturing into neighbouring countries progressively."

He also attributes the growth of his company to its more than 100 employees, of whom 40 are based in Singapore. Hin Hin now has a fleet of oil and bitumen tankers and trucks, called bitumen  liquid containers, as well as research and development centres in Singapore and Batam.

"We want the staff to come and work not just for the money, although that is, of course, important. We want them to have heart, to feel for the company," says Mr Lim. Just recently, the Singapore employees were given a chance to go to Malacca for a two-day get-together.

On how he has managed the company in the last three decades, he says: "There is no secret, really. It is simply leading, cultivating and managing an organisation with passion, sincerity and dedication for innovation and excellence, and of course, it takes lots of hard work, besides working smart."

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