THIS year's Singapore Business Awards (SBA) winners very much mirror the success story that is Singapore: A tiny island with no natural resources but punching way above its weight in the global arena. That's just what the four business leaders have been doing, guiding their companies successfully into markets far from home against rather hefty odds.
Dorothy Seet, only the second woman to clinch an SBA award in its 23-year history, is a trailblazer in every sense of the word. Leaving her two young daughters and husband in Singapore, she went to Beijing in 1994 to help bolster the family business. Ms Seet is hardly the first mother to work abroad but it is still no common phenomenon. Her daughters are now grown up and Ms Seet has built Beijing Smart Garments (BSG) into one of the top textile producers in China, no mean feat considering the tens of thousands of such factories in the country.
Penetrating markets overseas requires not just smarts and hard work but grit, perseverance and foresight. There are no short cuts. Luck helps too.
This year's Businessman of the Year is Roland Ng of crane lessor Tat Hong. He says his company's growth and recognition are not a product of chance. In the late 1980s, Tat Hong was looking at venturing overseas. It had also begun to move away from excavators to cranes, which were more critical for the infrastructure and resources industries
"We started looking at new markets like China and Australia," Mr Ng relates. "After some careful evaluation, we decided that China was less predictable, and therefore, more risky at that time. But on the other hand we saw huge potential in the more mature and transparent Australian market." That move cushioned Tat Hong when the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis struck and many companies ran into trouble. Today, Tat Hong is the world's largest crane company.
For Chia Kim Piow, founder of the Rotary Group, success overseas helped him land big contracts in Singapore. Providing engineering services for the oil and gas industry, Rotary got its first break overseas in Thailand with a $40 million project from a multinational. Rotary went on to projects in other countries and in 2005 landed its biggest deal back home - the $535 million project to build the world's largest oil terminal for Universal Terminal on Jurong Island. Mr Chia's company won the Enterprise Award.
Winners all but these business leaders will tell you there is no time to rest on your laurels. Competitors constantly nip at your heels and economic cycles have a terrifying regularity. Singapore Airlines chief executive Chew Choon Seng, running arguably the world's most successful airline, knows there is no room for complacency. This year's Outstanding CEO warns: "If our people believe we have already arrived, then SIA's days in the forefront of the industry are numbered."
The Singapore Business Awards, organised by The Business Times and DHL, were judged by leaders in the fields of politics, business and academia. The awards acknowledge the contributions of Singapore companies and individuals to the business environment with the objective of enhancing the standard of corporate management both here and abroad. The awards were presented at a glittering ceremony and dinner last night at the Ritz Carlton, with Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports & Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Dr Vivian Balakrishnan as guest of honour.
Click on the links below to find out who are the trailblazers:
