By Ong Bi Hui

WHILE a cup of Ribena might have been more appropriate at the age of seven, Mr Clinton Ang had other ideas and downed, with great gusto, a full glass of red wine.

The result was not unexpected.

'I fell asleep on the table immediately,' he recalled.

He hastened to point out that glasses of wine were not part of his childhood diet.

'I remember my father teaching my two older brothers about wine-tasting, and being the attention-seeker I was, I took a glass and emptied it,' he said.

Apart from a mild hangover, that early glass did have one major effect: It put Mr Ang, 35, on the road to becoming a leader in Singapore's wine market.

His passion and business skills have taken him to the helm of Hock Tong Bee, one of Singapore's largest independent wine and spirits companies and a firm that has been in his family for three generations.

While his love of wine was sparked at an early - perhaps too early - age, his interest in the business side of things was piqued at a later stage as a student at Arizona State University. He was majoring in psychology and computer information systems there.

He started making and selling homemade wine with his room-mate, whose father ran the Whitehall Lane winery in California's Napa Valley.

By the time he came back to Singapore, he knew he wanted to be in the wine game. With his father's blessings, he began learning about running the family firm, which was then mainly a wholesaler.

'I joined in 1997 as a sales executive and trained under my aunt, who was very strict with me,' said Mr Ang.

'I almost wanted to quit while working for her - three times!'

The family had a proud legacy that they were determined to protect, given that the firm has been in operation since 1938, when Mr Ang's grandfather set it up.

But it also meant conflict over how things should be done in a different era.

'There is a saying that the first generation starts the business, the second generation grows it and the third, milks it,' said Mr Ang.

So as someone coming from the third generation, Mr Ang found that he faced opposition whenever he wanted to put in more investment to expand the company. 'I noticed that though the company was financially strong, business was dwindling. Turnover was falling as we were losing business to multinationals,' he said.

The go-getter's ideas were not exactly well received but he set about putting them into practice.

One was to introduce the Cornerstone concept, an idea met with much opposition by board members in 1997.

'My dad had to override the directors' objections and approve the idea,' said Mr Ang.

Initially Cornerstone was just a wine bar but the brand has expanded to include other food and beverage outlets, wine distribution and warehousing.

Cornerstone and its various subsidiaries now contribute to 40 per cent of Hock Tong Bee's business.

The group also owns Twelve Degrees, a storage facility for wine investors to keep their priciest wine, and Vino+, a wine accessories line.

Mr Ang took over the reins as managing director from his father in 2003 and set about implementing further changes.

A key problem - common in such venerable firms - was the old-fashioned way of running the operations, with little accountability.

Mr Ang set about shaking up the structure. When he joined in 1997, about half the employees were family members. Today, only he and his brother Norman are related to the founder.

Growth in the past 10 years has been impressive. Apart from staff numbers increasing from 35 in 1997 to 100 now, revenue and profit have both expanded 300 per cent.

Turnover in Singapore is around $20 million, with profits of $2.5 million.

The firm also has a strong regional presence with sales in markets like China, Thailand and Malaysia in excess of $25 million last year, with 'net profits accounting for at least 10 per cent of that', said Mr Ang.

He is also thinking about the future with a plan called Vision 2013.

It includes implementing more transparency and accountability, staff training, opening new Cornerstone subsidiaries and expanding into more parts of Asia and possibly even Europe.

'The company might even consider listing on the Singapore Exchange's mainboard,' said Mr Ang.

Being quick on your feet is essential in such a fast-changing industry.

Drinkers around the world are now toasting Chilean and Argentinian wines, with the Australian vintages that have dominated since the 1990s declining in popularity due to the strong Aussie dollar.

Mr Ang also pointed out that increasing numbers of women are developing a refined taste for wine.

'Women actually have better palates than men as they develop more sensitivity to smells and tastes, having been exposed more to perfumes,' he said.

But amid the changes, some things at Hock Tong Bee, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, stay the same.

'We offer one-stop solutions to all types of customers except karaoke clubs and nightclubs,' he said. 'As a Christian-owned and led company, we'd rather lose business than compromise our beliefs.'

And while the business has been in the family for seven decades, he is not adamant that the next boss has to be an Ang.

'If my nieces or nephews are interested, I am more than glad to help them, but they have to go through the same screening process as all employees - interviews included.'

He is already looking for a management team to replace him by 2013, when the self-confessed golf fanatic hopes to semi-retire.

He knows better than most the importance of knowing when to walk away from the business.

'I wish I had persuaded my father to retire early, for the day he was set to retire he was diagnosed with cancer,' said Mr Ang.

'My message to entrepreneurs of family-run businesses is that they must be willing to believe in their family members and let go,' he adds.

'My father was too late in letting go of the business.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Jun 18, 2008

Is this article useful to you?