By Grace Ng, China Correspondent

Mr Charles Wong, who heads the popular Charles & Keith shoe empire, has made Shanghai his new home to better launch the company's major expansion in China.

The plan is to roll out some 100 stores across China over the next five years. Five stores are scheduled to open in the first part of next year in Shanghai in time for the World Expo.

Mr Wong and his brother Keith took 13 years to set up about 200 stores in more than 23 countries, including about 30 in Singapore. But when it comes to the world's third-largest economy, Mr Wong is confident of hitting the 100 mark in five years.

In the few years before the global financial crisis, the conditions were not right.

'Rents were high...pricing was not very good. But now is the right time

to start - and move quickly,' he told The Straits Times yesterday on the sidelines of the annual Singapore-Shanghai Business Forum.

Mr Wong started selling shoes when he worked at his mother's small footwear shop in Ang Mo Kio during his national service days. He started his own brand with his brother because he wanted to cut out middlemen, who forced up prices.

In the three months since he moved to Shanghai, things have indeed been moving rapidly - thanks partly to the Singapore business connections on which Charles & Keith has leveraged.

These include Capitaland's Raffles City Shanghai, where the first Charles & Keith will be located, and Singaporean agents and banks such as DBS, which have also provided support.

'There are benefits from working together with other Singapore companies in China...they understand our needs,' said Mr Wong.

Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Manpower, urged Singapore companies to capitalise on the advantages of banding together to do business in China. He was the keynote speaker at the forum yesterday.

By collaborating and cooperating with each other - or 'hunting in a pack', as Mr Lee called it - Singapore businesses can take on much larger and complex projects in markets like China, he said.

'If we disadvantage ourselves by not working together, and are contented with doing small parts of a larger project, many other firms will overtake us,' he told the audience of more than 100 businessmen and professionals in Shanghai.

Currently, Singapore companies market themselves based on their track records in doing projects within the island, but over time, other cities will become larger and more sophisticated as they build up their infrastructure.

'It is therefore not an option for our firms to remain small,' Mr Lee said.

He also urged Singapore companies to hire more international talent.

'Think like a small MNC. Evolve a culture that is based on meritocracy, that regardless of nationalities, employees of the company can rise to the top based on their merits.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.