By Chen Hui Fen

EVEN after 20-plus years in the marine fuel industry, Magdalene Tan, managing director of Victory Petroleum Trading, would rather have been a full-time homemaker and mother to her four children. The 56-year-old readily admits she is very much a homebody. For a businesswoman, she hardly socialises, dislikes playing golf and prefers gardening and tidying drawers to chairing meetings or talking up a sales deal.

'All the time, my heart is in the home,' she says. 'That's why I don't entertain much. I still think the place for a woman is the home. I don't like socialising. I'd rather spend time at home and pull out a drawer and pack it.'

Although not particularly enthusiastic, she obliged when duty called. After Victory Petroleum was set up by her husband Jimmy Chan in 1986, she was asked to step in when the company was short of staff.

She was the ideal candidate - and not only because she is family. Having helped out at her father's tugboat leasing business when she was younger, she understood the challenges faced by small vessel operators. Many of these craft are deployed on the southern, northern and western outskirts of the main island for various projects. To refuel, their only option was to travel back to shore berths, which were becoming increasingly congested.

'This convinced me of the value and viability of floating fuel kiosks, so I set my mind to capitalise on the opportunity to improve the business,' says Madam Tan.

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