Honouring Top Entrepreneurs

FF Fashion

Wed, Oct 22, 2008
The Straits Times

By Narendra Aggarwal


AS THE first award to promote entrepreneurship in Singapore, the Entrepreneur of the Year Award (EYA), organised by the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (Asme) and the Rotary Club of Singapore, has in its 20 years of existence helped to discover hidden diamonds in the local business community.

At the 20th anniversary of the EYA award, the ceremony tonight at The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore is being celebrated as a big event, says Mr Kurt Wee, vice-president of awards and projects, Asme, and the co-chairman of the award organising committee.

As in previous years, Asme received about 50 nominations for the EYA this year. After the initial screening, the list of contenders for the coveted award was narrowed down to 17 top entrepreneurs, who were then subjected to a detailed screening and interviews for the selection of the overall winner. Besides the EYA winner, there are four sub-category awards: EYA for Enterprise, EYA for eCommerce, EYA for Innovation and EYA for Social Contribution.

The winner and sub-category award winners will be announced tonight at the award gala dinner.

The candidates undergo a rigorous and stringent judging process, which involves interviews, site visits and careful evaluation before they are selected by a distinguished panel of judges, says Asme. The award criteria is finetuned every year to keep it relevant to the changing business environment.

'This year's candidates have better financial performance than prior years' candidates,' says Mr Wee.

'The submissions that were received this year were of exceptional quality, and many of them surpassed our expectations. They had to go through a very stringent judging process, and the committee had a difficult time selecting those whom they felt best met the criteria of the award.'

Asme's 5,000 active members had been enjoying good growth for 18 months till the end of the first quarter of the year.

They recorded 50 per cent to 100 per cent growth, enjoying the fruits of the economic recovery before the current slowdown started, he adds.

An interesting development this year is that five of the 17 finalists are under 50 years of age.

Among them is Mr Charles Wong, 34, managing director of home-grown shoemaker Charles & Keith International, which has a chain of over 130 stores in 20 countries and is growing rapidly. His company's sales will top $100 million this year.

As Singapore's oldest award for entrepreneurship, the EYA is an established and prestigious business accolade.

The award is conferred on local entrepreneurs who have demonstrated excellence and drive in their field of business, while making social contribution a significant part of their business philosophy.

'This year's top entrepreneurs are all-rounders who prize being their own bosses. Through good and bad times, they have remained resilient, and even stayed true to the entrepreneurs' call to give back to society,' says Mr Wee.

He notes that the average profitability of this year's candidates is much higher than before, as a result of good economic growth. Many more home-grown entrepreneurial companies are not only going regional and spreading their wings in Asia but also finding markets in the Middle East and Europe.

FF Fashion

Sat, Oct 25, 2008
The Straits Times

By Elizabeth Wilmot


CHARLES Wong started selling shoes when he worked at his mother's small footwear shop in Ang Mo Kio during his national service days.

That was the first small step in a dazzling career in footwear for Mr Wong, 34, one of two brothers behind the hugely successful firm Charles & Keith International, which now has 150 stores and a foothold in 20 countries worldwide.

Last night, Mr Wong was declared Entrepreneur Of The Year at a glitzy awards ceremony held at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia Hotel. The awards are organised by the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and Rotary Club of Singapore.

Mr Wong is the public face of Charles & Keith. His low-profile brother Keith, 32, who designs the shoes, is out of town. 'It is not good to be over-exposed. One of us is okay, but not two of us. But we look very alike, so it makes no difference,' he said with a laugh.

When asked what prompted him to start his own brand, Mr Wong said he wanted to cut out the middlemen who forced up prices.

'Some of the designs that my customers gave me feedback on took a long time to get produced or never got produced. So I felt that in order for me to shorten the whole design and product cycle and also to bring down the price, the only way was to create my own brand.'

An astute move indeed, as the business has grown by leaps and bounds. Last year, sales reached a record $76 million.

Mr Wong was thrilled at the award: 'I'm really happy because my team put in a lot of hard work. It is a great encouragement to all my colleagues.'

But it has been a tough trek. 'Being very young and without experience, a lot of people did not have confidence in us.'

His personal life suffered too. His marriage of eight years failed due to work. 'I spent so much time on my business that I neglected my marriage,' said the divorcee, who attended the ceremony alone.

Now, he has learnt to delegate tasks - which gives him time for activities such as giving speeches to school children.

'I love to go to schools to give speeches to inspire those students. I myself did not have a good education; I finished only O levels. For students who did not do well, I show them that if I can do it, I don't see why they can't do it too.'

Mr Wong has ambitious plans. 'Our target is to have 500 stores in five years, and a minimum of 50 stores every year.'

Besides the overall champion, winners came from four sub-categories, all of whom were presented with trophies.

Mr Wong was overall top entrepreneur. He also clinched the Entrepreneur of the Year Award (EYA) for enterprise, along with Mr Ivan Lee, chief executive and founder of restaurant group ThaiExpress Concepts, and Mr David Loke, group managing director of Tru-Marine, a turbocharger servicing specialist.

EYA for e-commerce went to Mr Mohamed Ismail, chief executive officer of P & N Holdings, which owns property agency PropNex. EYA for innovation went to Ms Susan Chong, managing director of Greenpac, which provides solutions for environmentally friendly packaging.

Finally, EYA for social contribution went to Mr Patrick Liew, chief executive of HSR International Realtors.

Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean, the guest of honour, handed out the trophies.