Hyflux's Olivia Lum is E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year

[BCR101]

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Business Times - 03 Dec 2010


Hyflux's Olivia Lum is E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year

Awards' first female winner to represent S'pore at world event in Monaco

By FELDA CHAY

HER story is one that would captivate any audience - a child who grows up constantly worrying about putting food on the table, starts and builds up a billion-dollar company.

Olivia Lum, chief executive of Hyflux Ltd, was yesterday named the overall winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year (EOY) 2010 Singapore awards - the first female winner in the awards' nine-year history.

Chairman of the awards' judging panel and CEO of Venture Corporation Ltd Wong Ngit Liong said of Ms Lum: 'Under Olivia's stewardship, Hyflux has transformed from a fledgling water treatment company, to a market leader in integrated water solutions that distinguishes itself as one of the top desalination plant suppliers globally.

'We applaud Olivia for her courage and perseverance in taking the entrepreneurial path, and her acute business acumen in taking Hyflux from strength to strength.'

Set up as a three-man operation in 1989, Hyflux is today a 2,000-strong firm with a market capitalisation of about $1.8 billion.

Ms Lum, 49, is also the winner of the EOY award for Environmental Solutions.

Said Ms Lum of her win: 'I always tell my staff at Hyflux to 'dream big, work hard, and persevere'. These are the qualities that define an entrepreneur, and these same traits will build an entrepreneurial company.'

She will represent Singapore at the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur Of The Year (WEOY) to be held in Monte Carlo, Monaco next year, where more than 50 other country winners will compete for the coveted world title.

Two other awards were given out at the ceremony. One is the EOY award for financial services, which was won by reinsurance firm ACR Capital Holdings chief executive John Tan.

Said Mr Tan: 'ACR looks forward to more opportunities within our local educational and training curriculum to encourage a more pervasive entrepreneurial culture that will have students and trainees build on and pursue their passions.'

The EOY award for healthcare services was given to Ng Chin Siau, CEO of Q&M Dental Group.

Said Dr Ng: 'I am a people person and fortunate enough to have the support of my family, 18 principal shareholders, my team of dentists, admin staff and of course the angels of Q & M - our clinic staff.'

He advised budding entrepreneurs to 'dare to dream and take calculated risks'.

'An entrepreneur must see what other people cannot see and grab the opportunities immediately. The sky is the limit.'

Mr Wong said that the award winners, which were chosen from a pool of over 50 nominations, distinguished themselves with a strong display of entrepreneurial spirit. They also won with their use of new and innovative approaches to doing business.

Said Steven Phan, country managing partner, of Ernst & Young: 'Entrepreneurs, in bringing fresh ideas and creating jobs, are vital growth engines that energise economies and improve quality of lives . . . through this awards programme, we hope to contribute towards building a stronger entrepreneurial culture in Singapore.'



Copyright © 2010 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved.




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[tonychat]

The award goes to anyone who does things that is in line with the PAP's policies.

Creative's SIM didn't get anything? I remember Sim loves to bash PAP...

 

[singveld]

treachous bbc have a story about singapore !

Watch retailer Jannie Tay on creating a sense of luxury in Singapore
Jannie Tay is co-founder of The Hour Glass, a luxury watch retailer that has been trading in Asia since 1979.

Over the last 20 years, Asia's luxury goods market has gone from strength to strength. One company that has prospered during the boom is The Hour Glass, a watch retailer with branches across Asia and Australia.

The firm was founded in Singapore by Jannie Tay and her husband. Mrs Tay had gained experience in watch retailing from working in her husband's family business.

She recalls that she "learnt everything from scratch…. I learned from the sales people mainly and that was great because I learned how they do the book-keeping, I learned how they order stocks." Her sales colleagues also taught her about the importance of customer service.

But the family business she was working for catered mostly for the domestic market. Mrs Tay had studied at university in Australia. She felt her experience of Western consumerism gave her the ability to exploit a different niche.

She says, "I'd experienced modern shopping, I'd experienced shopping malls, I'd experienced the boutiques that were different and the service that was different."

Mrs Tay decided to go in to the market for high-end watches and in 1979 she launched The Hour Glass. She says that "we actually conceptualised at that time what was a showroom retail space, and asked our partners to set up a Cartier boutique around us, which was the first Cartier boutique in the region."

She believes that image was vital in attracting the customers she wanted. "We set up a 1,200 sq feet shop which was unknown at that time… We were so plush, and so highly sophisticated."

The approach seemed to work: royalty and other 'high net-worth individuals' came to the shop. But Mrs Tay admits that not all felt welcome. "My friends said 'Jannie, I wouldn't dare step in' so that was a bit of a difference. But we were in the tourist belt so we catered for a very specific niche."

Continue reading the main story “Start QuoteThey still feel that as a mother, I should be still at home, be very subservient.”

End Quote Jannie Tay Co-founder, The Hour Glass
Competition

Mrs Tay says that at first it was hard to compete with other stores selling top-of-the-range watches, many of which had exclusive deals with leading brands.

"We had to contend with the politics of the distribution to retailers" she recalls.

A breakthrough came when she met the watch designer Gerald Genta. His help proved invaluable.

"I was very excited and passionate about his designs…and then later on because of his talent as a manufacturer, his talent as a designer, we were then able to customise watches...that made The Hour Glass a different company."

Changing attitudes

Jannie Tay rejects the suggestion that luxury watches are no more than pieces of expensive jewellery. But she accepts it takes time to change attitudes and perceptions.

"In the 1970's, when we first started … everyone was so proud of the fact that I've got this watch for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, so how do we change that concept. How do we educate them that it's beyond a timepiece? That it is an investment, it is a piece of jewellery, it is an accessory, it is fashion, and it is also something that you can hand over, an heirloom piece."

In 1979, the Glass House's luxurious 1,200 sq feet shop was unlike anything else in Singapore
One approach the company has taken is to organise watch fairs. Mrs Tay wants her customers to have the chance to see the processes involved in watch making and speak to the different manufacturers.

She says "We do not want to… get our customers just to buy because we spend a lot of money on advertising. What we actually want them to be is knowledgeable, to understand what they are investing in."

Women in business

Jannie Tay says being a businesswoman in Asia is sometimes difficult. At the beginning of The Hour Glass she was the only female board member.

She frequently encountered "male chauvinist" attitudes. After dinners with business partners she'd be urged to leave, so that the men could talk in private.

Today she says there can still be a feeling that women should stay at home and be "submissive housewives".

People sometimes ask "why aren't you a normal mother, why aren't you a normal person…they still feel that as a mother, I should be still at home, be very subservient…to my husband and still look after him, put his needs first and my children's needs first".

But Mrs Tay also sees signs that things are starting to change. Male, as well as female employees, now ask for emergency time off to look after sick children. Both parents now "want to share in the upbringing of the child, they want to be there for their education."

Mrs Tay says a more open, flexible society is coming to Singapore: " the younger people can now do what they want, they can live where they want, they can have the lifestyle they want, I think it is a lot more open than it used to be".

 

[johnny333]

Re: treachous bbc have a story about singapore !

"In the 1970's, when we first started … everyone was so proud of the fact that I've got this watch for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, so how do we change that concept. How do we educate them that it's beyond a timepiece? That it is an investment, it is a piece of jewellery, it is an accessory, it is fashion, and it is also something that you can hand over, an heirloom piece."

Still have a Seiko that's over 25+ years old. It only cost me under $200 & the reason I don't use it is because my handphone doubles up as a watch.

People who buy watches as investments are unlikely to use them on a daily basis.