A TRADITIONAL steel supplier might focus on a wide product range, technical competence and maybe even a bit of the hard-sell – but Mlion Corporation’s success is also built on a softer touch.
Having staked its reputation on hard skills to take on tough jobs, the company has also put in effort on the “soft” side of things: educating clients and the authorities, understanding cultural differences and launching a digital marketplace.
This has helped it find success abroad. The company received the E50 Internationalisation Award this year for the second time, having first won this accolade in 2021.
Forged with regional intent
Mlion supplies steel products, particularly for waterfront and underground construction. What sets it apart, said chairman and chief executive Eric Leong, are its methods of innovation and tailored solutions, in contrast to the off-the-shelf offerings of its competitors.
Headquartered in Singapore, the company was founded in 2011 – by Leong and chief operating officer Sean Cheong. They had international ambitions from the start, eyeing the potential scale of the South-east Asian market.
Historically, overseas markets have contributed the bulk of the company’s revenue, about 80 per cent to 90 per cent. And its international efforts have only grown.
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In 2021, the company’s revenue hit US$100 million for the first time. Since then, it has continued its overseas expansion by setting up or expanding operations abroad, resulting in improved market share and sales.
The company now has offices in eight markets – the others being mainland China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan and Timor-Leste; it also has partner factories in China, Japan, South Korea, Europe and the Philippines.
It has become the largest sheet-pile distributor in South-east Asia by volume, with a 30 per cent market share. Its flagship MHZ sheet-pile is the fastest growing product of its type around the world.
Mlion has forecast that for 2023, it is on track to nearly double its revenue to US$197.1 million from US$106.4 million in 2022, and its gross profit to US$10.7 million from US$5 million.
The soft side to selling steel
Behind the impressive sales figures for a hard product lies an investment in time and effort to pay heed to the soft side of things, including building up trust and a reliable reputation.
Leong said: “Every country is different. You really have to spend time within the market, build a team there to foster the understanding of local context and requirements. Setting up a local office is very important for this.”
He cited the example of its most successful steel-pile product. “MHZ is a product that has taken off well, but we spent a lot of time educating the authorities and clients in the region about it,” he said.
When MHZ was introduced in 2017, Mlion conducted around 130 seminars in the Philippines alone – and still runs such programmes even now.
“We did this in every region and every district, teaching (participants) how to design projects, introducing them to software and basically improving the level of engineering all around. Products like (MHZ piles) make the difference, but education helps elevate the product,” said Leong.
Mlion’s customer-centred approach has also entailed being willing to stick it out with clients to help them solve their problems. With a windfarm project in the Philippines that was 150 km away from the nearest major port, for example, Mlion stepped in to ensure smooth transportation of its steel materials to the work site.
That approach, said Leong, is what has helped the company differentiate itself from its competitors and establish a leading reputation – and position – in its industry.
To boldly go ...
Leong expects Mlion’s international potential to be further bolstered by two innovations launched this August: GoListId, a digital platform for buyers and sellers of pre-owned construction steel, and a steel-material tagging system, GoTagId.
GoListId has already moved some 7,000 tonnes of steel and is expected to move 40,000 tonnes by next year, said Leong. He envisions it as a platform to connect buyers and sellers of used steel materials both domestically and internationally.
Within two years, GoListId is expected to provide 30 per cent to 35 per cent of overall group revenue.
Not only do pre-owned materials cost less, they translate to environmental, social and governance benefits. Leong said reusing steel saves around 1.8 times the material’s mass in carbon dioxide emissions. In other words, facilitating the reuse of 7,000 tonnes of steel represents a saving of 12,600 tonnes of carbon emissions.
GoTagId, which uses RFID tagging, complements GoListId and encourages the reuse of steel by showing the provenance of the materials long after they are first sold. This addresses traceability issues for recycled steel, which is important as more developers prioritise sustainability assessments and reporting, said Leong.
Back in the physical world, Mlion’s most immediate next step is to venture even further from home. In September, it made the move to set up an office in Saudi Arabia. This will open by early 2024 to serve the Middle East.
Leong said the company’s foray into that region was helped by Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG), after Mlion joined EnterpriseSG’s Scale-Up programme in February.
He said his team had not put the Middle East in the company’s sights as a potential market, but they changed their minds after a visit with EnterpriseSG to Saudi Arabia, where they were “quite shocked” by the scale of construction and potential demand for what Mlion could offer.
Leong acknowledged the challenges in what is new territory for the company; already, he has been asked whether the move is a good one, given the ongoing conflict in the region.
But where there is demand, Mlion will follow, he said: “We have to see wherever the projects are, and we have to move in that direction.”
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