Celebrating the best in business

THE leading lights of Singapore's corporate world were honoured at the 34th edition of the Singapore Business Awards at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia hotel on March 28.

At the black-tie event jointly organised by The Business Times and DHL, Lim Hock Chee, group chief executive of the Sheng Siong Group walked away with the Businessman of the Year award. He was recognised for his vision and business acumen, which has taken Sheng Siong from being the name behind modest, no-frills grocery outlets to being Singapore's third-largest supermarket chain - a listed one at that - with a strong emphasis on customer service.

He said in his acceptance speech: "This company does not have a boss, there are only staff. The customer is the real boss. That's why I have been reminding my colleagues not to be mistaken about who their boss is."

Samuel Tsien, group CEO of OCBC, was named Outstanding CEO of the Year for his leadership through the impressive growth of the OCBC Group in the regional and domestic markets, including its successful acquisition of Hong Kong's Wing Hang Bank, the expansion of its wealth management business, the digitalisation of its banking services and its emergence as a leader in SME banking.

Mr Tsien, in his acceptance speech, emphasised the importance of staying humble as a leader. He said: "In an increasingly complex and interlinked world, we must understand that no one can have adequate knowledge to lead and manage."

Jenny Lee of GGV Capital was awarded the Outstanding Overseas Executive Award for blazing a trail in driving GGV Capital's growth in China; she has eight IPOs and numerous mergers and acquisitions to her name in the last eight years, including some of China's biggest global success stories like YY, UCweb and Xiaomi. Ms Lee, the only female managing partner at GGV Capital, attributes her success to two factors - her independence and her sensitivity to the market. "At the end of the day, the success of a business is not gender-driven. The question is: do you have the right background and the right team?" she said.

Centurion Corporation Ltd snagged The Enterprise Award. The firm has successfully diversified into accommodation for workers and students, and is now one of Singapore's largest owner-managers with workers' accommodation assets in Singapore and Malaysia, and student accommodation assets in Singapore, Australia, South Korea, the UK and the US. Its CEO Kong Chee Min, accepting the award on behalf of the company, said: "There is still much room for growth, much more we can do to take our brands further on the global stage."

Minister for National Development and Second Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong was the guest of honour at the event.