Spirit of Enterprise Awards: 43 Honorees

Congratulations to all! Read on to find a profile of all 43 honourees and links to their websites and interviews.

Mr. Moe Ibrahim of 3 Degrees Asset Management Pte Ltd
www.3degrees.com.sg
To Mr. Moe Ibrahim, becoming an entrepreneur wasn’t a conscious decision. With his personal expectations and goals always exceeding that of the institutions that he’s worked for, venturing out and chartering his own career was a natural progression. Prior to founding 3 Degrees, Mr. Ibrahim spent 7 years at Lazard Feres & Co. LLC, where he founded Lazard’s Asian distressed debt business and was a senior member of the Lazard Debt Recovery Fund, a global distressed debt fund.

The firm’s total assets under management currently stand at US$400 million, and Mr. Ibrahim is confident that it will grow to US$2 billion within the next 5 years. In the firm’s first year, the team was awarded “Best Singapore Hedge Fund” and “Best Asian Distressed Fund.” In 2007, Mr. Ibrahim was recognized as one of the “20 Rising Stars of Hedge Funds” by Institutional Investor. To Mr. Ibrahim, his worst day as an entrepreneur was better than his best day as an employee. He saw no bad days, only challenging days. He believes that “there is nothing that is insurmountable. A good night’s sleep and a clear head are the most powerful tools in any arsenal.”

Mr. Sherman Tan of AsiaSoft Online Pte Ltd
www.asiasoft.net
Everyone was amazed when Mr. Sherman Tan launched AsiaSoft Online Ptd Ltd, a publisher, developer and distributor of online game titles and a distributor of on-the-shelf game titles, in Singapore in 2004. The local industry for online games then was undeveloped; companies in this business did not do well. AsiaSoft entered and changed the direction of the industry. It executed most of the programmes that it successfully implemented in Thailand, thereby proving that its formula was successful.

Mr. Tan consequently brought AsiaSoft to the international arena. Today, AsiaSoft has operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand, and plans to expand its operations to other parts of the Southeast Asia. Mr. Tan and his team consistently look into new ideas to propel the growth of the company as well as its consumers’ interests.
Ms. Cheah Lay Hwa of A-Star Interactive
www.a-star.com.sg
As a concerned mother, Ms. Cheah and her husband found it hard to teach their daughter Mandarin. There were hardly any Mandarin-teaching materials in the market then; a lot of the materials were nothing more than electronic textbooks. It was then that Ms. Cheah discovered the untapped market for Mandarin-teaching materials. A-Star Interactive was consequently set up.

Both Ms. Cheah and her husband were teachers and her husband was previously a Creative Director in an ad agency. Their work experience worked in their favour. In their attempt to make Mandarin learning fun and enjoyable, they created interactive software and wrote books. Many parents have since expressed gratitude toward the couple for the knowledge that their children have gained from these software.
Mr. Bob Turner of Basketball Enterprises Pte Ltd
www.singaporeslingers.com
Mr. Bob Turner, an avid basketball player who has lived in Australia for about three decades, founded the Basketball Enterprises Ptd Ltd to groom a professional basketball team. The team, the Singapore Slingers, is the only professional indoor sports team in Singapore. It’s been playing in the Australian League since the start of the 2006/7 season.

The company has come a long way. Due to the relative anonymity of the Singapore Slingers initially, Mr. Turner had to spend huge amounts of money to advertise the team. There was hardly any sponsorship then and raising the funds was an uphill task. However, every time Mr. Turner sees the twinkle in the smiles of those who come to watch the games, he is motivated to bring the team to greater heights. The team now has the Singapore Sports Council as one of its sponsors and the Singapore Indoor Stadium as a partner for the Singapore Slingers to be its anchor tenant.
Mr. Suraparaju Narendra Raju of Bioenergy Plantations Pte Ltd
www.bioenergyplantations.com
With only about 100 dollars in his pocket and no capital, Mr. Suraparaju Narendra Raju quitted his job and registered Bioenergy Plantations Ptd Ltd. He was confident that his business would be worth a million dollars. 6 months into the business, Bioenergy Plantations Ptd Ltd secured its initial seed capital.

The business is still in its infancy in an infant industry. Based in Singapore with plantations in India, the company specializes in the cultivation of inedible food stock (Jatropha Carcus. L) on tropical wastelands to produce bio fuels. Since young, Mr. Suraparaju Narendra Raju has been carrying a dream of creating thousands of jobs for the needy. This business not only addresses Mr. Suraparaju Narendra Raju’s concerns about global warming and the global shortage of food, it also has the potential to fulfill his childhood dream. This is a man who is living his dream.
Mr. Edwin Chan of Cambridge Institute
www.cambridge.com.sg
As a child, Mr. Edwin Chan learnt the effects of poverty the hard way. Both his parents were illiterate; his mother was a housewife and his father, a cleaner and caretaker of a church. When Mr. Chan was seven, his mother fell off a bus and had to be hospitalized for many months. Rice balls with just a pinch of salt became a staple food. When Mr. Chan was in secondary two, his mother passed away. A year later, his father and younger brother left. All these experiences culminated in his fired resolution to succeed.

Mr. Chan was initially the sole distributor of a self-study language learning programme. Self-studying a language was hard. Customer feedback and a genuine concern for his customers eventually prompted Mr. Chan to start up Cambridge Institute, a language learning centre. Mr. Chan conquered the various adversities that stood in his way. From its humble beginning with just one classroom, Cambridge Institute now boasts of more than 25 classrooms across 3 branches.
Mr. Timothy Charlton of Charlton Media Group
www.charltonmedia.com
Mr. Timothy Charlton feels that the only way for him to do what he wants when he wants to do it, and to better meet the needs of some clients, is to become an entrepreneur. In 2001, he founded the Charlton Media Group, now a leading business-to-business publisher based in Singapore.

When the company was still in its infancy, it did not have a full-time designer or editor. Mr. Charlton relied a lot on freelancers. As the company grew, so did its pool of full-time staff. Mr. Charlton takes pride in paying his staff on time every month, as well as launching the Singapore Business Review magazine.
Mr. Daniel Leong of Chills Café
www.chillscafe.com.sg
Chills Café is not the usual internet café. Instead of the usual dark and noisy gaming internet cafes, Chills café is just what its name suggests—a relaxing place where customers could unwind while surfing the internet. Besides being an internet café, Chills Café is also as a business centre that provides services such as scanning, laser printing, faxing and even book rental services.

Mr. Leong was just a student when he launched the café together with his late sister, then an accountant seeking a change in working environment. He went on to become an IT consultant and a year ago came back to manage the café full-time after his sister passed away. Though Mr. Leong is extremely tied up with managing the café, he continues to upgrade himself and his café by reading widely and evaluating the feedback that he gets from his customers.
Prof Christopher Chen of the Christopher Chen Centre for Reproductive Medicine

At 9, Prof Christopher Chen already had an interest in medicine. He used to observe a doctor who lived across his house, and one day requested the doctor’s son to bring some of the doctor’s books to him. Even as a child, he was intrigued by the figures and diagrams in the books. From then on, he knew that he wanted to become a doctor. His first patient came a few months later, when a neighbor had fits. Prof Chen applied what he had read; he used a kitchen-knife to cut soap into the shape of a pencil and inserted it into the backside of the child. The child passed motion and was cured of his fits.

Today, Prof Chen is a Medical Director, CEO and Infertility Specialist. A famous name in his field, his illustrious track record includes achieving the world’s first IVF triplet pregnancies in 1983, being the first to pioneer the freezing of the human egg, which culminated in the delivery of twins, as well as producing Asia’s first IVF sextuplets in Singapore in 1998. He is currently the World President Elect of the International College of Surgeons, Honorary Professor at the School of Medicine, University of Queensland, Professor at the School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Heath, The University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia, Honorary Professor at the Department of O&G, Sri Ramachandra University, Honorary Professor at Ricardo Palma University, Lima, Peru, and the Director of Gleneagles IVF Centre. The Christopher Chen Centre for Reproductive Medicine was set up at Gleneagles Hospital in 1993. The Centre provides a wide range of services for the cure of infertility among men and women, and has seen a diverse range of clientele, including Russian and European clients who flew in just to tap on Prof Chen’s expertise.
Mr. Daniel Charles of DNA Motorsports
www.kartcrgasia.com
Mr. Daniel Charles’ deep interest in motor sports began when he was just about 12 years old. When he was still a student, he started out as a freelance middleman for motor sports products. His business grew. Mr. Daniel Charles then borrowed some money from his parents and relatives for investing in stocks and for marketing. Today, he owns DNA Motorsports, a provider of motor sports products and services, as well as Global Racing Alliances, which provides driving experience in Formula 1 cars, Ferraris, Rally cars, Nascars and many more which provides driving experience in Formula 1 cars, Ferraris, Rally cars, Nascars and etc. Global Racing Alliances is an industry leader.

Mr. Daniel Charles attributes his success to good time management as well as being humble. He finds that people are more willing to impart knowledge to and network with those who are humble.
Mr. Sky Chiew of Donut Empire Ptd Ltd
www.donutempire.com.sg
Then in the entertainment business as the owner of several pubs and clubs, Mr. Sky Chiew emerged from his comfort zone to set up Donut Empire on 7 July 2007. Since then, the business has been growing promisingly; in less than a year, the company has set up 10 outlets in Singapore.