<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>From pig farmer to supermarket chain owner
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Sheng Siong founder says logic and common sense guide his business </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Francis Chan
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Mr Lim Hock Chee started the first Sheng Siong outlet in Ang Mo Kio with just $30,000 in 1985. With a $667 million turnover last year, he has plans for the business to go public and to expand it across the Causeway. -- ST PHOTO: NURIA LING
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->BACK in the early 1970s, Mr Lim Hock Chee was feeding pigs and cleaning pens on his father's farm in Lim Chu Kang.
Today, the 48-year-old runs one of Singapore's fastest growing retail chains, Sheng Siong Supermarket.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>LEARNING FROM LIFE
'Academic achievements reflect the knowledge you have learnt from books, but life experiences - what you learn from doing - give you a different type of knowledge.'
Mr Lim Hock Chee, founder and managing director of Sheng Siong
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Last week, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Lee Yi Shyan joined Mr Lim at a ground-breaking ceremony for Sheng Siong's new corporate headquarters and distribution centre at Mandai Link.
The complex - costing some $65 million - is set to be completed in 2011, by which time the site the business occupies will have increased from 0.88ha to 2.32ha.
The founder and managing director of Sheng Siong says the new facilities will help increase operational efficiency by about 20 per cent and allow the firm to expand more aggressively from its present 22 outlets.
Despite the downturn, he believes Singapore could still accommodate possibly up to 20 more of his supermarkets.
'Our new distribution centre is a crucial step towards supporting our growth plans,' he said in Mandarin.
'In the long term, it should enhance our supply chain processes and beef up distribution, manpower and transportation efficiency by 10 per cent or more.'
Since it was founded in 1985 by Mr Lim, Sheng Siong has established itself as a key player in the retail sector.
A 2007 survey conducted by Euromonitor International found that the supermarket chain was the third largest retailer in Singapore by sales volume.
Last year, with Mr Lim at the helm, Sheng Siong recorded a turnover of $667 million, up from $606 million in 2007 and $508 million in 2006.
Not a bad return for a former farm worker whose first love, he revealed, was mechanical engineering.
=> Lucky for him that he did not go into the "technical line"?
'I liked fixing motor vehicles, I liked learning about how engines worked - it was all very systematic and logical. If one component didn't work, everything else would fail, just like in business,' he said.
Mr Lim grew up helping his late father, Mr Lim Kim Siong, run the family farm, which at its peak was rearing some 3,000 pigs at a time. However, by the early 1980s, Cheng Siong Pig Farm, as the family business was called, had already been relocated by the Government from Lim Chu Kang.
[COLOR=_______]'The (CCB?) Government literally broke our rice bowl as they phased out pig farming in Singapore,' quipped Mr Lim.[/COLOR]
'Not long after, we were relocated to Punggol, the (LAN CHEOW?) Government directed us to close shop.'
Left with stocks of pork to clear, Mr Lim stumbled upon a mini-supermarket owner who was willing to rent him space to sell the meat.
=> U call this LUCK?
'I had just got married and was visiting my wife's relative in Ang Mo Kio when I chanced upon a small supermarket there. It sold everything except pork,' he recounted. 'So I approached the owner and asked if he could rent me some space and he agreed.'
Although he did not have to fork out any rent for the space in the 1,400 sq ft outlet, Mr Lim paid the supermarket owner 20 per cent of whatever sales he made from selling pork.
'It was a lot, but I had no other choice. The alternative was for the pork to rot and go to waste,' said Mr Lim.
Fate, however, had other plans for him. Within one year of agreeing to the arrangement, the owner of the supermarket ran into financial trouble and had to offload the outlet.
=> More luck?
'I took the opportunity to ask him if he would sell the business to me and he agreed,' he said.
'And so, in 1985, with just $30,000 - of which $20,000 was given to me by my father - I started the first Sheng Siong outlet, which still exists today.'
Over the next few years, the hands-on approach he learnt from working at the pig farm helped him quickly pick up the skills needed to run a retail business.
Logic and common sense helped Mr Lim - who barely completed secondary school and had some vocational training experience - approach life and the running of Sheng Siong.
'Academic achievements reflect the knowledge you have learnt from books, but life experiences - what you learn from doing - give you a different type of knowledge,' he said. By 1988, Mr Lim started his second Sheng Siong outlet in Bedok North, followed by a third 4,500 sq ft store in Woodlands, which was the first to offer consumers both 'wet and dry' shopping options.
'That was a concept which was rare in Singapore at the time, and Singaporeans welcomed it as they could buy the things they needed from both a wet market and provision store,' said Mr Lim.
The 'wet and dry' supermarket model would take Sheng Siong from just three outlets in the 1990s to 22 branches islandwide today.
=> And AntiUSee copy cat?
Mr Lim has already drafted plans to take Sheng Siong to the next level.
With the construction of the new corporate headquarters and distribution centre under way, Mr Lim hopes to take Sheng Siong public and expand across the Causeway.
'My original plan was to list Sheng Siong within one to two years, but market conditions have not been favourable. However, the plans are still in place and we'll just have to wait and see,' he said.
As for the next generation at Sheng Siong, Mr Lim is going to leave it to his children - he has three sons and a young daughter - to decide for themselves.
'I don't want to force them into it...I'll leave it to them to decide if they want to join Sheng Siong,' he said. 'But I am very proud to say that they all have expressed some interest in the business, so we'll see what the future brings.' [email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Sheng Siong founder says logic and common sense guide his business </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Francis Chan
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Mr Lim Hock Chee started the first Sheng Siong outlet in Ang Mo Kio with just $30,000 in 1985. With a $667 million turnover last year, he has plans for the business to go public and to expand it across the Causeway. -- ST PHOTO: NURIA LING
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->BACK in the early 1970s, Mr Lim Hock Chee was feeding pigs and cleaning pens on his father's farm in Lim Chu Kang.
Today, the 48-year-old runs one of Singapore's fastest growing retail chains, Sheng Siong Supermarket.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>LEARNING FROM LIFE
'Academic achievements reflect the knowledge you have learnt from books, but life experiences - what you learn from doing - give you a different type of knowledge.'
Mr Lim Hock Chee, founder and managing director of Sheng Siong
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Last week, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Lee Yi Shyan joined Mr Lim at a ground-breaking ceremony for Sheng Siong's new corporate headquarters and distribution centre at Mandai Link.
The complex - costing some $65 million - is set to be completed in 2011, by which time the site the business occupies will have increased from 0.88ha to 2.32ha.
The founder and managing director of Sheng Siong says the new facilities will help increase operational efficiency by about 20 per cent and allow the firm to expand more aggressively from its present 22 outlets.
Despite the downturn, he believes Singapore could still accommodate possibly up to 20 more of his supermarkets.
'Our new distribution centre is a crucial step towards supporting our growth plans,' he said in Mandarin.
'In the long term, it should enhance our supply chain processes and beef up distribution, manpower and transportation efficiency by 10 per cent or more.'
Since it was founded in 1985 by Mr Lim, Sheng Siong has established itself as a key player in the retail sector.
A 2007 survey conducted by Euromonitor International found that the supermarket chain was the third largest retailer in Singapore by sales volume.
Last year, with Mr Lim at the helm, Sheng Siong recorded a turnover of $667 million, up from $606 million in 2007 and $508 million in 2006.
Not a bad return for a former farm worker whose first love, he revealed, was mechanical engineering.
=> Lucky for him that he did not go into the "technical line"?
'I liked fixing motor vehicles, I liked learning about how engines worked - it was all very systematic and logical. If one component didn't work, everything else would fail, just like in business,' he said.
Mr Lim grew up helping his late father, Mr Lim Kim Siong, run the family farm, which at its peak was rearing some 3,000 pigs at a time. However, by the early 1980s, Cheng Siong Pig Farm, as the family business was called, had already been relocated by the Government from Lim Chu Kang.
[COLOR=_______]'The (CCB?) Government literally broke our rice bowl as they phased out pig farming in Singapore,' quipped Mr Lim.[/COLOR]
'Not long after, we were relocated to Punggol, the (LAN CHEOW?) Government directed us to close shop.'
Left with stocks of pork to clear, Mr Lim stumbled upon a mini-supermarket owner who was willing to rent him space to sell the meat.
=> U call this LUCK?
'I had just got married and was visiting my wife's relative in Ang Mo Kio when I chanced upon a small supermarket there. It sold everything except pork,' he recounted. 'So I approached the owner and asked if he could rent me some space and he agreed.'
Although he did not have to fork out any rent for the space in the 1,400 sq ft outlet, Mr Lim paid the supermarket owner 20 per cent of whatever sales he made from selling pork.
'It was a lot, but I had no other choice. The alternative was for the pork to rot and go to waste,' said Mr Lim.
Fate, however, had other plans for him. Within one year of agreeing to the arrangement, the owner of the supermarket ran into financial trouble and had to offload the outlet.
=> More luck?
'I took the opportunity to ask him if he would sell the business to me and he agreed,' he said.
'And so, in 1985, with just $30,000 - of which $20,000 was given to me by my father - I started the first Sheng Siong outlet, which still exists today.'
Over the next few years, the hands-on approach he learnt from working at the pig farm helped him quickly pick up the skills needed to run a retail business.
Logic and common sense helped Mr Lim - who barely completed secondary school and had some vocational training experience - approach life and the running of Sheng Siong.
'Academic achievements reflect the knowledge you have learnt from books, but life experiences - what you learn from doing - give you a different type of knowledge,' he said. By 1988, Mr Lim started his second Sheng Siong outlet in Bedok North, followed by a third 4,500 sq ft store in Woodlands, which was the first to offer consumers both 'wet and dry' shopping options.
'That was a concept which was rare in Singapore at the time, and Singaporeans welcomed it as they could buy the things they needed from both a wet market and provision store,' said Mr Lim.
The 'wet and dry' supermarket model would take Sheng Siong from just three outlets in the 1990s to 22 branches islandwide today.
=> And AntiUSee copy cat?
Mr Lim has already drafted plans to take Sheng Siong to the next level.
With the construction of the new corporate headquarters and distribution centre under way, Mr Lim hopes to take Sheng Siong public and expand across the Causeway.
'My original plan was to list Sheng Siong within one to two years, but market conditions have not been favourable. However, the plans are still in place and we'll just have to wait and see,' he said.
As for the next generation at Sheng Siong, Mr Lim is going to leave it to his children - he has three sons and a young daughter - to decide for themselves.
'I don't want to force them into it...I'll leave it to them to decide if they want to join Sheng Siong,' he said. 'But I am very proud to say that they all have expressed some interest in the business, so we'll see what the future brings.' [email protected]
