Category: Management

Supernature

Straits Times. 11 Feb
By Nur Dianah Suhaimi

WHEN Ms C.F. Chen set up her organic food shop Supernature in a quiet corner of Wheelock Place 10 years ago, she had only five items sitting on the shelves and even fewer customers coming through the door.

When they did, they cringed at the prices and complained about holes in the apples and less-than-pristine vegetables.

Her friends thought she was crazy to have given up her $2,500-a-month job at the now defunct Telecommunication Authority of Singapore to sell ‘rabbit food’.

Today, the 37-year-old is having the last laugh.

Her two Orchard Boulevard shops are among more than 40 organic stores, cafes and warehouses in Singapore, all part of an industry estimated to be worth between $6 million and $10 million a year.

Organic food is produced without artificial pesticides or fertilisers. It is also free of additives and, in the case of organic meat, growth hormones.

Last week, Club 21 founder Christina Ong’s COMO Group bought over the two shops for an undisclosed sum, leaving Ms Chen in charge of the day-to-day operations.

For Ms Chen, the sale was a matter of necessity. She said the business was expanding so rapidly that she could no longer cope, so she decided to sell it to Ms Ong, one of her regular customers.

But the story of sweet success didn’t come without hardship and sacrifice.

The once sickly mother of a two-year-old boy got hooked on organic food while she was studying in London.

‘When I first started drinking organic fruit juices, I didn’t get a cold for an entire month. For someone who used to fall sick so often, that was a big deal.’

Upon her return in 1995, she could not find organic food in Singapore, so she decided to set up her own shop. With moral support from her parents and businessman husband, she pumped $200,000 of her savings into the venture.

It was a bold venture, not least because her career prospects looked very bright after gaining a masters in economics from the prestigious London School of Economics.

The business ‘lost money’ in the first two years. Getting customers to walk into the store was enough of a challenge. Convincing them to pay $9 for a pack of caixin or $40 for a whole chicken was something else entirely.

‘Back then, people didn’t know what organic food was about,’ she said. ‘The ones who did bought for medicinal purposes. There was no market for organic products, but I hung on because I believed in it so much.’

She worked more than 10 hours each day, seven days a week, with no rest days.

By the third year, profits started trickling in, thanks to increasing public interest. Now, buying organic food is not only widely recognised as healthier, its higher price tag has also made it something of a status symbol.

Ms Chen’s well-stocked shop sells everything from organic detergent to fresh chicken. Even the big boys like Cold Storage and NTUC FairPrice have muscled in on the action, devoting shelves specifically to organic produce.

And Ms Chen is glad.

‘They may be competition for us but, more importantly, they also help to bring more awareness to others. So I’ve nothing to complain about.’

The moment that breaks, it's gone

“In a different world we need to find a niche for ourselves, little corners where in spite of our small size we can perform a role which will be useful to the world. To do that, you will need people at the top, decision-makers who have got foresight, good minds, who are open to ideas, who can seize opportunities like we did… My job really was to find my successors. I found them, they are there; their job is to find their successors. So there must be this continuous renewal of talented, dedicated, honest, able people who will do things not for themselves but for their people and for their country. If they can do that, they will carry on for another one generation and so it goes on. The moment that breaks, it’s gone.”

Lee Kuan Yew, in an interview with CCTV, June 12, 2005

Goldman Sachs Business Principles

 

The Goldman Sachs business principles reflect a set of ethics that has become ingrained in our firm’s character. They serve as the bedrock of our determination to provide clients with the industry’s best service. The business principles characterise not only the high standards and aspirations of the people who built this firm, but of our people today.

  1. Our clients’ interests always come first. Our experience shows that if we serve our clients well, our own success will follow.
  2. Our assets are our people, capital and reputation. If any of these is ever diminished, the last is the most difficult to restore. We are dedicated to complying fully with the letter and spirit of the laws, rules and ethical principles that govern us. Our continued success depends upon unswerving adherence to this standard
  3. Our goal is to provide superior returns to our shareholders. Profitability is critical to achieving superior returns, building our capital, and attracting and keeping our best people. Significant employee stock ownership aligns the interests of our employees and our shareholders.
  4. We take great pride in the professional quality of our work. We have an uncompromising determination to achieve excellence in everything we undertake. Though we may be involved in a wide variety and heavy volume of activity, we would, if it came to a choice, rather be best than biggest.
  5. We stress creativity and imagination in everything we do. While recognising that the old way may still be the best way, we constantly strive to find a better solution to a client’s problems. We pride ourselves on having pioneered many of the practices and techniques that have become standard in the industry.
  6. We make an unusual effort to identify and recruit the very best person for every job. Although our activities are measured in billions of dollars, we select our people one by one. In a service business, we know that without the best people, we cannot be the best firm.
  7. We offer our people the opportunity to move ahead more rapidly than is possible at most other places. Advancement depends on merit, and we have yet to find the limits to the responsibility our best people are able to assume. For us to be successful, our men and women must reflect the diversity of the communities and cultures in which we operate. That means we must attract, retain and motivate people from many backgrounds and perspectives. Being diverse is not optional; it is what we must be.
  8. We stress teamwork in everything we do. While individual creativity is always encouraged, we have found that team effort often produces the best results. We have no room for those who put their personal interests ahead of the interests of the firm and its clients.
  9. The dedication of our people to the firm and the intense effort they give their jobs are greater than one finds in most other organisations. We think that this is an important part of our success.
  10. We consider our size an asset that we try hard to preserve. We want to be big enough to undertake the largest project that any of our clients could contemplate, yet small enough to maintain the loyalty, the intimacy and the esprit de corps that we all treasure and that contribute greatly to our success.
  11. We constantly strive to anticipate the rapidly changing needs of our clients and to develop new services to meet those needs. We know that the world of finance will not stand still and that complacency can lead to extinction.
  12. We regularly receive confidential information as part of our normal client relationships. To breach a confidence or to use confidential information improperly or carelessly would be unthinkable.
  13. Our business is highly competitive, and we aggressively seek to expand our client relationships. However, we must always be fair competitors, and must never denigrate other firms.
  14. Integrity and honesty are at the heart of our business. We expect our people to maintain high ethical standards in everything they do, both in their work for the firm and in their personal lives.

Quek Leng Chan

Wall Street Journal: Who gave you the best business advice?

Lillian Too: Quek Leng Chan, the head of the Hong Leong Group, of course. He said that in business there are no friends and there are no enemies and one must not become emotional. I remember on one occasion when I disagreed with him over something and I told him I was prepared to resign over this. He told me straight off not to be dramatic. I still remember his words:

“We are not a political party, we are a business.”