Posts Under: Blog

8 Leadership Lessons of Lee Kuan Yew

March 29, 2015 Blog, Personal Branding 12 comments

8 Leadership Lessons of Lee Kuan Yew

Photograph taken by Larry Burrows (1926 – 1971), a photojournalist from Life Magazine

This week must be one of the saddest for Singapore. Our first and longest serving former Prime Minister – Mr Lee Kuan Yew – passed away on 23 March 2015 at 3.18 am. He was 91 years of age.

Better known by his initials LKY or Minister Mentor (MM) Lee, Mr Lee’s political and public legacy was legendary. Considered by many to be Singapore’s founding father, his imprint is seen in virtually every square foot of our tiny island nation – from HDB flats, schools, hospitals, roads, air and sea ports, to parks and other public infrastructure. 


Homefarm – a Dream Green Home for Active Agers

January 30, 2015 Blog, Business and Management 1 comment

Spark Home Farm rending 1

Imagine a beautiful and environmentally friendly complex where seniors can retire in communal bliss. One where they can stay active growing their own vegetables, make some money, and live in lush green comfort. In other words, a pristine development which looks like the visual above (courtesy of SPARK).

Sounds like a green paradise in land-locked Singapore? Not if SPARK architects can help it.

Unveiling their concept for Homefarm – an integrated vertical urban farming and retirement living facility – SPARK shared their dream design of such a property.


The Heart of Singapore’s Productivity Challenge

January 14, 2015 Blog, Business and Management no comments

Flying Robots Singapore

Flying robot waiters are nifty, but are they enough? (courtesy of RT.com)

How can we raise Singapore’s productivity? That is the multi-billion dollar question.

A recent report in Business Times offered suggestions by economists to lower the steep productivity growth targets for Singapore from 2-3 percent per annum to 1-1.5 percent. Various suggestions such as supporting Research & Development for the PIC scheme (which IRAS already supports by the way), and offering discounts for not hitting the foreign worker hiring ratio were suggested.


MoolahSense Brings Crowdfinancing to Singapore

January 2, 2015 Blog, Business and Management 1 comment

MoolahSense Website

Are you an entrepreneur seeking to raise funds but unable to secure a bank loan? Or perhaps an investor looking to diversify your portfolio?

If you belong to either category, you may wish to consider crowdfinancing. Unlike traditional means of securing funds through bank loans or equity investments, crowdfinancing (or crowd-lending) allows businesses to borrow money through an online peer-to-business platform from individual lenders.


9 Qualities of Great Gifts

December 24, 2014 Blog, Personal Branding no comments

Generosity and Giving
Courtesy of Victoria Brain Injury Society

One of marketing maven Seth Godin’s recent post on what generosity truly is struck a deep chord with me. As we are celebrating Christmas tomorrow, I thought it would be good to highlight some of his ideas, peppered with my own perspectives.

In Godin’s own words:

“Generosity is not merely giving a discount, or giving what you make away or creating a race to the bottom. It’s far more complex than that. ” 


The True Price of Excellent Service in Singapore

December 4, 2014 Blog, Business and Management no comments

Read in The Straits Times and Channel News Asia today that almost four-fifths of Singapore consumers are willing to pay more for excellent service. Internationally, we rank second only to India – and are on par with the United States – for consumers willing to pay more for good service.

Here are the key findings reported in mainstream media based on the study by American Express and Ebiquity: