Today I met a very remarkable man.
His name is Mr. Teh Bong Lim, founder and CEO of MMI Holdings Ltd*. I met him at the NUS BINGO CEO Night, which suffered a very poor response from the NUS community. There were only about 20 people inside a lecture theatre that could accommodate about 300, and if that's not pathetic I don't know what is. So anyway, the show - or rather the talk - still went on.
I could imagine how Mr Teh must have felt when he entered the LT, with the NUS Bingo bigwig making the preliminary talk to only a handful of entrepreneur hopefuls. He must have been dismayed for wasting his time at NUS when he could rather have spent it with his wife and three kids, or at his posh office thinking of other ways to expand his business. He could have acted like some arrogant millionaire and back out from the talk because of some more important things to attend to, but he stayed. When it was his time to finally give his spiel, he started with "I am glad and honored to be here today" and he sounded genuine.
I was half expecting the CEO talk to be boring and stiff and formal, but Mr. Teh is one interesting person based on his anecdotes. There was a lot of parallelism between his road to success and the career path I'm trying to take. He also studied engineering at NUS, but at matriculation day he tried to shift to business because he was having second thoughts about the course of study allocated to him. However, the lady at the registrar's office brushed him off and told him to just continue with engineering since he'd be throwing away something that's very difficult to obtain to begin with, and of course the lady would have to do extra admin work if he shifts. So anyway he didn't fight for it and just sucked it up through the four years of mechanical engineering. For eight years he worked in two different multinational companies to gain experience, but after that he decided to go out of his comfort zone (he was earning $8000+ a month) and took the risk of embarking on a journey to fulfill his dream of having his own business.
Since he took up engineering anyway, he decided to do a business related to engin. The first few years had been very difficult because he was running a one-man show. Worse, his family was affected because by then he was only taking home $4000, only half of what he used to earn. When his kids were used to eating this and that, or playing with this high tech toy or whatnot, well they had to sacrifice the lifestyle they were used to. But his wife was very understanding and supportive, and to cut the long story short, they are now multi-millionaires!!!
Anyway, what I really like about this man is that instead of focusing on how to be a money-making machine, he emphasized more on values and principles. He kept on highlighting that integrity is very important. Also, he mentioned how much he loves his brother and gave a great insight about his geriatric father. He said that although he knows his father is mighty proud of him for achieving his old man's dreams, his father would talk to him as a dad and they'd discuss about life in general. His father doesn't ask him anymore about the net worth of the company he founded, or any statistics regarding the company's growth. Point is, at 81, you won't be concerned about money anymore. What would matter to you is your relationship with the people you love. That's why Mr. Teh challenged us to build a strong, solid relationship with our loved ones, or else we'd end up really lonely and miserable even though how filthy rich we might become.
Mr. Teh is the kind of person I'd look up to, because he is a man of substance. He is not only concerned with money and riches, but also values the more important things in life that's invisible to the naked eye. I now regard him with so much respect after hearing him talk and being able to talk to him during the reception (great food by the way).
One thing that really saddens me is the lack of (hospitality? preparation?) by the NUS BINGO WEEK organizing committee, because I really think Mr. Teh deserves to be treated more highly and accorded with VIP treatment. Also, they should have made sure that the LT would at least be half full before inviting important people to give a talk. Nonetheless, this just shows how Mr. Teh's feet have stayed firmly on the ground even though he is one accomplished man.
I want to be like him one day. Maybe Equatorial Engineering Ptd Ltd would come alive one day, who knows? wink, wink.
*MMI Holdings Ltd (founded in 1989) designs, manufactures and assembles cutting-edge electro-mechanical components and equipment for leading global and regional multi-national and national companies, with 13 manufacturing facilities manned by over 10,000 employees in the Asian region including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and China.
Nes, wala akong camera so di me maka camwhore ng aking short hair. hehe=)
His name is Mr. Teh Bong Lim, founder and CEO of MMI Holdings Ltd*. I met him at the NUS BINGO CEO Night, which suffered a very poor response from the NUS community. There were only about 20 people inside a lecture theatre that could accommodate about 300, and if that's not pathetic I don't know what is. So anyway, the show - or rather the talk - still went on.
I could imagine how Mr Teh must have felt when he entered the LT, with the NUS Bingo bigwig making the preliminary talk to only a handful of entrepreneur hopefuls. He must have been dismayed for wasting his time at NUS when he could rather have spent it with his wife and three kids, or at his posh office thinking of other ways to expand his business. He could have acted like some arrogant millionaire and back out from the talk because of some more important things to attend to, but he stayed. When it was his time to finally give his spiel, he started with "I am glad and honored to be here today" and he sounded genuine.
I was half expecting the CEO talk to be boring and stiff and formal, but Mr. Teh is one interesting person based on his anecdotes. There was a lot of parallelism between his road to success and the career path I'm trying to take. He also studied engineering at NUS, but at matriculation day he tried to shift to business because he was having second thoughts about the course of study allocated to him. However, the lady at the registrar's office brushed him off and told him to just continue with engineering since he'd be throwing away something that's very difficult to obtain to begin with, and of course the lady would have to do extra admin work if he shifts. So anyway he didn't fight for it and just sucked it up through the four years of mechanical engineering. For eight years he worked in two different multinational companies to gain experience, but after that he decided to go out of his comfort zone (he was earning $8000+ a month) and took the risk of embarking on a journey to fulfill his dream of having his own business.
Since he took up engineering anyway, he decided to do a business related to engin. The first few years had been very difficult because he was running a one-man show. Worse, his family was affected because by then he was only taking home $4000, only half of what he used to earn. When his kids were used to eating this and that, or playing with this high tech toy or whatnot, well they had to sacrifice the lifestyle they were used to. But his wife was very understanding and supportive, and to cut the long story short, they are now multi-millionaires!!!
Anyway, what I really like about this man is that instead of focusing on how to be a money-making machine, he emphasized more on values and principles. He kept on highlighting that integrity is very important. Also, he mentioned how much he loves his brother and gave a great insight about his geriatric father. He said that although he knows his father is mighty proud of him for achieving his old man's dreams, his father would talk to him as a dad and they'd discuss about life in general. His father doesn't ask him anymore about the net worth of the company he founded, or any statistics regarding the company's growth. Point is, at 81, you won't be concerned about money anymore. What would matter to you is your relationship with the people you love. That's why Mr. Teh challenged us to build a strong, solid relationship with our loved ones, or else we'd end up really lonely and miserable even though how filthy rich we might become.
Mr. Teh is the kind of person I'd look up to, because he is a man of substance. He is not only concerned with money and riches, but also values the more important things in life that's invisible to the naked eye. I now regard him with so much respect after hearing him talk and being able to talk to him during the reception (great food by the way).
One thing that really saddens me is the lack of (hospitality? preparation?) by the NUS BINGO WEEK organizing committee, because I really think Mr. Teh deserves to be treated more highly and accorded with VIP treatment. Also, they should have made sure that the LT would at least be half full before inviting important people to give a talk. Nonetheless, this just shows how Mr. Teh's feet have stayed firmly on the ground even though he is one accomplished man.
I want to be like him one day. Maybe Equatorial Engineering Ptd Ltd would come alive one day, who knows? wink, wink.
*MMI Holdings Ltd (founded in 1989) designs, manufactures and assembles cutting-edge electro-mechanical components and equipment for leading global and regional multi-national and national companies, with 13 manufacturing facilities manned by over 10,000 employees in the Asian region including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and China.
Nes, wala akong camera so di me maka camwhore ng aking short hair. hehe=)
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