Wong Jeh Shyan
Encyclopedia
Wong Jeh Shyan is the CEO of the influential CommerceNet Singapore
. He co-founded and served as CEO of Ecommerce Gateway Pte. Ltd., an active investment company investing in strategic M.I.C.E. sector, notably in Karachi, Middle East and regionally in South Asia. The company is best known for project managing IDEAS defence show and owns ITCN Asia, the largest ICT event in Pakistan.
Wong serves as the founding partner in Shyan Associates, as Consulting Partner in CNSG Consulting Group, and is believed to have indirect interest in more than ten private equity and venture capital firms in China. His diverse business interests span from Europe, Middle East, Africa to ASEAN and Far East. He is considered a leading figure in both the technology, investment and design industries. Among his more controversial activities include the Chairmanship of International Architects' Salon which executed the high profile lobby for the conservation of Factory 798 in Beijing from 2003–2004, now successfully transformed into Dashanzi Art District 798, the bastion of avant garde and heart of artistic movement in Beijing. He is also renowned for mentoring successful entrepreneurs, usually scions from established business families. He currently sits on the Board of Advisor (CS & IT) in Institute of Business and Technology (Biztek) Karachi and advises on Dadabhoy University in Karachi. Most of his known business are privately held by his proxies. If there is one catch phrase to describe Wong, it would be 'unassumingly aggressive'.
grandfather, Wong Men (born 1901-November 1988), emigrated from impoverished Yingde to Laoshimei (老鼠尾) village in Qingyuan county of Guangdong province to the Straits Settlements
via Singapore in 1912 before settling down in tin mining heartland of the Kinta District. The eldest of five siblings, the hyperactive Wong was born in Ipoh
and grew up in the village of Ampang Baru, a modest wooden house unit number 200. His father Wong Yon Loong (born 1941) is a proponent of mainstream Chinese education and had served as headmaster in various primary schools in Kinta district. His second-generation Fuzhou
-descendant mother, Goh Swee Kim (born 24 December 1936 - 1 December 1999) was also a notable and highly respected educationist having been headmistress at various Chinese primary schools in Perak. Despite being Chinese educationists, they elect to send Wong to a Methodist school for an English education - which was subsequently changed to Malay stream national education.
, where he further his studies after completing his high school in Han Jiang High School, Penang. He did his higher secondary education in Anderson School, Ipoh after leaving Seri Putera (Seri Kepayang) secondary school in Fair Park, Ipoh as well as Ho Seng Ong Methodist primary school in Canning Garden, Ipoh. Wong was well respected for his openness, animated friendliness, and ease of moving across cultural, religion and ethnic lines. It was reflected in his large network of business associates and friends who came from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds from different countries. He is also known to have a close affinity to both theological and theosophical approaches toward the study of contemporary economics. Wong is a prolific thinker who looks at things from many unique angles, thus unleashing unparalleled possibilities which often get his opponents off-guard, which he often used in and against his business opponents.
Wong was a vocal student activist during his school days, having orchestrated the signature campaign to save the Chinese Language Society in Anderson School from closure in 1982. An avid National Geographic fan, he presided over both the Geographical Society as well as Photographic Club in Anderson School from 1982-83. At the National University of Singapore, Wong headed the Architecture, Building and Estate Management (ABEM) Club serving as the President in 1989-90; as well as elected President of The Architecture Society of National University of Singapore (TASNUS) also in 1989-90. He served the Student Union 10th and 11th Councils and served as the Secretary of Disciplinary Commission, looking into the voting abuse cases in 1990 Student Union elections.
Wong is well-known for his dedications and fervour in educating industrialists and entrepreneurs on Company Act, the roles of legal entity, protection of minority shareholders' rights and the methodologies of fund raising. He introduced the concepts of 'Aspirational visibility' and 'Aspirational clarity' to many entrepreneurs notably from China that attended his 'Entrepreneurs Roundtable' Networks, and the 'Miracles of Capital' series of lectures. Wong was attributed as the origin of a few very popular sayings among Chinese-speaking entrepreneurs and investors:
"Your choice is your choice, but my choice determines your choice";
《您的选择是您的选择；我的选择决定您的选择》
"Any resources put into uncontrollable-outcome is called ‘gambling‘,
while any resources put into a controlled-outcome is called an ’investment‘";
《可控制结果的叫‘投资’，不可控制结果的叫‘赌博’》and
"Anything that does not comply to your logic is called a miracle".
《不符合您逻辑思维的就叫‘奇迹’》
Wong is known to use Zen
dispensation methodology, using a series of simple lines in probing and questioning. He uses mental displacement, disposition and Koan to transfer sudden realization of key concepts to effectively illustrate simple business ideas, techniques and methodologies. He called it the 'idiot's method' of clarifying thought, which technique he used widely in his lectures and presentations. Wong teaches the rigorous art of corporate restructuring, financial engineering, Financial Road Maps, forward looking term sheet in corporate valuations.
entrepreneurs, the city he was born and gained his early education. His first foray into Pakistan
market is the purchase of US Publisher Pvt. Ltd. of the famed Jamal's Yellow Pages directory. He had been credited to have turned the company around and made it into one of the most profitable and largest directory publishing arm in Pakistan. Apart from Bahrain, he is known to use Karachi as his main base to stage into Middle East market.
Together with Ecommerce Gateway co-founder Dr. Khursheed Nizam, Wong helped jump start and developed the infancy M.I.C.E.
industry in Pakistan in the early 2000s. New to CommerceNet then, Wong was among the first to see the commercial potential of Pakistan's M.I.C.E. industry. He lobbied his resources and network, mobilising his acquaintances and business contacts together, financed and led numerous trade delegations to Pakistan from 2001 to 2007. From early-2008, he shifted his focus to building various international real estate funds with his Pakistan and China investment networks, investing and launching real estates projects internationally.
Among the key projects attributed to Wong is the ITCN Asia series (named after Infocomm Technologies CommerceNet Asia) in Karachi, first held in March 2001. The project is known to have gained considerable support from the Governor of Sindh then, H.E. Muhammad Mian Soomro
and subsequently H.E. Dr. Ishrat Ul Ebad Khan, the succeeding Governor; and the then Sindh Finance Minister, Senator Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, as a catalyst for investment into Karachi. The project was international in scope, and widely publicised in the media with the support and attendance of former President Pervez Musharraf then.
A strong proponent of promoting trade among Muslim countries, Wong finally established a physical MuslimBIG trade series after several failed online attempts including MuslimBizHub and ePortal Exchange. He is known for his close relationship with Islamic Chamber of Commerce and with the former secretary general H.E. Aqeel Ahmad Al-Jassem.
Wong had announced his intention to leave his investment flagship Ecommerce Gateway to focus on his Guangdong Portfolio and his increasingly strategic Indian Ocean and South African investments by the end of 2009. He however, maintain interest in e-health, telemedical and remote care initiatives and strongly believe that is the model forward for healthcare in large countries like Pakistan.
Wong was the master planner of the new 250 acres (1 km²) Dadabhoy University Campus in Hawkesbay. Wong believed that the time is ripe for Pakistan to have a world-class ranking university run privately by a not-for-profit foundation. The new campus is expected to ultimately house up to 28,000 undergraduates when fully developed. As a proponent of contemporary social housing development, Wong proposed an integrated student and social housing scheme as part of the university township development, partly as a measure to relieve some pressure from the housing problems in Karachi.
, Phnom Penh
with new projects in Jakarta
setting the pace. While his known ventures are mostly related to environmental design, waste recycling and material science, he is better known for his innovative approach to project financing. His venture portfolio companies are working with promoter of Bogor
Cyber Park in Indonesia. Although only playing a minor role in these ventures, he however left his fingerprints planning the innovative financial road-maps of these ventures.
He had financed high risk Cambodian projects originally through the first venture capital company in the kingdom. The company faces several hurdles, leading to Wong's decision to reduce the weightage of Cambodian importance to his portfolio. His known focus is on environmental friendly building materials substitutes, notably environmental bricks. He is known to have totally relocated most part of his resources from Cambodia to Phuket, Thailand. He is known to have set up a series of ventures in the tourist island of Phuket, Thailand including substantial stakes in an environmental friendly cellular lightweight concrete (CLC) factory; on high value-add boutique development projects, and started developing diamond wholesale business. In mid 2011, Wong started restructured his investments in Asean and East Asia to have the headquarters and operations systematically relocated to Hong Kong.
Wong's ventures in South Korea
and Japan
are less well documented. He focused on P2P, finance related investments and those related to e-Commerce ventures in these countries. He is also known to have taken a private interest in an aggressive Japanese trading firm based in Tokyo
. Wong is also known to have taken an interest in setting-up an investment and business base in Japan.
-based company extends its arm over the entire Middle-east. The company had arranged for the facilitation of Monorail
proposal into the City of Medina
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
, working with MTrans Monorail of Malaysia. He had also financed MTrans Monorail's pathfinders to explore the feasibility of Monorail Urban Transit into cities of Aman
(Jordan), Istanbul
and Ankara
(Turkey), Karachi
(Pakistan) as well as Cairo
(Egypt). Wong is known to have shown keen interest to move his Middle-east base away from Bahrain to the more competitive Qatar, and was seen to move with the Qatari ambassador in South Africa.
Wong had a close relationship with the late Mr. Haitham O. Himut who founded Strategic Enterprise Corporation (SECORP) of Saudi Arabia. The late Mr. Haitham was also a shareholder in METRANS and was also involved in the original iTeknocity proposal of Bahrain. The late Mr. Haitham persuaded Wong to invest into Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Wong initially even represented SECORP in Singapore until 2006 and extended his support for SECORP via the influential CNSG Consulting Group. The relationship led to the preparation of venture strategies covering Sudan
projects, including the controversial NGIP Programmes within the proposed Nubia
Free Zone, taking advantage of the more prosperous Arabic-speaking part of North Sudan. SECORP also persuaded WONG to explore Ain Al-Sukhna in Egypt
for a new technology township development. SECORP is also a major consideration in attracting Wong to Indonesia
working on a version of Bogor
Cyber Park proposal, taking up two of the seven plots in Phase I. Wong wrote off the bulk of his investment in MENA after the untimely passing of the late Mr. Haitham, which halted all the projects. He shifted his focus to Côte d'Azur in France
and Athens
in Greece
.
While most of his ventures in Saudi Arabia, including exhibitions (e.g. ITCN Saudi Arabia - Dammam
)
, are all located to the Eastern Province, he is said to have shown considerable interest in 'Asir province and around the Red Sea
for higher value-add technologies, health sciences and sustainable urban redevelopment projects. His difficulties in securing a feasible site in 'Asir prompted him to finally focused his efforts on African continent instead.
, Beijing
, and limited exposure from Nanjing
; broadening further to Shanghai
, Chengdu
and Xiamen
. He is known to have diverse interests particularly in hospitality, tourism planning and development projects. He is linked closely to more than ten separate and independent private equity
groups, now loosely known as the 'Guangdong Portfolios', and another Beijing based cluster, acting as their PEC. His networks of more than 900+ extremely high net worth Chinese entrepreneurs, private equities and strategic investors had become a force to be reckoned within the China's investment circles.
Wong is known to be behind the entry of various China's private equities in their internationalisation into ASEAN, South Asia, Middle-East and Africa regions. Popularly known as 'Huang-boshi' and 'Mohou Caopanshou' monikers, Wong was known to had also taken a keen interest in the Chinese automobile market. His focus and special interest in alternative fuel and environmental vehicles had however not gotten very far in the highly protective Chinese market. Instead, he was instrumental in linking-up Bufori with a local master distributor, headquartered in the Shanghai
.
Wong had also spent considerable time and resources trying to set up environmental friendly cellular lightweight concrete factories in booming cities of Qingdao and Chongqing in China. As a profesionally trained architect, Wong strongly believes that the construction sector must moved towards more sustainable practice with eco-friendly building materials, as part of his international investment programmes into ecological initiatives for humanity.
Wong also acted as 'mentor-in-residence', incubating a diverse portfolio of corporate entities especially in Guangdong, Beijing, Shanghai and Sichuan provinces. He is known to have attempted to set up an additional base in Xiamen, Fujian province. His new and loosely grouped, but aggressive investment initiatives is better known as 'The Cross-Straits Portfolio' focusing in Fujian and Taiwan projects. He is also known to have conceived and invested into a small outfit known as Black Diamond Digital Studio, a contemporary video production, high-end animation, digital visualising and 3-D modelling company in China. Wong is well-known for his highly disciplined, no-nonsense, strict and active incubation process, investing in entrepreneurs' well-being, and lining up China companies for international IPOs.
, Wong pushed the investment and venture funding community around him towards 'green urbanism
'. His investment focus lean towards large scale community projects including water filtration, waste recovery and recycling
, top-soil recovery and rehabilitation techniques and energy saving gadgets and fittings. He is known to have initiated feasibilities into large scale top soil rehabilitation programmes. He aims to reverse desertification after seeing sandy barren ex-mining land sprinkled all over his hometown. He further resolved to transform arid regions into arable land after the arid exposure to outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan and vast deserts of Inner Mongolia, China, and the Karoo of South Africa. Wong believed that the future lies in agriculture, including vertical farming
. Early pilot projects include transforming Lanzhou's barren soil did not yield any positive results. He nevertheless did not give up and implemented further application testing, using a formula of water retention gel mixture with barren soil. Critics pointed that Wong's 'fanaticism' towards environmental projects blinded him and often alienated him from other arising opportunities.
Often noted for mixing friendship with business, Wong prefer to do something he passionately believes in unconditionally with his circle of friends. That (unsustainable) approach towards business gained him tremendous camaraderie and friendships. However, the same attitude also garnered sharp criticism from among his investment peers. His investment approach was clearly demonstrated in his friendship with founders of Yee Hup; Kinta Switchgear; and especially MTrans where he helped the company in breaking into regional urban transit markets, particularly in Middle-east and South Asia entirely out of camaraderie spirit. The same applies to Bufori Motor Car
company in Kepong, Malaysia. He is known to have meticulously masterminded the entry framework of Bufori Cars into China market via his network of entrepreneurs in China.
His steep investment learning curve was derived from his early Malaysian ventures that had ended in failures. That include the early days of dotcoms when he invested heavily in www.ipoh.com under Ipohcom and Ipohcom Technologies. Critics had labeled him having too emotional attachment to his hometown that clouded his otherwise cutting-edge investment judgment, typical pattern in his early ventures. His muted response to his critics saw him voted with his feet, choosing Penang
and the less popular Kuala Terengganu
to build his Malaysian business bases instead of Ipoh. His has tremendous liking for Penang Hill (and to a certain extend, Cameron Highlands), where he develops a series of strategic tourism-based investments. He was known to have initiated the strategic Global Entrepreneurs Roundtable in Kuala Terengganu, together with Terengganu Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TCCCI), gathering global top entrepreneurial brains to the idyllic city for think-tank activities. He is known to finance his proxies in the development of high-end boutique bungalows, similar to business models he replicated in China as well as Africa. His lesser known initiatives include several extremely lucrative Private-REIT, spearheading the redevelopment of older housing into investable quality housing stock in Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore.
include conceptualising and master planning the Solares Integrated Resort Scheme (IRS) at Flic-en-Flac, a high profile and the largest Integrated Resort Scheme
in Mauritius. Solares IRS is better known as the first truly planned township in Mauritius and a destination resort, and was among the first IRS approved by the government of Navinchandra Ramgoolam.
As an architect and urban planner, Wong believes that Port Louis
downtown had to be conserved. His solution is to create a new proposed Uptown for Port Louis. He had incorporated this key thinking into his major transportation proposal for the city. He was commissioned by French national Mr. Patrick Yaich in 2008 to work on an Uptown proposal at a strategic site within Port Louis, not far from his original Uptown location in his major transportation proposal. Sources revealed that the land that Wong had designed on belonged to United Docks Limited. Patrick had commissioned several other architects notably from Dubai and United States to also propose a design each, but Wong's proposal closely integrated financial engineering
as part of the possible solution. He was known to work subsequently with United Docks Limited to master plan the Port Louis Uptown proposal in Caudan.
A proponent of alternative urban transportation in Mauritius, his most controversial project to date is the highly publicised Mauritius Monorail
lobby that he helped raise the initial finance and support. His project had made headlines in the local media and fanned vocal debates by both proponents and opponents to the idea. In his scheme of things, the promotion of MTrans Technology Berhad's monorail (now Scomi
Rail)
as a viable alternative to Mauritius' pollution-prone buses and old diesel cars. Wong's nature as an environmentalist had him seeing red the state of Mauritius increasingly grid-locked traffic congestion. He has lobbied MTrans to use Mauritius as a base to serve African region, notably South Africa and Madagascar. He is often seen with MTrans founder Mr. David Chew Keat Soon, who continue to control MTrans International Limited of Hong Kong
. He had also financed a detailed study whether Madagascar
can be an alternative showcase to modern land and air transport solution in Africa as an alternative to Mauritius, having traveled to Antananarivo
and had met Marc Ravalomanana
when he was still the president there in late 2007.
He is known to partner with Mr. Inderjit Singh and two other Pakistani acquaintances, one of them being Dr. Khursheed Nizam to hold Ecommerce Gateway as a private investment holding company for strategic Pakistan business ventures. He later moved into private equity investment in 2004 after seeing the devastating environmental destruction brought by Tsunami which greatly depressed him. His early acquisitions are all environmental related companies in line with his environmentalist tendencies.
His ventures in Singapore are varied. As a prolific entrepreneur, he was a partner in desktop publishing
firm, Fu Manchu Designs (1991–93); pioneered the field of digital imaging
and archiving where he authored the business plan and co-founded CD Imaging (1991–95), now known as Fotohub; was a founding partner in Rongsak & Shyan, a leading architecture visualising company (1994–96) before setting up his own architecture practice of Shyan Associates in end-1996. He was known to head CommerceTrust Limited, a public company founded by Dr. Toh See Kiat, a former member of parliament in Singapore.
Wong took over the helm of CommerceNet Singapore in March 2000 as the Chief Executive Officer at the end of dotcom era
. He reengineered CommerceNet Singapore into a new 'CNSG' branding, known initially for its appetite in taking on higher risks and unproven technology ventures. This had built a strong following especially among technology companies reeling from the failures of dotcoms, as well as incubating companies that are undergoing transformation prior to seeking a listing on international stock exchanges. It also earned a strong following among firms that had failed to secure normal funding from the open market. He was also the key decisive mover of trust mark certification market in Singapore, rolling out CaseTrust before the divisive internal split in CASE that led to a split between CNSG, Retail Promotion Centre and new CASE management. The split subsequently led to the birth of ConsumerTrust, BusinessTrust and PrivacyTrust which outclassed the nominal CaseTrust in the trust mark market deployment programme. The programme was incorporated under the TrustSg programme which depends heavily on CNSG's trust mark efforts. The programme subsequently made it to be part of Asia-Pacific Trustmark Alliance and Global Trustmark Alliance initiatives.
Wong co-founded the prestigious CNSG Consulting Group with two close associates, one of them being Mr. Lawrence CS Ng, who currently heads the group. The group takes on high value and more controversial projects mostly within ASEAN region and China. The consulting group often acts in tandem with the large corps of CommerceNet's Consulting Partners. Together, they are known to leveraged using the consulting group as an aggressive private equity consultants (PEC) and financial platform to 'project manage' leveraged buy-outs, corporate raids and reverse take-overs. The group had pulled off some of the most sensitive mergers and acquisitions
in ASEAN and more recently in assembling the highly influential 'Guangdong Portfolios'. Wong is well known and respected for his forte in rallying together high net worth and professional resources in his series of personalised road-shows. He is highly sought after for his ability to mobilise very large amount of funds within very short time frame, especially during adverse market conditions.
with a new Private Equity group with an initial focus trained on Western Cape. Most of his peers and competitors were taken off-guard when he shifted his focus to the African region, despite lacking strong networks unlike those seen in ASEAN and the Far East
. His earlier heavy loses in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region that had nearly wiped out his entire portfolio, makes him an unlikely candidate to move into Africa. His earlier interest in Africa was held back by the difficulties of geo-political and complex social structures, including the setbacks in Madagascar, the unstable Sudan, the Ain Al-Sukhna project in Egypt, which resulted to the delay in the market entry and subsequent limited presence in the continent. Undeterred, he is kown to have taken a strong affinity and liking to South Africa.
His penchant for iconic real estate development is shown in an integrated project with equity interest by FirstRand Group in George
, a second line city in South Africa's Western Cape
. His design firm was subsequently commissioned to design a notable MICE
-centric R28 billion urban development project there, better known as Destiny Africa. The high profile project was unveiled by the Premier of Western Cape, Helen Zille
on 6 November 2009. Wong shrewdly maps REIT model with a combination of a hybrid project finance and corporate finance model into real estate development, which satisfy many local banks who do not see any other viable models of financing large projects.
In mid-2010, Wong took an intense interest in Boutique Hotel
sector and was believed to partner his investment funds forming new venture funds to build, acquire and remodel a portfolio of hotels in Mauritius, South Africa and Pakistan to complement those already in works in ASEAN and China. He also shifted one of the more controversial but industry changing integrated global procurement programme which he seeded into M2C International of Hong Kong
, known as GloProc, out of Destiny Africa programme into a stand-alone programme based in Cape Town
. Wong uses Cape Town as a staging point for investment into the southern and central part of continent Africa. He is widely rumored to support Cape Town Velodrome redevelopment albeit not having any direct stakes in the project. His involvement probably stemmed from GloProc securing the procurement contract for the development.
Wong had also taken an interest and invested into Lormont, a specialty collectible wine company via his Singapore strategic joint investment holding company, ShyanWest, which he is known to hold an equity with Mr. Franco van der Weisthuizen. Wong is also known to take a keen personal interest in the highly lucrative China diamond business channel, and targeted high volume markets of Panyu, Guangdong. Wong is known to leveraged his strategically and personalised high-end markets of China with that of the selective diamond production base in South Africa. He is also known to be one of the potential backer of a new diamond investment fund based in ASEAN.
Wong was presented with Melvin Jones Fellowship, the highest honour given by Lions Club International Foundation (LCIF), awarded by Lions Club Ipoh Central in August 2011.
Wong was conferred his honorary doctorate in 2007.
He is a practicing architect and registered with the Board of Architects, Singapore. He is also a corporate member of Royal Institute of British Architects
and an associate of American Institute of Architects
.
He was nominated and appointed the Chairman of International Architects Salon from 2003 to 2006. He was also a member of the jury for International Tianjin Music Hall Design Competition.
Wong also served as the head of organising secretariat for Singapore E-Global Awards of 2003 and 2004.
CommerceNet Singapore
CommerceNet Singapore is a not-for-profit organisation. It is part of the Palo Alto, California based global CommerceNet consortium of business partners that organises resources from the industry, plans and executes key strategies...
. He co-founded and served as CEO of Ecommerce Gateway Pte. Ltd., an active investment company investing in strategic M.I.C.E. sector, notably in Karachi, Middle East and regionally in South Asia. The company is best known for project managing IDEAS defence show and owns ITCN Asia, the largest ICT event in Pakistan.
Wong serves as the founding partner in Shyan Associates, as Consulting Partner in CNSG Consulting Group, and is believed to have indirect interest in more than ten private equity and venture capital firms in China. His diverse business interests span from Europe, Middle East, Africa to ASEAN and Far East. He is considered a leading figure in both the technology, investment and design industries. Among his more controversial activities include the Chairmanship of International Architects' Salon which executed the high profile lobby for the conservation of Factory 798 in Beijing from 2003–2004, now successfully transformed into Dashanzi Art District 798, the bastion of avant garde and heart of artistic movement in Beijing. He is also renowned for mentoring successful entrepreneurs, usually scions from established business families. He currently sits on the Board of Advisor (CS & IT) in Institute of Business and Technology (Biztek) Karachi and advises on Dadabhoy University in Karachi. Most of his known business are privately held by his proxies. If there is one catch phrase to describe Wong, it would be 'unassumingly aggressive'.
Family background
Wong is a third-generation Chinese Malaysian: his HakkaHakka people
The Hakka , sometimes Hakka Han, are Han Chinese who speak the Hakka language and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China....
grandfather, Wong Men (born 1901-November 1988), emigrated from impoverished Yingde to Laoshimei (老鼠尾) village in Qingyuan county of Guangdong province to the Straits Settlements
Straits Settlements
The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia.Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under direct British control as a crown colony on 1 April 1867...
via Singapore in 1912 before settling down in tin mining heartland of the Kinta District. The eldest of five siblings, the hyperactive Wong was born in Ipoh
Ipoh
Ipoh is the capital city of Perak state, Malaysia. It is approximately 200 km north of Kuala Lumpur on the North-South Expressway....
and grew up in the village of Ampang Baru, a modest wooden house unit number 200. His father Wong Yon Loong (born 1941) is a proponent of mainstream Chinese education and had served as headmaster in various primary schools in Kinta district. His second-generation Fuzhou
Fuzhou
Fuzhou is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute the Mindong linguistic and cultural area....
-descendant mother, Goh Swee Kim (born 24 December 1936 - 1 December 1999) was also a notable and highly respected educationist having been headmistress at various Chinese primary schools in Perak. Despite being Chinese educationists, they elect to send Wong to a Methodist school for an English education - which was subsequently changed to Malay stream national education.
Education
Wong graduated with two bachelor degrees from National University of SingaporeNational University of Singapore
The National University of Singapore is Singapore's oldest university. It is the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered....
, where he further his studies after completing his high school in Han Jiang High School, Penang. He did his higher secondary education in Anderson School, Ipoh after leaving Seri Putera (Seri Kepayang) secondary school in Fair Park, Ipoh as well as Ho Seng Ong Methodist primary school in Canning Garden, Ipoh. Wong was well respected for his openness, animated friendliness, and ease of moving across cultural, religion and ethnic lines. It was reflected in his large network of business associates and friends who came from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds from different countries. He is also known to have a close affinity to both theological and theosophical approaches toward the study of contemporary economics. Wong is a prolific thinker who looks at things from many unique angles, thus unleashing unparalleled possibilities which often get his opponents off-guard, which he often used in and against his business opponents.
Wong was a vocal student activist during his school days, having orchestrated the signature campaign to save the Chinese Language Society in Anderson School from closure in 1982. An avid National Geographic fan, he presided over both the Geographical Society as well as Photographic Club in Anderson School from 1982-83. At the National University of Singapore, Wong headed the Architecture, Building and Estate Management (ABEM) Club serving as the President in 1989-90; as well as elected President of The Architecture Society of National University of Singapore (TASNUS) also in 1989-90. He served the Student Union 10th and 11th Councils and served as the Secretary of Disciplinary Commission, looking into the voting abuse cases in 1990 Student Union elections.
Wong is well-known for his dedications and fervour in educating industrialists and entrepreneurs on Company Act, the roles of legal entity, protection of minority shareholders' rights and the methodologies of fund raising. He introduced the concepts of 'Aspirational visibility' and 'Aspirational clarity' to many entrepreneurs notably from China that attended his 'Entrepreneurs Roundtable' Networks, and the 'Miracles of Capital' series of lectures. Wong was attributed as the origin of a few very popular sayings among Chinese-speaking entrepreneurs and investors:
"Your choice is your choice, but my choice determines your choice";
《您的选择是您的选择；我的选择决定您的选择》
"Any resources put into uncontrollable-outcome is called ‘gambling‘,
while any resources put into a controlled-outcome is called an ’investment‘";
《可控制结果的叫‘投资’，不可控制结果的叫‘赌博’》and
"Anything that does not comply to your logic is called a miracle".
《不符合您逻辑思维的就叫‘奇迹’》
Wong is known to use Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
dispensation methodology, using a series of simple lines in probing and questioning. He uses mental displacement, disposition and Koan to transfer sudden realization of key concepts to effectively illustrate simple business ideas, techniques and methodologies. He called it the 'idiot's method' of clarifying thought, which technique he used widely in his lectures and presentations. Wong teaches the rigorous art of corporate restructuring, financial engineering, Financial Road Maps, forward looking term sheet in corporate valuations.
Pakistan Ventures
Wong's activities in business is in many way typical to those that had contributed to the mythos of the great IpohIpoh
Ipoh is the capital city of Perak state, Malaysia. It is approximately 200 km north of Kuala Lumpur on the North-South Expressway....
entrepreneurs, the city he was born and gained his early education. His first foray into Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
market is the purchase of US Publisher Pvt. Ltd. of the famed Jamal's Yellow Pages directory. He had been credited to have turned the company around and made it into one of the most profitable and largest directory publishing arm in Pakistan. Apart from Bahrain, he is known to use Karachi as his main base to stage into Middle East market.
Together with Ecommerce Gateway co-founder Dr. Khursheed Nizam, Wong helped jump start and developed the infancy M.I.C.E.
Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions
Meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions. The acronym MICE is applied inconsistently with the “E” sometimes referring to events and the “C” sometimes referring to conventions. MICE is used to refer to a particular type of tourism in which large groups, usually planned well in advance,...
industry in Pakistan in the early 2000s. New to CommerceNet then, Wong was among the first to see the commercial potential of Pakistan's M.I.C.E. industry. He lobbied his resources and network, mobilising his acquaintances and business contacts together, financed and led numerous trade delegations to Pakistan from 2001 to 2007. From early-2008, he shifted his focus to building various international real estate funds with his Pakistan and China investment networks, investing and launching real estates projects internationally.
Among the key projects attributed to Wong is the ITCN Asia series (named after Infocomm Technologies CommerceNet Asia) in Karachi, first held in March 2001. The project is known to have gained considerable support from the Governor of Sindh then, H.E. Muhammad Mian Soomro
Muhammad Mian Soomro
Muhammad Mian Soomro is a Pakistani politician who has been the Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan since 2003. Soomro comes from a renowned political family of Sindh that has been active in public life since 1923...
and subsequently H.E. Dr. Ishrat Ul Ebad Khan, the succeeding Governor; and the then Sindh Finance Minister, Senator Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, as a catalyst for investment into Karachi. The project was international in scope, and widely publicised in the media with the support and attendance of former President Pervez Musharraf then.
A strong proponent of promoting trade among Muslim countries, Wong finally established a physical MuslimBIG trade series after several failed online attempts including MuslimBizHub and ePortal Exchange. He is known for his close relationship with Islamic Chamber of Commerce and with the former secretary general H.E. Aqeel Ahmad Al-Jassem.
Wong had announced his intention to leave his investment flagship Ecommerce Gateway to focus on his Guangdong Portfolio and his increasingly strategic Indian Ocean and South African investments by the end of 2009. He however, maintain interest in e-health, telemedical and remote care initiatives and strongly believe that is the model forward for healthcare in large countries like Pakistan.
Wong was the master planner of the new 250 acres (1 km²) Dadabhoy University Campus in Hawkesbay. Wong believed that the time is ripe for Pakistan to have a world-class ranking university run privately by a not-for-profit foundation. The new campus is expected to ultimately house up to 28,000 undergraduates when fully developed. As a proponent of contemporary social housing development, Wong proposed an integrated student and social housing scheme as part of the university township development, partly as a measure to relieve some pressure from the housing problems in Karachi.
Asean and East Asia Ventures
Wong's Pan-ASEAN ventures are mostly centred in BangkokBangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
, Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city of Cambodia. Located on the banks of the Mekong River, Phnom Penh has been the national capital since the French colonized Cambodia, and has grown to become the nation's center of economic and industrial activities, as well as the center of security,...
with new projects in Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
setting the pace. While his known ventures are mostly related to environmental design, waste recycling and material science, he is better known for his innovative approach to project financing. His venture portfolio companies are working with promoter of Bogor
Bogor
Bogor is a city on the island of Java in the West Java province of Indonesia. The city is located in the center of the Bogor Regency , 60 kilometers south of the Indonesian capital Jakarta...
Cyber Park in Indonesia. Although only playing a minor role in these ventures, he however left his fingerprints planning the innovative financial road-maps of these ventures.
He had financed high risk Cambodian projects originally through the first venture capital company in the kingdom. The company faces several hurdles, leading to Wong's decision to reduce the weightage of Cambodian importance to his portfolio. His known focus is on environmental friendly building materials substitutes, notably environmental bricks. He is known to have totally relocated most part of his resources from Cambodia to Phuket, Thailand. He is known to have set up a series of ventures in the tourist island of Phuket, Thailand including substantial stakes in an environmental friendly cellular lightweight concrete (CLC) factory; on high value-add boutique development projects, and started developing diamond wholesale business. In mid 2011, Wong started restructured his investments in Asean and East Asia to have the headquarters and operations systematically relocated to Hong Kong.
Wong's ventures in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
are less well documented. He focused on P2P, finance related investments and those related to e-Commerce ventures in these countries. He is also known to have taken a private interest in an aggressive Japanese trading firm based in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
. Wong is also known to have taken an interest in setting-up an investment and business base in Japan.
Bahrain, Middle East and North Africa Ventures
Wong had co-founded Middle-east Transit Corporation (METRANS), together with Sheikh Saud bin Salman Al-Khalifa and Abdul Wahab Al-Zaid. The BahrainBahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
-based company extends its arm over the entire Middle-east. The company had arranged for the facilitation of Monorail
Monorail
A monorail is a rail-based transportation system based on a single rail, which acts as its sole support and its guideway. The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles traveling on such a beam or track...
proposal into the City of Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, working with MTrans Monorail of Malaysia. He had also financed MTrans Monorail's pathfinders to explore the feasibility of Monorail Urban Transit into cities of Aman
Aman
-External links:*...
(Jordan), Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
and Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
(Turkey), Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
(Pakistan) as well as Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
(Egypt). Wong is known to have shown keen interest to move his Middle-east base away from Bahrain to the more competitive Qatar, and was seen to move with the Qatari ambassador in South Africa.
Wong had a close relationship with the late Mr. Haitham O. Himut who founded Strategic Enterprise Corporation (SECORP) of Saudi Arabia. The late Mr. Haitham was also a shareholder in METRANS and was also involved in the original iTeknocity proposal of Bahrain. The late Mr. Haitham persuaded Wong to invest into Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Wong initially even represented SECORP in Singapore until 2006 and extended his support for SECORP via the influential CNSG Consulting Group. The relationship led to the preparation of venture strategies covering Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
projects, including the controversial NGIP Programmes within the proposed Nubia
Nubia
Nubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization...
Free Zone, taking advantage of the more prosperous Arabic-speaking part of North Sudan. SECORP also persuaded WONG to explore Ain Al-Sukhna in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
for a new technology township development. SECORP is also a major consideration in attracting Wong to Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
working on a version of Bogor
Bogor
Bogor is a city on the island of Java in the West Java province of Indonesia. The city is located in the center of the Bogor Regency , 60 kilometers south of the Indonesian capital Jakarta...
Cyber Park proposal, taking up two of the seven plots in Phase I. Wong wrote off the bulk of his investment in MENA after the untimely passing of the late Mr. Haitham, which halted all the projects. He shifted his focus to Côte d'Azur in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
.
While most of his ventures in Saudi Arabia, including exhibitions (e.g. ITCN Saudi Arabia - Dammam
Dammam
Dammam is the capital of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, the most oil-rich region in the world. The judicial and administrative bodies of the province and several government departments are located in the city. Dammam is the largest city in the Eastern Province and third largest in Saudi...
)
, are all located to the Eastern Province, he is said to have shown considerable interest in 'Asir province and around the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
for higher value-add technologies, health sciences and sustainable urban redevelopment projects. His difficulties in securing a feasible site in 'Asir prompted him to finally focused his efforts on African continent instead.
China Ventures
Wong first forayed into China in 1992 entering the newly-minted Hainan province then. His initially focus on construction management; architectural and interior design; as well as business facilitation and networking sectors. Subsequently, Wong operates out of the main cities of GuangzhouGuangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
, Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, and limited exposure from Nanjing
Nanjing
' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...
; broadening further to Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, Chengdu
Chengdu
Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...
and Xiamen
Xiamen
Xiamen , also known as Amoy , is a major city on the southeast coast of the People's Republic of China. It is administered as a sub-provincial city of Fujian province with an area of and population of 3.53 million...
. He is known to have diverse interests particularly in hospitality, tourism planning and development projects. He is linked closely to more than ten separate and independent private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
groups, now loosely known as the 'Guangdong Portfolios', and another Beijing based cluster, acting as their PEC. His networks of more than 900+ extremely high net worth Chinese entrepreneurs, private equities and strategic investors had become a force to be reckoned within the China's investment circles.
Wong is known to be behind the entry of various China's private equities in their internationalisation into ASEAN, South Asia, Middle-East and Africa regions. Popularly known as 'Huang-boshi' and 'Mohou Caopanshou' monikers, Wong was known to had also taken a keen interest in the Chinese automobile market. His focus and special interest in alternative fuel and environmental vehicles had however not gotten very far in the highly protective Chinese market. Instead, he was instrumental in linking-up Bufori with a local master distributor, headquartered in the Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
.
Wong had also spent considerable time and resources trying to set up environmental friendly cellular lightweight concrete factories in booming cities of Qingdao and Chongqing in China. As a profesionally trained architect, Wong strongly believes that the construction sector must moved towards more sustainable practice with eco-friendly building materials, as part of his international investment programmes into ecological initiatives for humanity.
Wong also acted as 'mentor-in-residence', incubating a diverse portfolio of corporate entities especially in Guangdong, Beijing, Shanghai and Sichuan provinces. He is known to have attempted to set up an additional base in Xiamen, Fujian province. His new and loosely grouped, but aggressive investment initiatives is better known as 'The Cross-Straits Portfolio' focusing in Fujian and Taiwan projects. He is also known to have conceived and invested into a small outfit known as Black Diamond Digital Studio, a contemporary video production, high-end animation, digital visualising and 3-D modelling company in China. Wong is well-known for his highly disciplined, no-nonsense, strict and active incubation process, investing in entrepreneurs' well-being, and lining up China companies for international IPOs.
Malaysia Ventures
As an environmentalistEnvironmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
, Wong pushed the investment and venture funding community around him towards 'green urbanism
Green urbanism
Walker Wells , Director of the Green Urbanism Program at Global Green USA, in his blog, ‘Urban areas as opportunity for innovation’, has defined ‘Green Urbanism’ as the practice of creating communities beneficial to human and the environment. According to him, ‘Green’ denotes environmentally sound...
'. His investment focus lean towards large scale community projects including water filtration, waste recovery and recycling
Recycling
Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
, top-soil recovery and rehabilitation techniques and energy saving gadgets and fittings. He is known to have initiated feasibilities into large scale top soil rehabilitation programmes. He aims to reverse desertification after seeing sandy barren ex-mining land sprinkled all over his hometown. He further resolved to transform arid regions into arable land after the arid exposure to outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan and vast deserts of Inner Mongolia, China, and the Karoo of South Africa. Wong believed that the future lies in agriculture, including vertical farming
Vertical farming
Vertical farming is a concept that argues that it is economically and environmentally viable to cultivate plant or animal life within skyscrapers, or on vertically inclined surfaces...
. Early pilot projects include transforming Lanzhou's barren soil did not yield any positive results. He nevertheless did not give up and implemented further application testing, using a formula of water retention gel mixture with barren soil. Critics pointed that Wong's 'fanaticism' towards environmental projects blinded him and often alienated him from other arising opportunities.
Often noted for mixing friendship with business, Wong prefer to do something he passionately believes in unconditionally with his circle of friends. That (unsustainable) approach towards business gained him tremendous camaraderie and friendships. However, the same attitude also garnered sharp criticism from among his investment peers. His investment approach was clearly demonstrated in his friendship with founders of Yee Hup; Kinta Switchgear; and especially MTrans where he helped the company in breaking into regional urban transit markets, particularly in Middle-east and South Asia entirely out of camaraderie spirit. The same applies to Bufori Motor Car
Bufori
Bufori is a brand of hand-built automobiles inspired by American 1930s coupes. The company is owned by three Australian Lebanese brothers Anthony, George and Gerry Khouri. In 1986, Gerry Khouri began to build three special sports cars in his garage, one each for the three brothers, which led to the...
company in Kepong, Malaysia. He is known to have meticulously masterminded the entry framework of Bufori Cars into China market via his network of entrepreneurs in China.
His steep investment learning curve was derived from his early Malaysian ventures that had ended in failures. That include the early days of dotcoms when he invested heavily in www.ipoh.com under Ipohcom and Ipohcom Technologies. Critics had labeled him having too emotional attachment to his hometown that clouded his otherwise cutting-edge investment judgment, typical pattern in his early ventures. His muted response to his critics saw him voted with his feet, choosing Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
and the less popular Kuala Terengganu
Kuala Terengganu
-Transport:The city is connected to other towns via a good network of roads and also some ferries that ply the Terengganu River. The Sultan Mahmud Bridge, a bridge over the Terengganu River, provides a road link to both banks of the river...
to build his Malaysian business bases instead of Ipoh. His has tremendous liking for Penang Hill (and to a certain extend, Cameron Highlands), where he develops a series of strategic tourism-based investments. He was known to have initiated the strategic Global Entrepreneurs Roundtable in Kuala Terengganu, together with Terengganu Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TCCCI), gathering global top entrepreneurial brains to the idyllic city for think-tank activities. He is known to finance his proxies in the development of high-end boutique bungalows, similar to business models he replicated in China as well as Africa. His lesser known initiatives include several extremely lucrative Private-REIT, spearheading the redevelopment of older housing into investable quality housing stock in Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore.
Mauritius Ventures
Wong's participation in MauritiusMauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
include conceptualising and master planning the Solares Integrated Resort Scheme (IRS) at Flic-en-Flac, a high profile and the largest Integrated Resort Scheme
Integrated Resort Scheme
The Integrated Resort Scheme is an initiative of the Government of Mauritius in collaboration with the Board of Investment of Mauritius. This program is designed to facilitate the acquisition of resort and residential property by non-citizens on the island.Until recent changes to legislation...
in Mauritius. Solares IRS is better known as the first truly planned township in Mauritius and a destination resort, and was among the first IRS approved by the government of Navinchandra Ramgoolam.
As an architect and urban planner, Wong believes that Port Louis
Port Louis
-Economy:The economy is dominated by its port, which handles Mauritius' international trade. The port was founded by the French who preferred Port Louis as the City is shielded by the Port Louis/Moka mountain range. It is the largest container handling facility in the Indian Ocean and can...
downtown had to be conserved. His solution is to create a new proposed Uptown for Port Louis. He had incorporated this key thinking into his major transportation proposal for the city. He was commissioned by French national Mr. Patrick Yaich in 2008 to work on an Uptown proposal at a strategic site within Port Louis, not far from his original Uptown location in his major transportation proposal. Sources revealed that the land that Wong had designed on belonged to United Docks Limited. Patrick had commissioned several other architects notably from Dubai and United States to also propose a design each, but Wong's proposal closely integrated financial engineering
Computational finance
Computational finance, also called financial engineering, is a cross-disciplinary field which relies on computational intelligence, mathematical finance, numerical methods and computer simulations to make trading, hedging and investment decisions, as well as facilitating the risk management of...
as part of the possible solution. He was known to work subsequently with United Docks Limited to master plan the Port Louis Uptown proposal in Caudan.
A proponent of alternative urban transportation in Mauritius, his most controversial project to date is the highly publicised Mauritius Monorail
Monorail
A monorail is a rail-based transportation system based on a single rail, which acts as its sole support and its guideway. The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles traveling on such a beam or track...
lobby that he helped raise the initial finance and support. His project had made headlines in the local media and fanned vocal debates by both proponents and opponents to the idea. In his scheme of things, the promotion of MTrans Technology Berhad's monorail (now Scomi
Scomi
Scomi Group Berhad is a global service provider based in Malaysia mainly involved in oil and gas and transport engineering.Scomi Group Bhd which is listed on the main board of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad, and its Group of companies are involved in three core businesses: Oilfield Services;...
Rail)
as a viable alternative to Mauritius' pollution-prone buses and old diesel cars. Wong's nature as an environmentalist had him seeing red the state of Mauritius increasingly grid-locked traffic congestion. He has lobbied MTrans to use Mauritius as a base to serve African region, notably South Africa and Madagascar. He is often seen with MTrans founder Mr. David Chew Keat Soon, who continue to control MTrans International Limited of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. He had also financed a detailed study whether Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
can be an alternative showcase to modern land and air transport solution in Africa as an alternative to Mauritius, having traveled to Antananarivo
Antananarivo
Antananarivo , formerly Tananarive , is the capital and largest city in Madagascar. It is also known by its French colonial shorthand form Tana....
and had met Marc Ravalomanana
Marc Ravalomanana
Marc Ravalomanana is a Malagasy politician who was the President of Madagascar from 2002 to 2009. A member of the Merina ethnic group, Ravalomanana served as Mayor of Antananarivo before becoming President in 2002...
when he was still the president there in late 2007.
Singapore Ventures
Wong is well known for starting the E-Global series, an award recognising intellectual ideas of aspiring and rising young individuals in Singapore. His multi-lateral approach towards partnering saw him collaborating with AMPRO, a leading Malay Muslim professional business organisation; Junior Chamber International, City JC Singapore; Innovators and Entrepreneur Association of Singapore (IdEAS) and other organisations coming together to launch the E-Global Awards.He is known to partner with Mr. Inderjit Singh and two other Pakistani acquaintances, one of them being Dr. Khursheed Nizam to hold Ecommerce Gateway as a private investment holding company for strategic Pakistan business ventures. He later moved into private equity investment in 2004 after seeing the devastating environmental destruction brought by Tsunami which greatly depressed him. His early acquisitions are all environmental related companies in line with his environmentalist tendencies.
His ventures in Singapore are varied. As a prolific entrepreneur, he was a partner in desktop publishing
Desktop publishing
Desktop publishing is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal computer.The term has been used for publishing at all levels, from small-circulation documents such as local newsletters to books, magazines and newspapers...
firm, Fu Manchu Designs (1991–93); pioneered the field of digital imaging
Digital imaging
Digital imaging or digital image acquisition is the creation of digital images, typically from a physical scene. The term is often assumed to imply or include the processing, compression, storage, printing, and display of such images...
and archiving where he authored the business plan and co-founded CD Imaging (1991–95), now known as Fotohub; was a founding partner in Rongsak & Shyan, a leading architecture visualising company (1994–96) before setting up his own architecture practice of Shyan Associates in end-1996. He was known to head CommerceTrust Limited, a public company founded by Dr. Toh See Kiat, a former member of parliament in Singapore.
Wong took over the helm of CommerceNet Singapore in March 2000 as the Chief Executive Officer at the end of dotcom era
Dot-com bubble
The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more...
. He reengineered CommerceNet Singapore into a new 'CNSG' branding, known initially for its appetite in taking on higher risks and unproven technology ventures. This had built a strong following especially among technology companies reeling from the failures of dotcoms, as well as incubating companies that are undergoing transformation prior to seeking a listing on international stock exchanges. It also earned a strong following among firms that had failed to secure normal funding from the open market. He was also the key decisive mover of trust mark certification market in Singapore, rolling out CaseTrust before the divisive internal split in CASE that led to a split between CNSG, Retail Promotion Centre and new CASE management. The split subsequently led to the birth of ConsumerTrust, BusinessTrust and PrivacyTrust which outclassed the nominal CaseTrust in the trust mark market deployment programme. The programme was incorporated under the TrustSg programme which depends heavily on CNSG's trust mark efforts. The programme subsequently made it to be part of Asia-Pacific Trustmark Alliance and Global Trustmark Alliance initiatives.
Wong co-founded the prestigious CNSG Consulting Group with two close associates, one of them being Mr. Lawrence CS Ng, who currently heads the group. The group takes on high value and more controversial projects mostly within ASEAN region and China. The consulting group often acts in tandem with the large corps of CommerceNet's Consulting Partners. Together, they are known to leveraged using the consulting group as an aggressive private equity consultants (PEC) and financial platform to 'project manage' leveraged buy-outs, corporate raids and reverse take-overs. The group had pulled off some of the most sensitive mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or...
in ASEAN and more recently in assembling the highly influential 'Guangdong Portfolios'. Wong is well known and respected for his forte in rallying together high net worth and professional resources in his series of personalised road-shows. He is highly sought after for his ability to mobilise very large amount of funds within very short time frame, especially during adverse market conditions.
South Africa Ventures
Wong demonstrated a special interest in the African continent. He is believed to have set up an investment base in South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
with a new Private Equity group with an initial focus trained on Western Cape. Most of his peers and competitors were taken off-guard when he shifted his focus to the African region, despite lacking strong networks unlike those seen in ASEAN and the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
. His earlier heavy loses in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region that had nearly wiped out his entire portfolio, makes him an unlikely candidate to move into Africa. His earlier interest in Africa was held back by the difficulties of geo-political and complex social structures, including the setbacks in Madagascar, the unstable Sudan, the Ain Al-Sukhna project in Egypt, which resulted to the delay in the market entry and subsequent limited presence in the continent. Undeterred, he is kown to have taken a strong affinity and liking to South Africa.
His penchant for iconic real estate development is shown in an integrated project with equity interest by FirstRand Group in George
George, Western Cape
George is a city with 203,253 inhabitants in South Africa's Western Cape province. The city is a popular holiday and conference centre and the administrative and commercial hub of the Garden Route.- Location :...
, a second line city in South Africa's Western Cape
Western Cape
The Western Cape is a province in the south west of South Africa. The capital is Cape Town. Prior to 1994, the region that now forms the Western Cape was part of the much larger Cape Province...
. His design firm was subsequently commissioned to design a notable MICE
MICE
-Fiction:*Mice , alien species in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*The Mice -Acronyms:* "Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions", facilities terminology for events...
-centric R28 billion urban development project there, better known as Destiny Africa. The high profile project was unveiled by the Premier of Western Cape, Helen Zille
Helen Zille
Helen Zille is the Premier of the Western Cape, a member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament, leader of South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance political party, and a former Mayor of Cape Town.Zille is a former journalist and anti-apartheid activist, and famously exposed the truth...
on 6 November 2009. Wong shrewdly maps REIT model with a combination of a hybrid project finance and corporate finance model into real estate development, which satisfy many local banks who do not see any other viable models of financing large projects.
In mid-2010, Wong took an intense interest in Boutique Hotel
Boutique hotel
Boutique hotel is a term popularized in North America and the United Kingdom to describe intimate, usually luxurious or unique hotel environments. Boutique hotels differentiate themselves from larger chain/branded hotels and motels by providing personalized accommodation and services / facilities...
sector and was believed to partner his investment funds forming new venture funds to build, acquire and remodel a portfolio of hotels in Mauritius, South Africa and Pakistan to complement those already in works in ASEAN and China. He also shifted one of the more controversial but industry changing integrated global procurement programme which he seeded into M2C International of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, known as GloProc, out of Destiny Africa programme into a stand-alone programme based in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
. Wong uses Cape Town as a staging point for investment into the southern and central part of continent Africa. He is widely rumored to support Cape Town Velodrome redevelopment albeit not having any direct stakes in the project. His involvement probably stemmed from GloProc securing the procurement contract for the development.
Wong had also taken an interest and invested into Lormont, a specialty collectible wine company via his Singapore strategic joint investment holding company, ShyanWest, which he is known to hold an equity with Mr. Franco van der Weisthuizen. Wong is also known to take a keen personal interest in the highly lucrative China diamond business channel, and targeted high volume markets of Panyu, Guangdong. Wong is known to leveraged his strategically and personalised high-end markets of China with that of the selective diamond production base in South Africa. He is also known to be one of the potential backer of a new diamond investment fund based in ASEAN.
South America
Wong's love affair with Latin America is short-lived, flirting with the possibility to enter the market via Sao Paolo, Brazil. His other attempt is to enter the market via Venezuela which resulted to a non-starter.Affiliations and Awards
Wong is highly popular, widely celebrated and acknowledged for his consistent contribution to the development of Chinese Entrepreneurs in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia via the Chinese Entrepreneurs Network which he was affiliated and chaired since November 2008. He had received numerous awards and tokens of appreciations in all the 39 sessions that he had continuously chaired.Wong was presented with Melvin Jones Fellowship, the highest honour given by Lions Club International Foundation (LCIF), awarded by Lions Club Ipoh Central in August 2011.
Wong was conferred his honorary doctorate in 2007.
He is a practicing architect and registered with the Board of Architects, Singapore. He is also a corporate member of Royal Institute of British Architects
Royal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally.-History:...
and an associate of American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...
.
He was nominated and appointed the Chairman of International Architects Salon from 2003 to 2006. He was also a member of the jury for International Tianjin Music Hall Design Competition.
Wong also served as the head of organising secretariat for Singapore E-Global Awards of 2003 and 2004.