Prestige Singapore: 40 Under 40

7/25/2019 Prestige Singapore: 40 Under 40

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40under40

SEPTEMBER PRESTIGE

This years roll call of rising stars hail from diverse sectors of industry and society.

Some help further medical research, others broker billion-dollar deals, or defineexcellence in their creative pursuits. All are leaders in their own right who share in acommon goal making tomorrow a better, more exhilarating yet inclusive place to be.

BYLYDIANNEYAP, DAZZLYNKOH, SARAYAPANDHILLARYKANG

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Dawn NgArtist, 32

You might be familia r with Walter,

the colossal white inflatable bunny

with a knack for popping up in

the uncanniest of places across

Singapore, turning everyday

scenes into places of whimsical

wonderment. Now meet the artist

behind this rebellious rabbit: Dawn

Ng. Having been dubbed the tour

de force of the local art scene,

Ngs sometimes irreverent but

Jackie LeeEntrepreneur, 38

From offering advertising services

to selling sommelier-selected

wines, Jackie Lees businesses

under investment holding company

Kyosei Ventures where he is

managing partner may seem

an odd mix. But Lee explains they

share a common objective: To show

clients how to leverage on new

media and digital technology forboth personal and work use.

For instance, his advertising

agency, clickTrue, provides

services such as social media

marketing, while wine retailer

The French Cellar lets customers

order wine online. Lee hopes his

companies can break new ground

in this Internet era somewhat

like a digital utilities group where

anyone with a digital initiative will

require [our] services or advice.

Always an intrepid entrepreneur,

Lee also co-founded the online

portal HardwareZone.com with

four friends in 1998.

The joy of running a start-up,

fuels him each day, he explains.

[It is] the diversity, the creating

something out of nothing, the

people I meet in the course of workand my other founders who share

a common goal thatinspires me

the most.

always inspiring creations have gone on

to receive numerous commissions from the

Singapore Art Museum.

She has also staged solo and public

exhibitions, including her latest work

Windowshop, a collection of nostalgic

curiosities and knick-knacks from Singapores

yesteryear, at the Chan Hampe Galleries

Singapore. Despite her portfolio, Ng hates

being called an artist. It stands for too much

and nothing at all at the same time, she says. I

like creating things and I plan to do that for the

rest of my life. What you call a person who does

that is irrelevant.

Sanveer GillDirector, Gill Capital, 30

By the time he was 14, Sanveer

Gill had played football with Andy

Cole, tennis with Michael Chang

and basketball with Shaquille

ONeal all thanks to the fact that

his family ran sports retail empire

Royal Sporting House back then.

Having divested in 2007, the

family now spearheads Gill Capital

and manages a diverse portfolio

of fashion, dining and lifestyle

concepts including iwannagohome!

and Candylicious. Being able to

meet the incredible people that myfamily worked with was the best

education I could have asked for,

says the 30-year-old. It moulded

my mindset in a different way.

Presently a director at Gill

Capital, the younger of two children

spends most of his time running

H&M franchises in Indonesia and

Thailand through the familys

holding companies Mthai and

Hindo. Gill considers himself an

entrepreneurial capitalist as well,

with investments in a wide variety

of start-ups across Asia, Europe

and the US. A lot of start-ups have

great ideas, but sometimes need

guidance on how to structure and

grow their businesses this is

something that I have experience

in and would like to pass on both

professionally and socially, saysGill who has also just returned from

volunteering at an orphanage in

Chiang Mai.

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Elizabeth KongDirector, Stamford Law Corporation, 32

A go-to rising star for corporate

law matters, Kongs broad practice

includes mergers and acquisitions,

equity capital markets, corporate

finance and securities regulations.

Given the nature of her practice, she

regularly deals with transactions worth

billions, including advising F&N in its

US$4.5 billion divestment of its stake

in APB; Fortis in its US$2.3 billion

offer for Parkway; and NOL in its US$1

billion rights issue.

Acknowledged in notable legal

publications such as Chambers

Asia, Legal 500, AsiaLaw Leading

Lawyersand Lawyer Monthly, the legal

eagle is also a trustee of Cambridge

Assessment Singapore and a fellow of

the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust.

I have a passion for law and the

legal practice, just like an artisan would

have for his craft. And to be able to

help my clients reach their objectives

gives me an enormous sense of

satisfaction, she shares. Yet while

Kong may love the law, there is one

aspect that grates on her nerves the

usage of Latin legal terms. Lawyers

sometimes hide behind legalese or

fancy jargons to appear sophisticated;

I avoid using them altogether. The lawshould be expressed in plain English

and should not be the domain of just

lawyers and academics, she says.

SEPTEMBER PRESTIGE

Aseem Kumar ThakurSocial Entrepreneur, 28

Toothpaste is peddled with far

more sophistication than the

lifesaving work of aid groups,

declared one writer in the New York

Times. Troubled by this statement,

Aseem Kumar Thakur sought

to create a platform that would

make donating easier and more

accessible for people: A simpleidea but one that snowballed into a

greater cause.

Together with a classmate from

NUS, Thakur founded Give.sg

in 2009, an online platform that

allowed people to set up their

own charitable initiatives in a fun

and hassle-free manner. Take, for

example, the Run for Autism cause

set up by brothers Daniel and Ethan

Khor through Give.sg, it raised

$7,500 last year in conjunction with

the Standard Chartered Marathon.

In 2012, Thakur expanded the

platform across Asia, resulting in

GIVEasia, which received a special

mention from the Presidents

Challenge that year. It is amazing

to see everyday people fundraise

for causes they believe in, says

Thakur, who has raised over$5 million for various charities

through GIVEasia so far.

Pang Kok KeongChef-Owner, 39

Being a chef had always been Pang Kok Keongs

childhood ambition, but he never expected to

go into pastry-making. Hoping to learn the

ropes, he started out as a kitchen helper in

coffee shops during his secondary school days.

Back then, his ideas of pastries were confined

to pandan chiffon cakes and coconut buns from

the neighbourhood bakery. Then came a chance

internship in the pastry kitchen of the now-defunct Oberoi Imperial Hotel, where Pang was

placed because it was short-handed. There, he

picked up skills in creating sweet offerings such

as chocolates and desserts.

Today, he helms French

patisserie-inspired Antoinette and

Western bistro Pique Nique. Both

come under his Sugar Daddy Group

of restaurants, which was set up in

2010. Despite winning accolades

such as the Pastry Chef of the Year

award thrice at the World Gourmet

Summit, Pang remains down-to-

earth. I appreciate the recognition,

but the greatest acknowledgementis [having a loyal customer] who

has been ordering cakes from me

for the past 10 years, he says.

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Stefanie SunSinger, 35

Arguably one of Singapores most

successful singers, Stefanie Sun

emerged from her two-year-

long hiatus in dazzling fashion

by performing at the newly built

National Stadium in early July.

Despite having been overseas for

the larger part of her illustrious

career (most of her internationally

acclaimed albums, of which she

has sold over 30 million copies

worldwide, were recorded in Taiwan), the

songstress clearly has not waned in popularity

back home. Her Singapore concert was

reportedly sold out within moments of going

on sale.

These days, the Mando-pop starlet is busy

travelling the world to promote her 12th studio

album Kepler and spending time with her

young son, nicknamed Little Nadim. When

youre a mum, therere some things that are not

that critical anymore like whether I am still

popular, said Sun in a separate interview. If Im

super popular, then thats greatif Im not, maybe

Ill shed a tear and get back to being a mum.

Kevin SeahBespoke tailor, 39

Some men dread the idea of

shopping, because it entails going

from store to store in search of the

perfect outfit, or worse, spending

hours waiting for their significant

others to try on clothes. For Kevin

Seah, his dislike for shopping

stems from neither reason. He

doesnt enjoy retail therapy simply

because he already devotes so

much of his time working around

apparel at his bespoke label.

It has always been a pain to

shop for myself because I know

too much about clothes, says

Seah, whose eponymous brand

specialises in menswear. He

describes his designs as made

for the wearer and must always

represent the world of the wearer.

The self-professed Anglophile also

draws inspiration from the classic

British Savile Row style of tailoring.

More recently, he started the

Kevin Seah Bespoke Denim

service, which uses denim sourced

from Japan and is inspired by his

own difficulties in finding the right

pair of well-fitting jeans.

He says: I want to offer whatmost tailors dont want to do and

show people what we are capable

of doing with tai loring.CORBIS

Vincent HaCo-Founder, Gushcloud, 30

By the age of seven, Vincent Ha

was already earning his keep. The

budding entrepreneur rented fiction

and gaming books from bookstores

at $2 a week, then proceeded to loa n

them to his classmates for a fee. I

charged my classmates $0.50 to $1

a day to borrow those books from

me, depending on demand, recalls

Ha, with a laugh. My mum told me it

was illegal because I did not register

a business and so asked me to return

the money to my friends.

Today, Ha is the co-founder

and CEO of Gushcloud, a digital

creative agency that specialises in

influencer marketing and which,

yes, is a legally registered firm.

Since its establishment in 2011,

Gushcloud has served over 500

clients and has launched over 1,000

campaigns for brands including

SingTel, KLM Dutch Airways and

Unilever. We help connect brands

to influencers [who will] reach and

engage its audiences with [social

media] content, he explains.

Of course, for someone as

entrepreneurial as him, his business

dealings dont end there. The

30-year-old also owns The Barnett

Group, an integrated marketing

communications agency that

offers creative, branding and social

media marketing services. He is

also a silent partner at Big 3 Media,a leading video production house in

Singapore that he co-founded with a

friend while at university.

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Grace SaiCo-Founder, The Hub Singapore, 30

A believer in using business to solve

social problems and not just to

maximise self-profits Grace Sai

set up The Hub Singapore in 2012

to provide a space for discussion,

networking and incubation

programmes relating to social

enterprises. Its original 25 members

has since ballooned beyond 500,

revenue streams are healthy and

there are plans for expansion with a

Hub 2.0 in the works.

The former Nanyang Business

School graduate, who also holds a

Masters of Business Administration

from Oxford University, was

previously a strategy consultant who

went off the beaten path by plunging

into rural Indonesia in 2008 to set up

her first social enterprise Books

for Hope at the age of 24. I was

unsure of what to do with my life then

and the idea of setting up libraries

for children came to me in a dream

one night. Somehow it just felt right,

so I went with it and was very happy

that everything worked out well,

she shares. Within the year, she had

partnered various villages to set up12 libraries for chi ldren. Today, there

are more than 30 libraries stretching

from Bali to Komodo.

SEPTEMBER PRESTIGE

Mohamed Faizal MohamedAbdul KadirGeneral Counsel, 33

Fresh from receiving the Public Administration

Medal (Bronze) at the recent National Day

Awards, Mohamed Faizal is a name to look out

for. General counsel and Director (Legal), at the

Singapore Medical Council, he is also an adjunct

trainer with the Singapore Mediation Centre,

who has been involved in international conflict-

resolution efforts spanning countries such as Fiji,

Lagos and Nigeria.

I have been lucky that in the initiatives I have

been a part of all relate to causes and issues I

am passionate about. I also get the opportunity

to work with and learn from an amazing and

inspiring bunch of people, he says.

Faizal is published internationally and is the

only non-US-based member on the Editorial

Board of the New York International Law Review.

He has also held teaching appointments at the

NUS Faculty of Law and the Singapore Institute

of Legal Education. In 2012, he was appointed by

the president of Singapore to the MUIS Appeal

Board, the apex appellate forum here for Islamic

law. The lawyer, who won the International

Insolvency Institute Gold Medal while pursuinga Masters degree at Harvard Law School, was

also a recipient of the Ten Outstanding Young

Persons (Singapore) Award.

Gen NeoSongwriter, 25

Singapores involvement in the

burgeoning K-pop craze isnt just

limited to hoards of screaming

fangirls. Enter songwriter GenNeo, one of the few if only

Singaporeans whos managed

to break into the Korean music

industry thus far. Forming one-

third of production team The

Noizebank, Neo has produced

tunes for the likes of Super

Junior-M, f(x) and solo songs

for members of K-Pop royalty,

including Super Juniors Donghae

and Eunhyuk.

A graduate of the Berklee

College of Music, Neo got his

break into the Korean music scene

after his classmate Henry Lau

now a member of Super Junior-M

invited him to South Korea

to write music together. Having

produced hits like Its You, Go

and My Love For You for Super

Junior-M, Neo reveals that the

next person he wants to create

songs for is himself. But aside from

his personal singing aspirations,

the 25-year-old has a larger

goal: I hope that by doing this I

can spread Singapores artistic

[talents], giving better chances for

our younger generation around

Asia if not, around the globe.

Li Jing Mei

Research Fellow, 31

There are some cancers which

you die with and some cancers

which you die from my aim is to

contribute to the understanding of

the genetics and biology underlying

the mean cancers, says Dr Li

Jing Mei, one of 15 women from

around the world to be awarded the

LOral-Unesco Women In Science

International Fellowship this year.

Prior to that, the 31-year-old was a

research fellow with the Genome

Institute of Singapore under A*Star.

As par t of the Human Genetics

group, her research delved into the

genetic determinants of complex

diseases, particularly, breast cancer.

Today, she is based in Swedens

Karolinska Institutet under the aegis

of the LOral-Unesco International

Fellowship and is working on

discriminating aggressive cancers

from those with a more favourable

outlook. The path I took wasnt

very rational, says Li of focusing on

breast cancer research. But its very

much like falling in love you dont

know how it happens until you fall

right smack into it.

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Karl ChongEntrepreneur, 32

According to Karl Chong co-

founder of Groupon Singapore,

which was acquired by Groupon

in the US for a rumoured US$24

million the greatest lesson he

has learnt is not to take no for an

answer. If you truly feel passionate

about your newly introduced

service or product, then you needto keep pushing forward with it until

you get your first yes, he says.

More recently, the entrepreneur

launched GoFresh, an Internet grocer with a

free, next-day-delivery service. His idea of

transforming laborious grocery-shopping into

a convenient and user-friendly experience has

paid off with GoFresh now selling 150 different

varieties of fresh meat, seafood and vegetables.

Chong is also an angel investor in several start-

ups in the e-commerce and healthcare markets.

One that he is particularly excited about is his

investment in an assisted living facility for the

elderly that will soon be launched.

In his spare time, he sails, surfs andvolunteers at non-profit organisations to teach

underserved youth how to build their own

start-ups.

Selena YoungSpeech Therapist, 37

After a stint shadowing speech

therapists during her junior collegedays, Dr Selena Young knew it was

the occupation for her because it

encompassed human science, the

arts, language and psychology.

Now head of craniofacial speech

pathology at the Department

of Plastic, Reconstructive

and Aesthetic Surgery at KK

Womens and Childrens Hospital,

she specialises in craniofacial

anomalies defects in the facial

structures and velopharyngeal

dysfunction, working with

abnormalities in the soft palate

muscle. These deformities may

lead to serious problems, such

as distorted facial growth and a

build-up of fluid in the sufferers

brain, which may lead to visual-

impairment or cognitive delay.

But speech and language therapy

can ensure the normalisation

of speech, voice, language and

resonance as early as possible,

says Young.

Outside of her fulfilling and

balanced job, Young is also a

lecturer at NUSs Master of Speech-

Language Pathology programme

and does community work with

medical charity Operation Smile.

Kumaran RasappanOrthopaedic Surgical Resident, Tan

Tock Seng Hospital, 29

In 2012, Dr Kumaran Rasappan

took a one-year sabbatical from Tan

Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) to focus

on one thing: Climbing mountains.

I climbed Mustagh Ata, Cho Oyu,

Ama Dablam, Aconcagua, Ojos

del Salado, San Francisco Peaks,

Lobuche and Everest in that

order, he says. Not your ordinary

thrill-seeker, his climbing spree

was, in fact, fuelled by a desire to

alleviate the plight of less fortunate

individuals in Singapore.

[Through my work], I saw needy

patients and their families struggle

to make ends meet, receive medical

treatment and pay off their medical

bills, says Kumaran. I really wanted

to help these patients out in one

way or another. So the avid climber

decided to marry his passion for

scaling mountains with fundraising

for the hospital by launching No

Mountain Too High.

To date, the initiative has raised

over $40,000 for the TTSH

Community Charity Fund. For three

months overseas, Kumaran also

helped refurbish and run a clinic at

a Phortse, a Himalayan village in theEverest region. For his efforts, the

doctor was awarded the Singapore

Youth Award.

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Pearry TeoFilm-maker, 35

Think Singapores only claim to

fame on the silver screen is Anthony

Chen? You must not have heard of

Pearry Teo, the first Singaporean

to direct a full-length Hollywood

feature film. Propelling Teo into the

limelight is the Gene Generation, a

dystopian sci-fi thriller that stars Bai

Ling and Academy Award-winner

Faye Dunaway.

Other genres in his oeuvre include spine-

chilling horror (Necromentia and Dead Inside)

as well as fantasy. In Witchville, an original

movie he directed for Universals SyFy channel,

Teo imagines a stylish, medieval-feudal period

packed with heart-stopping action. Despite the

dark nature of his films, Teo believes there is a

softer side to film-making. There are so many

things we can learn through films, he says.

About humanity, love, acceptanceyou begin

to realise that we all share one thing in common:

Were hu mans. Its a b eautiful revelation and I

hope to share it with others one day.

Christopher de SouzaLawyer and Member of Parliament,

38

One would expect a lawyer to be

kept busy working long hours.

For Christopher de Souza, his

schedule is even more hectic

he has to balance legal work

with his responsibilities as a

parliamentarian. A litigation partner

at WongPartnership, De Souza

specialises in commercial litigation.

He also takes on criminal briefs,

some of which are pro bono cases.

Away from his law office, the MP for

Holland-Bukit Timah GRC serves

the residents of Ulu Pandan ward.

Its a lot on his plate, but he finds

meaning in both roles. It is very

fulfilling to see a young offender

receive probation rather than a

jail sentence because the judge

has been convinced he deserves

a chance to rehabilitate in the

community. Similar fulfilment is

experienced in MP work, where the

volunteers and I partner residents

through difficult times, says de

Souza, a father of two.

When asked about what he hopes

to accomplish next, he replies: I

hope to be a good husband andfather, a lawyer whom clients can

confide in and an MP who serves

residents with sincerity.

NurulasyiqahMohammad TahaPara-Athlete, 29

Although born with Spinal

Muscular Atrophy, which confines

her to a wheelchair, Nurul leads an

active life. In January, she clinched

two gold medals at the 7th Asean

Para Games.

I hope these achievements

will spur future Boccia players

and support team members towork harder together to achieve

even greater things for Boccia,

disability sports and Singapore,

says the Singapore Youth Award

recipient, who is also the first local

Boccia player to compete at the

Paralympics.

For Nurul, something like

coming down with the flu can be

problematic, because her condition

leaves her too weak to cough out

phlegm. The most recent bout was

at the Boccia World Open Event in

May, but the plucky athlete pushed

through, snagging gold in the BC3

Pair Event.

Next up for her are the Boccia

World Championships and Asian

Para Games. Also gunning to qualify

for the 2016 Paralympic Games, she

has this advice for para-athletes:

Be brave to try new things; you will

never know until you give something

a try. Believe you can be brave.

Jolene ChongHotelier, 30

Before entering university, Jolene Chong never

considered joining the hotel industry. I [aspired]

to be a performer, either to be a singer or dancer,

says Chong, general manager of Hotel Re!, a

boutique hotel owned by her family. But her

focus later switched from the stage to business

management, which attracted her because of

its versatility across any industry and amongst

any occupation. So she studied finance at the

National University of Singapore and worked in

media sales before entering the hotel industry.

As i t turns out, it was t he right choice: The

mother-of-one loves the sales and marketing

aspect of her current job, where she thinks of ways

to make her modern-retro-themed hotel stand

out. The satisfaction you derive from being able

to package and brand something successfully

is unbelievable, says Chong. Without proper

branding, the hotel will be just another building

with rooms and food to offer. Not one for

complacency, she is constantly on the lookoutfor expansion opportunities. In the corporate

world, three senses are critical: Common sense,

business sense and market sense, she says.

Jonathan NgDoctor, 26

When Dr Jonathan Ng was a

student at Raffles Junior College, he

heard an upperclassman recount

an incident in Cambodia, where

a group of doctors had to use

handheld torches to light up their

rudimentary operating theatre due

to a power failure. So moved was

the then 18-year-old that he and

his classmates banded together

to hold a charity concert, raising

over $300,000 to set up a proper

operating theatre at the Angkor

Hospital for Children, which they

later built.

Inspired to do more, Ng took the

helm of Children of Cambodia to

implement programmes for better

child healthcare in 2008. Five years

later, the organisation opened the

countrys first neonatal ward with

funds raised from its numerous

initiatives. Medical training in

Singapore is rigorous and I really

appreciate the times when I travel to

Cambodia, says Ng, who earned the

NUS Student Achievement Awardthis year for his tireless efforts. [Its

where] I remind myself why its all

going to be worth it in the end.

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Zaini OsmanUrban builder, 37

Giving a new lease of life to

heritage sites and using the

income generated to serve the

community is what Zaini Osman,

CEO of Warees Investments, the

real estate development arm of

the Islamic Religious Council of

Singapore (MUIS), finds most

satisfying.

Having studied architectureat the University of Melbourne,

Zaini has always been fascinated

with the built environment and

heritage preservation and it seems working

in real estate investment has brought these

interests together: At Warees, high-potential

assets some of which are heritage sites

are refurbished and income produced goes into

initiatives for the poor.

The best and most rewarding part of this

job is when we disburse proceeds to social

beneficiaries at the end of the project, seeing the

smiles and the positive change impacting their

life, he says.

Zaini is now preparing for Wareess year-end

launch of a semi-detached cluster-housingdevelopment in District 10. Also in the pipeline

are built-to-suit heritage enhancement

projects in the tourist and conservation areas.

Kwok Jia ChuanPro bono consultant, 27

Driven by the desire to give back to

the community that [gave them]

so much, Kwok Jia Chuan and his

best friend wanted to do more than

just organise a one-off event: They

wanted to use their talents to give a

gift that would keep on giving.

In 2011, they set up Conjunct

Consulting, Singapores first pro

bono consulting firm for social

enterprises. To date, the company

has worked with 40 organisations,

two of which went on to be

honoured at this years Presidents

Challenge Social Enterprise Awards.

In 2012, Kwok himself was

nominated for Yahoo!s Singapore

9 award in social enterprise, a prize

that honours role models and future

leaders. Of his aspirations for his

brainchild, Kwok says: I hope that

Conjunct will help to encourage

talented professionals to go beyond

their day jobs and use their skills

to benefit the social sector. In our

opinion, Kwok who works in the

civil sector by day has gone far

beyond the call of duty.

Charina WidjajaCo-Founder, DFW Creative, 29

In 2012, the world was introduced to

the first fully digital, live-streamed

fashion event that allowed viewers

to make instant purchases off the

runway: Digital Fashion Week.

Brought forth by creative agency

DFW Creative, the affair was borne

out of co-founder Charina Widjajas

desire to showcase outstanding

local designers at an international

yet easily accessible level.

The digital platform enables

us to transcend geographical

boundaries, explains Widjaja.

It also allows our designers and

sponsors to enjoy increased

exposure to consumers from all

over the world. The 29-year-old

handles DFW Creatives business

development affairs and is looking

to export the event overseas.

When not scoping out the local

fashion scene for up-and-comers to

feature at her annual extravaganza,

the businesswoman makes time

to volunteer at orphanages andis currently looking to partner a

charity organisation for a fringe

event at this years fashion affair.

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Edgar KieuGeneral Dental Surgeon, Raffles

Dental, 29

Currently dental physician leader

for the Raffles Medical Groups

East cluster of clinics, Kieu was

only 26 when he first managed the

Singapore Prison Services Dental

Services. A graduate of NUS Faculty

of Dentistry where he was awarded

the university-wide Outstanding

Undergraduate Researcher Award

Kieus accelerated career has

seen him go on to receive the Raffles

Medical Group Chairmans Service

Excellence Award 2013 for his

compassion and commitment to

patient welfare.

Away from the office, Kieu is

an active grassroots leader in

Tampines where he was appointed

town councillor in 2013. He has

also chaired or served as a member

of various grassroots committees

over the last six years, serving

youth, elderly and other community

causes. I love meeting people

from all walks of life and working

hand-in-hand to help forge a better

community for all. I also cherish

the opportunity to engage and

empower youths the leaders of

tomorrow, he shares. One initiative

he feels strongly about is Festive

Wishes Come True, a programme

that raises funds to fulfil gift wishes

made by children of lower income

families every December.

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Noel Hidalgo TanArchaeologist, 35

Studying the ruins of ancient civilisations, and

getting down and dirty in an excavation site may

not appeal to some, but for Noel Hidalgo Tan, it

is a way of life. Speaking of his passion for his

field, Tan a senior specialist in archaeology

at the Seameo Regional Centre for Archaeology

and Fine Arts says: Archaeology is one of

those fields where you can still make great aha!

discoveriesits inherently stimulating.

One such discovery by Tan was a 2010

find in the ruins of Cambodias Angkor Wat.

There, he uncovered some 200 never-before-

seen paintings of deities, animals and musical

instruments his biggest haul yet. The PhD

candidate at the Australian National University

got his first brush with archaeology when

he interviewed a curator from the National

Museum of Singapore in 2003. His interest

piqued, he subsequently volunteered for an

excavation effort at St Andrews Cathedral,where he dug up centuries-old ceramic

pieces in what he described as a humbling

experience. The rest, shall we say, is history.

Tang Tee KhoonViolinist, 30

Music can move peoples

hearts. And as a performer, I have

this privilege to do so, says Tang

Tee Khoon, who started playing the

violin at age four.The second recipient of the

1750 J.B.Guadagnini violin under

the National Arts Councils Violin

Loan Scheme the US$490,000

instrument will be in her care

until 2016 Tang made her

concerto appearance at 12 with

the NUS Symphony Orchestra.

But she prefers to not dwell on

her accomplishments. She says: I

dont remember what my proudest

moment is. I am proud if I am able

to do my best.

She is now preparing for Love

and friendship: Mendelssohn, the

Schumanns and Brahms, a concert

that will be held later this month.

Paul TanLawyer, 33

Courtroom dramas such as Matlock

and L.A. Law, John Grisham books

and a love for argument are what

inspired Paul Tan, partner at Rajah

& Tann, Southeast Asias largest lawfirm, to enter the legal sector.

Although the practice of law is

very different from the fictional

accounts, I have no regrets, says

the former national debater and

National University of Singapore

Law alum, whose areas of practice

include commercial litigation,

appellate and international

arbitration his favourite because

of its opportunities to work in new

environments and learn about new

cultures.

His passion for what he does has

paid off: He was recently included

in the Best Lawyers guide a

peer review publication for his

work in commercial litigation and

international arbitration, and was

praised in the Global Arbitration

Review. Despite these accolades,

Tan believes commercial success

is only one way of defining

accomplishment.

Outside of practicing law, Tan is

an adjunct lecturer at the Singapore

Management University where he

nurtures young, aspiring lawyers.

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SEPTEMBER PRESTIGE

Andrew TangRace Car Driver, 19

Andrew Tang has a dream: To

become Singapores first Formula

1 driver. He may well be on his

way, after emerging tops in this

years Toyota Racing Series in New

Zealand.

The first non-New Zealander towin the racing series, he has trained

under the McLaren teams Young

Driver Development Programme

since 2012. Winning is just the passport to more

hard work, he says. There is always someone

else working to be better.

Tang discovered his love for fast cars at age

seven, when his father would take him karting

in Sepang, Malaysia. I have always loved the

adrenaline rush and the feeling of being in control

of a car, he says.

Tang, who recently completed his Basic Military

Training (BMT), intends to train in Sepang andparticipate in races around Asia and Europe. The

best part about doing something you love is that

you never feel like it is work.

Abigail SinPianist, 22

Recipient of the Lee Kuan Yew

Scholarship, Abigail Sin will head

to London this month to pursue

a four-year PhD programme in

performance practice at the Royal

Academy of Music. She hopes hermusic skills can contribute to the

community and show people that

classical music can be a vibrant

force in society

A child prodigy, she won the

HSBC Youth Excellence Award for

Musical Excellence at the age of 10

and at 14 was the youngest student

accepted into the Yong Siew Toh

Conservatory, where she topped

her cohort. Despite her early

successes, Sin remains humble:

Im grateful for what Ive been

given but Im looking forward and

working towards whats ahead.

Sin is currently juggling several

projects, including Play!, a concert

on September 9, where she will

perform alongside violinists Loh Jun

Hong and Gabriel Ng. As she sumsup: There is a long, winding journey

ahead and I still have so much to

learn and grow as an artist.

Cherie TengManaging Director and Head of

Global Corporates Singapore,

Standard Chartered, 38

High-powered banker and highly

involved mother are not often

used to descibe a single person,

except for Cherie Teng the head

of Global Corporates Singapore

at Standard Chartered Bank is a

proud mother of two boys who

believes in seizing the day and

living every day like its the last.As juggling a demanding job

in finance with the needs of two

children is no easy task, Teng

makes it a point to prioritise

and manage expectations. It is

impossible to be mentally and

physically at two places at one

time, she says frankly. The key is

to be aware of your own capacity

and ask for help when you need it,

she adds. I believe that it is okay to

say no, but it is never okay to break

a promise the consequences

are far worse. That formula has

worked well, judging from Tengs

portfolio of both local and regional

roles over the course of her 17-year

career at the bank.

She currently leads a team

of client coverage managersresponsible for managing the banks

largest corporate and institutional

clients operating in Singapore.

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Susan CheongCOO, DBS Consumer Banking

Group (Singapore), 38

Cheongs story is the classic

career tale of talent, vision and

company loyalty. She first joined

DBS Bank in 1998 as a management

trainee upon graduation from

Nanyang Business School. In just

a decade, she rose through the

ranks to become the managing

director and head of Customer

Experience & Operations at the

Consumer Banking Group (CBG)

before assuming the role of Chief

Operating Officer last month.

On how she keeps things fresh

despite being with the same firm for16 years (my colleagues say that I

am a fixed asset a t DBS, she jokes),

Cheong lets on that her role changes

every two to three years which h elps

to keep things going. She also takes

a keen interest in listening to how

entrepreneurs conceptualise and

start up their businesses. I find it

very exciting. They have motivation,

a lot of guts and most importantly,

are very happy doing what they do.

The serial online-shopper (as she

describes herself tongue-in-cheek)

also believes that online businesses

are the future: It gives resourceful

people flexibility with low overhead

costs. With a lot of support from

the government, I believe online

businesses have a bright future

here. The mother of two boys is alsoa watch enthusiast.

SEPTEMBER PRESTIGE

Royston TayTechnopreneur, 31

In 2007, Royston Tay and a few friends started

Zopim, a cloud-based customer service chat

platform, out of a small office space provided

by NUS, their alma mater. This April, the once-

low-profile firm made headlines after being

acquired by San Francisco-based customer

service company Zendesk for US$30 million

a move that will reportedly grant each of its co-

founders up to $7.7 million in cash and stock

options after a three-year period.

The road to success for Tay and companywas not an easy one for two years, all co-

founders received monthly salaries of $500.

Even then, they voluntarily took pay cuts before

the company found its footing in

late 2008 when after introducing

a paid subscription plan for their

service, adoption rate picked up,

putting the tech firm on an upward

growth trajectory. Naturally, it

was a tough decision to let go of

Zopim, says the CEO of Zompin.

But in a way, we dont feel like

were selling our baby. It feels

more like finding godparents who

are willing to shower as much love

and attention as we did.Zendesk has since filed an IPO

on the New York Stock Exchange

to raise $150 million for Zopim.

Wan YueScientist, 30

Theres an invisible threat to our

healthcare system, one that could

potentially take us back to the pre-antibiotic era where even simple

infections might be deadly and

scientist Wan Yue is determined to

tackle it.

The threat is antimicrobial

resistance (AMR), where bacteria

and viruses cannot be easily cured

by antibiotics. This means diseases

such as pneumonia and diarrhoea

could become more difficult to

treat. Wans mission is to study

the genes of microorganisms,

so she can find out how bacteria

and viruses become resistant to

antibiotics.

Her research has led her to

become the first Singaporean

recipient of the Branco Weiss

Fellowship given by Swiss-based

philanthropic organisation Society

in Science, which comes with agrant of $700,000. The fellowship

motivates me to drive my research

towards areas that can most

benefit our society, says Wan,

who is a fellow at A*Stars Genome

Institute of Singapore.

Apart from her scientific

endeavours, there is something

else that has been keeping her

busy: Motherhood.

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Zul OthmanArtist, 35

Zul Othman is on a mission. Having

founded RSCLS (pronounced

rascals), a collective that

promotes and develops urbanart, and taken the local art scene

by storm with his bold graffiti,

Othman has been integral in

helping his discipline achieve an

unprecedented level of exposure in

Singapore though it seems it is a

continual task.

RSCLS and myself have been

busy advocating for the opening up

of public spaces for graffiti murals

and such, says Othman, who

received the Young Artist Award

in 2013 for contributions to the

art scene. Without these spaces,

street art will just disappear.

But with frequently held public

talks, workshops and mentorship

programmes organised by the

artist, along with displaying his

works in public galleries like theSingapore Art Museum and The

Substation, street art in Singapore

may have hope yet.

Pat LawCreative, 33

Following the norm is the last thing that Pat

Laws marketing agency Goodstuph aims to

do. God forbid, wed ever use Lotus Notes,

she thought when setting up shop in 2010.

What Goodstuph does is combine witty socially

driven, word-of-mouth promotion and digital

marketing, generating campaigns for clients

such as Nike, HP and Bobbi Brown.

The agency also teamed up with FLY

Entertainment to launch Bar Naked, a watering

hole that serves as a blank canvas for brands

to turn into a living advertisement. Of her latestbrainchild, she says: Its a show of creativity; and

why not? Surely we can do more than a Facebook

page or a photo competition on Instagram.

Nicholas ChanEntrepreneur, 36

Starting a business can be

unpredictable but Nicholas Chan

has nurtured his entrepreneurial

streak since his teenage years,

starting his first IT trading and

consulting enterprise with a

classmate while studying at a local

polytechnic. The firm did well,

enabling him and his business

partner to make a comfortable

living. Today, Chan is the founder

and director of venture capitalist

firm Azione Capital, co-founder

of OpenRecruiters, a cloud-

based recruitment platform

and Maelstrom Asia, a military

simulation paintball war-gaming

company.

Being an entrepreneur typically

involves frequent communication,

so it may come as a surprise that

Chan was diagnosed with mild

autism in his late teens, which he

spent living in [his] own world

ignoring or minimising human

contact. Chan has since come along way. His accolades include

winning the Young Professional

of the Year award at the IT Leader

Awards organised by the Singapore

Computer Society in February. But

he remains down-to-earth about

his accomplishments. Everyone

has the same opportunity to be

called to greatness, no matter ones

situation or background, he says.

Mohamed JinnaDirector, MES Group, 31

He may be in charge of managing the

logistics and warehousing division

of Mini Environment Service (MES)

and overseeing operations at

The Leo the first purpose-built

housing facility for foreign workers

to receive the Green Mark Gold Plus

award but Mohamed Jinna has

bigger dreams.

The group founded by his fatherMohamed Abdul Jaleel has a

portfolio that provides integrated

property and facilities management

solutions, of which he hopes to

strengthen and broaden. Entering

F&B and hospitality, land acquisition

and new fields of logistics are

various projects and ideas he has

underway. One of which is The

Daulat a 16-room boutique hotel

in Little India which he manages.

He is also developing a 100-room

serviced apartment project and is

looking into buying a magnesium

mine in China.

With so much on his plate, what

is his guiding philosophy? In both

business and my personal life,

I always make it a point to treat

people with honesty, sincerity andloyalty, he shares principles he

inherited from his father, a well-

known philanthropist.

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Chen ZhangyiComposer, 30

Can Singaporean culture and

Western opera go well together?

Yes, according to composer Chen

Zhangyi, who has come up with

works such as last years Laksa

Cantata and the recent chamber

operatic Window Shopping

(inspired by Singaporeans love for

retail therapy.)

Chens love for music began

at age 10, when he picked up the

violin and promptly fell in love.

At 17, he began composing and

earlier this year received the Paul

Abisheganaden Grant for Artistic

Excellence, which funded a four-week stint at leading Parisian

conservatories. Perhaps it is the

sheer beauty of music, especially

beautiful harmonies, timbres and

textures that drew me in, he says.

Chen is now in talks to launch

a new work at NUS Arts Festival

next year. Other future projects

include exploring Chinese

instruments such as the zither.Singapore is actually the perfect

place for cross-cultural musical

interaction, he says.

ART DIRECTOR CLEMENTINUS LIEM

PHOTOGRAPHER MICKY WONG

HAIR AND MAKEUP ARTIST JOI LEONG

JOI THE MAKEUP BAR

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ULTRA THIN ON CHOCOLATETONED

DIAL WITH CASA FAGLIANO LEATHER STRAP,

FROM JAEGERLECOULTRE

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GRACE SAI WEARS THE RENDEZVOUS DATE,


KUMARAN RASAPPAN WEARS THE MASTER

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CHARINA WIDJAJA WEARS THE RENDEZVOUS


EDGAR KIEU WEARS THE MASTER

GRANDE TRADITION TOURBILLON

CYLINDRIQUE QUANTIME PERPTUEL,


CHERIE TENG WEARS THE RENDEZVOUS


SUSAN CHEONG WEARS THE GRANDE

REVERSO LADY ULTRA THIN WITH VALEXTRA

STRAP, EXCLUSIVE TO JAEGERLECOULTRE

BOUTIQUE

JINNA MOHAMED WEARS THE

DUOMTRE UNIQUE TRAVEL TIME,


Roshni SelvamEquestrian and Veterinarian, 38

Competitive in show-jumping and dressage, Dr

Roshni Selvam is Singapores only veterinary

delegate for Fdration Equestre Internationale

(FEI), the regulating body for equestrian events.

As founder of the Equine Veterinary Practice, she

also assisted in the transfer of horses for the 2010

Youth Olympic Games.

Growing up with horses, I was distraught

whenever one of the riding school horses had to

be put down after an injury. I wanted to be a vet

very early on so that I could learn how to treat and

care for them, says Selvam, who competed at

the Prix St Georges level in Florida this year. She

is currently training to represent Singapore in

equestrian events at the 2015 SEA Games.

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Prestige Singapore: 40 Under 40