8 SINGAPORE NEWS The Business Times, Thursday, August 13, 2009

It’s Crocodile for New insurance

30,000-strong
YOG workforce
Lifestyle fashion
group is first SME
to become Tier 1
Games sponsor
By LEE U-WEN
WHEN the inaugural Youth
Olympic Games (YOG) rolls
around next year, more
than 30,000 people in-
volved in putting the event
together will be decked out
in clothes by home-grown
Crocodile International.
Unveiled as the latest
sponsor of the Games, the
62-year-old lifestyle fash-
ion group is also the first lo-
cal small and medium-
sized enterprise (SME) to
get on board the YOG spon-
sorship bandwagon, as offi-
cial apparel partner.
While the exact amount
of its commitment was not
disclosed at yesterday’s
signing ceremony, Croco-
dile is part of the prestig-
ious Tier 1 sponsorship
group, which means that it
gets exclusive rights in this
particular product category
and receives maximum ex-
posure for its brand by be-
ing associated with the Ol-
Dr Balakrishnan:
Feedback on the Asian
Youth Games will be
lessons for the YOG
ympic rings and other
YOG-related images.
The 30,000-strong YOG
workforce – including vol-
unteers, technical officials,
torchbearers and relay es-
corts – will all be attired by
Crocodile, YOG organising
committee CEO Goh Kee
Nguan said at a media con-
ference at the Fairmont Sin-
gapore yesterday.
So far, there are 45 spon-
sors for YOG, which will fea-
ture some 3,600 top ath-
letes and 1,400 coaches
and managers, who will fly
into Singapore to take part
in 26 Olympic sports.
Giving an update on the
progress in organising the
Games since winning the
bid 18 months ago, Commu-
nity Development, Youth
and Sports Minister Vivian
Balakrishnan said that eve-
rything is “on track and on
time”.
He also gave his take on
some of the negative feed-
back received during last
month’s Asian Youth
Games, which was used as
a testing bed for YOG.
He cited some issues –
poor attendance at events,
a lack of publicity and irreg-
ular updating of the official
website with scores and lat-
est news – as lessons that
the YOG committee will
study to ensure that there is
no repeat.
“We have a couple of
hundred thousand tickets
available for all the YOG
events, so we hope to have
all the stadiums and cen-
tres filled with fans,” said
Dr Balakrishnan. “It would
be a waste if people don’t
show up and support the
event, having put in all the
effort to organise it. We will
ramp up our publicity and
create greater awareness.”
Like its elder sibling the
Summer Olympics, YOG
will have its own one-year
countdown clock in the
lead-up to the opening cere-
mony on Aug 14 next year
at the Marina Bay floating
platform.
A gala event featuring a
concert, party and an Olym-
pic Day run, among other
things, will be held at the
Padang tomorrow. The
highlight of the evening will
be the unveiling of the
Omega-sponsored count-
down clock by Senior Minis-
ter and Coordinating Minis-
ter for National Security
S Jayakumar.
LIANHE ZAOBAO
Marking time:
A one-year countdown
clock at the Padang
being installed in the
lead-up to the opening
ceremony of the YOG
on Aug 14 next year
premiums up
39% in Q2
Figures indicate that
continued recovery
may be in sight: LIA
By JUSTIN CHAN
LIFE insurance sales have
risen in the second quarter,
with total new business pre-
miums up about 39 per
cent at $1.13 billion from a
quarter earlier.
The Q2 figure is also
some 9 per cent up from Q4
2008, said the Life Insu-
rance Association of Singa-
pore (LIA) yesterday.
Sales in Q1 came to
$817.9 million, giving a
half-year total of $1.95 bil-
lion, or a more than 64 per
cent drop from the same pe-
riod last year.
But last year’s $5.48 bil-
lion was partly driven by
impending CPF investment
scheme restrictions that
took effect in April 2008,
while this year’s showing
comes in the wake of the fi-
nancial meltdown of Sep-
tember.
LIA president Darren
Thomson said that the
anomalies between the first
half of 2009 and the same
period last year do not al-
low for a fair analysis of
sales. “The environment
and consumer sentiment
were starkly different at
these points in time.”
He also said that the up-
turn in Q2 sales while mar-
ket conditions are still on
the mend point to a definite
bright spark, following a
string of quarterly drops.
“Like most businesses, our
industry has had to brace it-
self to ride out the storm.
The latest sales figures indi-
cate that continued reco-
very may well be in sight.”
Continuing a trend in
the past few quarters, sin-
gle premium policies ac-
counted for the bulk of
sales, at $896.6 million.
The remainder is from an-
nual premium policies.
Distribution-wise, the
tied agency channel ac-
counted for more than half
of new business. The rest
came mainly from banks
and licensed financial advi-
sers.
Mr Thomson said that
the insurance industry has
managed to weather the cri-
sis well, and that while
many of the more esta-
blished players had to cut
staff a tad, the new opportu-
nities afforded by new en-
trants kept the overall man-
power count stable.
On claims payout, LIA
said that, up to end-June,
the industry paid out $2.48
billion to policyholders and
beneficiaries. Of this, $189
million was for death, criti-
cal illness or disability
claims. The rest was for pol-
icies that matured.

Making a big splash across the region

Aik Moh’s success lies in its experienced and forward-looking staff that cover the entire spectrum from management to
production and sales, report ABIGAIL CHONG YAN-LING, COLIN JEREMY LIM KEYUAN and AMANDA TAN YAN YING

Ms Irvine: ‘We’ve added
a beautiful new Moroccan
style chill out area’
S
TARTING with just five employ-
ees and a single paint and sol-
vent distribution shop in the
1980s, Aik Moh Paints & Chemi-
cals has come a long way, mak-
ing its mark as a reputable chemical dis-
tributor and related-services provider.
Today, Aik Moh has two factories in Sin-
gapore and one in Batam, and a strong

Amber market presence in many Asia-Pacific

countries.
A milestone in the company’s histo-

Lounge ry is its winning last year of the Enter-

prise 50 Award, organised by The Busi-
ness Times and KPMG LLP. In addition,
making the company is, for the third year run-
ning, in the Top 100 by Sales of the an-

comeback nual SME 500 Awards organised by DP

during F1
By NISHA RAMCHANDANI
TOUTED as the exclusive
party playground for For-
mula One, Amber Lounge is
coming back to town dur-
ing Sept 26 to 27, making
Singapore one of only four
venues to host the nightlife
event this year.
The purpose-built venue
at Temasek Avenue played
host to 15 F1 drivers as
well as celebrities and
race-goers at the inaugural
Singapore Grand Prix last
year, organisers said.
Founded in 2003 by So-
nia Irvine, sister of ex-Fer-
rari F1 star Eddie Irvine,
Amber has positioned itself
as the party venue of choice
for the racing fraternity.
This year, “we’re slight-
ly revising the layout of our
venue so we can make even
more of the spectacular
backdrop of the Water Wall
at Temasek Reflection, and
we’ve also added a beauti-
ful new Moroccan style chill
out area,” Ms Irvine said.
Internationally re-
nowned DJ “Jack E”, who
has just spent the summer
spinning in St Tropez and
Ibiza, will man the decks,
but three other DJs will al-
so play each night. Individu-
al passes cost 500 euros
(S$1026) per head, while ta-
bles, which seat eight,
range from 3,995 to 15,000
euros.
Amber Lounge’s other
destinations this year are
Barcelona, Monaco and
Abu Dhabi, but Singapore’s
night race lets the organis-
ers offer guests something
a little different.“Quite a
few of our guests came
straight from the track last
year, which is a unique fea-
ture of the Singapore
event,” Ms Irvine said.
Information Group.
Aik Moh’s success lies in its experi-
enced, competent and forward-looking
teams that cover the entire spectrum
from management to production and
sales. It is through their shrewd fore-
sight and capabilities that the company
has evolved over time, changing and
adapting its core businesses to main-
tain its relevance in the marketplace.
Competitive edge
Executive director Roy Tan Keng Hong
explains that Aik Moh adopts a simple
yet unique distribution model. The com-
pany acquires chemicals in bulk direct-
ly from manufacturers, rather than
from the spot trading market or chemi-
cal traders. These chemicals are subse-
quently repacked and mixed according
to their customers’ requests, and
promptly delivered via the company’s
in-house fleet.
According to Mr Tan, the Singapore
manufacturing sector faces huge compe-
tition from the emerging economies,
and this has caused a decline in local de-
mand for chemicals. In the face of such
pressure, Aik Moh has demonstrated its
ability to adapt and continually improve
to remain competitive.
For example, the company has tak-
en various steps to enhance its value
chain. It is now no longer just another
distributor; instead, the company has
gone on to offer other value-added
chemical-related services on top of its
normal trading business. Such services
include the blending of chemicals, ware-
housing and drumming.
Mr Tan acknowledges that with the
decline in demand for industrial chemi-
cals, the blending business will become
an important source of revenue.
He explains that Aik Moh’s target for
such value-added services is multina-
tional corporations (MNCs) that are
looking to outsource their chemical op-
erations function. With these services,
Aik Moh can fit into different value
chains as required by its customers.
“We can offer our products simply as
a passive distributor, or provide the full
service of producing, packing and stor-
ing the end-product and delivering the
finished goods to the MNCs’ end-con-
sumers directly.”
Product myopia has long been the
bane of many a failed company and Aik
Moh strives to avoid it by regularly re-
viewing its strategic plans, taking a
hard look at its product range and fac-
toring market changes to ensure its
products are updated to meet demand.
As an example, in order to meet the
demands of the growing pharmaceuti-
cal and biomedical sectors in Singa-
pore, the company has diversified its
product offering to include laboratory-
grade chemicals.
Similarly, in order to meet the de-
mands of the growing solar energy in-
dustry in Singapore, the company has
also introduced chemical products used
in this area. According to Mr Tan, Aik
Moh closely monitors this upcoming in-
dustry, and works with its suppliers to
ensure that the company gets a head-
start.
Gearing for growth
Aik Moh also cuts no corners when it
comes to maintaining and improving
upon operation standards. Of special fo-
cus are the company’s environmental
and safety standards, as reflected in the
Responsible Care initiative. Responsi-
ble Care is the chemical industry’s glo-
bal voluntary initiative under which
companies, through the Singapore
Chemical Industry Council, work togeth-
er to continually improve operations in
terms of health, safety and environmen-
tal standards.
In spite of the global downturn, Aik
Moh does not believe in quick fixes dur-
ing bad times and has therefore re-
tained its staff. The company believes
that it is their highly experienced and
competent management, sales and pro-
duction teams that will help Aik Moh to
continue fulfilling customers’ expecta-
tions and consequently ride out the re-
cession.
In addition, it believes in building up
capabilities for the upturn. Mr Tan
says: “Aik Moh closely monitors market
trends and is on the constant lookout to
increase its portfolio to serve new initia-
tives, and to define the company’s next
phase of growth.”
A prime example of Aik Moh’s
search for growth opportunities and ex-
pansion beyond its core businesses
would be its recent venture into the
clean energy industry via wholly owned
subsidiary Advon Singapore Pte Ltd.
Meeting the increasing demand for
green initiatives, the company focuses
on environmental products and servic-
es with the use of clean energy and new
technologies.
Together with the National Universi-
ty of Singapore and two other Japanese
universities, the company is in the
midst of developing and commercialis-
ing the patented Adsorption Desalina-
ARTHUR LEE
tion system. Unlike conventional re- Staying competitive: Aik Moh
verse osmosis systems, this method can chairman Tan Kah Moh. Despite the
be powered by solar energy or recycled current challenging times, Aik Moh is
waste heat from industrial plants. continually expanding, capturing
With the support of Spring Singa- unique windows of opportunities to
pore, the company is in the process of remain innovative and ahead of the
installing this absorption desalination competition
prototype at a giant pharmaceutical fa-
cility in Singapore.
In March 2009, as recognition of its
environmental efforts, Advon Singa-
pore clinched the third prize in the Asia
Forum for Clean Energy Financing.
This was organised by the Climate Tech-
nology Initiative, which is part of the In-
ternational Energy Agency, an intergov-
ernmental organisation based in Paris.
Forging ahead
Starting in the heartlands with its very
first distribution shop in Jalan Besar,
Aik Moh has made great strides in the
past 20 years. Despite the current chal-
lenging times, the company is continual- Published every Tuesday and Thursday,
ly expanding, capturing unique win- this series is part of the Enterprise 50
dows of opportunities to remain innova- Educational Project between the E50
tive and ahead of the competition. It is partners and the NUS Business School.
this forward-looking planning and busi- Aik Moh Paints & Chemicals was one
ness acumen that prime Aik Moh for of the E50 winners in 2008. The annual
the future, moving the company E50 ranking is co-organised by The
straight from the heartlands into the Business Times and KPMG, sponsored
world. by OCBC Bank, and supported by
Spring Singapore, IE Singapore and
The writers are students of NUS
Infocomm Development Authority.
Business School