Chief Change Officer - Out of the Comfort Zone: Singaporean Chris Quek’s Quest to Build His Own Legacy Beyond the Family Empire - Part 2

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

Christopher Quek wants to be his own man. In this episode and the last, I talk to Chris, a third-generation member of a well-established family business in Singapore. Against his father’s expectations, he left the family business and his home country to pursue entrepreneurship in Malaysia, where he became an e-commerce entrepreneur. Upon returning to Singapore, he sold his inheritance to raise the setup capital for his venture capital firm TRIVE. We explore his journey of transformation in two parts. Last episode focuses on his pursuit of his own identity—his desires, his actions, the why and the how. In this episode, we’ll dive into his current work as a VC investor, building up the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Singapore and Southeast Asia. We’ll discuss the legacy he hopes to create for his country and the region; and we’ll explore his expectations for his children as a father at age 46. Episode Breakdown: 0:34—Setting the stage and the tone for this and the next episode 2:23—Kicking off with a big question: Is Singapore still relevant after 50 years? Here's an entrepreneurial view "In 2015, when Singapore celebrated its 50th birthday as a nation. Singapore evolved itself out of necessity where it built a whole nation, a workforce of engineers, scientists, bankers, lawyers, doctors, specialists. We started losing a whole generation of entrepreneurs." 7:11—Bridging the Generation Gap: How to Turn ‘Parents’ Old Ways’ into a Future-Proof Family Business "I actually have a network of over 300 family business owners across Southeast Asia. And there's always this common themes that starts first.  Number one, how do I talk to my parents? How do I have a good working relationship with my parents and a family relationship back at home?  Number two, I don't like the way that my parents are doing things and I need to transform this business. How do I convince my parents that I can transform this business as well?" 11:04—Turning Spare Millions into Family Business Magic: The Synergy Cycle of Tech, Money and Southeast Asian Economy "Everyone gets to have food on the table. What we didn't realize that what this family business did was that it took that technology, have more food, more quantity, and decided to sell it cheaper to a poorer province, where those villagers were now able to obtain more quantity of food for their families." 21:35—Breaking the Patriarchal Mold: How Self-Development Earned Me My Father’s Respect "My father has been an Asian patriarch with an iron fist. He now talks to me about the side businesses that he's doing. He asks me as his advisor and no longer sees the son on whom he used to look down." 25:41—Still Figuring It Out: The Never-Ending Saga of Self-Discovery "I still believe that I'm evolving. I'm still learning more in terms of understanding my identity." 28:27—Fatherhood and Fortune: What’s the Game Plan for Your Next Generation, Chris? "Anybody who wants to help the next generation is to be a mentor of values rather than a mentor of processes." Connect with us: Host: Vince Chan | Guest: Christopher Quek Chief Change Officer: Make Change Ambitiously. A Modernist Community for Growth Progressives World's Number One Career Podcast Top 1: US, CA, MX, IE, HU, AT, CH, FI Top 10: GB, FR, SE, DE, TR, IT, ES Top 10: IN, JP, SG, AU  1.3 Million+ Streams 50+ Countries

Hi, everyone. Welcome to our show, Chief Change Officer. I'm Vince Chan, your ambitious human host. Our show is a modernist community for change progressives in organizational and human transformation. In this episode and the last, I'm talking to Christopher Kwak, a third-generation member of a well-established family business in Singapore. Against his father's expectations, he left the family business and his home country to pursue entrepreneurship in Malaysia,

where he became an e-commerce entrepreneur. Upon returning to Singapore, he sold his inheritance to raise the set-up capital for his venture capital firm. Chris wants to be his own man. We've explored his journey of transformation in two parts. The last episode focused on his pursuit of his own identity, his desires, his actions, the why and the how. In this episode, we'll dive into his work as a VC investor, building up the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Singapore and Southeast Asia. We'll discuss the legacy he hopes to create for his country and the region, and we'll talk about his expectations for his children as a father at age 46. I recall you wrote an article titled, Is Singapore Still Relevant After 50 Years?

Here's an Entrepreneurial View. So you returned to Singapore after Malaysia, built up the startup ecosystem, and founded your venture capital house. Could you share with us your experience during this time? Yeah, so it was quite an interesting season in 2015 where Singapore celebrated its 50th birthday as a nation. And it somehow triggered me a lot about how Singapore was evolving itself.

Singapore evolved itself out of necessity where it built a whole nation, a workforce of engineers, scientists, bankers, lawyers, doctors, specialists, if you want to call it, you name it, they are there. But what actually happened was we started losing a whole generation of entrepreneurs. When I did just back of envelope, just checking around with people, next-gen families, I found that they're very successful entrepreneurs, had children who are doctors or lawyers or bankers. And I was like, they're not going to take over your business.

And they themselves had no clue. And one of the biggest challenge that Singapore is going to face is the lack of entrepreneurship, if I might say. Entrepreneurship drives economic activity. Entrepreneurs are the ones that pull resources together and generate that economic activity. When you look at Singapore many years ago, when it was founded in 1819, it was the merchants

that plied the trade and entrepreneurial trading was the biggest thing. A lot of merchants were there, a lot of entrepreneurs were there generating economic activity. And my personal fear was that if you don't actually infuse Singapore

with a continual breed of entrepreneurs, that would spell trouble for the country down the road where you will have to start to give your economic privilege, authority over to the giant MNCs which were hiring all the people. And I felt that was a personal motivation on my side that could we actually build a whole group of entrepreneurs. And that was the original intent.

And very interestingly, now that I've looked at it 11 years, it's evolved to a whole generation of entrepreneurs across Southeast Asia. And why did I decide to expand that whole vision? It was because when I looked at how India and China were developed, they developed really fast. They had really skilled entrepreneurs to really build their economies up. But here in Southeast Asia, it's a little bit more complicated. It's not homogeneous, the first thing that we know. 10 nations, very diverse groups of ethnicities, and it was very fragmented. And one of the biggest,

very interesting points that I like to note, resonates a lot to me as a next-gen family business owner was, 92% of all businesses in Southeast Asia are family-run businesses.

From your micro SMEs, people who are one-man, two-man show, to your big conglomerates like your CP Group, your Alliers, your Sampornas and all that. And I realised that it is really essential

is to understand the DNA of the entrepreneurs, which are mainly the next generation of entrepreneurs, and to really expand on that vision, to really incorporate them as part of this whole regional

vision, as I call it, where we are starting to incorporate, how do I say, a mentor, guide, build up this next-gen entrepreneurs with the latest technologies, the latest kind of mindset, and to really make sure that they have a certain set of very good values that they can follow, for example, the ESG value set, that will really change the way that Southeast Asia is being

developed. So I think this is just a little bit of a personal want that I really want to see in my vision down the road. It's like a whole group of next generation entrepreneurs running together side by side with me, helping each other out, whether they are from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand or Philippines, and sharing best practices so that businesses start to grow and they can make a very positive impact back to the people of Southeast Asia. I read in your presentation that 92% of businesses in Southeast Asia are family-run. I'd like to dig deeper into the unique challenges these next-gen family business owners face. Could you explain a bit more, especially for listeners who may not be from this part of the world or who don't have experience with family businesses? I think it would be helpful for us to understand the specific challenges because some people might assume,

oh, they all have money, so what's the situation? What are the real challenges they face? If I may just do a small comparison where against Europe versus Southeast Asia, they got quite a very similar kind of economic situation of fragmented natures, different economic activity. I would say different levels of economic development

if I put that into context. And Europe is what I call a very established and developed way of intergenerational family businesses. A number of them have reached maybe six to seven generations by now. Some of them, like the Binyard families, are 14 generations. But when you look back here into Southeast Asia, it is still very young. At most, like the Indonesians, it has moved down to the fourth generation. And the context here that you will see is that the next-gen business owners are having

very different challenges from that of their parents. And the unfortunate thing is that the parents are also very new as entrepreneurs. The evolution of how family businesses are in Southeast Asia versus Europe is still very nascent at this point. So what are the very interesting challenges? I actually have a network of over 300 family business owners across Southeast Asia. And there's always these common themes that starts first. Number one, how do I talk to my parents?

How do I have a good working relationship with my parents and a family relationship back at home? Number two, I don't like the way that my parents are doing things and I need to transform this business. How do I convince my parents I can transform this business well? And what do I do next to transform this business well? And what do I do next to transform this business to make sure that it survives and is in tune

with the current trends and interests? And so it leads down to what I'm doing right now as a venture capitalist at Thrice. And basically for us, our goal is to be that bridge

between family businesses and technology startups with very good solutions and to actually add on these technology solutions into the family businesses. So I'm actually, if you put it this way, we're creating a little interesting ecosystem where Thrive is really invested by the family businesses. It is for the family businesses because the startups that we bring in, the technologies they bring in, are being integrated into the family's operations itself. Just a little bit of that element that we are seeing here is that we understand the challenges that these next-gens are facing. We do, number one, the solution, which is, of course, the technical solutions, getting the startups to support them. But the next step that we also get involved with them is also counselling them, advising them, and showing them best practices of how other next-gens do it.

When I look at your business model for Thrive as a VC, it strikes me as quite smart. There are tons of VCs out there. But as I prepared for this interview and read about your approach, I realized how clever it is. So for those who may not be familiar with how venture capital works, VCs don't just invest their own money. They also raise money from investors, and then as fiduciaries, managing that pool of money by investing in high-growth potential businesses. The objective is for these businesses to succeed, generate returns, and provide profits back to the investors. What stands out about your model, Chris, is that you've built a strong network with the next generation of family business owners.

These individuals have capital, and you are able to raise money from them. They don't have to commit a massive amount of money. Perhaps each might allocate a million dollars or so, maybe even low seven-figure sum. But with the right scale, even a half-million-dollar check for each could add up significantly as limited partners in your fund. Your fund has deployed about $40 million so far, investing in technologies with next-gen solutions that could be highly relevant to these family businesses. This creates a cycle of synergy. You raise funds, invest in technology, and these technologies can in turn serve as solutions for the businesses of your investors. It's a cycle that keeps the entire engine moving along smoothly, allowing you to continue raising funds and investing in technology that benefits everyone involved. I must say, the whole setup makes a lot of sense to me.

Thank you very much for affirming and endorsing this model, Vince. It speaks a lot of weight when you share that with me, and it helps to affirm that what we're doing is right. In fact, I would have to admit to you that while that is our major goal, is to build this whole ecosystem of NextGen, we also have a little bit of our fun. Where we get to pick on kind of pet projects that we want to get very deeply involved. I have been really fortunate to have this opportunity to invest in this company called TADA,

which is the third largest ride hailing in Southeast Asia. Think of your Uber, think of your Grab. TADA is number three across Southeast Asia and it's highly profitable. But the reason why we went in

wasn't because it was just profitable. We went in because we wanted a positive impact to humans. And we found that also resonated with a lot of next-gen business owners who were educated in the Western world. And they wanted to make sure that there's a little bit more shut in their businesses. And we had a number of investors that came in to support this particular investment, K-Link. And the reason why we love this one was that

a partner driver that is part of Tata earns 1.4 times more than its competitors when they use the Tata platform. And that's because Tata platform does not charge any commissions to the drivers. I guess this is just something that we felt really good that we're making a difference to humans. The average person in Southeast Asia who is driving, their main occupation is about private ride hailing. And knowing that they are taking back 1.4 times more back home

by supporting their families was something that I felt was really important. It found actually extra meaning to me. Not to say that our current main agenda is not delivering also the outcomes that we're expecting. But this is just a really interesting story

that I wanted to share that I feel very happy to note that despite earning less revenue, we're still so highly profitable. And it just speaks a little bit about the nimbleness of some of the startups that we invested in. We also have another example where we integrated a technology into one of our startup technologies into a family business. So basically, we have another company called Agrimax. It helps to increase crop yields by 20% to 60%. And that means that if you are a farmer, with the same amount of time and effort,

you get 20% to 60% more food supply. Of course, the story of food security, fantastic, check off that list, that's great. But I think the other great thing was that there was this particular family business that took on AgriMax technology as a client and they started seeing more and more produce. And because of the produce that they have,

they decided that they don't need to charge too high a fee to the next stage of consumers or to your wholesale distributors. And that kind of pricing, lowered pricing, helped to really make things a little bit more affordable, especially for this family business, they operate in a very large nation in Southeast Asia. And they decided that they will sell at a lower price of all their food produced to a certain much poorer province, if I would say. And because of the technology that Agrimax gave it to them by helping them to increase those crop yields, it's totally helped people in that society

that they could actually put more food on the table because their produce has decided to become slightly cheaper. I'm just giving a little bit of some of the very interesting things that we did not expect. We more or less knew that, okay, AgriMax we invest is because you're going to see more increase in crop yields, better food supplies,

everyone gets to have food on the table, that's great. But what we didn't realise that what this family business did was that it took that technology, have more food, more quantity and decided to sell it cheaper to a poorer province where those villagers were now able to obtain more quantity of food for their families. So I think that was a little bit of a very interesting, heartwarming story that we see on and off here and there. And the best part about it, we're making money as well.

It's not that we are not doing well when we're making money. It's just that we make things more efficient to the way that society works in Southeast Asia and yeah

I think that was just some of the very interesting anecdotes that we're going through our venture capital journey not just investing in the company not just helping them

grow commercialize the business talking to the family businesses to become clients but really reaching the end consumer talking to the family businesses to become clients, but really reaching the end consumer.

Realizing that impact that we gave to the end consumer is something so significantly different now. We didn't realize that kind of ripple down effect would have been so much bigger than we thought it was. In fact, we are talking to a second-gen family where this person is just transforming his whole family business towards FMCG, a brand. And I can't say too much yet, but when it comes, I will definitely announce that. And it's really exciting to see Southeast Asia is not only being supported by Southeast Asia entrepreneurs, but you're getting international entrepreneurs

deciding to say that Southeast Asia is a great market. I'm going to try to do something about it. I'm trying to make a change in the way Southeast Asia operates. And it's always for the better. It's exciting to me to know that we are starting to embrace companies even as far as going out of Southeast Asia. And I will feel that there were going to be very interesting dynamics as we engage more of these second gens that's coming out from other parts of outside of Southeast Asia. And all we can say is that their diversity of views, the diversity of mindsets are just going to improve things better. And they're going to be sharing a lot of best practices over to the next generation business owners here in Southeast Asia. And they're going to be sharing a lot of best practices over to the next generation business

owners here in Southeast Asia. And I think that really excites me where you get two of them together, they have a conversation and person A teaches person B what he has been doing and person B says, I'm going to bring this back over to my family business to endorse, to apply it, to

work on it and see the improvement. So it's exciting to see that kind of a network effect that we're seeing not just for our startups, but the next gens who are entrepreneurs themselves. They are also somewhat, in a sense, a pseudo kind of startup founders themselves trying to transform a business to become something very vastly different.

Yeah, I think that's the really exciting thing about being an entrepreneur and also supporting entrepreneurs because you are just happily living in your own world, coming up with new ideas, brainstorming to find the best solution. I think that really is something that excites me a lot. You've accomplished a lot over the years. I'm curious, how does your father see your growth and development? Looking back, you did not follow the path he expected. And over years, you've gone through many changes.

If I heard you correctly, you even sold your inheritance to start Triath and raise the capital to build the fund. If I were in your father's shoes, how would I feel seeing my son try out so many different things and achieve so much, while still striving for more. Had he said anything to you about your journey so far? How does your family view your transformation? When you talk to fellow next-gen business owners, there is a lot of emotions that will come out. When we describe this whole relationship with our parents. It's complex because it's personal and it's business at the

same time, right? I wanted to also point out in a very interesting way, when I left the whole business, it was a point that it took many years for my father to really accept who I was, being an entrepreneur in my own right, but not taking on his legacy. And it was a close ending where he's currently now in a more retired mode. And he decided to sell off that particular factory that I was there 20 years ago, and they finally have sold it. So I think there was a bit of a closure. So if you ever tell me that, oh, you can always rely on going back to your family business, I will tell you that's not possible because I forced that door to be closed because he didn't have another person to take over that business. It was quite an emotional turmoil.

In fact, during my days when I was in Malaysia, because I would come back over the weekend and my father and I would not see eye to eye on a lot of things. And I would try to share with him about what I'm doing in e-commerce, but he didn't believe in it. But one of the really important things that I was very fortunate, I was very blessed, was that he still supported.

In fact, when I sold my inheritance, my mom came to him and said that your son wants to do his own thing. Are you going to block him? Or are you going to support him? And in fact, my dad got my family friend, he introduced him, our family friend,

to come and support me. And without that support initially, I don't think I had enough funding to start off my investments in a tribe. So if you look at the whole thing, my father has been a mentor, but he has also been a very difficult traditional Asian man, Asian patriarch with that iron fist. And one thing I realized because of my self-development, because of even doing extra self-enrichment courses by taking a CAIA and a CFA at the same time, I found myself becoming more useful. And to the point that when he now talks to me

about the side businesses that he's doing, he's asking me as his advisor and no longer as the son where he looks down on. Because that is actually very typical of Asian generation kind of businesses, families.

You will see that parents will naturally always think that they are naturally always think that they are naturally more experienced, they're smarter. But I've seen this radical change in my father. And I realised that if I didn't go out on my own, worked on my own, he will have never given me that respect. And I went back to my friend, my high school friend, I told him about it and he told me, I think you truly found what you were looking for, which is endorsement from your own father. And I think that is really a lot of next-gen. Sometimes where people think that they have, they think they've done a lot, but they

always crave for the approval of their parents. And so I think I went through that. I was craving for the approval of my father and he doesn't say it. He's never expressed it. But the point that really comes to me and ask me for my network, for my advice, I know that there has been a significant change of acceptance and the way he perceives me.

I can definitely resonate with the Chinese mindset and culture you mentioned earlier. A lot of my friends grew up to become doctors, lawyers, or accountants. Those expected professional paths. I'm actually a trained accountant. That was my first job. But over time, I changed directions. While I don't have your kind of family background, my parents also had expectations for me. At some point, I made certain moves to fulfill those expectations. but eventually I broke free from them. I can really relate to that desire to break

free, the persistence it takes, and the actions required to make it happen. The tagline for this show is make change ambitiously, which is all about building your own legacy and creating your own path rather than following a standard playbook. In your story and journey so far, I see those elements very clearly. I'm sure your father, your friends, and everyone who has supported you along the way. See it too.

Thank you for really succinctly summarizing that in just a short sentence. Really, it does speak into my life. So really thank you, Vince, for saying that. It's been 26 years in the making. So I still believe that I'm evolving. I'm still learning more in terms of understanding my identity. And if I might put it, enjoying the journey as I go along.

I think that a lot of, I know it's a bit cliche, it's about enjoying the journey, not the end goal. It's just about enjoying the journey. And I think for me, that is what I am relishing at this moment.

I wouldn't say that life is a bit of roses. While I may have described everything, it sounds like it was really sweet. There were a lot of massive challenges. And running your own business, running other startups, just helping other startups run businesses, there are very high chances of failure. And I think that is something that I've learned to adapt. And I would have been very different if I just worked for my father,

where I don't really see, it's a very kind of sheltered way of running a business. You have teams of people behind you. When it comes to doing it on your own, you really have to navigate it on your own, but it really builds that resilience in you. One last question. Since we've talked about intergenerational wealth,

and we're now living in an era of intergenerational workforce, I'm curious, you are a father yourself. So what are your expectations for your children as they grow up? In terms of their identity, their careers, and their lives, what do you hope for them? Let's web up our conversation by looking into the future, not just from a business perspective, but in terms of your children's lives. I think this would be a nice way to close our discussion.

I guess for me, it's really about passing my values rather than being so rigid about my processes. So when I say about values, it's that I truly believe in positive impact. I believe that we're not here on this earth just to enjoy extravagant lifestyles.

I wouldn't say I have an extravagant lifestyle, but I'm just saying that while we can have that, I feel that most important is that leave something that is very positive for your generation. I do not know what my children's generation face in terms of the world. Maybe we're talking about climate change, food security, but I hope that they don't become the liability of the world, but rather be the solution. And I think that is something that I inculcate into my children. In fact, that I am also starting them young. My youngest daughter is nine, second one is 11, and the third one is 13.

And I share with them basically what I do, and they already know how to use the apps. And I'm also explaining to them the origins behind it. And it's to get them to really understand perspectives and context rather than just be consumers. And I feel that is what I want to pass to them. Because I feel personally that if I would try to teach them that, oh, this is daddy's way of doing things, it's going to be outdated in the next five years. But values shouldn't change.

Values, good values that in Asia, we have thousands of generations, thousands of years of great values, great teachings, and they've been brought over throughout the generations. And it's still evergreen. It's still very important. Feeling of piety, for example,

doing good to society. And I think that's something I just. Feeling piety, for example, doing good to society. And I think that's something I just wanted to end on, that anybody who wants to help the next generation or feel for the next generation is be a mentor of values rather than a mentor of processes.

So I'm just going to end it there and I hope that will give some further thoughts for anybody who has been listening that make a difference. It can be even just advising or mentoring just one person, but that is already a very significant impact to society. Thank you so much for joining us today. If you like what you heard, don't forget, subscribe to our show, leave us top-rated reviews, check out our website, and follow me on social media.

I'm Vince Chen, your ambitious human host. Until next time, take care.