The recipients of the Asia Teochew Entrepreneur Award are selected by a prestigious and independent panel of judges, comprising leading figures from the Singapore business community as well as government agencies.
The judging panel provides the independence needed to select the award recipients. The judges, drawing from their breadth of experiences and successes, will award recipients that characterize the spirit of entrepreneurship.
Group CEO of Serial System Ltd, Chief Judge
Dr. Derek Goh Bak Heng founded Serial System as a sole proprietorship in 1988, incorporated Serial System Ltd in 1992. Derek is the Executive Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer who leads the management team in executing strategies to achieve the goals set by the Board of Directors.
In 1996, Derek won the “Entrepreneur of the Year Award”, organised by the Rotary Club of Singapore and the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, supported by the Trade Development Board.
From 1997 to 2000, Derek was the President of The Association of Small & Medium Enterprises (ASME).
In 1997, Derek was elected the National President of JCI Singapore and was conferred the Singapore Youth Award (Individual) for entrepreneurship, the nation’s highest honour for youths.
In 1999, Derek was conferred the ASEAN Best Young Entrepreneur Award 1999 by the ASEAN Secretariat, and the World Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (WASME) Special Honour Award by the World Association of Small and Medium Enterprises on 29 March 2000.
In 2004, Derek was awarded the Public Service Medal (Pingat Bakti Masyarakat) by the President of the Republic of Singapore and in 2010, the Public Service Star Medal (Bintang Bakti Masyarakat) on the National Day Honours 2010.
In 2010, Derek was awarded the “Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards 2010 Entrepreneur of the Year” by the Enterprise Asia.
In 2011, he won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year 2011 Singapore Award for the Electronic Components Distribution Category.
In 2014, Derek was elected the President of JCI Senators of South East Asian Nations. In the same year, he was conferred the Darjah Indera Mangku Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin III – (D.I.M.S) which carries the title Dato’ by KDYMM Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin III ( D.K.T., D.K., D.K.II., S.S.M.S., S.P.M.S., S.S.S.M., S.S.P.M., S.P.T.M., S.J.N.) Sultan Negeri Palembang Darussalam.
In 2015, Derek was awarded the International – Singapore ASEAN Leading Brand International Entrepreneur of the Year at the ASEAN Outstanding Business Award 2015. He was also named the “UN Asia Pacific Most Prominent Entrepreneur” co-organised by the Trade and Industry Association Singapore and the United Nations Association of Singapore. He was also awarded one of the “Top Outstanding Leaders in Asia 2015” in the Asia Corporate Excellence & Sustainability Awards 2015. In that year, he was conferred the Seri Pangeran Temenggong Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin III which carries the title Dato’ Seri by The Sultan of Palembang, Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin III.
In 2021, Derek was awarded the Public Service Star (Bar) Bintang Bakti Masyarakat (Lintang) on the National Day Honours 2021.
In 2023, Derek was also elected as Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan President.
As at 31 March 2024, Derek holds 365,997,970 shares (40.45%) in Serial System Ltd. Derek is a substantial shareholder of Serial System Ltd.
Ms Yeo Wan Ling is a Member of Parliament for Pasir Ris-Punggol Group Representation Constituency, Grassroots Adviser to Pasir-Ris Grassroots Organisation and Vice-Chairman of the North-East Community Development Council.
Ms Yeo Wan Ling joined the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) in August 2020 and she holds the position of Assistant Secretary-General and is concurrently the Director of U SME and U Women & Family Units. She is also Advisor to the National Taxi Association, National Private Hire Vehicles Association and National Delivery Champions Association.
Representing workers and the Labour Movement, Ms Yeo is the Co-Chairperson of the Tripartite Workgroup on Flexible Work Arrangements (TWG-FWA), formed to develop the Tripartite Guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangements Requests (TWG-FWAR). She is appointed as a union representative in the Tripartite Workgroup on Lower-Wage Workers in 2020 and serves as the Chairperson of both the Tripartite Cluster on Retail Industry and Tripartite Cluster on Food Services Industry.
Before joining NTUC, Wan Ling was the founder and CEO of Caregiver Group, a global company specializing in the business of home healthcare and caregiving. Caregiver Group aggregates freelance caregivers and care services for deployment into homes, healthcare institutes and welfare organisations. Headquartered in Singapore, Caregiver Group has a growing presence in Malaysia, USA and North Asia.
Prior to founding Caregiver Group, Wan Ling spent over a decade at the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), where she was part of EDB’s Global Operations, managing Singapore’s key foreign direct investment accounts and business owners of family-owned conglomerates in the USA, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea. She has lived and managed EDB’s operations in Chicago, Shanghai and Hong Kong as Centre Director and Regional Director. Before EDB, Ms Yeo Wan Ling started her career at the Development Bank of Singapore.
Ms Yeo Wan Ling studied at the National University of Singapore where she graduated with a Bachelors of Social Sciences (2nd Class Upper Honours) in Sociology and Political Science.
Mr Keith Tan is the co-founder of Dymon Asia Capital, a leading asset management firm headquartered in Singapore. The firm manages assets of close to US$4 billion and has offices in 7 countries. He is also the Chairman of the Dymon Asia Private Equity Investment Committee. Dymon Asia Private Equity is an award winning South East Asia Focused private equity firm, and had invested in close to 30 promising companies across the South East Asia region.
Its first fund, Dymon Asia Private Equity (S.E. Asia) Fund, L.P. was launched in October 2012, and achieved a final close of S$300 million. The second fund, Dymon Asia Private Equity (S.E. Asia) Fund II, L.P. had its final close of US$450 million in April 2018. The latest fund, Dymon Asia Private Equity (S.E. Asia ) Fund III, L.P. achieved final close of US$650 million in September 2022.
During his career, Mr Tan was also a member of the Executive Committee of Standard Chartered Bank (China) and the Legal Representative of Standard Chartered Bank (Shanghai).
Mr Tan graduated with a Honours Degree in Banking and Finance from Nanyang Technological University. He is a Council Member as well as the Vice Chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the 61st Council of Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry. He is the Patron of the Chong Pang Citizens’ Consultative Committee and serves on the Board of Governors of the UOB-SMU Asian Enterprise Institute. He is also a Member of The Yellow Ribbon Fund Main Committee and serves as Chairman of the Yellow Ribbon Fund Allocation Sub- Committee.
Keith serves on the board of Penguin International Ltd, a Singapore listed company and several private companies such as Challenger Technologies, Chye Thiam Maintenance, Singapore O&G, TS Group and Select Group.
Keith was awarded the Public Service Medal (Pingat Bakti Masyarakat) by the President of the Republic of Singapore during the National Day Honours in 2023.
Group Chairman of ADERA Group
Mr Lennon Tan is the Group Chairman of ADERA Group. Lennon started his career as an engineer in the Petrochemical industry before spending 10 years with the American Multinational 3M. In 2001, he decided to pursue his dream of being an entrepreneur. After taking over a small smart card manufacturing business in China, he tapped on emerging technologies and innovation to transform the manufacturing outfit into the top 10 global smart card producers in the world, and thereafter transforming the company’s capabilities to lead in fields of transformational financial services automation, , biometric authentication, AI and data analytics, supporting major sectors ranging from banks, insurance, government, healthcare, telecommunications and transport in Asia. The group was awarded ASEAN Business Award Overall Winner for Priority Integration Sector (ICT) in 2018.
He was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year (Financial Technology Enablement) from global professional services firm Ernst & Young in 2017. A year prior, Lennon was awarded the Inaugural Teochew Entrepreneur Award.
He is currently serving as the President of the Singapore Manufacturing Federation as well as several other associations and social enterprises.
Lennon has a Merit Bachelor Degree (Chemistry) from National University of Singapore where he graduated with Merit. He also attainted Master of Business Administration from University of Western Michigan.
Affiliations:
- • President of Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF)
- • Council Member Singapore Business Federation (SMF)
- • Council Member Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC)
- • Vice President of Singapore Teochew Poit It Huay Kuan
- • Chairman of Social Affairs Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Association (SFCCA)
- • Council Member of MINDEF ACCORD Employer and Business Council
- • Council Member for Singapore-Sichuan Trade and Investment Committee
- • Industry Advisor for China-Singapore (Chongqing) Initiative (CCI) for ICT
Mr Peter H.K. Koh was appointed as the Group’s Chief Executive Officer in December 2014. Mr Koh has been instrumental in driving the strategic direction and development of the Group’s business since his appointment, including the diversification and expansion of the Group’s business model beyond farming, and building new income streams for Oceanus’ long term sustainable growth. He was also pivotal in the Group’s successful debt restructuring exercise, which was completed in December 2017, that had reversed the Group’s balance sheet back into the black.
In September 2021, under Mr Koh’s strong leadership, Oceanus Group successfully exited from the SGX Watch-list, celebrating a major corporate milestone for the Group, and marking another turning point since taking the helm. This also represents the first time in the history of SGX-ST’s Watch-List, whereby a company successfully achieves a complete turnaround through concerted restructuring efforts.
Mr Koh has more than three decades of experience across multiple industries, including media, branding, manufacturing and environment sustainability. Within the aquaculture industry, Mr Koh has taken up various positions with aquaculture innovation and research bodies, such as member of Advisory Board of James Cook University and member of Advisory Council of the Singapore Aquaculture Innovation Centre.
In 2021, Mr Koh is also a member of the Future Economy Council Reserve and Environment Sustainability, a committee set up by the Ministry for Sustainability and the Environment, which oversees the implementation of the recommendations of the Committee of Future Economy. He is also a member of the Standing Committee of North West Community Development Council.
Mr Koh actively champions social causes and was conferred the Public Service Medal in 2014.
