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."
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Host: Vince Chan | Guest: Christopher Quek
Chief Change Officer: Make Change Ambitiously.
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In this episode and the last, I'm talking to Christopher Quack, 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 personal 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 designation. And it somehow triggered me a lot about how Singapore was evolving itself. Singapore evolved to solve all the 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 up and below just checking around with people, mixed-gen families, I found that very successful entrepreneurs had children who were doctors or lawyers or bankers. And I was like, "They're just 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 entrepreneurial, 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 plight the trade and entrepreneurial trading was the biggest thing. A lot of merchants were there, a lot of entrepreneurs were there with 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? 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, a little bit more complicated. It's not from a genius. The first thing that we know, can nations, very diverse groups of ethnicities, and it was very fragmented. And one of the biggest, very interesting points that I like to note, President Nixon, 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 con-gomerates, like your CP group, your outliers, your yours, some corners and all that. And I realized that it is really essential. It's to understand the DNA of the entrepreneurs, which are mainly the next-generational entrepreneurs, and to really expand on that vision, to really incorporate them as part of this whole regional vision, as I call it, right, we are starting to, in how I say, mental, 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, is like a whole group of next-generation entrepreneurs, running together side-by-side with me, helping each other out, whether they're 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 like to dig deeper into the unique challenges these next-gen family-business owners face. Could you explain a bit more, especially for the 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, it got quite a very similar kind of economic situation or fragmented nature, different activity. I would say different levels of economic development around and for that to contact. And Europe is what I call a very established and developed way of family intergenerational family businesses. The number of them have reached maybe six to seven generations by now. Some of them, like the vineyard 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, this is 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 a weakest common theme that starts first. Number one, how do I talk to my parents? How do I spend 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 as 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 interest. And so it leads down to what I'm doing right now as a venture capitalist at Christ. 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 all 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 traffic is really invested by the family businesses. It is for the family businesses because the startups that we bring in, the technologies that bring in are being integrated into the families operations itself. And it's just a little bit of that element that we're seeing here is that we really understand the challenges that these next trends 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 canceling them, advising them and showing the best practices of how other next trends do it. - When I look at your business model for triath as a VC, it strikes me as quite smart. There are tons of VCs out there, but as I prepare 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 with 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 helping me get 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 next-gen, we also have a little bit of our fund, 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 right-healing 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 in scaling. And the reason why we loved this one was that a partner driver that is part of Tada earns 1.4 times more than its competitors, when they use the Tada platform. And that's because Tada 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 with driving their main occupation is about private right-healing. And knowing that they are taking back 1.4 times more, back home, by supporting their families, there was something that I felt was really important. If I'm 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, it's still so highly possible. 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 meals 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 and testing, check-offs 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 produce 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 totally helps 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 realize that, what this family business did was that it took that technology, had 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 stories 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're 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 commercialized business, talking to the family businesses to become client, but really reaching the end consumer. Realizing that the impact that we gave to the end consumer is something so significantly different now. We didn't realize that kind of slowing down the effect would have been so much bigger than we thought it was. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance, fiscally responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians. 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In fact, we are talking to a second-gen family where this person is just transforming his whole family business towards FMCGs, a brand. And I can't say too much yet, but when it comes, I would 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 would feel that there will be very interesting dynamics as we engage more of these second-gen's that's coming up from other parts of outside of Southeast Asia. And all you can say is that the diversity of views, the diversity of mindsets, I'm just going to improve things better. And they are 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. We have a conversation and person A, teachers person B, what he has been doing and person B says, I'm going to bring this back over to my family, VISTA, and those who apply it to work on it and see the improvement. So it's exciting to see that kind of network effect that we're seeing not just for our startups, but the next-gen's 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 high-tier space, 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 hurt you correctly, you even sold your inheritance to start, try it and raise the capital to build the fun. 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? Well, 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 mixed-gen business owners, there is a lot of emotions that will come out where 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, and in a very interesting way, I left 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 morgue, 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 the 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 will 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 why I'm doing it 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's 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 my 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 it at the whole thing, my father has been a mentor, but he has also been a very difficult traditional Asian man, Asian patriarch with an eye-insist. And one thing I realized, because of my self-development, because of even doing extras, self-enrichment causes by taking a CAI and a CFE at the same time, I found myself becoming more useful, and to the point that when he now talks to me about the site 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 a very typical Asian generation kind of businesses, family, you will see that parents will naturally always think that they are naturally more experienced, they're smarter, but I've seen this radical change in my father. And I realized 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 mixed-gen, sometimes where people think that they have done a lot, but they always crave for the full world, their parents. And so I think I went through that. I was craving for the full world of my father, and he doesn't say it, he's never expressed it. But the point that really comes to me and asks me for my network, for my advice, I know that there has been a significant change of acceptance, and the way he proceeds 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 the Russians. While I don't have your kind or 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 subsidizing 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 big 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. I, 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 walked from my father, where I don't really see, it's a very kind of sheltered way of running a business. You have a team 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, the careers and their lives, what do you hope for them? Let's whip 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 is really about tossing my values, rather than being so rigid about my processes. So when I say about values, is that I truly believe that 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, and 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 would hurt 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 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 gonna be outdated in the next five years. And my value 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. Feel your piety, for example, doing good to society. And I think that something I just wanted to end up, that anybody who wants to help the next generation feel for the next generation is be a mentor of values rather than a mentor of processes. So I'm just gonna end it there. And I hope that will do some further thoughts for anybody that has been listening, that make a difference. It can be even just advising or mentoring just one person. But that is really 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 Vis Shen, your ambitious human host. Until next time, take care. (upbeat music) - If you're a facilities manager at a warehouse and your HVAC system goes down, it can turn up the heat, literally. But don't sweat it, Granger has you covered. Granger offers over a million industrial grade products for all your operations, including warehouse HVAC maintenance. And even better, they offer access to experts and fast delivery. So you and your warehouse can both keep your cool. Call 1-800-GRANGER, click Granger.com, or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. - If you liked the show, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe. It really does help the show to grow. Thank you for listening. (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
