However, as Wee Keng put in the hours
and got to know the people that made
up the company, he began to realise
the enormity of his responsibility. The
livelihoods of many folks depended
on the business decisions that he and
his eldest brother, who had taken over
TollyJoy after his father’s death, made.
As Wee Keng explains, negativity
breeds more negative attitudes, which
was a characteristic that he hoped
would not infect TollyJoy. Wee Keng
eventually got into the groove, finally
accepting the hand that fate dealt him.
Now, he loves what he does, he tells
me with pride.
THE CLIMB TO THE TOP
Wee Keng is not one for impressivesounding positions. When I asked
him about the historical details of his
eventual ascent to the throne, Wee
Keng taps the table and looks to the
right, his brain attempting to access
the hazy past. A few minutes later,
he looks at me with a resigned smile.
“I remember joining the company
immediately after graduating from
university but for the life of me, I
can’t recall the exact title I was given.
All I know was that I took over after
my brother left,” says the father of
three. “I never cared about my lofty
spot. I never liked the idea of being
the person-in-charge without any
prior experience. If you want to lead a
group of people, you need to have the
prerequisite skills. So, even though I
was given a fancy title, it never meant
anything to me.”
What Wee Keng does remember in
detail was his attempts at picking up
the pieces of a fractured organisation
that had fallen on tough times as
a result of the 1997 Asian financial
crisis. When Wee Keng took over in
2001, TollyJoy’s product sales were
in a free fall and revenue numbers
in Singapore and Malaysia had
plummeted to dangerous levels –
the company was in the red and was
on its way to becoming a forgotten
footnote. It would have been an almost
impossible task for any experienced
CEO, let alone one just barely out of
the cradle of school.
Outsiders unaware of Wee Keng’s
history with TollyJoy would have
probably scoffed at his appointment
as a sign of a company desperately
grasping at straws. The truth,
however, is more complex. Wee Keng
has a long intimate relationship with
the company since he was a young
boy, having regularly worked within
the walls of the warehouse during
his school holidays. He knew TollyJoy
inside and out.
BOLD GAMBLES
The journey of a hero usually comes in
three parts. First, there is a tragedy,
a turn