ARISE,
ARISE,
COVERSTORY
BENSON TAN
BENSON TAN
Throughout history,
there have been many
men who have had
to carry out their
responsibilities with
the spectres of their
predecessors on their
backs. Tim Cook had
to contend with the
shadow of the late Steve
Jobs; Steve Ballmer
had to battle the giant
personality of Bill Gates.
Benson Tan, Deputy CEO
of Cogent Land Holdings
Limited, also faces such
a task, to emerge from
the shadows and become
his own man.
LAYING THE FOUNDATION
Three years ago, in an area steeped in
heritage and the legacies of racehorse
champions, lied a decrepit shopping
centre that had seen better days. The
paint was peeling, the tenants were
shutting up shop and moving out, and
there was a dearth of human traffic.
Turf City was on its way to becoming a
footnote in history.
However, while others saw only dust,
Benson Tan saw opportunity. The son
of Tan Yeow Khoon, the founder of the
logistics behemoth Cogent Holdings,
envisioned the area to be the crown
jewel of Bukit Timah, a place where
families could come and have a good
time without contending with the
crowds spilling out of the malls and
onto the sidewalks in the shopping
belts of Singapore.
It was an ambitious project and the
younger Tan admitted as much in an
By Farhan Shah
interview he gave to
a magazine after he
clinched the deal.
He budgeted close
to S$20 million to
refurbish the onemillion-square-foot
venue, overhauling
the electrical and plumbing systems,
upgrading the washrooms, giving
the interiors and exteriors fresh
coats of paint, etc. This was on top
of the million dollars that he was
paying every month as part of the
master tenancy agreement. In front
of the press, industry observers and
analysts were respectfully sceptical;
“the rent’s too high” and “the lease is
too short” were the common refrains.
Who knew what they were saying
behind closed doors.
The Grandstand, the new name given
to the refurbished Turf City, would
either be Tan’s biggest achievement or
his Waterloo.
But, Tan has had to conquer stacked
odds and prove himself his whole
life, and to short-change his fullthroated retail commitment would
be a strategic folly. Tan’s family
lineage proved to be both a boon and
a curse; while it gave him multiple
opportunities in the business world,
it also provided ammunition to the
naysayers who saw him as just
another young upstart playing with his
father’s money.
Tan acknowledges that there will
always be doubters no matter what he
does. “But, objectively, what is most
important to me is to prove my worth
to the company through my actions
and then, getting the results. It’s not
about proving these naysayers wrong;
that’s not my job. My job is to bring this
company that my father has started to
a higher level,” says the 32-year-old.
Tan’s rise through the company to his
current position as the Deputy CEO of
Cogent Holdings Limited and the CEO
of Cogent Land Capital began in 2004
when he entered as an executive,
immersing himself in the logistics
arm of the business.
Being the son of the boss came with its
own unique set of challenges. For one,
10
Family & Life • May 2014
work was constantly on the agenda,
even when Tan was out of the office.
After all, he was sharing a roof with
his father. “Unlike the other managers
who could switch off after work and
return to the sanctuary of the home,
for me, it v2'W6