Balancing growth and heritage: How next-generation leaders modernise their family businesses for the future

Starting as a single pawnshop in Bukit Merah, ValueMax has grown into a well-known modern retail chain with 77 outlets across two countries. Likewise, Chye Thiam Maintenance (CTM), has developed into a major environmental services provider that drives innovation with driverless fleets across the country.

As past Enterprise 50 winners – ValueMax in 2010 and CTM in 2019 – both companies continue to scale and innovate, building on their legacies while looking to the future.

Setting a gold standard in the pawnbroking business

Years before she got her MBA, Ms Yeah Lee Ching’s business education began at her family’s dining table every Sunday.

Her father, Yeah Hiang Nam, would weave business lessons into everyday conversations. He is the founder of ValueMax Group, one of Singapore’s largest pawnbroking chains.

“The main message he always stressed was that we must provide value to customers,” Lee Ching recalls.

A Penangite who sold snacks at age four to support his family, Mr Yeah dropped out of school and moved to Singapore at 17 to find work. A fortuitous referral led him to the jewellery industry, where he gained experience and expertise to launch his own gold jewellery manufacturing business in 1979. 

In 1983, he approached OCBC for capital to buy gold bars and machinery for making gold chains – marking the start of a decades-long partnership.

“We have been dealing with OCBC since my father started the business in Singapore,” says Lee Ching, “And the bank has been very supportive, contributing to our growth all these years.”

Banks play a crucial role in pawnbroking, providing essential financing for working capital, she explains. “Because we are in the business of lending to customers, cash flow is very important to us,” she adds.

Siblings at the helm

The eldest child and only daughter, Lee Ching spent several years in the jewellery and gemstone industry, most significantly a stint as the Asia-Pacific marketing and communications manager of Swarovski-Gems.

Her younger brother, Chia Wei, spent a few years at a bank and joined the company in 2000, while her youngest brother, Chia Kai, founded a software development company.

The siblings’ entry into the family business came at a crucial juncture as the pawnshop business was taking off. 

In the first 16 years since starting in 1988, Mr Yeah established three pawnshops in Singapore. When Lee Ching and Chia Kai joined in 2004, the company opened three more stores in one year.

One of their key contributions was rebranding the company. 

“Our pawnshops had very traditional Chinese names,” says Mr Yeah. “The children came up with the more modern and Western sounding name, ValueMax.”

Growth beyond borders

The rebranding also ushered in the transformation of the pawnshop experience, replacing the dark entryways with bright, modern retail spaces.

As the company grew, so did its partnership with OCBC. In 2012, ValueMax broke the half-billion dollar revenue mark and successfully listed on the Singapore Exchange mainboard the following year.

Today, ValueMax operates 77 outlets across Singapore and Malaysia. OCBC also played a key role in their Malaysian expansion, including financing the acquisition of a business in Batu Pahat, Johor. Last July, their Malaysian associate company, Well Chip Group, debuted on Bursa Malaysia’s main market stock exchange.

The company’s longstanding relationship with the bank proved advantageous during their regional expansion.

“Because OCBC knows our business and knows us as owner-managers, they were able to approve our credit promptly when we expanded in Malaysia,” says Lee Ching.

Although Mr Yeah remains actively involved as executive chairman, succession is top of mind for the 76-year-old.

In 2022, ValueMax completed its leadership transition with Chia Kai as chief executive officer, Lee Ching as chief marketing officer, and Chia Wei as chief risk officer.

“They each bring different expertise and education that helps modernise our operations,” says Mr Yeah. “I have a lot of confidence in them as my successors.”

While the business evolves, one tradition remains constant – the Sunday family meal. The number of people at the dining table has grown to include the siblings’ spouses and children. Lee Ching admits with a laugh that work has a way of sneaking into conversations.

“A business family will often talk about business during family meals,” she says.

Following parents’ footsteps to keep Singapore clean

Second-generation business leader of Chye Thiam Maintenance (CTM), Edy Tan, recalls growing up alongside his family business.

“During the school holidays, my siblings and I would follow our parents to project sites to have fun and have wonderful meals together,” says Edy, 50, who is the second eldest of four siblings. 

One vivid memory is the bi-monthly ritual of visiting the OCBC branch near their office, where his father would carry an empty suitcase and return with cash and cheques for employee payroll. 

“It felt surreal to handle such a large amount of cash in that way,” says Edy.

In 1979, his parents traded their farmland to start an environmental cleaning and building maintenance firm to capitalise on Singapore’s construction boom. Over the years, CTM has expanded into a large enterprise generating over $100 million in revenue annually, with 2,800 employees.

Edy formally joined CTM in 2000, holding various roles from operations to sales and project management. His elder sister, Mrs Loh Szeli, handled administration, while their youngest brother is an operations director. Another brother – a partner at a law firm – is not in the family business.

“Slowly, they left us to run the business,” says Edy. “We just needed to update them on how we wanted to price things when we had big tenders.”

In 2014, he was appointed chief executive officer (CEO), and his sister, deputy CEO.

Seven years later, CTM sold a minority stake to private equity firm Dymon Asia, enabling the parents to partially cash out and secure their retirement.

A longstanding partnership

CTM’s relationship with OCBC began at its founding more than four decades ago, when the bank provided crucial financial support for the eponymous Tan Chye Thiam to kick-start the business.

“OCBC has been a great partner that has helped us through good times and difficult times,” Edy says.

During the Sars outbreak and global financial crisis in the 2000s, delayed client payments strained CTM’s cash flow. OCBC stepped in to ease the burden with working capital loans, he says. 

The bank also supported CTM’s expansion with hire-purchase facilities for essential equipment and, more recently, green loans.

In 2014, CTM won a seven-year $143million National Environment Agency contract to maintain Singapore’s north-east region’s public areas, parks and roads. Last year, the company not only renewed that contract but also clinched a new central region deal. Both contracts are valued at nearly $1 billion – their biggest project to date.

“OCBC has supported our growth with various credit facilities, from hire-purchase to green loans,” says Szeli. “Having a standing credit line has streamlined our operations

New leaders, same innovation DNA 

In a labour-intensive industry, innovation has been central to CTM’s continuous efforts to boost productivity.

"Even during my parents’ time, CTM has always looked into technology and machines to help us with the job,” says Edy.

In 2018, CTM set up a Centre of Excellence (COE) to identify and deploy technological and process innovations. The COE brings together perspectives from all levels – from ground operators testing equipment usability to management evaluating financial impact – ensuring innovations are both practical and profitable.

In 2024, CTM was just one of two companies approved by the Land Transport Authority to deploy autonomous vehicles (AVs) on public roads. Its electric robosweepers are now operating along Esplanade Park and Marina Coastal Drive.

CTM operates four AVs with safety operators behind the wheel and is expecting 12 more units to arrive in the coming months. It aims to secure approval for fully autonomous operations by early 2025.

Edy credits the company’s competitive edge to its expertise in adapting and deploying technologies for Singapore’s specific needs.

“That’s why we are still one of the leaders when it comes to investments into technology and why we are one of the first environmental services companies in Singapore and the region to deploy AVs,” he adds.