After nearly 30 years running an SME, he’s now happy to be the ‘ice cream uncle’

There was singing. There was dancing. And there were gifts. In the midst of it all, the ice cream uncle from Singapore.

It was December 2023, and about 100 children from the school Yayasan Perisai Kasih were gathered in an assembly hall in Batam to celebrate the year-end holidays.

The man who made it possible: Mr Peter Kwang, founder and managing director of Singapore-based Atlantac Industrial Services, fondly known to the children as “ice cream uncle”.

The children were from an Indonesian charity that provides free education for underprivileged children aged between four and six.

Also enjoying the revelry: Ms Wendy Low, branch manager of UOB’s Bedok outlet, with three colleagues from Singapore and two from the bank’s Batam branch.

“We bought tidbits and coloured pencils to give to the children at the party,” recalls Ms Low, 48, “and they were really happy”.

They weren’t there for a corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme. The visit stemmed from something more personal – a longstanding relationship with a client that spans nearly three decades.

Since 2023, the 68-year-old Singaporean businessman has been supporting the school by helping to pay for school uniforms, buses to transport the students and sweet treats like ice cream every quarterly visit.

“One of the reasons why I support them is because these kids aren’t just poor; they’re hungry too,” says Mr Kwang, noting that the school provides the children with a free meal each day.

The charity work is an extension of his relationship with UOB as a customer since 1997. It is a business partnership that has seen him go from business uncertainty to profitability – and the ability to do some good.

28 years of support

Mr Kwang started Atlantac Industrial Services in 1997 after spotting a market gap in specialised cleaning services. Today, the 60-strong company serves 30 clients, mainly in the semiconductor industry.

Getting started wasn’t easy, says Mr Kwang, especially with two children aged six and eight at the time.

“I was taking a risk, but it was a calculated one,” he admits. He turned to UOB for financing, based on a friend’s recommendation.

“Back then, getting a loan was a bit challenging because banks didn’t know me, my process or how common (the business) was,” says Mr Kwang. “It’s not like manufacturing; I’m doing servicing.”

The bank eventually gave him a seven-figure venture loan, which helped cover the salaries of his first six workers and pay for a plant in the industrial estate of Ubi, where his company is still based today.

From its first major client in 2001, Atlantac has grown steadily to serve about 30 today. Most clients – like his staff – have been with him for at least a decade, he says.

As his company grew, so did his relationship with the bank. A key turning point came when Ms Low joined the bank’s Tai Seng branch in 2015.

Ms Low and her team were able to help him not just with his company’s financial needs, but also personal banking, like connecting him with overseas colleagues to set up bank accounts.

They now serve as a vital link in his operations, especially when it comes to cross-border transactions.

When Mr Kwang was preparing to open an office in Bangkok in 2015, they helped coordinate introductions with overseas colleagues and helped smoothen the process.

“He was trying to expand into Asean, but not many (foreign businessmen) find it easy to do banking overseas,” explains Ms Low. The bank has around 470 branches and offices globally. A significant portion of them are located in South-east Asia.

“And that’s where UOB’s network was able to help.” Through her personal recommendation to a UOB counterpart in Bangkok, he was able to set up his corporate and personal accounts in just two days.

Her team’s support became even more critical during the Covid-19 pandemic. Atlantac saw a spike in demand as manufacturers needed deep cleaning of machinery and parts. But the business boom brought new challenges.

“We were so busy.” says Mr Kwang, “For a month, I was the only one working here because any time someone got Covid-19, I (had to) shut down the whole plant.”

While he worked to continue operations, Ms Low and her team kept in close contact, alerting him to relevant government grants for SMEs, and even offering to connect him with suppliers for face masks.

“As an SME, UOB was able to support us,” he says. “And today, I’m still using UOB. Why? Because they have been servicing me for so many years, and I’m so happy.”

The good and the bad

Today, Mr Kwang makes the drive to Bedok to continue his banking needs directly with Ms Low, who moved to the branch there in 2017.

Still, not every transition has been easy. That same year, Atlantac saw one of its biggest changes: Shifting from physical payments – cash and cheques – to a digital one.

Mr Kwang preferred the familiarity of cash, but Ms Low and her team knew that going digital would help the company improve efficiency and reduce transaction costs.

“The client needs to hear the truth,” says Ms Low. “We are always polite, but you also need to let them know that you are there to help – and sometimes, the advice hurts.”

What matters, she says, is that both parties are willing to hear each other out to solve problems: To “have a discussion so that you can hear both sides – from a banking point of view and from a business point of view”.

Reflecting on his business journey, Mr Kwang credits UOB’s support for helping him achieve stability and in turn, having the time to give back. “As long as my family is financially covered, I am happy,” he says. He hopes to retire in two years, “and maybe I can do more charity work then”.

These days, his afternoons are often spent with his four grandchildren, aged between one and nine. He sees it as a chance to make up for the long workdays that once kept him away from his children.

This connection with his grandchildren is also what drew him to support the charity in Batam, he says, helping children of similar ages have the chance to learn and grow. He learnt about the charity from a golfing acquaintance.

It’s a journey that Ms Low and her team are proud to be part of. With their help, he was able to set up a bank account in Batam to make donations more easily.

Sharing why they joined Mr Kwang on the day trip to Batam, Ms Low shares that going beyond banking – to give back to society – is something she’s focused on cultivating within her team.

“We don’t just give back to society by (helping to) stop scams,” she says, referencing a key part of what they do at the branch.

Banking can sometimes feel “invisible”, she says, but its impact can be far-reaching. “We are part and parcel of everybody’s life.”

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