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Douglas Foo

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In this Chinese name, the family name is Foo (符).

Dato' Seri
Douglas Foo
PBM BBM
符标雄
Chairman, Sakae Holdings Ltd
Incumbent
Assumed office
1996
Singapore’s Non Resident High Commissioner to Tanzania
Incumbent
Assumed office
5 March 2019
PresidentHalimah Yacob
Nominated Member of Parliament
In office
26 September 2018 – 23 June 2020
Personal details
Born1969 (age 54–55)
Singapore
SpouseKoh Yen Khoon
Children4
Parent
  • Foo Kia Hee (father)
RelativesSister – Lilian Foo
Sister – Lena Foo
EducationRed Swastika School
Dunman High School
Victoria Junior College
Alma materRoyal Melbourne Institute of Technology
Signature

Dato' Seri Douglas Foo Peow Yong PBM BBM (Chinese: 符标雄; born 1969) is a Singaporean business executive and former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP).[1] He is the founder and chairman of Sakae Holdings Ltd;[2] as well as Singapore’s Non Resident High Commissioner to Tanzania[2] and appointed representative to the ASEAN Business Advisory Council.[3][4] He is also the President of the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF), Vice-President of the Singapore National Employers’ Federation (SNEF) and Vice-Chairman of the Singapore Business Federation (SBF).[4][5][6][7]

Early life and education

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Foo was born in Singapore in 1969 and has two younger sisters Lena and Lilian. His father, Foo Kia Hee, was an immigrant from Hainan, China and worked as a mechanical and electrical consultant.[8][9][10]

Foo received his primary education at Red Swastika School, secondary education at Dunman High School and pre-university education at Victoria Junior College.[8][11][12]

Foo had originally planned to study Engineering at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), but decided to switch course to Business administration. However, he did not qualify for NTU's business school, and thus travelled to Australia to study at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor's degree in business administration (finance).[4][8][13][14]

Foo attended the Eisenhower Fellowships in 2013.[13][15]

Career

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Business career

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Before his National service enlistment, he worked various jobs including taking turbine readings for engineers at the Seraya Power Plant, relief teaching at Pin Yi Secondary School and as a baker at Délifrance.[8][14]

After finishing his university education in Australia, Foo returned to Singapore and joined Tokyu Group, where he worked as a marketing executive in the real estate arm of the company. While working there, one of his Japanese clients interested him in forming a garment manufacturing and trading business which would manufacture garments in India and sell them in Japan. Despite being inexperienced in the field, Foo invested S$100,000 in the idea and formed Apex-Pal International Pte Ltd in 1996. The company's office was based in International Plaza and had a factory in India with 50 workers and reconditioned sewing machine from Taiwan. The business was profitable within its first year.[8][14]

During SMF's Annual General Meeting on 19 September 2014, it was announced that Foo would be the President of SMF from 19 October 2014, succeeding George Huang.

Foo joined the SBF Council in 2014 as a member after having previously served on the SBF-led SME Committee.[16][17] He was appointed as Vice-Chairman of SBF in June 2018.[18]

Sakae Sushi

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Following the success of his company's venture, Foo was interested in expanding and diversifying the company. He recognised that Singaporeans were increasingly health conscious about their food. He saw a business opportunity in providing Japanese food at prices more affordable to the masses as Japanese food, although healthy, was rather expensive at the time. He travelled to Japan and Hong Kong to explore the concept of conveyor belt sushi, before opening the first outlet of Sakae Sushi at OUB Centre at Raffles Place in September 1997 during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The business was successful, and it allowed the company to open numerous Sakae Sushi outlets around the world. The company has since also developed various other Food and Beverage brands.[8][9][11][14]

After becoming publicly listed on the Singapore Exchange on 16 July 2003, the company was renamed to Apex-Pal International Ltd, and was subsequently renamed to Sakae Holdings Ltd on 4 May 2010.[8][19][20]

Foo served as the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the company[8] until 1 March 2014 when his sister Lilian Foo took over as the CEO.[21][22]

Dishwasher's salary incident
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In 2012, during an interview with radio station UFM100.3, Foo claimed that he was unable to fill 10 dishwasher positions at a salary of SGD$3,000 monthly.[23][24] Foo initially claimed the dishwashers would work nine hours a day, six days a week and the salary is equivalent to their managers and supervisors.[25] The salary was about three times the median pay of a dishwasher at that time accordingly to the Ministry of Manpower.[25] About 300 enquiries and applications for the dishwasher position were made within a day of the interview but Brand and communications manager Gregg Lewis clarified that the position required working for 12 hours a day for six days a week.[25] Foo also later clarified that the $3,000 pay is achieved with overtime pay and had hired dishwashers with salaries between $2,300 to $2,900.[25]

The incident attracted Minister of Law and Foreign Affairs K. Shanmugam and National Trades Union Congress deputy secretary-general Ong Ye Kung to express their surprise that Sakae Sushi cannot hire dishwashers at $3,000.[25] Member of parliament Zainudin Nordin, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower, praised Sakae Sushi for paying dishwashers with a salary comparable to its managers and supervisor.[25]

In 2018, before being sworn in as a NMP, Foo in an interview with The Online Citizen, said that the incident was taken out of context. He said that instead of Sakae Sushi paying an agency $3,000 a month for a dishwasher, he would rather the company to pay the $3,000 directly to the dishwasher.[26]

Political career

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Foo was selected as an NMP on 17 September 2018.[1][27] He was sworn in during the following Parliament sitting on 1 October.[4][28][29] He served during the second session of 13th Parliament of Singapore, which commenced on 7 May 2018.[1][30][31] His term of NMP ended on 23 June 2020 when the Parliament was dissolved prior to the 2020 Singaporean general election.[32][33]

Personal life

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Foo is married to Koh Yen Khoon, who he met in 1988 while working at a Délifrance cafe. He has 4 sons.[8][9]

Honours

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References

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  1. ^ a b c hermesauto (17 September 2018). "9 new Nominated MPs chosen to join Parliament". The Straits Times. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  2. ^ a b "MFA Press Statement: Appointment of Ambassador to the Republic of the Philippines and Non-Resident High Commissioner to the United Republic of Tanzania, 5 March 2019". www.mfa.gov.sg. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  3. ^ "ASEAN Business Advisory Council". www.asean-bac.org. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d "Douglas Foo". www.aiche.org. 12 August 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  5. ^ "Curriculum Vitae of Dato' Seri Dr Douglas Foo, BBM, PBM 符标熊" (PDF). Parliament of Singapore. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  6. ^ "Mr Douglas Foo, BBM | Singapore Manufacturing Federation". www.smfederation.org.sg. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  7. ^ "Council Members – Singapore Business Federation | Apex Business Chamber". sbf.org.sg. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Douglas Foo | Infopedia". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  9. ^ a b c hermes (16 November 2015). "Conveyor of healthy dining to the masses". The Straits Times. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  10. ^ "Annual Report 2008" (PDF). Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  11. ^ a b "Entrepreneur of the Year – Douglas Foo of Sakae Holdings Limited". MORS Group. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  12. ^ "Alumni Feature – Victoria Junior College". Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  13. ^ a b "Douglas FOO". business.smu.edu.sg. Archived from the original on 2 March 2015. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  14. ^ a b c d "Battling high costs, losing friends and thinking big: On the Record with Douglas Foo, Sakae Holdings". CNA. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  15. ^ "Mr Douglas Foo Peow Yong". coe.ntu.edu.sg. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  16. ^ "Annual Report 2013" (PDF). Singapore Business Federation. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 September 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  17. ^ "Annual Report 2014" (PDF). Singapore Business Federation. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 September 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  18. ^ "New industry leaders and TAC representatives join SBF Council for 2018–2020 term – Singapore Business Federation | Apex Business Chamber". www.sbf.org.sg. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  19. ^ "SAKAE HOLDINGS LTD". links.sgx.com. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  20. ^ a b "OUR MILESTONES". SakaeHoldings. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  21. ^ "BOARD OF DIRECTORS". SakaeHoldings. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  22. ^ "Sakae – ANNOUNCEMENT OF CESSATION AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER | I3investor". sgx.i3investor.com. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  23. ^ "About 300 enquire into $3k dishwasher post". Yahoo News. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  24. ^ "$3,000 to wash dishes: Sakae Sushi". Asiaone. 12 September 2012. Archived from the original on 16 September 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  25. ^ a b c d e f Goh, Chin Lian; Wong, Tessa; Heng, Janice (14 September 2012). "$3k a month to wash dishes? They want the job". The Straits Times. pp. A3.
  26. ^ Xu, Terry (30 September 2018). "New NMP clarifies misunderstanding over 2012 dishwasher fiasco". The Online Citizen. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  27. ^ "PRESS STATEMENT PARLIAMENT OF SINGAPORE NOMINATED MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT" (PDF). Parliament of Singapore. 17 September 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 April 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  28. ^ hermes (27 September 2018). "New NMPs appointed by President Halimah". The Straits Times. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  29. ^ "VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRTEENTH PARLIAMENT OF SINGAPORE" (PDF). Parliament of Singapore. 1 October 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 September 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  30. ^ "Sessions of Parliament | Parliament Of Singapore". www.parliament.gov.sg. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  31. ^ "THIRTEENTH PARLIAMENT OF SINGAPORE (SECOND SESSION)". Parliament of Singapore. Archived from the original on 17 July 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  32. ^ "Constitution of the Republic of Singapore – Singapore Statutes Online". sso.agc.gov.sg. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  33. ^ "GE2020: President Halimah Yacob dissolves Parliament, issues Writ of Election; Nomination Day on Jun 30". CNA. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  34. ^ a b Singapore, Prime Minister's Office (17 November 2018). "PMO | Recipients". Prime Minister's Office Singapore. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
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