Kenny Yap

Kenny Yap, popularly known as “Kenny the Fish”, is the executive chairman of Qian Hu Corporation, an award-winning, ornamental fish specialist company founded in Singapore.

This dynamic, extroverted 42-year-old entrepreneur who received the Public Service award (PBM) from Singapore Government and Medal of commendation from Singapore Youth award in Year 2004, was winner of Ernst & Young Service entrepreneur Award and most creative Entrepreneur, runner up by Singapore Business Times in Year 2003, Asian Young Entrepreneur Award 2002 by YAZHOU ZHOUKAN, named one of the 50 Stars of Asia by Business Week in 2001; won the International Management Action Award in 2000, and the Singapore National Youth Award in 1998, took over the company with two of his cousins, Alvin and Andy Yap when their fathers, who used to breed pigs in rural Singapore, had to give up their farm to make way for urban redevelopment.

The Yaps decided to breed guppies for local fish exporters and converted the farm’s old pig pens into concrete fish ponds. A heavy thunderstorm in 1989, however, destroyed their entire fish stock.

It was around this time that Kenny, Alvin and Andy decided to rebuild their fathers’ business and named the company Qian Hu, which means a thousand lakes in Chinese. This time they reared high-fin loaches, a popular fish at the time, despite knowing very little about the fish. In one fell swoop, their entire stock of 4000 loaches dies and the Yaps lost everything except their resolve, mettle and determination.

This lesson was so valuable to them that the high-fin loach became Qian Hu’s corporate identity which serves as a daily reminder of where they were, and where they never want to be again.

BUSINESS ACHIEVEMENTS

Rising out of the ashes of two business failures, Kenny was more than determined to turnaround their business. Armed with a first-class honours business degree from Ohio State University in the United States in June 1990, Kenny – the only graduate in his large, extended family -- decided to heed the call of duty to manage the family business in 1991, which has since been expanding to include operations in Asia.

He managed to turn a small, agrarian business to a public-listed company within a short span of 9 years. Not only did he inject professionalism, good quality-management into the business, he also infused his passion, drive and deep commitment to teamwork. It was this fire and passion for the business that contributed to the many awards and trophies that Qian Hu has amassed over the years, maintaining a track record of excellence and innovation that is unique to Qian Hu and the industry.

Today, Qian Hu not only breeds, farms and exports ornamental fish to all parts of the world, it also includes the manufacture of aquarium and pet accessories, pet foods, medicines and even plastic bags into its vertically-integrated business model.

Qian Hu today is a professionally-managed public-listed company that has made a name for itself among institutional and retail investors, as well as the public at large. For the past two years running, Qian Hu has won for itself the Most Transparent Company (in Sesdaq and Small Cap stocks category) awarded by the Securities Investors Association of Singapore – a public endorsement of its unwavering commitment to maintaining good corporate governance practices and transparency with its stakeholders. It also made to the honour roll by topping The Business Times’ Corporate Transparency Index for listed companies with December 2001 financial year-ends.

Since 2002 till date, Qian Hu has been ranked the most transparent company by Singapore Business Times.

After all, its corporate mission statement is “to create shareholders’ value by becoming a world-class ornamental fish and accessories company through innovative and quality products and services.”

Not only has the Group received accolades for its corporate performance, Qian Hu’s ornamental fish varieties have consistently made it to the limelight in the top shows in the industry. For instance, at the Aquarama 2001 show, Qian Hu’s highly-prized Dragon Fish won first prize in the “Red” and “New Species/Varieties (Wild Caught)” categories, while its Goldfish Orandas took the runner-up spot. It also won third prizes in the “Goldfish Ryukin” and “New Species/Varieties (Bred-in-Captivity)” categories.

LEADERSHIP ABILITY & INNOVATION

Being the youngest in the family, Kenny had the daunting task of gaining credibility among his older family members who were already in the business. He decided that the best way of motivating them towards running a world-class corporation would be to introduce the ISO quality procedures into its daily operations.

In 1995, a year after the move to its present location within the Sungei Tengah Agrotechnology Park, Qian Hu developed quality systems for its operations, leading to three ISO 9002 certifications for conditioning and packing of ornamental fish for export (1996); the training, quarantine and breeding of Dragon Fish (1997); and the retail and wholesale of aquarium accessories and pet products (2000).

As if that wasn’t sufficient, Kenny initiated in 1998, an ISO 14001 certification for environmental management system by designing the landscaping of the farm in such a way that water runoffs from heavy rainfall would be recycled for use in the operations, instead of affecting the fish stock and breeding ponds.

In 1997, Kenny took on a project to automate its fish-packing processes by designing a proprietary auto-packing machine with the support from the Agri-food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore and partially funded by the Singapore Economic Development Board’s Innovative Development Scheme. In that same year, Singapore Productivity and Standard’s Board (now known as Spring Singapore) admitted Qian Hu into its Promising Small and Medium Enterprises Programme, which helped Qian Hu formulate and develop its strategic business plans.

As part of its efforts to promote the ornamental fish industry in Singapore, Qian Hu invested $200,000 in a community project to bring back the simple delights of “kampung days” such as catching “longkang” fish. Named the “Qian Hu Agro-Education Centre” this activity centre, reminiscent of its old farm in Nee Soon, complete with poultry, fruit tree, and garden spices, hopes to give younger urban-dwelling Singaporeans and tourists a taste of how life was like when the majority of the population stayed in villages or “kampungs”.

As one of the few truly agricultural landmarks in Singapore, Qian Hu Fish Farm has also been recognized by the Singapore Tourism Board as an agro-tourism destination.

From a small, local fish farm, Qian Hu has evolved to become a one-stop shop – that is engaged in the farming, breeding, and distribution of ornamental fish as well as the distribution and manufacturing of aquariums and related accessories like fish tanks, pumps, filters, fish food and medicines.

Not content with just operating a fish farm in Singapore, Kenny went around the world to source for business and established his own distribution network in Malaysia, Thailand and China.

Qian Hu now exports to more than 70 countries worldwide and has over 4% of the global market for ornamental fish. In Singapore, it has between 30% to 40% market share of the ornamental fish distribution, and 60% of the accessories market.

Sales in 2007 reached $91.7 million, up from $76.11 million the previous year, while net profit improved from $2.6 million to $4.9 million.

What truly sets Qian Hu apart from other successful businesses is the strong cord of teamwork, camaraderie and commitment that is a culture that is unique to Qian Hu. Kenny Yap’s amiable personality and infectious passion for work and life has pervaded the organization which truly has a happy environment. In fact, in its latest annual staff survey conducted in 2007, 98.5% of Qian Hu’s staff expressed that they were very happy and proud of the company. Qian Hu was certified to be a People Developer Organisation in Year 2007.

Its achieving of the Singapore Quality Award in 2004 is only scratching the surface of where Kenny hopes the company will be one day. To be truly world-class, he envisions that their sense of commitment, camaraderie and teamwork must continue to be raised to even higher levels than before.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT PLANS OF QIAN HU

Already with business hubs in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and China, and a major player in establishing Singapore as the ornamental fish capital, Kenny is not about to sit on his laurels and trophies.

Since 1999, Qian Hu began distributing aquarium and pet accessories to Malaysia, China and Thailand. Much growth was expected in this business segment as Kenny believed that for every dollar a hobbyist spent on ornamental fish, five more would be spent on accessories.

As such, in 2001, a joint venture company, Wan Jiang Technology Co Ltd, was established in Guangzhou together with a Taiwanese partner, to produce proprietary brands of aquarium and pet accessories as well as other third party brands. These accessories were being distributed throughout the Group’s regional subsidiaries as well as to other countries such as Japan, Germany, United Kingdom and beyond. Qian Hu has recently increased its stake in this joint venture from 50% to 100% and changed the name to Guangzhou Qian Hu.

In 2001, the Group set up a new subsidiary in Thailand – Thai Qian Hu Company Ltd – to export and distribute tropical fish, as well as a new fish division in its Malaysian subsidiary Guan Guan.

In 2004, Qian Hu ventured into Pet Chain Stores called “ The Pet family”. Currently it has 12 stores in Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.

While its Singapore operations would continue to grow organically, the bulk of Qian Hu’s growth in the next few years would be driven from its overseas operations as the Group seeks to extend and expand its value chain.

Quote

• "We knew that we were small fish. Small fish have to swim together to survive. Without my four brothers and two cousins, I don’t think there would be a Kenny Yap." — Kenny Yap

External links

• Kenny Yap - Business Week review
• Kenny Yap's profile