Description
This visit illuminated how Dairy Farm International (DFI) strategically operates its business formats across Asia with a specific showcase on the various banners in the Singapore market. The focus on retail finance exposed the students to some of the key performance indicators typical of the food operation, which will prove useful when relating to such businesses.
Speakers
1. Lester Quah
Lester Quah is presently the Director of Retail Development for Dairy Farm Singapore. His current role involves all group development initiatives including various group projects and regulatory task forces. Mr. Quah has over 35 years of retail experience and has been involved in the running of various food formats including supermarket, hypermarket, and convenience store businesses. During the course his career, he has also had working experience (in late 90s) with Dairy Farm’s then Indian partners in their Food and Health ’n Beauty businesses based in India and with a secondment program to the DFI Indonesian business as stand-in COO for the Hero group for 8 months in 2002. As part of his career development, Mr. Quah attended and completed the Retail Management course at Ashridge Management College, UK. He is an alternate council member with the Singapore Retailer’s Association and has been actively engaged in industry related work with government authorities, including National Food Emergency Planning/Distribution.
2. Colin Tan
Colin Tan is the Regional Finance Director for Dairy Farm South East Asia. In his current role as the Regional Finance Director, he is responsible for overseeing the finance functions in both Singapore and Philippines, the latter being a newly acquired business by the Dairy Farm Group. Prior to holding this position, Mr. Tan served as the Group Financial Controller in Dairy Farm Malaysia, where he spent 12 years in various Finance roles. He was a key player in all finance functions in Malaysia, helping to turn a family oriented business into the largest food retail chain in the country. Before joining Dairy Farm, he was a consultant in the corporate finance division of Arthur Andersen & Co in Kuala Lumpur, a leading accounting firm at the time. Mr. Tan is a member of the CPA Australia, having studied in Perth Australia for several years.
3. Alex Tay
Alex Tay was appointed Regional Director, South Asia in June 2010 and is currently responsible for the Dairy Farm Group’s food retail operations in Singapore and Philippines. In all, he has more than 30 years experience in the Retail business. Mr. Tay started his career with Fitzpatrick’s Singapore in 1979. He spent the first eight years of his retailing career in Singapore holding various key management appointments with the Fitzpatrick’s and Cold Storage Supermarkets. Since his first assignment as an expatriate manager overseas in 1987, Mr. Tay had gained solid experience in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, India and Taiwan. He joined Dairy Farm in 1989 and spent more than 13 years in two senior executive postings in Taiwan from 1989 to 1995 and 1998 to 2005. He held numerous strategic and general management roles with Wellcome supermarket and became CEO of Wellcome Taiwan in 2001. During his service term in Taiwan, Mr. Tay was awarded “The Best Manager in Management” a recognition in 1993 by the Taiwan Chain Store and Franchise Association (TCFA). Mr. Tay took up the CEO role of Wellcome Hong Kong in February 2006. He made significant achievements and turned the Hong Kong food retail icon into a high performer including introducing new strategic business format, namely ThreeSixty, the largest organic supermarket in Asia. In addition, he developed and expanded the network of Market Place by Jasons to fill the gap of serving the affluent middle class Asian consumer segment with a whole new food shopping experience. Mr. Tay holds an MBA from Leicester University, UK, and completed the Advance Management Program at Harvard Business School in May 2009.
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