Goh Cheng Liang - Poor painter "no food" became Singapore's No. 1 billionaire

Billionaire Goh Cheng Liang's Wuthelam Holdings has held a majority stake, gaining control of the Japanese Nippon Paint Company, which shocked the world, helping his fortune increase sharply. But few people know that, in order to have the success today, Mr. Goh Cheng Liang used to be a poor painter "with no food to eat".

"Slumdog Billionaire" in real life

Mr. Goh Cheng Liang is one of the most famous and least famous billionaires in Singapore. He never appeared on any rich list, never even spoke to the press. However, some of Singapore's most famous landmarks like the Mt. Elizabeth or Liang Court mall in Clarke Back was built by this reclusive businessman.

Dubbed the "slum billionaire", Goh, like many other Asian billionaires, has a rather modest background. His father was unemployed, his mother worked as a laundromat. His extended family of parents, three sisters and one brother live in a one-room apartment. Seven lived in austere living conditions that lasted until Goh was 12 years old.

Billionaire Goh Cheng Liang never went to school. To earn a living, from a young age he sold fishing nets and learned business skills to make his fortune. When World War II broke out, his parents sent him to Muar, later Malaysia. Here, he helped his brother-in-law sell fishing nets until 1943, when he returned to Singapore to start selling carbonated water. However, business was not favorable at this time, he moved to work for a hardware store.

The big turning point in Goh's life came in 1949, when Mr. Goh spent all his money buying up boxes of rotting paint that were auctioned off during World War II. With a Chinese chemical mixing manual in hand, he began mixing paints together, creating his own product called "Pigeon".

Due to import restrictions during the Korean War, he suddenly became successful in the domestic paint business, paving the way for his empire in the future paint industry. This is the way the Pigeon Brand paint brand was born. After that, Goh Cheng Liang cooperated with Nippon Paint, one of the largest paint brands in the world, the stepping stone to bring Mr. Goh into the list of world billionaires.

The Korean War began in 1950, a ban was issued, and Mr. Goh enjoyed huge profits. Accordingly, imports are restricted to help his paint business gain a market in Singapore. But not stopping there, he went to study more intensively about paint production technology in Denmark.

After thoroughly researching Mr. Goh's technology and business model, Nippon Paint came to him with a business proposal. Now, having become a real businessman, Mr. Goh has reached an agreement to open a factory under the Nippon brand in Singapore. In the 1960s and later, this "slum billionaire" dominated the paint industry in Singapore and went further, expanding his business into other areas.

In 1991, Mr. Goh founded Yenom Holdings. Yenom is "a holding company with a portfolio that includes companies spanning across industries," according to the group's website.

Mr. Goh Cheng Liang's fortune is growing in Singapore, his business is like a kite when the country has a law requiring buildings to be repainted after 5 years. He invested his shares in Singapore-based Wuthelam Holdings, which currently operates in more than 15 countries outside of Japan with about 15,000 employees and factories in 30 different places.

In an interview with the Business Times in 1997, Mr. Goh said he was more suited to running a private company than a public company. "My personal philosophy is that I never wanted a public company.

First, I am not a professional manager. Second, professional managers, come and join me, I don't know how to handle them nor how to control them."

"Mr. Goh has a good nose for business," Mr. Lai Sim Hee, a business partner and friend of Goh's, told Business Times in 1997. This business acumen was honed through the years. many years.

For many years, Wuthelam and Nippon have run the business with joint ventures in China, India and Malaysia. In August 2020, Nippon Paint signed an agreement allowing it to acquire the joint venture and take over Wuthelam's Indonesia business. In return, the billionaire Goh family's stake in Nippon Paint increased to about 58%.

"Growth will continue," said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Horace Chan. Mr. Chan estimates the alliance could lift Nippon Paint's net income by around 64% in 2021. "It will help the company simplify its corporate structure, allowing for more efficient resource allocation."

Love to play luxury yachts

Billionaire tycoon Goh Cheng Liang also has stakes in hotels, packaging, logistics, marinas, golf courses, food manufacturing, mining in China, hotels and real estate across the world. Around the world. He also used to own the Mt. Elizabeth and Liang Court Shopping Center.

However, most of his fortune comes from shares of Nippon Paint. Today, his companies Wuthelam Holdings and Yenom Industries operate in a variety of businesses...The deal between Nippon and Goh's Wuthelam Holdings is said to be one of the largest in Asia in 2020.

His net worth is nearly 17 billion USD. Among them are not only shares in Wuthelam and Nippon, but also a superyacht named White Rabbit and a property in Singapore worth $68 million. It is known that he has a passion for luxury yachts and catamarans. A private businessman, Mr. Liang is the owner of a collection of ultra-luxury boats, including Australia's 200 ft White Rabbit "Echo" superyacht.

"I don't like cinemas, I don't like movies, I don't like songs, I don't like karaoke, I don't like bars. When I was younger, I was quite naughty, but 20 years ago it was different." he said.

Mr. Goh has been selected by Forbes Asia as one of the heroes in philanthropy in 2014. His main field of philanthropy is medical research. His Goh Foundation donated $50 million to the National Cancer Centers of Singapore in March 2014.

Previously, through this charity fund, he donated 12 million USD to the center. Not only making charitable donations to foundations and centers, he also helps friends and the poor. When a Japanese friend of his was diagnosed with liver cancer, he took him to a top hospital in the US and of course he paid the bill. It can be seen that Go cheng Liang deserves to be an example for efforts to overcome difficulties and seize the moment to succeed.

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