This will be another GOOD WEEK for iFast.
This post was originally posted here. The writer, Swee Swee Lai is a veteran community member and blogger on InvestingNote, with a username known as @Sweeswee and has 315 followers.
I would like to pay tribute to Lim Chung Chun (Lim CC), CEO of iFAST Corporation.
Lim CC: “You need to PUT YOUR MONEY where your CONVICTION is, and iFast is a stock that I know better than anybody else in the world and is within my control to ENSURE its SUCCESS”.
1. He is an engineer by training but built a career in investment research in the 1990s which culminated in a Head of Research position in a foreign financial institution. He could have just stay content with this high paying, cushy job. But he decided to step out of his comfort zone and become an entrepreneur, in the aftermath of the Asian Financial Crisis. Perhaps those PMETs who have been retrenched now can be inspired by him to become an entrepreneur.
2. iFast has been in business for more than 20 years, during which it has overcome several crises and emerged stronger each time: dotcom bust (2000), SARS (2003), Global Financial Crisis (2008), and Covid-19 (2020). This shows that the iFast business model and its management team have proven track record in navigating crises and business cycles. Several of its key management staff have been with the company since the beginning. I heard the office culture is good and Lim is a good boss.
3. True to the entrepreneurial spirit, he put in the bulk of his personal wealth into the business, even during difficult times. He demonstrated strong conviction and commitment. From that, he also attracted genuine investors who believed and supported him especially during tough times. True to his investment philosophy, he builds the business for the long term.
4. iFast started only as an online distributor of funds, unit trusts in Singapore. But it gradually expanded its products and services, as well as geographically into 5 other countries. That’s why if iFast wins the digital banking license, it opens up a lot more opportunities for it to expand into related products and services. It is the network effect of the new economy. He also wants iFast to run a truly “GLOBAL BUSINESS MODEL”.
This is a great interview conducted in Jun 2020:
https://zuuonline.sg/business/c-suite/leading-the-evolution-of-a-finte…
We ought to support, respect, and celebrate the success of our homegrown entrepreneurs like Lim CC. The other person is Tan Ming Liang of Razer Inc. He quit his lawyer profession to start Razer Inc, which has a market cap of about S$3.27 billion now.
Lim CC is on the way to building a multi-billion market cap company.
People like them are well educated but not scholarly type. No need to work for others. No need to be helicoptered into a top post in a big organization.
They take the risk and create scalable, forward-looking businesses which in turn generate many jobs for others. They deserve to be extremely successful. Next could be Grab and Carousell.
So, MAS:
There is every reason for you to award iFast a wholesale digital banking license.
It will do SINGAPORE proud!
