IN A discussion that covered a wide range of topics, the commentators at the Charger Award kept the audience engrossed with tips, anecdotes and insightful opinions.
The inaugural award developed with data from the Spiking app, which follows the investments of the rich investors, was preceded by a panel discussion. From the state of Singapore’s economy, to finding inspiration in the stock market, to the crafty nature of data and statistics, the discussions covered a breadth of topics with the aim of shedding light on the dog-eat-dog stock market.
The discussions were moderated by STORM.SG publisher, Kannan Chandran, with opinions and views from (left to right): Clemen Chiang Ph.D, CEO Spiking; CEO of International Property Advisor Ku Swee Yong; Prof. Kirpal Singh, Director, Wee Kim Wee Centre, Singapore Management University; Kannan Chandran; Independent Director and Investor Chong Huai Seng; and Kamal Samuel, Managing Director, Financial PR.
Here are snippets from the discussion.
Ku Swee Yong, CEO, International Property Advisor, also gives a sobering reflection on deciphering data.
The numbers do not lie, or do they? he asks.
The chart shows that household incomes have increased in the last few years, but is it a fair reflection of the state of local society? Taking a deeper look at the data however, tells a different story. It would seem that families with zero income are not included in the data set! Even though this number may have increased, the data doesn’t show that at all. It paints a very rosy picture instead!
Retail is dying, and you want to rejuvenate Orchard Road?
If you introduce more new businesses into the space, we are only going to have more deaths there. — Ku Swee Yong presents a gloomy state of affairs for Singapore’s premium retail district.
What Singapore Needs
Things are not quite right in Singapore’s economy — our macro economy is sick!
The stock market is a jungle — it’s an ecosystem. But in Singapore, we don’t have an ecosystem to support a living jungle. It has become sterilised — it’s too expensive, there is too much regulation, and the low valuations can dissuade companies from listing here.
We should start a Catalist Fund dedicated to SMEs.
— Independent Director and Investor Chong Huai Seng, in offering an appraisal of Singapore’s economy and stock market.
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Tomorrow’s Generation
Opportunities are legion — not for companies getting listed today but in creating companies that may be listed in the near future. — says Prof Kirpal Singh, Director, Wee Kim Wee Centre, Singapore Management University on finding new opportunities in market.
The millennials are taking over. However, we are looking for a little bit more from them. We need a tenacious millennial — one with gumption, as Lee Kuan Yew would say. They need to be more gung ho. They need to be resilient; a calculative kind of resilience. — Kirpal Singh, talking about how millennials can make a difference.
The Heavenly Kings
Clemen Chiang, CEO, Spiking, on why investors are interested in the flux and uncertainty in the UK — Resilience is what makes the UK attractive today. They are in the midst of Brexit and a hung parliament and resilience comes forward very quickly and that’s what investors are looking for.
In breaking down the Singapore’s investment horizon, Spiking’s Clemen Chiang identifies the three heavenly kings of Singapore’s stock market.
- Sam Goi – the “Popiah King” of Tee Yih Jia Foods
- Piyush Gupta – CEO and Director of DBS Group
- Ron Sim – Investor and founder of OSIM International.
Study the interests and movements in the market of these kings and learn from them. If you can unlock and understand how they think and make decisions, then you too can tap into their success.
Strong Leadership
There is a difference in the ways business leaders solve problems. What we are looking for are leaders with vision, ready to take a risk to move forward. Singapore Medical Group is a good example of this, with brave and decisive leadership; they were able to make a turnaround in less than a year, from less than $100million in market capitalisation to almost $300million in less than a year. — Kamal Samuel, Managing Director, Financial PR, on how the right leadership makes the critical difference.
It is a cycle sometimes — listing and delisting on the exchange. Companies are often not appreciated by the market. There are some gems to be unearthed there, but there is also a premium on good stocks, says Kamal Samuel, on the movement of companies in and out of the Singapore exchange.
