Photo by Sim Kih
William Fong is in charge of the purse strings of Singapore-listed company MTQ Corporation, which is setting the bold target of investing US$20 million to replicate its business in the Middle East.
This, at a time when companies are downsizing their ambitions and focusing on survival. Then again, MTQ is in the rare position of having the cash flow and profitability to take advantage of the economic crisis.
So here’s a quiz: As group financial controller of MTQ, which of the following might appear on the 46-year-old Mr Fong’s CV?
a) Lorry driver
b) Audit assistant
c) Accountant at listed company
d) Failed Math at O-level
e) Failed English at O level several times
f) Distinction in A-level economics
g) Top 5% in polytechnic course.
Answer: All of the above. William’s amazing story is worthy of the famous Chicken Soup motivational series.
He was the 11th child in his family which lived in a shophouse on Malay Street, where Bugis Junction now stands. When he was nine, his father died. Two years later, his mother died. Partly as a result of an absence of parental oversight, he spent little time studying. When he passed the Primary School Leaving Examination, “all my neighbours and relatives thought I must have cheated in the exam.”
Going on to St Joseph’s Institution, he was no more serious about schoolwork than before. “I was always in the top 3 – counting from behind,” he recalls with a chuckle. No surprise that his O-level exam results were dismal: he passed three subjects only and had either a F9 or E8 grade for the rest of the six subjects he sat for.
Another year of study for the same exam didn’t improve his grades.
The prospects of a bleak future began to dawn on him. He knew that attending a private school for pre-university was his only option, so he visited San Yu High School begging to be accepted. The answer was no, as he did not meet its minimum qualification. He didn’t give up: In all, he visited the principal 12 times before he won a place – and that was three months after school had started.
Once accepted, he was determined to study hard. It helped that he found an affinity for two new subjects - economics and management of business. He was motivated by his teachers’ praise, and he took night classes in accounting at the LCCI (London Chamber of Commerce and Industry). The efforts paid off: He scored a distinction.
After three years, he topped his school with 3 A-level and 2 O-level passes. “I was the only one who scored a distinction in economics – the first time ever for the school. The principal said to me: ‘I remember you. I nearly rejected you.’ I was very happy that day. ”
He got a break of a different kind when a driving instructor allowed him to take driving lessons and pay for them later when he found work. He did get a job shortly as a driver for Dunkin Donuts, working the 11pm-7am shift.
Three months on, he was enlisted for national service. There he suffered some miserable times. He injured his spinal cord. Then he found himself homeless after a sibling sold the family home to settle a debt.
As a result, William moved to a married sister’s place. Feeling awkward living in her home, he spent most of his check-out time by himself in Bedok Centre.
After completing national service in 1986, he applied for a place at Ngee Ann Polytechnic but was rejected as he did not have even a pass in O-level Maths and English.
Undeterred, he studied part-time while working as a lorry driver for a transport company. During that stint, he learnt some early lessons about people management.
“Some of the workers who followed me for delivery were ex-convicts or had mental problems. Once I accused someone wrongly after I lost a logbook, and he threatened to beat me up. I realised I had to learn to accept responsibility and not put the blame on another person.”
He learnt also about the rewards of hard work. He turned to his books when he was not deployed as a driver. He volunteered for overtime work every night, and that substantially boosted his earnings, from $560 to $1,200 a month. When he wasn’t working, he had his head in a textbook.
He eventually passed his O-level Math and English - the latter after six tries - with C5 grades, and was accepted into Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
“When I resigned from the driver’s job, my general manager said: ‘William, you have a good career path here. You are one of the best drivers and I intend to send you for Class 5 driving course – you can upgrade to become a trailer driver.’ ”
But with some savings from his work and some financial aid from a sister, William enrolled in Business Studies (Accounting Option) at Ngee Ann. From then on, things began to look up, he remembers. “I enjoyed my poly years. I played lots of soccer and swam, and still did well because of the foundation I had in Pre-U.”
He emerged among the top 5 per cent of students in his course and qualified to do the Bachelor’s in Accounting degree course at Nanyang Technological University.
Passed ACCA within 2 years
But he decided to forego the university route as he had little financial resources. Instead he started work at one of the Big 4 auditing firms with a starting pay of $600.
He had chosen this over another job that offered $1,200 as he knew the Big 4 firm sponsored its employees for the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) exam to qualify to be an accountant, and even provided study and exam leave.
A senior asked him how long he expected to take to pass all 12 papers of the ACCA exam. “When I told him ‘3 years’ he said: ‘You are very arrogant. No one in this company has ever taken less than five years studying part-time. I took eight years.’ ”
He didn’t know what William was capable of if he went all out to achieve something. The effort brought about gastric pains and stomach ulcers sometimes – and some relationship stress. “When I was preparing for my exams, I told my girlfriend not to call me.”
Thanks to another senior, Jimmy Lim, now executive director of SBI E2 Capital, who helped him by giving him a lot of encouragement on his studies, William passed his exam within 2 years.
It was now time to move on, as he reckoned that audit work was not his cup of tea in the long term. He joined a listed company as an accountant, rising rapidly in the seven years he stayed there.
But initially, it felt like he had made a bad move. His boss, who proved to be a workaholic, told him on his first day at work: “You are expected to work till midnight every day for three months.”
A few years later when he started managing staff, he consciously didn’t want a work environment like that. He sought to streamline work, so his staff would have a balanced work life. Mr Fong himself is a family man with a wife and a daughter.
Another lesson William learnt early was to share with his subordinates what he knew, so that he himself and the subordinates would be able to climb the ladder faster.
He learnt much from his two bosses, Raymond Ho and Angie Lim, who taught him not only work skills but also the art of people management – and they have remained friends since.
At the age of 33, William was promoted to group accounts manager, and found himself working with the finance mangers and accountants of over 30 subsidiaries of the group.
During the busiest part of the year, they would come back during weekends to help him complete the consolidation of the group’s accounts.
“This was teamwork. In working life, you must try to make as many friends as possible and as few enemies as possible,” says William.
In 1998, he was headhunted to be group finance manager of Metalock, now known as MTQ, whose key business is servicing equipment from oilfields in the region.His responsibilities expanded to cover consolidation, operations accounts, treasury, mergers and acquisitions, tax and investor relationship
After a year, he was asked to take over the company secretary role too and, shortly later, take charge of the information technology department because of his people management skills. He was also promoted to Group Financial Controller.
“I like to groom people. My previous No.2 worked for me for nearly 10 years after graduating from university. Now she is a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of another listed company. Some of my other staff have also become CFOs of listed companies. I feel proud and happy for them.”
William (centre of front row) with colleagues after a regular exercise outing at East Coast Park.Striking first prize in 4-D
Even at recruitment interviews, which William would keep as informal as possible, he would spend share some of his knowledge with the interviewees.
He reasons that out of, say, 100 applicants for a finance post, MTQ would select five to 10 for interviews. These candidates would take as much as a day off for the interview – so he felt he should give them something meaningful to take away with them.
“People appreciate it and would write to thank me. My HR colleagues are surprised that I keep getting such letters,” says William.
When he sent his car for servicing at a workshop, he noticed that a service staff was regularly early on the job, and commended him in a survey. It made the man very happy and he would go the extra mile for William in terms of service and friendliness.
The handling of a bad mistake further illustrates Mr Fong’s people skills – and the rewards of lending a hand. A mistake was discovered in the company’s annual report which was to be sent out the next day. Mr Fong immediately gathered his team to work on fixing the problem rather than focusing on who made the mistake.
Reflecting William’s ‘make as many friends as you can’ approach, even a colleague from the purchasing department volunteered her help with the menial task of fixing several pages of 2,200 copies of it.
Typical of the Singaporean penchant for turning adversity into opportunity – a 4D opportunity, that is – many in the team went out try their luck at the lottery after finishing work. They based their numbers on the pages of the annual report with mistakes.
According to Mr Fong, “All struck first prize! Their reward was between $4,000 and $5,000 each!” Which proves that hard work, teamwork and a little luck are a winning combination, as Mr Fong’s career has demonstrated.
This story was first published in PULSES magazine, the official publication of SGX, and is reproduced here with permission.
Recent MTQ story: MTQ: Investing US$20 m in Bahrain venture
Update: William has moved on to the CFO position at Food Empire Holdings.
