THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT runs deep in the NTI Mechanical and Production engineering pioneers. Sixteen of them started their own businesses. Their goods and services include engineering consultancy, marine products, sofa leather, printing solutions and books. Their reasons for taking the plunge: a desire to be the boss, the lack of challenges in their salaried job and business opportunities.

A prime example is Eddie Ng Seng Leong. Married to a Taiwanese, he saw a niche in supplying European leather to sofa makers in Taiwan. In 1992, he shifted to Taiwan and pumped in his life savings of $50,000 in a joint venture with a local partner. It paid off handsomely. Ligo Leather Enterprise became the largest supplier of sofa leather in Taiwan. In 18 years, their assets soared from $500,000 to $60 million. Wanting to replicate their success in China, Ligo set up a branch there in 2002.

However, China was not an easy market to penetrate for Philip Kee Tuang Loh. The former naval officer started Luke Philips Consultants in 1991. It helps companies implement the ISO9000 Quality Management Systems. The ISO9000 is a family of standards to ensure that companies meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders. Luke Philips was among the consultancy services pioneers in China. Things went well until the turn of the millennium. Competition was stiff and there was an on-going price war. In 2003, Philip closed down all branches in China and returned to Singapore. Many of the classmates that Philip roped in as consultants, such as Khong Cheng Mun, Lee Ngee Boon, and Sng Soon Heng, eventually started their own consulting firms.

The yearning to explore new things prompted Vaidyanathan Srikrishnan (Sri) to become an entrepreneur. Sri had a fascinating 12-year stint at Esso. He started his own company after feeling that “there was nothing more to learn at Esso”. In 1997, he set up NorthLab with fellow NTI pioneer A Murugappan and two others. The firm sells, rents, repairs and calibrates offshore oil and gas equipment. Being the boss was not easy but he pressed on. “Finances were tight and at times, there was no salary to bring home,” said Sri.