From left: Mr. Ashok Kumar Sahoo, CFO, Mr. Jim Rogers, Advisor to the Board and Mr. Ng Xinwei, CEO
Our Board of Directors
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN
Mr. Ng Say Pek
Mr. Ng Say Pek, aged 64, Singaporean, was appointed as non-executive Director on 1 August 2013 and is the chairman of the board (the “Board”) of directors (the “Director(s)”) of the Company and executive Director. Mr. Ng Say Pek is the father of Mr. Ng Xinwei, the executive Director. Mr. Ng graduated from the Nanyang Technological University (formerly known as Nanyang University) with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accountancy. He is also a certified public accountant and a fellow member of The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore and Australia. Mr. Ng has more than 39 years’ experience in the trading of cocoa, palm oil, thermal coal and commodity. Mr. Ng also has intensive experience in palm oil estate management, coal mining and tugs and barges management.
Mr. Ng is the founder and current managing director of Agritrade International Pte Ltd (“AIPL”), the controlling shareholder of the Company and a global trading house based in Singapore that provides supply chain solutions in international markets for the last 36 years. Under the leadership of Mr. Ng, AIPL is recognised amongst the top Singapore 1,000 companies continuously for the past 10 years. Mr. Ng is also the director of a subsidiary of the Company.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS
Mr. Ng Xinwei
Mr. Ng Xinwei, aged 31, Singaporean, was appointed executive Director on 24 August 2010 and is the chief executive officer of the Company. He is also the chairman of the executive committee (the “Executive Committee”) of the Company. Mr. Ng Xinwei is the son of Mr. Ng Say Pek, the non-executive chairman of the Company and founder and managing director of AIPL, a controlling shareholder of the Company. He joined AIPL in 2004 to deepen his expertise in the trading operations of palm oil and coal, shipping logistics management and commodities-related investments. He is a director of certain subsidiaries of the Company. Mr. Ng is in charge of managing all operational aspects of the Company’s coal mining business and charting the Company’s future strategy. He is also responsible for investor relations and corporate communications.
Mr. Ashok Kumar Sahoo
Mr. Ashok Kumar Sahoo, aged 39, Singaporean, was appointed executive Director on 1 August 2013 and is the chief financial officer of the Company. He is also a member of the Executive Committee. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance and Accounting from Uktal University of India and graduated his MBA in Finance from Pondicherry Central University of India. Mr. Sahoo has 16 years of intensive experience in the field of corporate finance, accounting, auditing, cross boarder taxation, risk management, treasury management, and merger & acquisitions. He is a director of certain subsidiaries of the Company.
Mr. Sahoo was the regional finance director of the subsidiaries of Gati Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd, an Indian listed company based out of Singapore to look after corporate finance activities of the group spread over in South East Asia, Middle East, China, Japan and Africa. From 2009 to 2012, he was the finance director of a mining company operates coal mine in the East Kalimantan of Indonesia.
Mr. Sahoo is a qualified chartered accountant and a fellow member from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Ms. Lim Beng Kim, Lulu
Ms. Lim Beng Kim, Lulu, aged 57, Singaporean, was appointed executive Director on 4 June 2010. She is the general manager of AIPL and is a member of the Executive Committee. Ms. Lim has over 30 years of experience in accounting and financial management, and is actively involved in the accounting and financial aspects of the Company. Ms. Lim graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the National University of Singapore.
INDEPENDENT NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS
Mr. Chong Lee Chang
Mr. Chong Lee Chang, aged 58, Malaysian, was appointed as independent non-executive Director on 25 June 2010 and is the chairman of the Nomination Committee and a member of the audit committee (the “Audit Committee”) of the Company. Mr. Chong has more than 25 years’ experience in legal practice in Malaysia and was a senior partner of a Kuala Lumpur-based law firm, Messrs. LC Chong & Co. His legal experience included advising various companies from Asia and the United Kingdom.
Mr. Chong currently holds directorship at Bingo Group Holdings Limited, a company listed on the GEM of the Stock Exchange, as executive director and at EITA Resources Berhad, a company listed on the Malaysian Stock Exchange, as senior independent non-executive director. From 2007 to July 2014, he was an independent non-executive director of CVM Minerals Limited, a company listed on the Stock Exchange. Mr. Chong is also the managing director of Guangxi Xin Wei Hotel Management Co., Ltd, a private foreign investment company in the PRC which owns the Naning Marriott Hotel.
Mr. Chong has also served as an executive director of Antah Holdings Berhad, a public company listed on the mainboard of Bursa Malaysia and also held directorship in Permanis Sdn. Bhd., the Malaysian franchise holder and bottler of Pepsi-Cola and Seven-up. He was the executive director of Seven Eleven Convenience stores in Malaysia from 2000 to 2002. From May 2005 to February 2009, Mr. Chong served as a non-executive director of Midwest Corporation Limited, a public company that was previously listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, and is engaged in mining, exploring and processing iron ore. Mr. Chong graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Degree in Law from the Manchester Metropolitan University in 1982. He was admitted to the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, London, in 1982 and was enrolled as a barrister of law in 1983. In 1984, he was admitted as an advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malaya and holds a legal practicing certificate to practice law in Malaysia.
Mr. Siu Kin Wai
Mr. Siu Kin Wai, aged 48, was appointed independent non-executive Director on 24 August 2010 and is the chairman of the Audit Committee and a member of the Remuneration and Nomination Committees. Mr. Siu has extensive experience in financial management and corporate advisory and assurance. He is an executive director of Beijing Properties (Holdings) Limited, a company listed on the Stock Exchange, and a non-executive director of CAQ Holdings Limited, a company listed on the Australia Stock Exchange. Mr. Siu graduated from the City University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accountancy and are fellow members of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Mr. Terence Chang Xiang Wen
Mr. Terence Chang Xiang Wen, aged 30, Singaporean, was appointed independent non-executive Director on 1 August 2013 and is the chairman of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Audit Committee. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from the Business School of University of Western Australia.
Mr. Chang has solid experience in the capital market, equity investment, investment brokerage operation and merger and acquisition in Singapore. Since 2011, Mr. Chang is the director of an investment brokerage firm based in Singapore, which focuses on investment brokerage, and mergers & acquisitions of medium to large sized companies and assets in the Asian region.
Mr. Cheng Yu
Mr. Cheng Yu, aged 45, was appointed Independent Non-Executive Director on 1 December 2016. Mr. Cheng has extensive experience in the trading of and investment in non-ferrous metal commodities and related minerals, mineral production and processing, futures brokerage, logistics and freight forwarding industries in the PRC. Mr. Cheng held various directorships and senior executive positions with non-ferrous metal trading and investment corporations both in the PRC and Hong Kong, including Lianyungang E&T International Trade Corp. and 上海正瀛投資發展有限公司 (literally translated as Shanghai Gene Investment Development Company Limited).
Mr. Cheng graduated from Party School of the Central Committee of C.P.C. in the People’s Republic of China (the “PRC”) with major in foreign economics and from the post-graduate program in technical economics and management of Hohai University in the PRC.
Mr. Phen Chun Shing Vincent
Mr. Phen, aged 40, was appointed Independent Non-Executive Director on 12 December 2017. He holds a bachelor degree in business administration from the University of North Texas. Mr. Phen is currently an executive director of China Partytime Culture Holdings Limited and an executive director of Taung Gold International Limited (“Taung Gold”), both companies are listed on the mainboard of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the “Stock Exchange”). Prior to the re-designation of Mr. Phen as the executive director of Taung Gold in May 2017, he has been the non-executive director of Taung Gold since July 2015. Mr. Phen was also the non-executive director of EPI (Holdings) Limited, a company listed on the mainboard of the Stock Exchange, from February 2016 to October 2016.
Mr. Phen has over 15 years of experience in direct investment and corporate banking. He was an executive director of China Merchants Capital Management (International) Limited from 2012 to 2015, a non-executive director of Comtec Solar Systems Group Limited, a company listed on the mainboard of the Stock Exchange, from 2010 to 2012 and a director of CMS Capital (HK) Co., Limited (formerly known as CMTF Asset Management Limited) from 2009 to 2012. Mr. Phen also worked for CLSA Capital Partners from 2007 to 2009 and has worked in the international corporate banking divisions of various financial institutions for seven years.
ADVISOR TO THE BOARD
Mr. James Beeland Rogers, Jr. (“Jim Rogers”)
Investment Expert and Author
Jim Rogers, a native of Demopolis, Alabama, is an author, financial commentator, adventurer, and successful international investor. He has been frequently featured in Time, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Barron’s, Forbes, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The Business Times, The Straits Times and many media outlets worldwide. He has also appeared as a regular commentator and columnist in various media and has been a professor at Columbia University.
After attending Yale and Oxford University, Rogers co-founded the Quantum Fund, a global-investment partnership. During the next 10 years, the portfolio gained 4200%, while the S&P; rose less than 50%. Rogers then decided to retire – at age 37. Continuing to manage his own portfolio, Rogers kept busy serving as a full professor of finance at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, and, in 1989 and 1990, as the moderator of WCBS's 'The Dreyfus Roundtable' and FNN's 'The Profit Motive with Jim Rogers'.
In 1990-1992, Rogers fulfilled his lifelong dream: motorcycling 100,000 miles across six continents, a feat that landed him in the Guinness Book of World Records. As a private investor, he constantly analyzed the countries through which he traveled for investment ideas. He chronicled his one-of-a-kind journey in Investment Biker: On the Road with Jim Rogers. Jim also embarked on a Millennium Adventure in 1999. He traveled for 3 years on his round-the-world, Guinness World Record journey. It was his 3rd Guinness Record. Passing through 116 countries, he covered more than 245,000 kilometers, which he recounted in his book Adventure Capitalist: The Ultimate Road Trip. His book, Hot Commodities: How Anyone Can Invest Profitably In The World's Best Market, was published in 2004. Another of his books A Bull in China describes his experiences in China as well as the changes and opportunities there. His recent book A Gift to My Children is a heartfelt, indispensable guide for his daughters (as well as for all adults and children) to find success and happiness. His latest memoir Street Smarts: Adventures on the Road and in the Markets was published in February 2013.