The Qian Hu's Story

Qian Hu's history can be traced back to the early days of the Company's pioneers, two brothers who were in the pig farming business - Mr Yap Tik Huay, the father of the Group's Executive Chairman Kenny Yap, and his brother Yap Hey Cha.

In 1985, their pig farm was eradicated due to the Government's move to stem pollution and free up more land for residential development. At that point in time, Tik Huay's three sons, Yap Peng Heng, Yap Hock Huat and Yap Kim Choon joined the family business.

They converted the old pig pens into concrete ponds and started breeding guppies for the local fishexporters.

However, in 1989, during a heavy thunderstorm, their entire stock of guppies was washed away. Having to start all over again, and with a new name "Qian Hu" - which means a thousand lakes in Chinese, Kenny and two of his cousins, Alvin and Andy, were more than ever determined to put their collective efforts towards rebuilding Qian Hu. Little did they realise, however, that they were in for another set back.

After their failure in rearing guppies, they went on to farm high-fin loaches despite knowing very little about this particular variety of fish.

In one fell swoop, their entire stock of 4,000 loaches died. They lost almost everything, except for their resolve, mettle and drive to succeed.

Since then, however, they learnt from this lesson, realising their mistake of not diversifying risks, and not knowing enough about their products. In fact, this lesson was so valuable to them that the high-fin loach became Qian Hu's mascot to serve as a daily reminder of where they were, and where they never want to be again.

In 1990, Qian Hu expanded into the local wholesale distribution business, and increased its range of ornamental fish to include Discus, Chichlid, and Gourami. It also began diversifying into the aquarium accessories business.

Two years later, Qian Hu started exporting to the rest of the world, a journey that helped position Singapore as a major player in the export of ornamental fish.

In 1993, Qian Hu entered into a joint venture with The China Aquaculture Society and incorporated Beijing Qianyang Aquarium Co., Ltd, based in Beijing, to supply cold-water ornamental fish and aquarium accessories to Northern China. Two years later, Qian Hu acquired full ownership of the joint venture company.

In 1995, a year after the move to its present location within Sungei Tengah Agrotechnology Park, Qian Hu developed quality systems for its operations, leading to three ISO 9002 certifications for conditioning and packing of ornamental fish for export (1996); the trading, quarantine and breeding of Dragon Fish (1997), and the retail and wholesale of aquarium accessories and pet products (2000).

The farm was landscaped in such a way that runoffs from heavy rainfall would not affect the fish stock and breeding ponds. This unique system of recycling water won Qian Hu the ISO 14001 certification for its environmental management system involved in importing, exporting, conditioning, distributing and farming of tropical fish in 1998.

1997 was also an exciting year for Qian Hu. During that year, its proprietary auto-packing machines for the packing of ornamental fish - a project encouraged by the Agri-food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), and partially funded by the EDB Innovative Development Scheme - was launched. This was followed by Qian Hu's admission into the Productivity and Standards Board's Promising Small and Medium Enterprises Programme, which helped the Group formulate and develop its strategic business plan.

The year 2000 not only marked the beginning of the new millennium, it was also the year that Qian Hu Corporation Limited was listed on the Singapore Exchange's Sesdaq. Voted one of the most transparent companies (Sesdaq/Small Caps - up to $100 million category) by the Singapore Investors Association of Singapore in 2001, Qian Hu remained committed to maintaining good corporate governance and transparency to its shareholders. Its goal was to create shareholders' value by becoming a world-class ornamental fish and accessories company, through its spirit of innovation as well as its product and service quality.

Since 1999, Qian Hu began distributing aquarium and pet accessories to Malaysia, China and Thailand. Much growth was expected in this business segment as for every dollar spent on ornamental fish, five more would be spent on accessories. As such, in 2001, a joint venture company, Wan Jiang Technology Co Ltd, was established in Guangzhou together with a Taiwanese partner, to produce the Group's proprietary brands of aquarium and pet accessories as well as other third party brands. These accesssories were being distributed throughout the Group's regional subsidiaries, as well as to other countries such as Japan, Germany, United Kingdom and beyond.

Qian Hu planned to increase its stake in Wan Jiang from 50% to 60%, thus making it a subsidiary of the Group. In 2001, the Group set up a new subsidiary in Thailand - Thai Qian Hu Company Ltd - which had received approval from the country's Board of Investments to export and distribute tropical fish, as well as a new fish division in Guan Guan (Malaysia). A joint venture to distribute pet foods in Taiwan would be set up soon.

While its Singapore operations would continue to grow organically, the bulk of Qian Hu's growth in the next few years would be driven from its overseas operations.