Cheong Boon has a distinguished record in public service. He was a member of the first batch of EDB-Glaxo scholars and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University. He came back in July 1993 to serve in the EDB’s Aerospace & Defense Group, first as Senior Officer and subsequently as Assistant Head. Three years later, he was posted to San Francisco as Centre Director. During his seven years in the US, he also headed the Board’s entire Central US operations as Regional Director based at EDB’s Chicago office, and completed a Masters of Science in Management under the Sloan Fellows Programme at Stanford University. In July 2003, Cheong Boon was seconded to SPRING, Singapore’s enterprise development agency for growing small and medium sized enterprises, as its Deputy Chief Executive. In September 2008, he was appointed Chief Executive of SPRING.

Coming back from Cornell to work in the Aerospace & Defense Group was a significant learning experience because my training wasn’t in aerospace nor mechanical engineering. Aerospace/aviation is always regarded as a pretty exciting and glamorous sector. Besides, I was involved in the organization of the Asian Aerospace airshows. Moving to San Francisco was another great learning experience. The nature of that catchment area is very much high-tech and infocomms. It had nothing to do with Aerospace, which was what I was doing before. Coupled with that, there was the dot com frenzy. It was completely new to many people. I had to pick up new things very quickly. Then, I moved to Chicago where I was responsible for the whole of central USA. Again, it was a very different landscape. The industries in the rust belt were more established, such as automotive and machine tool companies. And down in Texas, we had chemical companies. We also had to deal with lifestyle & consumer products giants like Procter & Gamble. The diversity of industries was much broader. We also re-opened the office in Dallas.

First, you need to have a good grounding in the Singapore headquarters. Here, you gain an understanding of industry development and the policy issues you need to deal with. You also gain specific industry experience when you work within an industry group. In international operations, you have to be able to work independently. You are pretty much on your own so you must be a self-starter. That is key. Secondly, you must be a fast learner. The learning curve is steep. EDB can’t wait for you to ramp up in nine to 12 months. You need to do so immediately. Additionally, you need to be thick-skinned. You are often cold calling companies, companies who may not be familiar with EDB or Singapore. You will face rejection. So you have to be persistent, tenacious and motivated.

Other than the usual management courses, a key strength of the Sloan Masters is the opportunity to discuss and network with fellow participants who were middle to senior-level management executives from global companies as well as startups from different parts of the world. But working at EDB is really a more intensive form of an MBA. From your interaction with businesses, you learn a lot. You’re talking to the likes of GE, Amazon. You’re dealing with CEOs and senior executives. You hear why they adopt certain strategies and how they go about their execution. What a B-school teaches is more textbook. The case studies we were given, for example, included companies that I had talked to personally and had developed close relationships with.

Having worked with leading companies in the US, I’ve gained an understanding of how big businesses work. I’ve also experienced the way international business works. That is very useful when it comes to helping SMEs grow and become more competitive. The network I’ve built with MNCs is also important as it allows me to link SMEs to MNCs.

If you’re looking for an opportunity to get to know how businesses operate globally, if you’d like to work with a team of equally brilliant and dynamic people, EDB is an excellent place to start. But, you must be prepared to work very hard, often beyond the call of duty. You may be finishing work in Singapore but the US office will be starting its day and they may call you for information or discussion. It’s a 24/7 operation.