From being a childcare operator that almost went broke to becoming the largest single provider of early childhood education in Singapore with over 100 centres, NTUC First Campus Co-operative Limited (NFC) has come a long way as it marks its 35th anniversary.
Over 2,300 staff and specially invited guests came together on 8 December 2012 to mark the special occasion.
NFC Chief Executive Officer Chan Tee Seng pointed out the Co-operative’s success could not have happened without the people who helped out in the early years. These include board members, advisors, staff members, union leaders and partners, 35 of whom were honoured at the event.
They include Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon who, as Mr Chan noted, “saw through NFC’s progress in its entire journey, until her retirement as Minister of State for MCYS (Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports) in 2011, and who continues to be associated with us as our Honorary Advisor”.
Other esteemed individuals include former NTUC Secretary-General Lim Boon Heng and former NFC CEO Adeline Sum.
Moving forward, Mr Chan shared that NFC will be embarking on three areas: “One, extend our outreach in terms of numbers and diversity. Two, raise quality. And three, grow our people.”
The event also saw the presentation of the inaugural CEO Service Awards, part of the G.R.E.A.T initiative that NFC embarked on in February 2012 to reinforce the importance of service.
A total of ten service awards were presented to five teams for outstanding team performance in demonstrating exemplary service to customers as well as five staff for excellent customer service.
Special guest NTUC Secretary-General Lim Swee Say likened NFC’s journey to a journey of the 4Ds.
He recounted that when NTUC Childcare, the precursor to NFC, was started to support working women’s childcare needs 35 years ago in 1977, this resulted in the first D, “Do Good”.
The second D, “Do Well” came about in 1992 when NTUC Childcare realised that it was not financially sustainable to just “Do Good”. So, then SG Lim Boon Heng turned it into a co-operative and it was able to grow and thrive.
In 2006, it took on the challenge to double its capacity and number of places towards the Labour Movement vision 2011, and that was the “turning point” for the third D, “Do More”.
The fourth D was “Do Together”, which refers to the spirit of unions, management companies and partners such as NTUC FairPrice and the United Workers of Petroleum Industry coming together to support NTUC Childcare in the beginning with funding and skills expertise.
Pushing ahead, SG Lim urged NFC to set a new target to “Do More Good Together” in five years’ time when they celebrate their 40th anniversary.
