Story and Photos by Shukry Rashid
More than Just Buying and Selling
Fresh out of university with a business degree, April Lim (above) joined Raduga Pte Ltd five years ago as a procurement officer without understanding what the wholesale trade industry was all about.
“I joined only because I knew Raduga sells handphones. And I like to buy handphones,” she said.
As an importer and exporter of mobile phones, Raduga distributes and manages the full product lifecycle of the finished products.
Regional Experience
After a year with Raduga, April joined the company’s market expansion and business development team. It was an opportunity the 28-year-old could not pass up as it meant gaining valuable regional experience.
She was subsequently based in Myanmar for two months and helped the company to set up operations there. Thereafter, she travelled between Myanmar and Singapore almost every month for the next two years.
April learned about Myanmar’s business laws and its people’s consumer habits, which helped her to form more effective and targeted marketing strategies.
She said: “I feel that being involved in this project opened my eyes to the industry, and that was where I grew the most.”
Now, as Raduga’s head of marketing and business development, she is responsible for spearheading the company’s expansion overseas to countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and the Maldives.
Taking a Proactive Approach
The financial industry was one of the worst hit in recent years with many workers laid off. Chew Kok Soon (above), 33, was not spared as he was retrenched from his job in February last year.
With a newborn son in tow, he remained unemployed for over six months. He felt something had to change as the financial industry was not going to recover anytime soon.
Thankfully for him, he had transferable skills such as data analysis and compilation of reports for management decisions. He decided to enrol himself in the International Trading Professional Conversion Programme (PCP) last November and successfully found employment with Luxasia, a distributor of fragrance and cosmetic products.
He said: “I applied for it [the job] because I could see long-term growth and potential in the industry, and the range of products [distributed] is very wide.”
Learning New Things
Even though his roles in both the finance and wholesale trade industries are similar, he had to learn specific skills for this new job.
Kok Soon explained: “I’ve to learn how things work differently from the financial [industry’s] executions and what are the many different business terms there are in this industry. I also need a clear view of how the supply chain processes work, the role my company plays and the consequences of our various decisions.”
Through the PCP, he went through on-the-job training and a structured curriculum, and received networking opportunities and industry mentorship. These have given him the relevant knowledge and skills for the wholesale trade industry.
Within just eight months, he was promoted from contract analyst to senior supply chain analyst.
He is now responsible for investigating supply chain problems and developing relevant solutions. He also uses analytical and quantitative techniques to understand, predict and enhance supply chain processes.
