DOROTHY Seet, the Outstanding Chief/Senior Executive (Overseas) for 2007, is only the second woman to clinch a trophy in the 23-year history of the Singapore Business Awards.

Olivia Lum of Hyflux won the Businessperson of the Year award in 2005.

Ms Seet, general manager of Beijing Smart Garments (BSG), is used to blazing trails. When she left home 14 years ago for Beijing to help in the family business, it was her husband and their two young daughters who stayed in Singapore. Although Singaporean mothers do work overseas, they are a small minority.

Initially, Ms Seet was in Beijing to start a women's line for BSG, a joint venture with the Shunyi county government which had been set up in 1985 by her in-laws.

So well did the smaller unit perform that when the parent company ran into problems a few years later, she was promoted to its general manager.

'When I took over in 1999, the company was facing one of its worst years,' says Ms Seet.

BSG had a net loss of 10 million yuan (S$1.97 million), an unstable staff situation, and debtors were chasing for payment, recounts Ms Seet.

'At that point in time, BSG also had non-core business investments in food outlets, advertising, etc. These businesses were also facing financial losses. There was a tremendous effort undertaken to streamline the operations, do away with all non-core businesses and gradually bring the company back to financial health,' she says.

BSG began its climb back into the black and in 2004 reported a profit of 10 million yuan on a turnover of 280 million yuan. By 2007, profits had risen to 17 million yuan and turnover was 400 million yuan.

While the going had been tough, it hadn't been without rewards.

In 2006, BSG was honoured with the 'China Well-Known Trademark' as well as the 'Beijing Famous Brand' awards.

'This is recognition of the company's achievement in the garment industry. There are no more than 200 clothing companies nationwide that are given this recognition as there are stringent conditions required to qualify,' notes Ms Seet. It came with a prize of 3.5 million yuan, tax free.

With a staff strength of 3,000, BSG currently produces about 1.2 million suits a year for brands such as Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Burberry. Its biggest export market is Japan followed by Europe and the US. In 2005, it churned out 800,000 suits.

BSG has also gone into retailing. Domestic sales used to make up about 30 per cent of the total; this has since grown to 40 per cent. BSG is targeting 50 per cent in domestic sales, tapping China's growing middle class.

It now has 88 shops across China and expects to add another 17 this year selling under two brands - Roma and Smart. Of these, about 10 per cent are franchised outlets.

Ms Seet says the company is working on developing its franchise programme and aims to have 50 franchised outlets in the next 18 months. Sales for the domestic market are about 150 million yuan.

As the business grows BSG had explored setting up production in Vietnam but decided that conditions would not suit its stringent quality control.

Instead, it turned to outsourcing with 'cooperative factories'. Under this model BSG is responsible for technical support as well as the management system of the production plant but does not fund the capital investment for the factories.

Ms Seet is poised to take BSG to the next stage, seeking a public listing in Singapore within the next two years.

'The company is growing at a steady pace and the domestic market has great potential for further growth,' she says.

What has been the hardest part of the last 14 years?

Being away from her daughters, she says. 'I must admit I did miss their growing up years and sometimes still have regrets. I am fortunate that the two girls grew up well and that helped my decision to continue to work in China,' Ms Seet says.

'In the beginning, it was extremely difficult for me emotionally as both girls were young. We would hold each other and cry our hearts out every time we had to part,' she adds.

Her daughters are now grown - Vivien is 28 and Charlyn, 20. Vivien got married last year and Charlyn is now in Melbourne University doing her final year in media.

Everyone has to strike a balance and make sacrifices at some point in life, Ms Seet says. She has had to balance her life travelling between home in Singapore and work in China as well as other business trips.

'If I had not taken the decision to continue with the business and protect the 'family' investment, BSG may not be around anymore,' she says.

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