THERE is no shortcut to success for Mr Von Lee, the 38-year-old executive chairman of Expand group of companies.
He is one of the top entrepreneurs this year because of his leadership of Expand Construction, a small firm that he and his partner, Mr Ong Chin Chiong, set up in 2000.
To ensure that it survived, they had to build up the technical and management expertise for the company to grow and take on bigger public and private projects.
In an interview, Mr Lee retraced the steps he took to achieve this aim.
He says: 'There is no room for mistakes in the construction industry, which is essentially a brick and mortar business.
'You build up your firm's track record, resources and capabilities brick by brick, and day by day. The projects you delivered on time is the industry's yardstick to assess if your firm can move on to bigger projects.
'If you cannot complete a project on time or make money, you cannot survive.'
Mr Lee exercised tight control over Expand Construction to make sure that it had the innovative capabilities to do things differently from its competitors.
Strategic planning to pick and complete the right building contracts on time is a key reason for its success.
These contracts built the track record for the firm to move from the bottom to the top rung of building contractors eligible to bid for public projects.
In 2000, it could only bid for public projects worth less than $500,000.
Last year, it joined the 'A' list of contractors in the Building and Construction Authority's registry allowed to tender for each public project costing $105 million.
Mr Lee pays tribute to his staff for helping him to be one of the top entrepreneurs in this year's Rotary-Asme Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
The award will enable Expand Construction to hire and train more professionals to achieve sustainable growth in the years ahead.
'It will also motivate aspiring entrepreneurs to chase their goals and encourage staff of the firm to be more involved in community projects,' says Mr Lee.
This article was first published in The Straits Times on October 22, 2008.
