2004 SINGAPORE QUALITY AWARD WINNER

QIAN HU CORPORATION LTD

Mr Lim Boon Heng presenting the SQA trophy to Mr Kenny Yap
A home grown SME and leading exporter of ornamental fish, manufacturer and distributor of aquarium and pet accessories, Qian Hu Corporation is today, Singapore's largest fish and accessories exporter and together with other local farms has helped establish Singapore as the leading exporter of ornamental fish in the last decade and also recognition as the ornamental fish capital of the world.

With the accessories business positioned at 51% and fish at 49%, Qian Hu is well positioned to be the world's largest Ornamental Fish, Pet Food and Accessories provider by 2008. This is reflected in the fish exports growing at 30% year on year and accessories at 90% since 2002.

Qian Hu's success enablers are senior executive leadership, innovation and customer focus.

Inspired to excellence by a visionary leadership with clear directions for the organization, employees at all levels know the business and take pride in the Qian Hu brand. With an Executive Chairman & Managing Director, who is a well recognized entrepreneur with strong involvement in industry groupings and government entrepreneurship programmes, Qian Hu's organisational culture centres on its "family" culture.

The first integrated ornamental fish service provider in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand to be awarded the ISO 9002 certification in 1996, followed by 14001 certification in 1998, Qian Hu developed the first automated system for the packing of ornamental fish, a project with the Agri-food and Veterinary Authority with partial funding by the EDB Innovation Development Scheme.

With a strong commitment to the customer, anchored on good information systems and customer-centric processes, Qian Hu has targeted investment in both process and product innovation such as the Genome study of Arowana for gender determination and improved reproductive behaviour, RFID tagging of Arowana for control of the endangered species, an industry first alongside the automated packing of fish in a temperature / humidity controlled room to improve fish survival rate.

Qian Hu leverages on its industry knowledge to build a sustainable competitive advantage over its competitors. According to their business research, for every dollar spend on fish, $5-$10 is spent on various accessories. Through a successful branding strategy, the company has developed in-house aquarium and pet accessories products' brands such as "Ocean-Free", "Bark", "Delikate" and "Aristo-Cats Yi Hu".

Qian Hu was awarded the Most Transparent Company Award for the third time in 2003 by SIAS and granted the International Headquarters status by EDB the same year. Mr Kenny Yap, Executive Chairman & Managing Director, was also named Entrepreneur of the Year (Services) in 2003.