Capital Gains

Daphne Teo aims to further cancer research and effect change through her venture capital firm Goodman Capital.

- Timothy Chiang

Growing up, Daphne Teo shared a close bond with her paternal grandfather. Her parents were busy establishing their construction and mining business, Sapphire Corporation, so child-rearing duties often fell to the elder Teo. He would cook for her, despite not cooking for anyone, and took her to her first day at kindergarten. “I refused to let him go home,” recalls the 35-year-old former national swimmer who won a bronze medal at the 1997 Southeast Asian Games. “I would run out of the classroom to ensure he was still there.”

He died from lung cancer when she was 12. Teo was sitting for her PSLE at the time and her mother didn’t tell her until she finished her last examination paper. “I really miss him,” she says.