Looking Forward

Self-professed creative rebel Ee Soon Wei shares with Lily Ong the realities of reinvigorating his family business with a new purpose and explains how Lee Kuan Yew influenced his leadership style

- Lily Ong

 A day before our scheduled interview with Ee Soon Wei, Malaysians woke up to a new government—with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad leading the charge for a new Malaysia. As we gathered at Tamarind Square in Cyberjaya for the photo shoot, there was a palpable sense of excitement in anticipation of the change that was to come. “It feels like there is a new dawn waiting for us, which promises restored hope,” Soon Wei commented wistfully, as our grooming team prepared him for the camera.

If there is anyone who could talk at length about change and its impact on a legacy, it would be Soon Wei. The CEO of Art Printing Works (APW) has been working tirelessly the past eight years to breathe new life into his family business—a commercial printing entity that was said to have turned in good profi t during its heydays in the 1980s and 1990s. APW was an offshoot of The Royal Press, a letterpress printing house in Malacca, that was founded by Soon Wei’s grandfather Ee Lay Swee.

“My father is the son of the founder. At work, he met my mum who was attached with the factory. So yes, I grew up with the family business. I spent my childhood on the factory fl oor, oft en times doing work like stacking papers for the employees,” he reminisces. After completing his studies in marketing and management in Melbourne, he chose to go into a corporate career—contributing to top companies like Sara Lee in his early 20s, where he was in charge of marketing and branding.