Active Organic Elements

After securing an early success for the three-year-old Goldbell Financial Services, Mr. Alex Chua, CEO, expounds on the virtue of keeping to ones roots, taking the supporting role, and not easily equating size with growth

- Marc Almagro

What eventually grew into Goldbell Group began its operation in 1980, the year that Mr. Alex Chua was born. His grandfather, the late Mr. Chua Kim Cheng, and his father, Mr. William Chua, who is currently the Group chairman, set up a distribution company for trucks, gradually expanding into forklifts, other heavy equipment, and GPUs (ground power units).

When some customers for heavy equipment did not have the resources to acquire them, they set up a leasing business. Later on, with increasing number of customers requiring private vehicles for their foreign executives stationed in Singapore, they organized a fleet of private vehicles on long-term lease.

Today, the spread of Goldbell Group’s products and services is enormous, encompassing distribution and leasing of vehicles and equipment, as well as financial services. Despite its size, a sense of order prevails in the company, organizing and integrating every part of the organization. This organic growth serves the company well, whether in developing new products and services or harnessing efficiencies between the business units.

The Group’s client base has expanded alongside the provision of new services, and now spans nearly everything from construction and logistics companies to service and manufacturing firms. “We do everything that runs on the road,” Mr. Chua says, “from four wheels to sixteen wheels, across all industries.”

Define and Own the Role

Thirty-eight-year-old Goldbell Group is not a household name that the businesses it supports have become. Many people who know the name from Goldbell Tower, the Group’s Singapore headquarter, are not aware of its business activities, despite its 60 per cent share in Singapore’s commercial vehicle leasing market.