Eric Leong - EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2020

Eric Leong, Managing Director and co-founder of Mlion Corporation and winner of EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2020 — Industrial Solutions, is on a mission to reinvigorate the steel industry by breaking away from a one-size-fits-all approach.

- Anton D. Javier

Before he found success in the steel industry, Eric Leong’s journey as an entrepreneur started on two wheels — literally.

The 35-year-old Managing Director and co-founder of Mlion Corporation Pte Ltd, a foundation steel solution provider, is an avid cyclist and spotted an opportunity in the underserved BMX bicycle market a few years ago.

“I started my first business while still at university. Being a cyclist myself, I found that there were very few shops servicing riders in Singapore, and much of the gear and merchandise was overpriced,” Leong shares. “Together with a fellow rider, we contacted brands across Europe and the US, and imported them into Singapore.”

Whether it was inexperience or an overeagerness that clouded his vision, things, unfortunately, did not go as planned at the start. He admits, “We initially had no clue on logistics and freight forwarding. I remember when the first container of goods arrived, we didn’t even have a warehouse! I had no choice but to fill my home with bicycle gear.” Thankfully, this misstep turned out to be a valuable lesson that would soon be followed by success. “We sold the products online and also distributed them to shops. The traction was good, and we were even running the local BMX competition for the Singapore Sports Council. I saw this opportunity as a valuable experience in terms of how retail should be done, in addition to managing cash flow. In the end, however, my university workload was starting to take its toll, so we found a suitable buyer and sold the business after two good years of running it.”