| Fish Tales
Eric Tan - Import Procurement Manager
I was born and raised in sunny (some may say hot and muggy) Singapore and I love seafood. The island city is surrounded by water and eating fresh seafood was a way of life. No one eats frozen food, and frozen seafood was virtually unheard of.
Childhood days were tough and my parents did their best to see me through high school. Mid way through my national service with the military, I decided to take up an army scholarship to attend university and to help support the family. As the saying goes: `Nothing is Free in This World', and I had to serve six years in the army upon graduation - two years as a Company Commander and the next four years with the Joint Staff Planning and Control Group. I was back in the civilian world in mid 1994.
Looking for work in the private sector wasn't easy at that time, especially for a rookie from the military. Fortunately, there were always jobs in the economy, which people were not interested; either because the work was unpleasant or the company had an extremely poor management and/or reputation. In my case, the 35-year old family-dominated company needed an operation manager to oversee its cold storage operations and to manage its errant employees. For someone, who was in between jobs for nine months, this was an excellent work opportunity. I spent the next four years learning the ropes, building a new team, re-structuring the warehousing business and re-training the workers. Business was brisk and the company decided to buy a second cold store. At the end of my 4th year, I was responsible for both the cold storage facilities (10,000mt), operations, marketing, food distribution and maintenance. Many of my customers were from the seafood industry.
Tri-marine International Pte Ltd, a strategic global tuna supplier, had a subsidiary in Singapore and was looking for someone to rebuild its aging factory and to set up a state-of the art steaking line. I was hired as the Project Manager and the next 15 months was devoted to planning, tendering, contract negotiations and finally, retrofitting the old factory. The challenge, then, was to refurbish the entire cold storage and production facility without adversely affecting the day to day operations and cash flow. The project completed as scheduled and I was promoted to Plant Manager and subsequently, General Manager of the Singapore subsidiary. We were the largest fin fish producer in Singapore and I was actively involved in raw material planning, production and marketing of our value added products to both Europe and the USA.
I left the Tri-Marine Group in 2003 to set up my own company, Seafood Exchange Pte Ltd. I relocated to Canada and was fortunate to meet Pete Cannon, President of Cannon Fish Company, who convinced me of the synergy and benefits in working together. I am now the Director of Operations (Asia) for Cannon Fish and my main responsibility is to source, inspect and introduce new products to meet the demands and growth of the company.
I first heard about the NFI Future Leaders Program in 2005 and I did some research on my own. I spoke with some seniors and was impressed by the course curriculum and the immense networking opportunities it offered to these individuals. I had the benefit to speak with some mentors and course mates during the Breakfast Meeting and Alumni Reunion last month; and I am so very glad I made it to this year's program. Cheers!
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