Osim Speech by Mos
SPEECH BY MR LEE YI SHYAN, MINISTER OF STATE FOR TRADE & INDUSTRY AND MANPOWER AT THE OSIM INTERNATIONAL LTD 30TH ANNIVERSARY GALA DINNER ON 28 FEBRUARY 2010 AT SHANGRI-LA HOTEL AT 730PM
Mr. Ron Sim,
Chairman and CEO, OSIM International Limited
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good Evening,
Introduction
I am delighted to join you tonight to celebrate OSIM’s 30th Anniversary. From its beginnings as a trading company in household goods in 1980, OSIM has transformed itself into a top leader in branded healthy lifestyle products in Asia. Over the past three decades, OSIM’s revenue has grown from $31 million in 1990 to $477 million in 2009. But the path to success has not always run smooth for OSIM and what I find particularly note-worthy is OSIM’s positive response to business challenges and economic downturns throughout its 30 year history. Take for example, OSIM’s restructuring efforts in the last two years to improve their product strategies and sales processes. This has enabled OSIM to return to an annual profit of S$38 million before tax in 2009, versus a S$92 million loss just a year ago.
Initiatives to improve productivity
2 Last week, the Government announced that we are charting a new course for growth, based on skills, innovation and productivity. The key goal is to grow productivity by 2% to 3% a year over the next decade. As a start, the Government has announced a S$5.5 billion national productivity initiative. Some of the measures include establishing a high-level National Productivity and Continuing Education Council and providing tax incentives for businesses in all sectors to invest in innovation and upgrade business operations and processes. I encourage other companies to seize this opportunity and ride on these initiatives to re-engineer your work processes and re-design jobs so there is more value add.
Improving the Productivity of the retail sector
3 At this juncture I would like to focus specifically on the
Mr. Ron Sim,
Chairman and CEO, OSIM International Limited
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good Evening,
Introduction
I am delighted to join you tonight to celebrate OSIM’s 30th Anniversary. From its beginnings as a trading company in household goods in 1980, OSIM has transformed itself into a top leader in branded healthy lifestyle products in Asia. Over the past three decades, OSIM’s revenue has grown from $31 million in 1990 to $477 million in 2009. But the path to success has not always run smooth for OSIM and what I find particularly note-worthy is OSIM’s positive response to business challenges and economic downturns throughout its 30 year history. Take for example, OSIM’s restructuring efforts in the last two years to improve their product strategies and sales processes. This has enabled OSIM to return to an annual profit of S$38 million before tax in 2009, versus a S$92 million loss just a year ago.
Initiatives to improve productivity
2 Last week, the Government announced that we are charting a new course for growth, based on skills, innovation and productivity. The key goal is to grow productivity by 2% to 3% a year over the next decade. As a start, the Government has announced a S$5.5 billion national productivity initiative. Some of the measures include establishing a high-level National Productivity and Continuing Education Council and providing tax incentives for businesses in all sectors to invest in innovation and upgrade business operations and processes. I encourage other companies to seize this opportunity and ride on these initiatives to re-engineer your work processes and re-design jobs so there is more value add.
Improving the Productivity of the retail sector
3 At this juncture I would like to focus specifically on the