BUSINESS WORLD SINGAPORE BOOK OF RECORDS
Services First Auction House
In 1827, Englishman Thomas Owen Crane, land agent and auctioneer, founded the fi rst auc- tion house in Singapore. The fi rm was named Crane Brothers, when his brother William came from Australia to join him in 1842.
First Photographers
GR Lambert, a German, started the fi rst photography establish- ment in Singapore in 1875. The company also has the distinction of being photographers by special appointment to the King of Siam and the Sultan of Johor.
First Law Firm
Robert Carr Woods and James Guthrie David- son founded Rodyk & Davidson in 1861. Woods was the fi rst editor of the The Straits Times and Davidson was the Resident of Selangor and later Perak before he joined Woods in Singapore.
Largest Law Firm
Allen & Gledhill, with over 300 lawyers, is the largest law fi rm in Sin- gapore. It was founded by Rowland Allen and Joseph Gledhill in 1902.
Oldest Surviving Home-Grown Law Firm
Wee Swee Teow & Co is the oldest surviving home-grown law fi rm. Wee Swee Teow stud- ied law at Cambridge and in 1911 established Chan & Swee Teow with Chan Sze Jin. The following year it changed to its present name.
First Land Title
The East India Company started to issue land titles in 1826 and tycoon Tan Che Sang (1763- 1836) was the fi rst Chinese to receive the title. Tan Che Sang was a Hokkien who arrived in Singapore from Malacca in 1819 and became an agent for early Chinese junks. He established warehouses along the bank of the Singapore River.
Largest Real Estate Agency
The HSR Group, with 5,669 active agents, is Singapore’s largest real estate agency. It started as Hap Seng Realty in 1980.
Oldest Undertaker Company
Singapore’s oldest existing undertaker com- pany is Ang Chin Huat Casket. It was started in 1911 by Ang Lee Kah, who came from Fujian, China. The company has since spawned 13 branches throughout Singapore.
First Telephone Company
The country’s oldest telco, Singapore Telecommu- nications (SingTel) has been in operation for more than 120 years and is the largest company listed on the Singapore Exchange.
Largest Artiste Management Company
Fly Entertainment is founded by Irene Ang and Lim Soo Ann in 1999. It also runs an acting school and handles event management. In 2004, it expanded to provide casting services.
PAGE 106
Largest Private Property Developer
Far East Organization’s was founded by Ng Teng Fong, who became Singapore’s richest man. In 1962, he developed some terrace houses in Serangoon Gardens. Today, the group’s operations span the full spectrum of the real estate market, from residential to hospitality, commercial, retail and industrial sectors. It is also the largest private residential landlord and one of the largest owner-operators of hotels in Singapore. It holds a world record as the only developer to win fi ve FIABCI Prix d’Excellence Awards, the highest honour in international real estate.
First Broadband TV Service
M2Btv was launched in the US and Singapore jointly in mid-2006 by Amaru Inc and its Singapore subsidiary, M2B World. With over 40 channels of content at launch, the service is available via subscription.
Earliest Pay TV
Movielink was the fi rst company to off er movies to hotel guests and hospital patients in 1986. It was also the fi rst to operate a video wall and movie theatrette at Changi Airport in 1991.
Most Expensive Communication System Set Up For An Event
Costing S$18 million, it took four years for the organising committee of the IMF and World Bank to set up a state-of-the-art communica- tion system. The technology used was more sophisticated than any other event organised in Singapore, including the 117th International Olympic Committee session in Jul 2006. The system had 960 km of network cables - long enough to go round Singapore 21 times, and 10,300 network and phone points.
First Handset With Integrated Radio, Mobile Phone And Data Services
Grid Communications off ers the convenience of integrated radio (walkie-talkie), mobile phone and data services - all in a single handset. It is the fi rst handset in the world, using a dual profi le sim card, so that a user can access two diff erent networks and the three diff erent services.
Largest Foreign Domestic Workers Employment Agency
Nation Employment, established since 1992, has
provided domestic help to more than 50,000 households. It is the fi rst such agency to be ISO9001-certifi ed in 1996. It is also the fi rst to have government approvals to conduct its training within its premises and to run its own boarding house.
Asia’s Largest Independent HD Production Company
Mega Media is among the fi rst to invest heavily into equipment for the production of programmes in High-Defi nition (HD) format in 2005. It is the fi rst to be able to execute the entire production workfl ow inhouse. The group is also the largest content management company in Asia, boasting a library of more than 30,000 hours
of broadcast content. About 95 percent of the company’s media business comes from abroad.
Most Prolifi c Behaviour Change Trainer
Adam Khoo, operating under the Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group has trained between 18,000-24,000 people a year since he started in 2002. To date, 100,000 people have attended his training on entrepreneur- ship, motivation, communication skills and behavioural change techniques.
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