Mr. Han Chee Juan

Jack Investment Group Chairman

To many of my peers in my generation, I have had a fortunate life. I attended Catholic High School till secondary one, followed by two other schools, before completing my high school studies at the Chinese High School. After completing my national service, I continued my tertiary education successfully in the University of Singapore (now known as the National University of Singapore) to study building and architecture and graduated with a Degree in Building. During this time, there was a scarcity in graduates in Singapore, and I was able to take on two jobs simultaneously for the first few years after graduation. The first job was directly related to my field of study in building and quantity survey, while the second was a full-time position handling development and management for a real estate company. To a layman, these two jobs are inter-related and complementary, but industry insiders would know that there are significant differences between the two fields. While my professional training was in building and architecture, real estate development presented deeper interest for me with its limitless potential and bountiful opportunities. The company that I was working for with real estate development not being their primary focus, had however, no long term nor concrete plans for property development. Nonetheless, they entrusted me with various projects, duties and responsibilities. In this all-rounded role, I worked diligently to build a strong foundation for the company before seeking other opportunity. However to me, this job provided me with a platform and valuable opportunities to gain hands-on experience, and develop skills and knowledge that would later be invaluable and helpful for my future career. For this, I remain very grateful even to this day.

With the blessings of my employer, I left the company after a few years, and started my own company – Jack Investment Pte Ltd, to focus on real estate development. The biggest challenge that I faced during the initial period, was the lack of funds and financing. Fortunately, the property that I had jointly purchased with my siblings earlier had appreciated sharply hence allowing me to take out a mortgage on the property to tie the company through its teething days. I suppose this is reflective of the Chinese saying “兄弟 (姐妹) 同心，其利断金”, which means that as long as a family is united, they can overcome all difficulties.

The turning point in my life was a chance encounter with an elderly gentleman who had a property with thorny issues. I spent two years to help resolved them.

He only verbally committed to give me a significant reward. What I did not expect was that with his passing, his children had honoured the commitment and this had touched me greatly. It enabled me to see the selflessness and integrity of this elderly man and his children. Henceforth, I determined to be like them, not just for myself but also for my children to inculcate this sense of integrity.

Later on in my career, I met more industry veterans who helped shaped my career to what it is today. While we were sometimes collaborators, we were also competitors in business. Even so, many of them generously and unreservedly shared their experiences and knowledge with me, providing me with much needed advice that allowed my career to take flight. Later on, after I developed a large successful first-of-its-kind luxury cluster housing project in the heart of Bukit Timah, various regional property development companies sent their key teams to Singapore to visit and learn from us about our project, as well as to pitch new partnerships and collaborations with us. I adopted the same approach that my mentors had with me, and shared with them not only our strengths, but also our weaknesses, and the challenges that we faced along the way. I believe that it is only by learning from others, and their experiences, that we can gain new knowledge to strive to improve and better ourselves. Such mutual learning and healthy competition is definitely not a bad thing for the industry thus enable the industry to make further progress.

The many years of work experience have led me to understand that it is necessary to first learn how to conduct oneself, and to uphold the right values, before embarking on any endeavours. I have also come to learn that there are people and causes that we should support and reach out to throughout our different stages of life. Most of my investments and projects have concentrated in Singapore to-date. It is my vision to expand our company’s footprint to Hainan, perhaps through an exemplary landmark property development project, that will value-add to the overall long-term development of Hainan. At the same time, I hope that through the Hainan Business Chamber platform, we will be promote more exchanges and business collaborations with our counterparts in Hainan, and to spearhead mentorship and entrepreneurial opportunities for both our youths.