Wong Yip Yan

Wong Yip Yan (Chinese: 黄业仁; pinyin: Wáng Yèren), also known as Y.Y. Wong, is a Singaporean Chinese businessman, and founder of the Wywy Group of Companies.^[1][3][4] According to Businessweek, the Wywy Group controlled 76 companies and had annual sales of over $900 million.^[1]

Wong Yip Yan
Born	1946 (age 78–79)[1]
Other names	Y.Y. Wong
Citizenship	Singapore
Organization	Wywy Group of Companies
Spouse	Geok Choo[2]

Career

When Wong was 26, he became the first Singaporean director at Borneo Company Limited, a British trading company. Wong said his boss told him that a Chinese couldn't get promoted to the company's main board of directors, causing Wong to start his own business.^[1]

To start the Wywy Group, Wong got funding from executives of Fujifilm, who had worked with Wong at Borneo. They helped him get a credit line of $178,000 from The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, which allowed him to start the Wywy Group as a distributor of copy machines.^[1]

Wong was the chairman of Yeo Hiap Seng, Singapore's largest drink manufacturer.^[5]

Family

Wong is married and has three grown children.^[2] Wong's oldest son, Dr. Wong Meng Ee, contracted retinitis pigmentosa when he was 11 years old.^[1] The condition resulted in permanent blindness. Dr. Wong Meng Ee is currently the president of the Retinitis Pigmentosa Society Singapore.^[6]

Wong is the brother of Wong Yip Chong and uncle of Wong Meng Cheong. Meng Cheong is a prominent Singaporean physician who famously took his father's mistress to court over his $7 million house after his passing. He ultimately lost his case against his father's mistress.^[7]

Education

Wong is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School.^[2]