Chop Swee Cheong Biography

1989 - An article about Chop Swee Cheong
Below is a summary of the main gist from the above article.

The interview was conducted 22 years ago with Chop Swee Cheong (CSC) company's key figures, namely Eddie Gan and Ho Thiam.

Swee Cheong company, which was located on Jalan Pasir Puteh, Kota Bharu, was started in 1967 by Mr Gan Siew Tit's eldest and second sons 'Swee' Seong and Ho 'Cheong.'

The late Mr Gan Siew Tit (1916-1991), initially first came to Malaysia from China to help his brother-in-law to run a grocery shop selling kerosene in a Shell kerb side pump station in Perak. Later on, he decided to venture into the tobacco business in Terengganu and Pahang and this was followed by the rice business afterwards.

However, seeing how a different kind of approach and business type could further benefit the whole Gan family, the two eldest sons, Swee Seong and Ho Cheong decided to revamp the rice business and take the business to another different direction altogether and Swee Cheong (Shell Highstreet Dealers) was eventually born in 1985.

Eddie Gan

In 1985, being one of the key figures, alongside with his two older brothers in Chop Swee Cheong, Eddie Gan dealt with the marketing for Shell Lubricants in Terengganu and Kota Bharu.

As claimed by Eddie, there was a lot of potential to grow the business in those two states and this was because the sales of the shell products in those two regions was good.
Regarding his ability to foresee the future, he further added that the "Shell Lubricants will soon occupy the number one spot as the local market shows growing confidence in the Shell products."

True to words, the Shell Lubricant now sits proudly on the number one spot in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia based on the latest statistics and company's growth rate.

Before Eddie Gan involved himself in the lubricant business, he was previously working with Yardley of London ( a cosmetic company ) for about 8 years as a salesman but when he saw an opportunity to improve himself immensely, he then resigned to focus on the Swee Cheong business instead.

In 1991, Eddie Gan, being one innovative and risk-taking businessman, arrived at a resolution to move out from the Swee Cheong company and set up his own small company in Kuala Terengganu instead, bearing his own name, Eddie Enterprise. This new organisation is totally independent and was built from scratch by Eddie and his wife, Meena Uttam.

In 2009, however, Eddie Enterprise merged with the other two Shell distributors in Kelantan and Kuantan to make up one parent company divided into CSC(Terengganu), CSC(Kuantan) and CSC(Kelantan, which is the HQ). This is to fulfill Shell's global solutions business model whereby emphasis for an increasing centralised network organisation is needed to enhance the company's overall operational performance effectiveness. This, in turn, will boost up investors' confidence in the Shell products for a long-term.

According to Eddie Gan, who represents CSC, it is extremely vital to have proper marketing strategies and good public relations in order to attract potential buyers into purchasing the Shell Lubricant products.