On the afternoon of May 16, 2017, Chairman of BreadTalk Group of Singapore George Quek came to the Fudan SVB Forum of Management Masters as guest, delivered a keynote speech titled “BreadTalk’s Exploration – A Corporate Journey”, and shared the details of his entrepreneurship. Dean Xiongwen LU presided over this forum.

At the beginning, Chairman George Quek emphasized, “People born in poor families can also achieve greatness in the future.” His military service in Singapore and hard life in the early period of his entrepreneurship in Taiwan, instead of disheartening him, further hardened his will. At the beginning of his entrepreneurship, he made a grand development plan for “BreadTalk”. Though it did not perform well at first, after understanding customers’ needs and adjusting the plan and layout continuously, the performance of “BreadTalk” improved rapidly, and chain stores kept expanding. Today, the kingdom of “BreadTalk” with nearly 1,000 stores in 17 countries has come into shape.

However, in Chairman George Quek’s opinion, developing one concept and product was completely different from establishing a brand. He set great store by brands’ magic and always believed that a brand could convey culture and attitude. Soon after its establishment, he defined “BreadTalk” as a brand leading life trends. A brand could be established in one go. Only step-by-step innovation and constant learning and attempt could endow a brand with new highlights and connotations. Chairman Quek always encouraged innovation. He thought some milestone goods and achievements were contained in these seemly unimportant failures.

Brand building was full of challenges of course, but brand maintenance was equally important. Besides, Chairman Quek thought executive power was also a very important factor. “Most young people lack action instead of conditions for success, and laziness and delay are their fatal defects.” Such executive power was not just decision-makers’ executive power, but also subordinate teams’ executive power and employees’ executive power.

At last, Chairman Quek reminded the audience that “pride and complacence are a horrible trap”. Complacence was the beginning of decline. Entrepreneurs should not only boldly think and act, but also keep studying and making breakthroughs, form their styles, establish their brands and stay ahead of trends. However, businessmen should not forget that the good qualities of good faith and integrity were the foundations of their business and could let them go farther on their road of business.