Learning the ropes of doing business at his parents’ hawker stall

CEO of Go-Genie says the early experiences helped sharpen his entrepreneurial senses

- Sue-Ann Tan Business Correspondent

Sue-Ann Tan Senior Correspondent

As a child, Mr Ang Ming Cong spent much of his time at his parents’ vegetable stall in a wet market.

He would finish classes and head straight to the market, sometimes even taking his friends along.

It was at the stall that he learnt maths in a practical way, when his mother would get him to weigh vegetables, multiply the weight by the unit cost and calculate the total cost for customers.

"It was a very nurturing environment as the customers would patiently wait while I figured it out. That was where I learnt not just multiplication, but also the value of money and the idea of exchange - how 70 cents per kg of spinach and $30 per kg of mushrooms both carried their own value, depending on what they meant to the customer," he recalls.

Those early experiences from helping out at his parents’ business helped sharpen his entrepreneurial senses.

Now 35, Mr Ang is the founder and chief executive officer of smart logistics technology platform Go-Genie, which he started in 2023.

The platform helps logistics businesses to have a fully integrated ecosystem from first-mile services and warehousing to real-time delivery.

"I saw firsthand how fragmented and outdated logistics processes were, especially for the smaller players. Many were drowning in manual work, unable to keep up with the demands of e-commerce.

I wanted to build a platform that would bring smart automation, transparency and scalability to them without the need for heavy investment," he says.

The business started in Singapore and has expanded to Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia. He has set his sights on other Southeast Asian markets for future expansion.

Mr Ang holds a degree in innovation and entrepreneurship from the University of Adelaide.

He is married with three children, aged six, four and one.

Q Do you invest in anything?