Moving Singapore: from Rickshaws to Motorbikes

This book is a story about a tiny business, set up by an enterprising 19-year-old, that grew to become one of the largest and most well-respected companies in Singapore’s two-wheeler industry. It tracks the opportunities and challenges that Ban Hock Hin faced in Singapore and in the region over eighty years. The story focuses on how the founder’s son built up Ban Hock Hin during Singapore’s post-independence years. It recounts the times he turned each crisis that the business faced into a catalyst for its growth and, in doing so, forged the company into the industry leader it is today. In the telling of this story, we also trace the roots of his family, catch glimpses of Singapore society before and after the war, and look at the history of two-wheelers in Singapore. Part biography and part family business history, it is a tale about an ordinary Singaporean running a Singaporean business – and some of the extraordinary things he achieved while doing it.