MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: HONG TING
Member’s Spotlight is something that the EO APAC Bridge Marcomms team has wanted to do for a long time. When we look at the roster of members or meet them at events, we constantly walk away going, “Wow, that person is impressive.” We’ve been thinking about the best way to highlight them, and we hope these interviews give you a glimpse of how accomplished, courageous, driven, and most of all, how real they are. To add a novel dimension to this, we also generated the questions off ChatGPT, with a very detailed prompt. Come say hi to this member if you see them at an upcoming event or retreat, and most of all, enjoy the read!
– Trixie & Chelsea, MarComms co-chairs, FY 22/23
Member Spotlight: February 2023
Hong Ting was a GSEA winner, has been an EO member for 9 years in EO Singapore and is also currently serving as Finance Chair of EO APAC Bridge. He sold his digital consultancy 2359 Media in 2020 and is now working on a new venture, CareHealth. He lives with his partner in Singapore and has two sons, five dogs and two cats. As we found out, he was also a semi-pro violinist at one point in his life – talk about being a polymath!
Can you tell me about the moment when you first had the idea for your business? What inspired you to start it?
During COVID, I observed the importance of giving people ownership of the health-related decisions that they need to make, with all the information they need to make a good decision. Health really came to the forefront for me on the personal front when, after selling my first business in 2020, I ran diagnostics for my sleep apnea and was shocked to find out that I stopped breathing 56 times an hour, on average, with an oxygen saturation level as low as 75. This scare really made me wonder if we could bring such important diagnostics and data closer to people and their doctors.
When the opportunity came to do exactly this, I jumped. On a systems level, digitizing healthcare processes will alleviate the stress on our healthcare workers too. It’s change that needs to happen, accelerated by the pandemic. I want to be able to provide a platform that will help people live the way they want to, with ownership over personal health records, a variety of treatment options and seamless financing.
What inspired you to start your business?
Health really only came to the forefront for me on the personal front when I had a health scare after selling my first business in 2020. On a systems level, digitizing healthcare processes will alleviate the stress on our healthcare workers and all of it is change that needs to happen, accelerated by the pandemic.
What values and principles guide your business decisions?
Being an active problem-solver is really at the core of who I am, and the second part of getting shit done is something that I’m working on aggressively at the moment. Being reliable is another one, basically being able to deliver what I’ve promised. Specific to business, my decisions are very value-driven – when there is value, revenue and profits will flow.
How do you stay motivated when things don’t go as they should?
It’s all about building the flywheel. It’s rarely about making the moonshot, the one shot that counts, rather, it’s about consistent decisions that build up towards where you want to go. That helps to keep the highs and the lows of business in perspective.
What has been the most challenging obstacle you've faced as an entrepreneur and how did you overcome it?
I started my first company at the age of 24 while still in university, and it was immensely challenging to convince clients, partners and even employees that I had the chops (both on the technical and business front) to take us to the promised land and deliver the right digital solutions.
At that point, the approach that worked was to deliver quick, short-term wins to build trust with potential clients. Over time, this would result in clients choosing us over established, global brand names – that taught me the importance of reliability in service delivery at a very early point in my career.
How do you balance your business and personal life?
Being an entrepreneur herself, my partner Chelsea and I build systems around family and work. The family has its own system, for example, philosophies on how we allocate time, how we schedule, and how we manage the children and pets. This gives us time for each other, the children, the pets and our parents while still creating space for us to perform at a high level while at work.
Is there something about yourself today that the teenage you would have been surprised by? What is it?
I would have been completely surprised that I am an entrepreneur! Coming from a family of academics, I have always thought that it would be in the sciences and in academia that real value is created - it was not until much later did I realize it wouldn’t suit me as a career at all!
What is your favorite book or movie that you would recommend?
Hamilton the Musical has been on my mind for a long time now. There’s a lot about his journey as a young upstart with nothing to his name that I resonate with, and the song “One Last Time” is particularly meaningful to me as I begin thinking about what it means to build and have my own vine and fig tree.
What’s the biggest wish you have for your partner and children?
I would love to outlive my partner so I can take care of her all the days of her life. It’s a big reason why I’ve become so health-focused lately. I would always want to be a safe harbor for her to pursue what she’s passionate about, and for us to lean in to each other the way we do now in every season of life!
In Singaporean schools, the children learn a song called ‘Semoga Bahagia’ or ‘May You Achieve Happiness’. It’s a song composed by Zubir Said, who also composed our National Anthem. The lyrics are simple, filled with wishes for the children to be progressive, healthy, knowledgeable, patriotic and respectful. That would be my biggest wish for them!
What's something interesting about yourself that people might not know?
In my younger days, I was a decent violinist and at one point, earned myself quite a bit of pocket money busking and playing at events and weddings!
