Look Ma, no Degree

Feeling down and out after been rejected by NUS or NTU or SMU ?
Thinking how you are going to face the world without a degree ?
Fret not. Look to these Singapore heros who made a name for themselves without the sought after piece of paper.



Sim Wong Hoo. Diploma in Electrical & Electronic Engineering. Created Creative Technology in 1981, his Sound Blaster soundcards set the standard for sound in personal computer software and put made-in-Singapore technology on the world map. At age of 45, Sim Wong Hoo became the youngest billionaire in Singapore.


Lim Hock Chee son of pig farmer who stopped school at Secondary 3, is now the owner of 22 supermarket chain Sheng Siong. It all began at a provision store in Ang Mo Kio in 1985.
The company today had a turnover of some $700 million.



George Quek left for Taiwan after leaving his SAF carreer in his twenties. He founded Breadtalk after dabbling in the food court chain Food Junction in the 1990s. Breadtalk was created in 2000. Today the group local and international businesses boast of $200 million in annual sales.



Completing secondary school and without an O level certificate, Lim Bee Huat goes on to set up Kopitiam Group in 1988. He lead the pack with the then crazy bid of $2.1 million for the now famed coffee shop site in Bishan Street 11. The site in now worth a cool $6 million.
His stable presently operates over 100 coffee shops island wide with over $150 million turnover.



Pang Lim, founder of the Koufu Coffee shop chain started as a 13 year old stall helper and to a street hawker. In 1990 he open his first coffee shop. Today the company has 28 outlets with annual sales of $100 million.