Henn Tan

Henn Tan, is the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Trek 2000 International, the company which invented the ThumbDrive,[1] a USB flash drive, which phased out the floppy disk and revolutionised the portable media storage industry. Tan has served as a board of director at Ren Ci Hospital Limited since November 2010. He is a holder and inventor of numerous patents worldwide.

Early life

Tan, the third son in a family of six boys, was born in a kampung in Geylang Lorong 17 to a pest-control worker father and housewife mother. Tan's family was poor and his parents spent most of their time earning a living. Tan went on to study at the Aljunied Technical High School, the first person in his family to enter secondary school. However, he came under the influence of bad company, and began skipping school. He completed his "O" Levels, but his life only began to take a turn when he entered the National Service, where he straightened out his life.[2]

Career

After completing his National Service, Tan joined a German multinational firm as a machinist. Tan then joined Sanshin Electronics, an agent for NEC Semiconductors, as a marketing executive from 1980 to 1983. He later joined Shin-Nichi, a member of the SANYO group of companies, in 1984. In Shin-Nichi, Tan worked his way up to become the director of operations where he oversaw the company's operations in Southeast Asia. In 1995, Tan resigned from the company.[3]

Establishing Trek 2000

In 1995, Tan bought over Trek, a small family-owned electronic parts trading business in Geylang, for S$1 million. He restructured the company and changed its business focus to providing technology-driven engineering solutions to businesses. In 1998, the company was appointed the design house for Toshiba.[4]

With his engineers, Tan began to explore ways to create a data storage device that utilises the USB interface. Their solution was the ThumbDrive, a plug-and-play memory drive that required no cable or adapters, and that could store more data than a floppy disk. In 2000, Tan presented the ThumbDrive at the CeBIT international technology fair in Germany. In the same year, Tan took his company public on the Singapore Exchange, hence the name Trek 2000.[5] As of December 2011, the company’s annual revenue amounted to US $86.1million.[6]

Violations of Securities and Futures Act

Tan was fined S$80,000 by Singapore police’s Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) for failing to disclose S$14m in company transactions.[7]

Awards and recognition
  • Ernst & Young Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year 2002
  • The INVENT Singapore Award 2008
  • Special Achievement Award of the Year 2010, Asia pacific Entrepreneurship
  • Engineering Leadership Award, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer Inc (IEEE), 2011
  • Rotary ASME Entrepreneur of the Year for Innovation, 2011

References
  1. 'Trekking' Onwards with IP Archived 2011-12-21 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Au Yong, J. (2006, January 8). The drive to succeed. The Straits Times. Retrieved on February 25, 2011, from NewspaperSG
  3. Tan, M. P. (2006, March 8). From caning and joking to trekking. The New Paper. Retrieved January 20, 2009, from Factiva database
  4. Trek 2000 (2002-2008). Trek. Retrieved January 20, 2009, from http://www.trek2000.com.sg
  5. Long, S. (2001, September 21). Firm hand puts him right on Trek. The Straits Times. Retrieved January 20, 2009, from Factiva database
  6. Trek 2000 International Ltd. (2011, December). Trek 2000 International Ltd. Prospectus. Retrieved June 08, 2012, from Singapore Exchange Ltd. Web site: http://www.sgx.com
  7. Thumbdrive inventor fined S$80,000 for failing to disclose S$14m in company transactions. Web site: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/thumbdrive-inventor-fined-s80000-failing-disclose-s14m-company-transactions
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