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Singapore & Malaysia

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Every diner table in America carries a Hokkien word from the Straits of Malacca. Nobody knows it.Plate 109Singapore & MalaysiaKetchupThe thing everyone guards against can be the exact thing you lean into.Plate 107Singapore & MalaysiaQ&M Dental / Ng Chin SiauIt's never too late — and the route everyone else avoids is usually the one that's open.Plate 104Singapore & MalaysiaChang Yun ChungI grew up knowing one version of Singapore's founding story. It had one name in it.Plate 082Singapore & MalaysiaKwa Geok ChooSometimes the only way to save something is to make it smaller.Plate 081Singapore & MalaysiaDatuk Captain Izham Ismail - Malaysia AirlinesLegacy isn't what you inherit. It's what you refuse to let die.Plate 080Singapore & MalaysiaEu Yan SangNobody would hire him. At 8 months old, Lee Thiam Wah contracted polio. Lost the use of his legs. Wheelchair-bound for life.Plate 076Singapore & MalaysiaLee Thiam Wah / 99 Speed MartWent from innovation to "ancient tradition" in one generation.Plate 072Singapore & MalaysiaYu Sheng / Lo Hei90 years. Same tiny bottle. They refuse to make it bigger. That's not stubbornness — that's strategy.Plate 071Singapore & MalaysiaYakult / Dr. Minoru ShirotaHe arrived the same year as Sir Stamford Raffles. Raffles came with an empire. He came with vegetables. Both shaped Singapore.Plate 068Singapore & MalaysiaTan Tock SengI use Grab almost every day. Never once thought about the text message that started it.Plate 066Singapore & MalaysiaTan Hooi LingWhen you can't win the primary customer, win the customer everyone else ignores.Plate 059Singapore & MalaysiaSingapore AirlinesBeing trapped is luck. What you do while trapped is the choice.Plate 054Singapore & MalaysiaPeter LimWhen you can't control the supply, eliminate the need for one.Plate 048Singapore & MalaysiaNEWaterThe best business is the one nobody wants. No interest means no competition.Plate 042Singapore & MalaysiaLim Goh TongNew entrants assume they have to earn their way in. The best ones find what the incumbent can't afford to lose.Plate 041Singapore & MalaysiaLim Chin BengThe hospital treating your family in Yishun? Named after the guy who founded Malaysia's biggest bank — after they kicked him out.Plate 038Singapore & MalaysiaKhoo Teck Puat / MaybankThe best founders don't have a fixed product. They have fixed adaptability.Plate 037Singapore & MalaysiaKhong Guan BiscuitsOne object beats five priorities. We're taught to diversify, balance, be well-rounded. Pillay won by doing the opposite.Plate 035Singapore & MalaysiaJ.Y. PillaySomewhere in every Singaporean's childhood, there's a flight on SIA. The blue sarong kebaya. The quiet smile before your first drink. That specific kind…Plate 032Singapore & MalaysiaIan Batey / Singapore GirlFour times he ignored the experts. Four times he was right. The fifth time, he ignored the people — and it ended him.Plate 030Singapore & MalaysiaHowe Yoon ChongIf you've ever had half-boiled eggs at a kopitiam, you've seen it. That small yellow plastic thing. Pour boiling water in. Wait for it to drain. Perfect…Plate 027Singapore & MalaysiaHew Ah Kow / Half-Boiled Egg MakerIn 2016, a hawker selling $2 chicken rice in Singapore received a Michelin star. First street food stall in the world to ever get one.Plate 026Singapore & MalaysiaHawker Chan / Chan Hon MengDon't fight the leaders. Create a category they haven't thought of yet.Plate 020Singapore & MalaysiaGinvera / Dr. Tor Lam HuatYour origin shapes your strategyPlate 019Singapore & MalaysiaGardeniaHe can barely speak. So he let the sambal speak for him.Plate 015Singapore & MalaysiaDAPUR PAK AMIRHe sold to LVMH for $100M. Then walked back in to hand cheques to the dishwashers.Plate 014Singapore & MalaysiaCrystal Jade / Ip Yiu TungShe has a bunion the size of a 50-cent coin on her left foot. It's from wearing cheap polyurethane shoes as a teenage waitress.Plate 012Singapore & MalaysiaChristy NgThe most beloved snack in Japan was born from the worst day in human history.Plate 007Singapore & MalaysiaCalbee / Takashi MatsuoI used to run past the Raffles statue near the Singapore River on my evening runs. Never thought much about it. Just another colonial leftover, right?…Plate 002Singapore & MalaysiaAlbert WinsemiusEveryone else is retreating. That's how you know there's an opening.Plate 001Singapore & MalaysiaAirAsia

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