A native of China, Yao Hsiao Tung arrived in Singapore at the age of 39 after being transferred to the country by his employer, chemical company DuPont. The technical service manager signed up as a silent partner in Hi-P Tool & Die, a tool manufacturing firm founded in 1980 that had fallen on hard times due to the global recession. Yao left DuPont in 1983 and took over the management of Hi-P, growing the business and expanding to China a decade later.

Today, Hi-P can celebrate a listing on the Singapore Stock Exchange, a market value of more than US$1 billion, and its status as a leading contract-manufacturing provider working with blue-chip clients such as Amazon and Apple. Hi-P has worked with Apple since 2009, starting with the iPod, according to the Singapore-listed company. Over half of Hi-P earnings are derived from the smartphone, internet-of-things and smart-home businesses—sectors that are projected to continue flourishing in the coming years.

Yao was conferred an honorary doctorate by his alma mater, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, in 2009. He currently oversees Hi-P’s strategic direction and operations, backed by decades of experience in the precision-tooling and plastic-injection moulding sectors.