BANKRUPT-TURNED-MILLIONAIRE'S GESTURE
$150,000 dinner, $100 hongbao for 1,400 who stood by him
By Melissa Sim
THE EMPORIUM department store uniform had sat unused in her cupboard for more than 10 years. But last Wednesday, 58-year-old Madam Low Lee Gek put on the white samfu with red trimmings and the knee-length red skirt again to celebrate the dinner thrown by ex-Emporium boss Lim Tow Yong.'Wearing this makes me think back to the good old days,' said Madam Low, who had worked in sales at Emporium for more than 30 years.
Last Wednesday's dinner was Mr Lim's way of repaying the kindness his former employees had shown him 10 years ago.
In 1996 - down and out after he had sold off the company in the late 80s and been declared bankrupt - 800 ex-employees came together to throw a dinner for their ex-boss.
Mr Lim said that dinner gave him the motivation to carry on. Ten years down the road, he has bounced back and become a millionaire once again.
'It just touched my heart and I have never forgotten it. I've thought about it every day for the last 10 years and I told myself that I must work harder and one day pay them back,' he told The Sunday Times, in a feature published on Oct 29.
The former department store king made his second fortune opening stores in Sabah, Labuan and Brunei. Now his stores in Brunei and Labuan have a turnover of more than $100 million a year. Last year, he and his partners made RM10 million ($4.2million) selling the stores in Sabah.
Mr Lim felt it was time to repay his former employees.
Close to 1,400 responded to advertisements placed in the Chinese newspapers and gathered at the Raffles City Convention Hall last Wednesday.
The atmosphere was buzzing as old colleagues caught up with each other between the eight-course Chinese dinner, while stage performers sang the kind of classic Mandarin songs that might have been heard playing in Emporium in its heyday.
No expense was spared. On the venue and the dinner alone - which included shark's fin soup and scallops - Mr Lim spent about $150,000.
He also gave a $100 red packet to each of the 1,400 people there.
Said housewife Tay Bee Eng, 51, who worked in the HR department for three years: 'I'm already very touched that he bothered to treat all of us to dinner. I didn't think he would give each of us a red packet.'
Said Mr Lim: 'This is just my way of expressing my gratitude.'
Picture caption: BACK ON HIS FEET, former Emporium boss, Mr Lim, at the appreciation dinner he threw for ex-employees. Bankrupt 10 years ago, he is once again running a successful retail business. -- WANG HUI FEN
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