On Dec 12, Kwek Leng Beng, executive chairman of Singapore property conglomerate Hong Leong Group, received an award from Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The award recognises Kwek’s efforts in venturing into untapped markets with less competition and growth potential, rather than focusing on saturated, competitive markets.

Kwek received the inaugural Global Blue Ocean Shift Award at the Global Entrepreneurship Community Summit, which was held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on Dec 12 and 13. According to Hong Leong Group, the two-day Global Entrepreneurship Community Summit saw 15,000 attendees from 89 countries.

Kwek attended a panel discussion at the conference, where he shared with the audience on how he was implementing the strategy of venturing into uncontested market space in Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (M&C), of which he is non-executive chairman. M&C is 65.2% owned by City Developments (CDL), which is in turn, a unit of Hong Leong Group.