Occupation Author
Businessman | Nationality Singaporean | |
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Born November 11, 1977 (age 39) ( 1977-11-11 ) Alma mater University at Buffalo BA
University of Manchester MBA
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy MPA
University of Glasgow PhD Books LEAP: Inspiring Stories of an Ordinary Singaporean Leaping Into Extraordinary Adventures Education University at Buffalo, University of Glasgow, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, University of Manchester | ||
Yap Kwong Weng (born November 11, 1977) is a Singaporean author, frontier entrepreneur, social activist and former soldier. He is the CEO of Leap Group and a founding board director of Triip, a Vietnam-based tech company. Between 2014 and 2016 he was the COO of Parami Energy Group in Myanmar, where he managed the group's infrastructure deals, transformation and transparency plans while advocating for the use of clean energy in Myanmar. He has also worked for Jebsen & Jessen (SEA), a regional engineering company as a General Manager who oversaw its expansion into Laos and enhanced its business units in Myanmar. Yap has been named a World Cities Summit Leader in 2014 and a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum (2012 to 2017).
Contents
In May 2016, Yap came to public attention after being featured in an article with the Singapore Straits Times, where he discussed his life and completion of US Navy SEAL training despite suffering from serious injuries. During June of the same year, Marshall Cavendish published Leap: Journey of a Young Global Leader from Singapore, a memoir featuring stories of failures and successes in Yap's military training, work stints and world travels. Kirkus Reviews said of Leap: "Kwong Weng’s debut memoir recounts a life of remarkable persistence." In December 2016, Yap was interviewed by Belinda Parmar OBE via the World Economic Forum about the application of empathy in business.
Early years and education
Born in 1977, Yap grew up in Singapore, and lived in a small 3-room flat in Toa Payoh with his parents for over 25 years. He received his secondary education in the now defunct First Toa Payoh Secondary School where he was a member of the National Cadet Corps, and his pre-university education at Jurong Institute, now known as Millennia Institute. At 18, he applied several times to the National University of Singapore (NUS) but was rejected. Instead, Yap decided to join the Singapore Armed Forces Commando Formation while saving up for a college education. The opportunity to pursue tertiary education, however, came many years later.
Yap received a BA in Communication studies with Latin honors at age 30 from the State University of New York at Buffalo with savings earned from the Army, as well as with pawned jewellery sold by his mother to fund his education. Thereafter, he went on to pursue an MBA from Manchester Business School, and a Master of Public Administration from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy where he received a leadership award in 2012 and was profiled as a game changer by NUS magazine published on 1 January 2017. He earned a PhD in crisis management from the University of Glasgow and read peace and conflict studies as a Peace Fellow in Thailand's Chulalongkorn University under a Rotary Foundation Scholarship.
In June 2016, when asked by Parenting World about the stresses of education in Singapore and students from non-elite schools who felt left out, Yap said: "I studied in neighbourhood schools...Life was simple, fun and I learnt to become more independent. I hated books and studying when I was young. But I learnt, over the years, that knowledge gives us the best resource when it comes to decision-making."
Military career
Before entering the private sector, Yap served as a Commando Captain in the Singapore Armed Forces where he was trained as a paratrooper and a ranger. After being commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1998 from Officer Cadet School (Singapore) where he received a Sword of Merit, Yap was posted to 1st Commando Battalion and the Special Forces as a Platoon Commander. In 2001, he went on to attend Class 237 of the United States Navy SEAL selection and training, graduating in February 2002 from the Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado, California.
Following his return to Singapore, Yap was assigned as an instructor to the Commando Training Wing where he trained rangers in a grueling 65-day program that hones small unit tactics and leadership. Along the way, he realized that a university degree was needed for career progression; took study leave in 2005 and went back to school as a mature student. He returned to the unit after graduating in 2008 and served as head of leadership development in the Commando Training Institute. It was at this time (in 2009) that comprehensive material on Singapore's Special Forces edited by Yap was published by Pointer (journal) as a monograph. In 2010, Yap transferred to the Joint Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence (Singapore) where he worked as an Intelligence analyst who focused on regional counter-terrorism.
Yap served 13 years in the military and left the SAF in December 2012 for the private sector
Civil society
Yap is active in community and social initiatives. He was the Secretary-General of the United Nations Association of Singapore (2011 to 2013) where he organized sustainability projects in Singapore and Sarawak with youth groups, civic and academic institutions. Since 2013, he has been a country chair of non-profit Global Dignity, where he advocates dignity, a fundamental human right, for students in Cambodia. He ran 100km across China's Taklamakan Desert in an ultramarathon to raise awareness for the UN's Millennium Development Goals and gave a TEDx talk on the wider benefits of volunteering. On a voluntary basis, Yap gives talks to students, business executives and entrepreneurs.
Writing
Yap started writing professionally during his time in the military. Influenced by military science, Yap wrote his first book in 2009, where he developed Key Perspectives of Special Forces, a collection of articles by current and former Special Forces set in a monograph with a foreword by Brigadier-General Lam Shiu Tong, former Commander of the Special Operations Task Force. His second book is Leap: Journey of a Young Global Leader from Singapore. In August 2016, Teenage Magazine wrote of Leap: "the author's proof that humble beginnings in this little red dot can inspire greatness, no matter how young you are". Today, he writes about business and geopolitical issues on Southeast Asia and Myanmar and his articles have appeared in local and regional newspapers.