A champion of inclusivity

Text: Kenny Chee / Photo: Wee Wei Ling

While in school, Ms Wee Wei Ling’s upbringing was shaped by the works of famed Chinese poet Li Bai. Today, one of the literary master’s verses continues to resonate with the hotel maven: Everyone is born with a talent.

Ms Wee advocates for empowering others, be they her colleagues at Pan Pacific Hotels Group or those from low income families.

Enabling people with disabilities is important to her too. “It may take more time to discover what that talent is but if we are able to help an individual with special needs, we help the entire family,” says Ms Wee, this year’s Nanyang Distinguished Alumni Award winner.

Fostering opportunity and hope

The 72-year-old joined the hospitality business 35 years ago and has assumed many roles, including hotel general manager. Ms Wee is now an Executive Director at the group overseeing the asset management of its hotel properties, lifestyle brands and its corporate social responsibility, inclusivity and sustainability strategy. Taking a leaf from her father – the late Mr Wee Cho Yaw, former chairman of Singapore bank UOB – she practises what she preaches.

“I admire how my father walked the talk and deeply appreciate the values he inculcated in me,” she says. “He believed we should work for as long as we can, and he did so himself. He taught me many precious lessons.”

Ms Wee helped to establish the hotel group as an inclusive hiring pioneer in Singapore’s hospitality industry. The group also commissions artworks by special needs artists and sells them at its hotels.

Beyond hospitality, Ms Wee co-founded Extra.Ordinary People, a charity that supports individuals with special needs, such as equipping them with skills to improve their employability.

She also supports helping low-income families with basic refurbishments for their homes as it enables them to prioritise other areas of their lives. Ms Wee champions this through Project We Care, a People’s Association corporate social responsibility initiative with the private sector which she has chaired since 2012.

And when it comes to employees, Ms Wee is all for empowering and building trust with them to create strong teams. In fact, leading with compassion and fostering a positive work culture are among her secrets for running a successful hospitality business.

“Encouraging open discussions, valuing diverse opinions and actively seeking feedback from colleagues contribute towards creating a harmonious work environment, which helps keep employees content and engaged,” Ms Wee explains.

She believes everyone should continue learning and gives her staff opportunities to go beyond their work scope with job rotations so they can tackle new challenges.

This dovetails into an ethos that has guided Ms Wee in her professional and personal life: striving for self-improvement and progress, the motto of Nanyang University, NTU’s predecessor institution.

A political science graduate, Ms Wee says that the motto reflects the values that her parents instilled in her. “I am always curious and keen to learn,” she says.

Ms Wee (third from left) with her family at her graduation in 1974. She fondly remembers her time spent with friends at her hostel and the student canteen. She also enjoyed walks in Yunnan Garden, which she would regularly pass by on the way to classes from her dormitory.

Hallmarks of a leader

As a leader in a successful hospitality business, Ms Wee says resilience, adaptability and effective leadership are crucial. These attributes helped her to navigate some of her biggest career challenges – and achievements: setting up Pan Pacific Hotels Group’s lifestyle brands St Gregory Spa and Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurant.

She was not familiar with Sichuan cuisine when her father entrusted her to establish the restaurant in 1996. The cuisine was not as popular as Cantonese fare in Singapore then either.

Nevertheless, she took up the challenge and stood firm on serving authentic Sichuan specialties. The restaurant also adapted by reducing the oil levels of dishes for health reasons while maintaining their spiciness.

In 1997, Ms Wee founded St Gregory Spa for hotels at a time when massage parlours had a bad reputation in Singapore. Despite this, she persevered to establish spas as a legitimate business in the country’s hospitality scene.

Pan Pacific Hotels Group now has Si Chuan Dou Hua outlets in Singapore, Japan and Myanmar, while St Gregory has spas in Singapore, China, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam.

Says Ms Wee: “Being able to think outside the box and pivot our business strategies to adapt to changing market conditions and guest expectations is key.”

 

This article first appeared in issue 5 of U, the NTU alumni magazine.