Prime Minister Mr. Lawrence Wong
Ministers
Temasek Board members
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

By Generations, For Generations

Welcome, everyone, and thank you for being here with us tonight.

I stood at a similar podium to speak at Temasek’s 40^th anniversary. But that was 10 years ago, and a lot has changed since then.

The world has also, arguably, become more fragmented – politically, economically, and socially.

Navigating these challenges will not be easy, especially for a small country like Singapore. It certainly will not be easy for Temasek, a global investment company firmly rooted in Singapore, with a duty to future generations.

But we must remain hopeful, and seize the opportunities that arise in every crisis.

In the last five decades, we have faced countless dark clouds. We have also enjoyed many sunny days. And we have journeyed far – some would say, against the odds.

We were formed in 1974, as a holding company for the Government’s assets. We were a bold and unprecedented experiment. There was no map to follow, and hardly a compass to help guide our way. Yet, charting our own course, we survived and thrived.

Today, we are a global investment company with a portfolio value of S$389 billion. And how did we do this?

Perhaps some of the answers can be found in the book we are launching tonight, called By Generations, For Generations.

As I was reading the book, I picked out three themes that ran through the Temasek story. These are attributes and principles which I believe will stand us all in good stead as we face the challenges of the future.

Resilience

The first is Resilience. Or the ability to recover from and adapt quickly to change.

Temasek has shown this many times in its evolution over the years – from being a passive custodian of state assets to an active and bold global investor. And as Ho Ching famously said: “Every few years, we must be a different Temasek. If not, we are dead.’’

You can see this in the Temasek Charter, which made its debut in 2002, and which has since been updated three times. It is a living document of our evolution as a company.

The latest update to the Charter took place this year. It emphasises our resilience, in the sentence “doing things today with tomorrow in mind’’.

And certainly, we must.

As an investment company, we need to stay agile yet focused during chaotic times, with a view to the long term. To do this, we have constructed a resilient and forward-looking portfolio to withstand turbulent market cycles.

Growth

This brings me to my next theme, which is Growth.

As an investment company, we want to grow our returns. But we recognise that high growth can also come with high risk. We make mistakes occasionally, but we learn from them.

We also grew geographically. In 2002, Temasek made the strategic decision to expand beyond Singapore. We grew with an emerging Asia, investing into economies like China and India. In particular, we benefitted from our China exposure from the 2000s to the 2010s as China grew. This gave us the wherewithal to invest into other markets. In 2010, we made the decision to be a global investor. Guided by our investment strategy and themes, we expanded into the US and Europe. 

We now have a geographically more diversified portfolio, even though we are still anchored in Singapore and Asia. Had we not expanded, our portfolio today would comprise just our Singapore TPCs.

Growth can also be seen in our staff size.

From a small office in 1974 with five staff members, we today have 1,000 employees, spread across 13 offices in nine countries around the world, and with more than 30 nationalities. I want to thank all of them, past and present, for being part of the Temasek family.

Our network of friends and partners has also expanded. And I am very glad to see many of them here tonight. Among them are our portfolio companies as well as our past and present board members.

I’d also like to acknowledge all the previous and current members of our international and regional advisory panels. Temasek has relied on their wise counsel over the decades, and they have never failed to give us their full support. And for that, we are grateful.

As you can see, people and relationships are key to Temasek. The strength and value of Temasek lies in our ability to build a broader ecosystem of partners, companies, and talent.

This ecosystem was especially important during COVID-19. I’m very proud of how we managed to support the Government’s efforts to fight the pandemic. We distributed masks, oximeters and hand sanitisers. And we quickly set up the first Community Care Facility at Singapore Expo – with the help of our portfolio companies. Our portfolio companies also helped addressed critical supply chain needs at the time. They produced high-performance reusable masks and medical-grade surgical masks, PCR testing kits, and emergency ventilators for COVID patients.

In as much as we have been given, we have also made it a point to give back to the communities. We believe that we need to earn our social license to operate. After all, businesses cannot do well unless societies thrive.

Since 2003, we have been setting aside a portion of our net positive returns for community gifts. I am happy to say that to date, Temasek’s gifts to Temasek Trust have had an impact on about 3.7 million lives across Singapore and beyond.

Purpose

Now this leads me to the third theme – Purpose.

As an investment company, we can easily decide to focus only on our financial numbers. But that’s not what we are about. I’m filled with admiration at the foresight and courage of our past leaders as they forged the path forward for Temasek.

Our ethos to Do Well, Do Right, and Do Good, guides us to always do things today with tomorrow in mind, So Every Generation Prospers.

Conclusion

Ladies and gentlemen, I have been Chairman of Temasek for the last 11 years. In that time, I have seen the remarkable things that Temasek is capable of.

At the start of my speech, I mentioned the immense challenges we face today, one of which is climate change. I believe this is the defining crisis of our time.

At Temasek, we are committed to placing sustainability at the core of all that we do. We have been doing this for some time and will continue to do so. Since 2014, when we started our annual Ecosperity Conference, we have launched many investments and initiatives to accelerate the green transition.

I’m proud to announce our latest – a commitment to set aside S$100m as Concessional Capital for Climate Action initiatives. The aim is to crowd in capital to support marginally bankable projects. This will be funded by our community gifts, and we believe there can be a catalytic effect – by mobilising funding from other sources such as public, private, and philanthropic capital providers. Our philanthropic dollar will be amplified as more funding goes towards climate action.

The path to tomorrow’s success may not be clear. It will certainly not be comfortable. But it has never been so, at any other point in our history. So we must always stand ready to embrace the risks and possibilities, as well as the challenges and the opportunities of the world ahead.

Temasek is no ordinary company. Nor can it be. Just like Singapore, our survival lies in us being bold and extraordinary. May we continue to be so, for generations to come, so every generation prospers.

Thank you.