Thank you, Chairman, and to the Board for your confidence in me and our senior leadership team in helming Temasek in our pursuit of our journey and goals.

This step is one that Temasek, under Ho Ching’s leadership, has been preparing for, for some years now.

Building a strong cohesive leadership bench across the firm, by hiring a number of us from outside as well as grooming and promoting talent from within, at all levels is the key to Temasek’s future: a strategic imperative that started more than a decade ago.

I would like to thank HC and Theng Kiat for giving us a strong foundation and a resilient organisation to build on, and also for mentoring and guiding us over this past decade. 

Let me spend a moment reflecting on the formative role Ho Ching has played in the development of Temasek.

All of us at Temasek owe her a debt of thanks for her vision, her passion and her determination. Under her leadership, and with the support of all of our people, our portfolio has more-than tripled. Bold, early decisions, such as investing in an opening China, and taking concentrated positions in growth companies, created a path, rather than followed one worn by others.

That is what makes Temasek special: that we are prepared to create new pathways, and build from ideas into actions, from actions into institutions.

However, the legacy about which I am most proud is Ho Ching’s commitment to building an enduring institution; of people underpinned by strong values and commitments to principles of good governance. These values and principles contribute to the reputation we have built over decades, and are more important to us than anything else.

Ho Ching has steadily and steadfastly built a solid team of leaders across the firm, over time, who will now carry these values forward, evolving them for the future.

Theng Kiat shares a similar commitment.  The senior leadership team and I have truly benefited from his commitment to build capabilities and talent within our ranks. 

And he has allowed us all to grow in our roles, with guidance from him.  Under his leadership of TI, we have become a more networked organisation across the different geographies in which we operate, and sectors in which we invest. 

The institutionalisation of many of our initiatives and practices have also progressed under his watch and stands us in good stead as we navigate a complex and uncertain world and business environment. My colleagues and I are truly grateful that he will continue with us as Chairman of Temasek International.

Temasek is a unique organisation, with three essential roles under our Charter. We are an Active Investor, committed to doing well, a Forward Looking Institution determined to do right, and a Trusted Steward, inspired to do good. And importantly, we are these in equal measure. None takes precedence over any other.  If anything, Covid-19 has given us a keen understanding of how these 3 roles converge in the purpose of Temasek.

As our Chairman mentioned, there will be a time and a place for us to all record our thanks to Ho Ching and Theng Kiat for their leadership of Temasek, and in the reshaping of Temasek over the past two decades into the global institution we are today.

Allow me now, to share some personal reflections with you all. 

Before joining, I had a number of conversations with Ho Ching about Temasek. Each time, she explained to me, more and more, what Temasek is about and why it was important for all of us to consider to be part of its journey. 

While it was a big career decision to leave the comfort of my law firm, even a big risk, it took me just a weekend to decide to join.  And I’ve stayed 10 years.  And sometimes, you might wonder why I’ve done that? 

Ho Ching has always wanted us, employees, to act as owners – to act responsibly and thoughtfully – even when taking huge risks – in justifying the trust reposited by our shareholder in our Board, and by our Board in us. 

I have had the honour of leading Temasek International and its committed team since 2019. Since 2019, our senior management team has put forward a strategy for the next decade – we call it our T-2030 Strategy.

We recognise that the world is more complex; all the more complex as a result of Covid-19, but we see four clear areas of focus for us in the context of our T-2030 Strategy.

The first is the evolving portfolio that we have, and the need for us to ensure we construct a portfolio that is relevant for the next decade and beyond. It means we have to not just see the path ahead, but as much as possible, try to predict what is around the corner.

The second is that we have to put sustainability at the core of all we do, and we have already begun to embark on a number of initiatives in this respect. We all know that climate change is here; it is real and there’s a need for all of us to address it in whichever way we can.

The third is that we need to continue to build capabilities at Temasek that we can make available to our portfolio companies, and to derive value from them through these capabilities, and for these capabilities also to address a need that’s in the marketplace. And we’ve done some of this in the context of AI, blockchain, and cyber.

And the fourth, and not least of all, is to build the talent and the capabilities within Temasek. Over the last decade that I’ve been at Temasek, our talent pool has evolved and we’ve brought in differing talent into Temasek because of the complexity of the world we see ahead of us.

This job knows no end. We have to continue to build our organisation, as we ourselves have to continually evolve. It’s a VUCA world, where change is a constant, and where we have to get comfortable with ambiguity.

As much as we build the capabilities within Temasek, we have to make sure we continue to build our network so we can augment those capabilities with skills outside of Temasek that can work with us as well.

Our objective is very much to move forward with what we have said we will do.

It is about continuing to build a strong, resilient portfolio, with a cohesive leadership team made up of diverse skills and competencies.

And I believe we are well-positioned to take advantage of opportunities, and face the challenges that await us in the next decade, and beyond. And to do all of this with the courage of conviction and a strong sense of purpose.

Thank you.

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Click here to read the transcript of the preceding remarks by Temasek Chairman Lim Boon Heng.

Click here to read the Questions and Answers at the Editors Briefing.