Goodbye my Mentor and Best Friend - Roland Teo Cheng San

 

This past few weeks have been turbulent ones, for me. My very good, practically best friend, of late, Roland Teo passed away on Sat 31st Jan 2026 at 11.20 am. 

While I am very sad of his passing and as a friend, I tried my very best to be there when he was literally breathing his last breaths, I am happy that we had a good 16 years of great friendship bonded over bouts of training (first) at the Ken Shin Kai karate club where he was a member then the club President from 2009 till about the time he left at 2019 - a span of 10 years.

During those times, we had numerous lunches and the occasional dinners at his best in the world dining place, the Crystal Cafe at Killiney Grand Court Residences. The staff there all knew him almost like a member on an extended family.

He was blessed with decades of widsom, honed from his working at the various top multinational companies of Pepsi Cola, Citibank (Taiwan) and Standard Chartered (Taiwan) where he was the CEO of the entire Standard Chartered operations (I believe) from the late 1990s till the early 2008 when he decided to retire at the age of 54. 

He had tremendous big picture vision, a global understanding of money markets and most importantly, the ability to understand human behavior, and how to bring out the best of his team of people.

He was generally revered and seen as a great mentor to many (easily close to 50) people who looked up to his razor sharp financial acumen, his managerial skills, and understanding of how to manage upwards (his bosses) from over 50 years of working for top level corporations.

He was on the board of my SME and I seeked his assistance in many strategic decisions.

I am so grateful for his friendship, his willingness to share his experience and his foresight in handling many things in life which have led me to take him as the ultimate mentor for me these last 16 years.

Rest Well, Play the Music you so loved in heaven Roland. 

I will always remember you with much fondness and gratitude. 

Carpe Diem.

              Roland's family (Melanie Teo, daughter, Monica Teo (wife), NIcole Teo (daughter)

 

'If' by Rudyard Kipling

Good Times with Great Mates 

Roland Teo ('V' sign) and Tom Gan

 If - Rudyard Kipling 

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming you

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowances for their doubt too.

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting or being lied about, don't deal in lies or being hated, don't give way to hating and yet, don't look too good or look too wise.

If you can dream and not make dreams your master

If you can think and not make thoughts your aim

If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same

If you can hear the truth being spoken twisted by the knaves to make a trap for fools or watch the things you made your life for, broken.

and stood up and built them up with worn out tools

If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch and toss,and start again at your beginnings, and never breathe a word about your loss

If you could force your heart, nerve and sinew. To serve your turn long after they are gone and so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the will which says to them 'hold on'

If you can talk with crowds,and keep your virtue or walk with kings nor lose the common touch

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you

If all men count with you but not too much

If you can fill the unforgiving minute with 40 seconds of distance run

Yours is the earth and everything that is in it !

and which is more, "You'll be a Man, my Son". 

Walk In Cold Storage Chamber - QRA Brand

 

My company has proudly delivered and commissioned the Walk In Cold Storage Chamber to a global MNC in Singapore. The above Cold Room Walk In Chamber can control temperatures from 5 - 10 C for extremely long durations of times (months) without any issues.

There is internal lighting for easy access of the technical specialists and the chamber is cooled using a recirculating chiller from the outside. We can provide accessories like ramp and stainless steel racks inside for the proper sorting and moving of their samples  seamlessly.

Safety wise, there is an urgent call out button linked to audio and blinking light to alert for any issue. Additionally, there is an door override function from inside so that there is no possibility that anyone will be trapped inside the cold chamber for any time longer than necessary.

For further information, please contact 

E : mark@qra.com.sg

or visit :

https://www.qra.com.sg

for more details. 

QRA Oven for Curing

 

Last year, QRA started providing Ovens from Bench Top sized to Stand Alone sizes for the purposes of drying all kinds of products from food additives, to pharmaceuticals and biotech products.

QRA's name is getting more renowned with each passing year.

Happy 2026

 

              With Darian, a very good friend of our son Andrew. 

This is the first day of 2026. As a young elder person (elder I would categorise at 70), so I have only few more meaningful years left.

My parents left in me a spirit to contribute to society at large, and apart from the usual one off small donations here and there, I feel this year will be a very significant year for me both professionally and personally.

I must make use of the little precious time to be the best version of myself to my loved pnes and friends.

Have a meaningful and successful 2026 readers !

Lets get to 500, 000 views by end 2026 beginning 2027 ! 

 

300,000 views in December 2025 Thank You !

 

I am filled with much humility and joy to announce that we have garnered over 300, 000 views in the 17 years since I started writing my blog. I wish to humbly say thank you to all who visited this blog and penned their comments, I am just a small business owner and this is one way to express my ongoing feelings about life, some current events (non political and religious) as a means to documents my views and thinking in the various life stages.

I may have some earlier views which may reflect how I felt about certain things at that point in time, but over the decades (1 decade and 7 years later), my thinking has matured a lot, as well as my assumption of the certainty of many things has also been weakened. Sometimes, it is best not to make predictions without proper analysis. If I get the outcome right, its most times due to sheer luck and after some deeper analysis with experts. If I get the outcome wrong, well then I put the result to user experience, which can be called upon in the future when similar scenarios crop up. 

When I first started, I recall we had about 200 views a month. Today, we easily get over 1000 views per day on certain weekends. I aspire to get around 30, 000 views per month in the near future,so that means 1000 views per day. Which is not so difficult nowadays. 

I never knew my little blog could be of interest to other people, many of whom are linked purely by wanting to know how the other half of the world lives.

Bachelor of Information Technology. Any company needs a motivated IT executive ? 3 prior internships 2 in Singapore 1 in Australia

 

This is the proudest moment for us parents. Our younger son, Andrew, graduated from the Queensland University of Technology recently on 9th Dec 2025 with a Bachelor of Information Technology. 

Andrew is a hardworking young man of 28 and he is at present looking for an IT or Computer CyberSecurity job in Singapore or Thailand.

If you are looking for a hungry, hardworking young IT executive with a decent CV and 3 previous internships, please drop me an email. 

Email :  (a) r1828mark@gmail.com

             (b) mark@qra.com.sg