Benjamin Tan is the Managing Director of the SuperInternet Group of companies, comprising an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and a Systems and Network Engineering business. Ben has built a multi-million dollar business with over 1,000 customers, but the path to his success is one that both astonishes and impresses for its diversity and depth.

While his friends were playing with airplane models or trading cards, the teenager Benjamin Tan was already working at a computer shop in Funan Centre, earning a modest living off his passion for all things techie. By the time he entered junior college, Ben was putting together PCs for sale ala-Dell and setting up Novell networks for SMEs. 

Strangely enough, Ben did not pursue a computer science degree but holds a Bachelor of Laws with Honours from the National University of Singapore. During the course of his studies, he was selected to be sent to McGill University, Montreal, Canada, for a year where he pursued a specialisation in Information Technology law. 

After a stint with Coopers & Lybrand, which had made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, his love affair with IT and insatiable entrepreneurial streak ejected him from the comfort of employment into the challenges of a business owner. He started SuperInternet in 1998 and – undaunted by the lack of venture funding – invested his own money and time into building an broad-based but integrated business in the networking and system integration sector. Within the first months of operations, SuperInternet secured consulting contracts with AIG and the Ministry of Home Affairs – both still happy customers with the company today – against much larger and more established competitors. 

One of the main reasons for his success to-date is his ability to build strong relationships with key partners. For example, Ben has successfully built up strategic partnerships with principals such as Cisco Systems, earning SuperInternet the privilege of becoming one of the earliest Cisco Premier Certified Partners in 1999. 

His hands-on nature has led him to study for and attain a wealth of highly regarded professional technical qualifications, including Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP), Cisco Certified Design Professional (CCDP), Cisco Certified Security Specialist (CSS-1), NSA/CNSS Information Systems Security (INFOSEC) Professional, Cisco IP Telephony Support Specialist and Microsoft Certified Professional. The result is a most unusual managing director – one who is able and happy to roll up and sleeves and get tucked into addressing technical problems for his customers. 

Ben continues to focus on extending SuperInternet’s portfolio through value-added offerings, for example, a low cost VoIP solution for the Singapore customers called XLvoice. 

On the personal side, he is happily married to Doreen, a data security expert, who also works at SuperInternet. While husband and wife get to spend all their time together, leisure time is spent taking care of their beagle.