Biz Innovator - Joseph Ong
JOSEPH ONG
Founder and Managing Director, 1-Group (One Rochester Group)
Writer, r-Entrepreneurship
You can purchase Joseph Ong's book here:
Joseph Ong is a graduate of Nanyang Technological University (B. Acc.) and University of Manchester (MBA, First Class Distinction). Before his foray into the world of lifestyle and F&B, Ong began his career in finance 20 years ago in Ernst and Young, KPMG and Arthur Andersen. This culminated in his tenure at Symantec from 2004, where he became the youngest Vice President in 2013 responsible for the company’s Channels and Business Development in Asia Pacific and Japan.
It was while he was still in Symantec that he completed his MBA, envisioned and put into action his MBA project – One Rochester Group – an F&B enterprise based on the genesis of his groundbreaking concept “remote-Entrepreneurship.” On completion of his MBA, he obtained a rare overall distinction for his course.
He began writing his book, remote-Entrepreneurship in September 2014, to showcase the new and ground-breaking entrepreneurial outlook that developed as his company grew.
“Through my own experience of setting up the One Rochester Group, I wanted to demonstrate that a person like me, with no real working knowledge or background of the industry, could achieve success in the business through proper management and planning,” said Ong. “To begin with, my passion was never about food, it was all about people and strategy. The One Rochester Group is a living case study of why r-entrepreneurship and c-leadership works.”
Today, the 1-Group (previous branding known as One Rochester Group) is one of Singapore’s largest lifestyle dining groups, with many international awards and accolades for its concept, food, service and ambience. It is also renowned for its creative renewal of hackneyed land and buildings, as well as revolutionising the F&B and wedding businesses through its various concept brands: 1-Host, 1-Altitude, 1-Altimate, Stellar and more.
With his concept of r-Entrepreneurship and c-Leadership firmly in place, Ong continues to run the 1-Group, which in turn, continues to evolve in Singapore’s dynamic business landscape. When he manages to take time off work, he is spending quality time with his wife Wendy and their son Jerome.