Find Your Mr. Eric Wee

Find Your Mr. Eric Wee

Before the boardrooms, the ministries, and the GCC, there was a warehouse in Singapore (Reda Pump), and I was one of their warehousemen.

Today, I advise on supply chain strategy across the GCC and Asia, a journey across five countries, three integrated 3PL platforms built and scaled, hundreds of millions in annual procurement spend, and national programs from Qatar's Strategic Stock to FIFA World Cup retail operations, including keeping shelves stocked when the world shuts down.

Two chapters I'm especially proud of:

Contributing to Oman's Supreme Council for Planning on the Oman Logistics 2030 Blueprint, helping position the Sultanate as a regional logistics hub.

Partnering with the Qatar government on national food security, stockholding, cold chain, and continuity frameworks that protect millions from pandemic, blockade, and shocks no one saw coming.

When people hear I work in supply chain, the response is still: "Oh, like trucks and warehouses? Yes, and no.

It is the invisible architecture behind every product on every shelf, every medicine in every hospital, every meal at every table. Procurement, S&OP, network design, cold chain, last-mile, ESG, risk, and a digital layer of enterprise systems and AI-driven analytics.

One of the most strategic functions in any business, and still one of the most underestimated.

The pandemic gave the world a brief glimpse. Empty shelves. Masks priced 50x overnight. Factories idled over a missing chip. "Supply chain" became dinner-table conversation.

What still surprises many: the complexity hasn't gone away. It has multiplied. Geopolitics, climate volatility, tariffs, talent gaps, and AI disruption all land first on the supply chain desk.

I've watched this industry evolve from clipboards and faxed POs to integrated enterprise systems, control towers, and predictive analytics.

But the part I think about most isn't any of that. It is the warehouse floor in Singapore, where I learned that no spreadsheet, no dashboard, no boardroom decision matters until the right item is picked, packed, and delivered on time.
That truth has stayed with me from the warehouse floor to the ministry table.

Supply chain is not a back-office function. It is strategy. It is resilience. Increasingly, it is the difference between companies, and countries, that survive and those that lead.

To the next generation: this isn't logistics. It's the nervous system of the global economy. Start on the warehouse floor if you can; it teaches what no MBA ever will.

Mr. Eric Wee, who put me on that floor. You took a chance on a young man with nothing but a willingness to learn. Everything that came after, the warehouses, the teams, the boardrooms, the ministry tables, traces back to that one decision. Thank you.

#SupplyChain #Logistics #Procurement #SupplyChainLeadership #Leadership #Mentorship #FoodSecurity #GC

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