Thomas Choong

Dr. Thomas Choong is a portfolio Mentor to Golden Equator. Known for his particular expertise in the technology sphere, he is also an angel investor, business advisor and a partner of several firms in Singapore.

Operating under Waylion Advisory & Consulting, which he started in 2008, Thomas has helped numerous firms with funding, strategic marketing, business advisory, development and consulting projects. Some of these firms include Brandtology (now renamed iSentia Brandtology), TAC Financial (Thierry Apoteker Consulting from France), Elipva Ltd, Ohanae Inc, Kidotech, ArrowCrest Technologies as well as the Singapore Sports Hub amongst others. Prior to this, from 2000 to 2007, he started and ran several tech startups in Asia with investments from ST Telemedia and the Lippo Group. Thomas also served on the board of M Dream Inworld, a HK stock exchange listed company with a focus on online gaming for the Chinese market.

Adding to his diversity of interests, in 2005, he co-founded Xi Yan, the first contemporary Chinese private dining restaurant in Singapore and ASEAN that has since continued to win numerous awards each year with an international following. In 2014, Xi Yan Singapore extended its investment into Xi Yan Penthouse HK and Xi Yan Shaw- a modern Chinese bistro. In 2008, Thomas was a seed investor of Brandtology, helping in the development of its business. The company was acquired in 2011 by an Australian Media conglomerate with the company being renamed to iSentia and a successful IPO in 2014.

Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Thomas was particularly known for his pioneering efforts in developing businesses and markets in the emerging technological sphere. From 1984 to 1999, he held various senior management positions with Sun Microsystems-iPlanet (a Sun Microsystems Inc and AOL/Netscape Alliance), IBM in ASEAN, Convex Computer and Apollo Computer in the Asia Pacific.

Thomas also served as an adjunct professor with the National University of Singapore (Engineering faculty) from 1997 to 2000. He served on the judging panel for Start-Up@Singapore – a business plan competition organised by NUS – from 2003 until 2013. In 2010/2011, he was a member of the Executive Global Network and chaired the EGN Young Leaders Network group. Thomas has served as a board member of the Make-A-Wish Foundation (a charity that supports children with life threatening illnesses) and currently is a board member of the YMCA (where he also chaired the YMCA Charity Golf from 2010 to 2013 and co-chaired the Education Committee since 2013).

Thomas graduated from the University of Bath with a BSc Engineering (First Class Honours) and a Ph.D. under the UK Science and Engineering Research Council scholarship. He lived in the UK for more than 8 years and worked at Ford Motor Company as a control systems analyst after his graduation. To date, he has published and contributed to more than 40 conferences papers and articles.