From fishing nets to Nippon Paint: How the late Goh Cheng Liang became Singapore’s richest billionaire

The tycoon, who was 98 when he died on Tuesday, owned a nearly 60% stake in Nippon Paint, the world’s fourth-largest paint maker, through his Singapore-based investment firm Wuthelam Holdings.

He also founded Nippon Paint South East Asia (Nipsea), which oversees the Asia Pacific’s largest paint-manufacturing operations.

Goh began his journey far from wealth. Born in colonial Singapore, he lived in a cramped room in a River Valley Road shophouse with his parents, three sisters and a brother up until he turned 12.

"My parents were very poor," Goh recalled in a rare 1997 interview with The Business Times. "During the Japanese Occupation, my father was jobless, my mother was washing laundry, my sister was selling soon kway [a Chinese rice noodle cake]."

He was sent to Muar in then-Malaya when World War II reached the region. There, he helped his brother-in-law sell fishing nets before returning to the city-state in 1943.

That year, he tried his hand at an aerated water business, but the venture failed and he spent the next four and a half years working in a hardware store.

In 1949, he bought a batch of rotting barrels of paint at an auction. Using a Chinese chemicals dictionary and the skills he had picked up from the hardware trade, Goh experimented until he created what became Pigeon Brand paint.

The timing proved fortuitous and that business took off as import restrictions during the Korean War spiked local demand for paint. Goh then opened his first paint shop in pre-independence Singapore in 1955 and became Nippon Paint’s main local distributor. He started Wuthelam in the early 1960s.

The 1973 oil crisis brought yet another windfall. With paint prices soaring, Goh sold off surplus stock from his Indonesian factory at a hefty profit, as reported by the South China Morning Post.

By the early 2000s, Goh’s partnership with Nippon Paint through their joint venture Nipsea had expanded across the region into markets such as Malaysia, China, and South Korea.

Goh Cheng Liang, founder of Nippon Paint South East Asia (Nipsea). Photo from Nippon Paint Malaysia's Facebook

In 2021, Wuthelam acquired a majority stake in the Japanese brand, lifting his fortune from $16 billion to $24 billion and placing him at the top of Forbes’ list of Singapore’s richest that year. A later slide in Nippon Paint’s share price pushed him down the rankings, but he reclaimed the spot in the magazine’s 2025 billionaire ranking in April.

Goh also channeled part of his paint fortune into real estate, developing Mount Elizabeth Hospital and Liang Court, both of which were later sold, alongside residential and commercial projects in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, and the U.S. Wuthelam also branched into other industries, including agriculture and consulting.

Beyond business, the tycoon was widely known for his philanthropy, which particularly focused on medical research on cancer treatment, as he was a cancer survivor himself, and programs for underprivileged students. Over the years, he funded treatment initiatives, set up bursaries and scholarships and contributed to numerous welfare agencies.

For himself, Goh seems to allow one luxury: a passion for yachts and catamarans. He christened many of them White Rabbit, including the 84-meter White Rabbit Golf, recognized as the world’s largest trimaran superyacht.

"I don't like movies, I don't like songs, I don't like karaoke, I don't like bars," he once said in an interview cited by AFP.

Goh leaves behind three children, Goh Hup Jin, Goh Chuen Jin, and Goh Chiat Jin, along with eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild. The eldest son, Hup Jin, has been involved in steering both Nipsea and Wuthelam since the 1980s, according to Bloomberg.

In the 1997 interview, Goh chalked his success up to luck and capable staff, but those who know him give him far more credit.

"To his family and friends, Mr Goh was a humble and private man, known for his great sense of humor and joie de vivre, tempered by a strong determination to succeed," his family said in a tribute cited by Channel News Asia.

"He was also a highly astute and creative businessman with exceptional numerical skills and an uncanny ability to identify opportunities."

At his wake held over several days this week, the tycoon’s associates and staff remembered him as both a hard-working and caring boss.

Ong Chin Han, a sales manager at Nippon Paint Singapore who has spent more than 37 years with the firm, recalled how Goh would visit the Jurong factory around lunchtime and urged workers to take their break instead of inquiring about work.

"Mr Goh took the effort to deeply understand his employees," Ong told The Straits Times.

He also shared a story passed down by his father, who said he once ‘had lunch’ with Goh.

"I did not believe him at first, but I later found out Mr Goh was dining in the same restaurant and had paid for everyone’s meal."

Budi Fianto Buna, Nippon Paint Indonesia’s president commissioner who began working with Goh at age 20, noted his willingness to take risks.

"If he liked a property, he would just buy it – there was no need for calculations...," he recalled. "He said that if you took too long to decide, someone else would buy it."

He added that Goh prized kindness, loyalty and honesty in those who worked with him.

"Under him, I learnt the importance of being honest, hard-working and thrifty... Mr Goh was so successful because he was thrifty and never gave up."