Today is Singapore National day. The inspiring Republic of Singapore celebrates 54 years of providing economic, political and social thought leadership across Asia and the world. Over these decades, despite often being dismissed by the West as “just a little red dot” – a reference to its tiny geographic size – Singapore has consistently managed to punch way above its weight not just economically, but also politically and diplomatically.

Since its independence in 1965, under the able and visionary leadership of the awe-inspiring Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore made very rapid strides in building a nation that steadily and defiantly gained the respect of the world (often grudgingly) not just for its meteoric economic rise from swampland to skyscraper-land, but also for the statesmanship and thought-leadership demonstrated by its political leadership. A story I heard when I first visited Singapore, and which I like to tell often (though I couldn’t vouch for its veracity), is that when Lee Kuan Yew made his first official visit to Madras in the late 1960s, he was so impressed by the city that he reportedly told a gathering that he was addressing, “My dream is to soon turn Singapore into another Madras”! Well, clearly he and his colleagues did FAR MORE than achieve that dream!

There is much that is similar in the DNAs of Singapore and Lexygen – we are both “tiny organizations” relative to the size of our competitors, and yet, have unfazedly focused on growing our profiles through consistently delivering top quality, we are both strongly committed to being vibrant meritocracies, we are both willing embracers of technology and innovation, we both are deeply committed to research as a key enabler, and lastly, we are both committed to a fairness of approach and to walking the talk.

We at Lexygen have been great friends of Singapore, and Singapore has been a great friend of ours, for a long time. It was exactly 10 years ago that we at Lexygen set up our Singapore office! I still vividly remember how welcomed we felt and how easy and efficient the Government of Singapore made it for us to enter the market and to set up our formal presence. And of course, I cannot possibly express adequate gratitude for the unstinting support and trust that our Singaporean and SEA clients have continued to shower upon us over the past decade. Without the trust and love that we have received from Singapore and Singaporean clients, we simply couldn’t have lasted there, let alone thrive, for such a long period! I am also very proud to highlight that even through the bleakest recessionary market conditions, we continued our commitment to Singapore and retained our office there, though it certainly wasn’t an easy decision.

As Singapore celebrates its 54th birthday, so are we celebrating our completion of a great first DECADE in Singapore! Majulah Singapura! Majulah Lexygen!