The Permanent Home for Southeast Asia’s Best SMEs

Preserving legacies. Developing the next generation of SME leaders.

A Looming Crisis.
A Long-Term Solution.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the quiet backbone of Southeast Asia. Take Singapore:

  • SMEs make up 99% of businesses and over 70% of employment
  • Fewer than 1 in 4 have a formal succession plan
  • One-third of the population will be over 65 by 2050
  • Thousands of businesses will quietly disappear every year


Timah Partners was built to meet this moment. We provide a permanent, values-driven home for great businesses — preserving their legacies, and developing the next generation of leaders to carry them forward.

A Permanent Home for Your Life’s Work

You’ve built something rare — a profitable, respected, and essential business. But when it’s time to move on, the options often feel… wrong.

  • Family may not want to take over
  • Private equity plans to flip your business in a few years
  • Corporate buyers gut your team and culture
  • Family offices are inconsistent and slow to act

We’re different

Timah is a permanent holding company — not a fund. We buy to own, not to sell. Our model is built on permanent stewardship, operational excellence, and deep respect for what founders have created.

We partner with owners who care about the future of their business — its people, its customers, and its reputation.

The Region’s First
CEO Succession Program

Our region is full of hungry, talented young leaders — but very few are being trained to lead real businesses.

Timah’s CEO Succession Program (CSP) is a first-of-its-kind pathway for future operators to apprentice under veteran CEOs, master SME fundamentals, and ultimately take the reins.

It’s a rare opportunity to run a business, build ownership, and create lasting impact — not just climb the corporate ladder.

We believe the next generation of SME leaders is already here. They just need the right platform.

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Built with Experience.
Backed by Excellence.

Timah is led and supported by a team of experienced investor-operators with global experience and deep roots in Southeast Asia.

Executive Board

Dennis Chua

Dennis Chua

Founder & CEO, Timah Partners
Built investor-operator expertise at world-class firms such as Goldman Sachs, 3G Capital, D.E. Shaw, Tiger Management, and Repertoire Partners. Graduated top of class from both Harvard Business School and Cornell Engineering; alumnus of Raffles Institution. Grew up around small businesses in Singapore.

Kent Weaver

Founding Partner, Compounding Labs
Veteran investor and operator. CEO of Granite Point Partners, with 75+ middle-market investments. Executive Chairman and former CEO of Progressive Home Health. Former executive at PepsiCo and Ernst & Young. Graduate of UCLA and USC.

Dustin Zacharias

Investor, Compounding Labs
Investor-operator at Compounding Labs, with prior investing roles at 3G Capital, Tiger Global, and Elliott Mgmt. Experienced in small business sourcing. Graduate of Harvard Business School, MIT, and University of St. Gallen.

Lois Choa

Senior Vice President, DBS Bank
Former Unit Head of Institutional Banking at DBS, Singapore’s largest bank. Led SME lending for nearly a decade. Deep insight into local bank credit. Advised hundreds of SMEs. Began career at McKinsey. Graduate of NUS.

Luo Zuo

Provost’s Chair Professor of Accounting and Finance, NUS
Teaches Executive MBAs and PhDs at NUS. Former tenured professor at Cornell. Advises on governance, valuation, and accounting — including for SMEs. Former director of the Cornell–Tsinghua Finance MBA; active advisor to institutions across Asia. PhD from MIT.

Advisory Board

Boon Khai Tan

Former CEO of JTC Corp and Singapore Land Authority
Led Singapore’s government agencies for industrial infrastructure, land/building development and land administration/operations. Former executive at CapitaLand and The Ascott Limited, District Judge, and Deputy Public Prosecutor for the Attorney-General's Chambers. Law graduate from the University of Nottingham.

Cynthia Phua

Former Politician, PAP
Served as Member of Parliament for Aljunied GRC, chairing Aljunied Town Council and leading Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council as CEO. Held executive roles at NTUC FairPrice, Knight Frank, and SLF Management Services. Graduate of NUS.

Ming Maa

Former President, Grab Holdings
Scaled Grab across Southeast Asia and led its corporate development and IPO. Former investor at SoftBank, Ancora Capital, and Goldman Sachs. Currently co-founder and CEO of Moove AV. BS and MS degrees from MIT.

Ellen Teo

CEO & Owner, Union Energy Group
Veteran SME operator who has led her family business for over two decades — now Singapore’s largest LPG distributor, built through growth and serial acquisitions. Graduate of Monash University.

Brian Chen

CEO, KPN Plantations
C-level executive in a major Indonesian conglomerate. Veteran operator with regional M&A & IPO experience. Serial entrepreneur and active fund investor. Graduate of NUS.

+ Additional Advisors (Confidential by request)

Some of our advisors prefer to remain behind the scenes due to their current roles.

We’d love to
hear from you.

Whether you’re an SME owner, a future SME leader, or a partner who shares our mission.