Our foundations

For almost two centuries, the Boustead name has featured prominently within Singapore’s business landscape.

From the heady days of the early 19th century, where it first found form as one of the great trading houses of the East, to its present-day technology-driven operations – Boustead has maintained the posture of a leader.

With links to central London and a reach that traverses all four corners of the globe, Boustead has grown to become more than its lines of business – it has become a Singaporean institution.

Whether dealing in all manner of spoils – including spices, saps, seeds and medicinal herbs – or reshaping the world’s urban hubs using leading-edge smart city technologies; Boustead has remained ‘of the moment’.

This unique and enduring feature of the company underpins a history that has seen the company survive wars, economic catastrophes, pandemics, cultural evolutions, and time.

It is also the simple explanation behind why the Boustead of today is so vastly different in form to the company born almost 200 years ago.

For the present-day custodians of the Boustead name – that is, the Group’s Directors, CEOs, front-line staff and Chairman FF Wong – founder Edward Boustead’s true legacy was not his family name but a distinct brand of entrepreneurialism.

One that is adaptive; that favours longevity over sentimentality; and one that runs through the organisation’s very lifeblood – its people.

To learn more about this remarkable company and its journey through time you are invited to: read about the people of Boustead; immerse yourself in its long and (at times) colourful history; or, test your knowledge with our Boustead trivia challenge.