FEATS IN SWEETS: WHO WINS YOUR 2014 VOTE?
John Chuang, Group CEO, Petra Foods
Singaporean businessman John Chaung is possibly the highest profile nominee for Personality of the Year. The Petra Foods CEO had a productive 2013/14 as he sold the company's ingredients business to Barry Callebaut for over $750m and positioned Petra Foods as a pureplay branded consumer goods company for South East Asia.
John has driven growth in chocolate markets such as the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore with brands like SilverQueen, Ceres and Delfi. His company is now focusing on the premium segment to target the rising middle classes in the region.
John Chaung entered the cocoa and chocolate business in 1968 and took over as head of Petra Foods from his Father in 1982. According to Forbes, he has a net worth of $980m. His nominee, who prefers to remain anonymous, said that John had been instrumental in building a chocolate empire in Indonesia and the Far East.