Sim Wong Hoo was born into a Zhao'anHokkien family in Singapore and is an alumnus of Bukit Panjang Government High School. He graduated from the Electrical & Electronic Engineering faculty of Ngee Ann Polytechnic in 1975, after which he worked in the private engineering sector. On 1 July 1981, with a capital outlay of US$6,000, Sim founded Creative Technology in the form of a computer repair shop in Pearl's Centre, in Chinatown. There he developed and sold an add-on memory board for the Apple II computer. Later, Creative began creating customized PCs adapted for the Chinese language, including enhanced audio capabilities that allowed the devices to produce speech and melodies. The success of this audio interface led to the development of the stand-alone sound card Sound Blaster. It was among the first dedicated audio processing cards widely available to general consumers. Creative dominated the PC audio market until the 2000s, when OEM PCs began to be built with integrated sound boards in the motherboard. Sound Blaster then found itself reduced to a niche product.
Achievements and Recognition
Sim Wong Hoo has won accolades from industry and government for his innovations. This includes winning Singapore’s Public Star Medal Bintang Bakti Masyarakatin 2001 for outstanding achievements in the business field. He was named in second spot as Asia’s Businessman of the Year in January 2001 by Fortune Magazine. He won the Lifetime Achievement Award from organisers of the European DVD summit in April 2000;. He was also appointed Chairman of Singapore’s Technopreneurship 21 Private Sector Committee in March 1999. At age 45, he became the youngest billionaire in Singapore. He was also the first person to be named Singapore's Businessman of the Year twice, in 1992 and 1997. In 2002, he was named Person of the Year by the Singapore Computer Society in recognition of his contribution to the IT industry. Sim is considered to be the star entrepreneur of Singapore, and he currently chairs Singapore's Technopreneurship 21 Private Sector Committee. In 1999, Sim Wong Hoo released a book entitled 'Chaotic Thoughts From The Old Millennium', in which he coined and popularized the term "No U-turn syndrome" to describe the stereotypical Singaporean mindset of requiring permission from higher authorities before taking any action. In late 2011, Sim Wong Hoo, announced his creation of a new invention, the HanZpad, at a news conference in Beijing.
