Employer Spotlight: Toppan Ecquaria

A regional digital solutions company with a "can do" attitude

Ecquaria Technologies was established in 1998 in Singapore and became a subsidiary of Toppan Leefung in December 2019 and is now known as Toppan Ecquaria. The digital solutions company has 4 offices in Singapore, China, Indonesia and Brunei, and has been harnessing the latest technology to deliver digital government solutions, enabling governments all over the world to unlock their digital assets and connect with their citizens. 

The team of 280 staff works with approximately 50,000,000 citizens connected to more than 51 government agencies globally.

Journey of Toppan Ecquaria

Toppan Ecquaria was started by four forward-thinking entrepreneurs, Wai Keong, Kwang Han, Ser Wah and Meng Hee. They came together with a desire to leverage technology to create a link between the Singapore government and its citizens. Back then, the team of four had to roll up their sleeves and run everything, from coding to operations, themselves. These humble beginnings built a strong camaraderie between the leaders, laying the foundation of what Toppan Ecquaria is today. Over the last two decades, they have built a loyal and tight-knitted group of technology enthusiasts to join them on their journey. 

Celebrating the company's 20th Anniversary

Achievements

In 2004, the team decided to venture offshore and share their experiences with overseas governments. Specialising in delivering mission-critical turnkey projects, Toppan Ecquaria has since worked with numerous governments globally, and certified by the Singapore Government to handle IT projects worth S$30 million and above, the highest under the Expenditure and Policies Procurement Unit (EPPU).

Today, Toppan Ecquaria is a full-fledged digital government solutions provider with an agile startup mentality. Driven by the vision of its founders, the company strives to continuously innovate and create new and better ways for governments to serve their citizens.

Sea Lin, Director of Business Development

"Can do Attitude"

Toppan Ecquaria aims to cultivate a “can do” attitude.  The most important aspect of the job is to solve customers’ problems. Employees are actively encouraged to think outside the box and empowered to run innovative experiments. This attitude is also brought into projects, working together with customers to navigate uncharted waters to implement the latest technologies while complying with the ever-changing security policies. 

A user journey brainstorming session at Toppan Ecquaria

Going the extra mile to care
The management team is committed to the wellbeing of the employees and invests efforts and resources to build good relationships with them. Frequent trips to project sites are part of the duties of Ms Jennifer See, HR & Admin Manager of Toppan Ecquaria. She shared with us that she sometimes goes the extra mile of bringing along some sweet treats for hardworking colleagues.

Opportunities to work with overseas project team

Keane Chua, a project intern, was assigned to the JTC J-Space project team to aid in the final stages of development and testing.

He shared, “This internship is extremely rewarding as I had the opportunity to work with an offshore development team in Bandung and gain first-had experience working on national-level digital projects.”

Keane also felt that the nurturing leaders in Toppan Ecquaria valued his ideas and recommendations, and he is now much more confident that he can contribute to the team.

Learning beyond the specialisation

Zin Mar Hnin, who started as an intern in February 2019, agreed with Keane that Toppan Ecquaria has a great mentorship programme. Working on a large-scale digital project as a software engineer, she faces challenges and tasks she was not familiar with from time to time. However, she appreciates having the autonomy to assess and prioritise her work before consulting her mentors when she needs to. She found herself improving not just in her specialisation, but also in problem-solving and communication. Zin has accepted a full-time position in the company and continues to enjoy bringing value to her colleagues and customers. 

Interns at the Annual Dinner

Having upcoming projects in Singapore as well as abroad, Toppan Ecquaria continues to look forward to developing and nurturing more interns. As one of the top members of the Global Ready Talent Programme (GRT) with over 80 applications since 2018, the company works closely with SGTech to ensure an enriching experience for the companies and interns.

Website: https://toppanecquaria.com/

Published August 2020

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