On Eddy Ho’s desk, a lone scientific journal sits incongruously among investment tomes, a stark reminder of a career “pivot” he made in the early days of the pandemic.

Temasek’s Director of Investments (Mobility and Logistics) recalls spending many evenings buried in the 1,480-page Block’s Disinfection, Sterilization, and Preservation journal, delving into the properties of disinfectants.

“It’s not my usual reading, and a bit dry,” laughs the 36-year-old, who was then part of a four-person team tasked with finding a local solution to the global shortage of hand sanitisers. The wrestling with supply chains was a stark contrast to his 11-year career that had, until then, been focused on weighing up investments in industrials, partnering with portfolio companies, and business-building in the agri-food and emerging technology spaces.

As soon as Singapore reported local transmission of COVID-19 in early February 2020, panic-buying set in, leaving shelves bare. With supply chains disrupted, the focus turned to creating a viable alternative.

“We needed a solution that was evidence-based, safe, and scalable,” remembers Eddy, an accountancy graduate more used to analysing returns than the science of germ warfare. “In the end, we decided to push for a non-alcoholic sanitiser because repeated use of an alcohol-based sanitiser can cause chapped skin.”

Temasek’s team of unlikely alchemists worked fast, combing the island for chemical suppliers, scientists, formulators and certified labs that could create and test various formulations for efficacy. The next challenge: finding a quick and sustainable way to get the sanitisers into every hand, across the country.

A novel solution was hatched in a unit within a Yishun factory home to warehousing and storage provider SSW Logistics, a Temasek portfolio company; manual mixing of the concentrate with water at island-wide distribution points; and getting people to “Bring Your Own Bottle” for a 500ml fill – an approach that gave the #BYOBclean initiative its name.

By March 2020, just weeks after #BYOBclean began, the first batch of complimentary, zero-alcohol sanitiser had reached over 600,000 Singapore households via distribution set-ups at 109 community clubs and 16 CapitaLand malls.

It was gratifying, says Eddy, who spent the first day of distribution at an Ang Mo Kio community centre and the next six months moving between other centres, even as he held up his day job in Temasek’s Enterprise Development Group. He found himself deploying similar skills though – looking at operational challenges from every angle and seeking out novel solutions.

“We had thought through every single detail, from its effectiveness against different viruses, to dyeing it purple [so it was easily identifiable as sanitiser].

“Seeing the long queues of people, and how grateful they were to have it, I could see that our efforts were worth it,” he says. “It was very fulfilling.”

Meanwhile, the creative wheels behind #BYOBclean kept turning. Insights gleaned by Eddy’s team fed into other ideas, including specially designed vending machines that automated the mixing and dispensing of the sanitiser, making distribution safer and less labour-intensive.

By the end of the pandemic, Temasek and its partners had dispensed 1.4 million litres of hand sanitisers to local and international communities. 

For Eddy, seeing colleagues step out of their comfort zones to volunteer across COVID-19 work streams reminded him of why he left investment banking for Temasek back in 2013 – so he could deliver in more ways than just generating returns.

“Most of us were investment professionals called up to do things that we might not naturally have been good at. But we pulled together and figured it out, whether producing sanitisers, procuring masks or getting ventilators to where they were needed.”

“We had a common goal. There was an urgency to do something and Temasek has always been able to pull people together and channel energies to where they are most needed. I was proud to have played a role in that.”