Mr Andy Lim returned to Singapore in 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
These days, he shuttles between Singapore and India, spending one week in a month overseas.
He is now married to Singaporean Kelly Cheng and has an eight-year-old daughter, Charlotte (right).
He has also entered the food and beverage industry here, having bought over two restaurants – Miska Cafe at Sentosa Cove and Alter Ego at Esplanade – in 2016 and 2019 respectively.
After 18 years of living and working in the Indian subcontinent, Mr Lim has come to better discern the dichotomy between Indians living there and in Singapore – and he expresses a rather globalised sentimentality while discussing the topic.
“The majority of Singaporeans are Westernised, and so their problems are as such,” he explains. “It’s usually about how to make money, how to tackle a girl, where to go for holiday.
“Over there, the problems are not so first-world. You know when you watch Tamil movies and the plot is about a guy or girl who runs away because their marriage has been arranged, and they can’t marry the person they love – I’ve seen that happen in reality a few times.
“When it comes to wealth, they don’t have the subsidies we have here in buying a flat, for example.
“People don’t realise that when Indians from the rural areas go to the city to find work, many of them actually return to their villages because it isn’t easy for them. So the way they think about income is different from us – in terms of priority.”
For budding entrepreneurs here looking to pave a career path in India, Mr Lim’s main advice is to “stay on your toes” to the ever-changing rules and regulations.
“From visa regulations to tax customs, the government rulings keep changing every one to two years. You can’t control it, so you just have to prepare for change,” he said.
“From a tourist perspective, I guess that’s why people love India – you don’t really know what to expect. You could read TripAdvisor and all that, but in the end, it may not be relevant. Every place in India is so different from another. That’s the best thing about it.”
