Anastasia Tjendri-Liew

After completed secondary school, she did a six-month baking and cooking course to hone the culinary skills she had picked up from her mother and aunt. She ran a small cooking classes at the family home and more people signed up for her classes. The additional income was used to buy the freshest ingredients and to experiment new recipes and improved old ones. Came to Singapore in 1970 and opened a shop in Marine Terrace during 1979. Named it Bengawan Solo, after the popular Indonesian folk song about Indonesia’s Solo River. Concentrated on improving her products, adjusting recipes and baking methods to achieve the best possible taste and texture, and her customers loved what she produced. In 1983, opened her second Bengawan Solo outlet, at the Centrepoint shopping centre on Orchard Road. There are now more than 40 Bengawan Solo outlets island-wide. Continues to run the business with the help of her son. Emphasizes on quality control and ensures that the best ingredients are used. Personally studied the manufacturing and operational processes and instituted a standards system. Customer feedback is taken very seriously, and conducts daily inspections of the company’s factory in Woodlands. While some of the operations at the factory are automated, most of the items are still handmade or hand-finished to ensure that the kueh-kueh is of the right texture

Bengawan Solo

The first recipient of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises’ Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award 1998; A finalist for the Rotary-A SME Entrepreneur of the Year Award 1998; Awarded the Public Service Medal 2008

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