Singapore Entrepreneurs Network & Startup Organization

A great book i read recently which i found very useful and motivational is

One Business 99 Lessons by Nanz Chong-Komo

I think Nanz Chong needs no introduction, being the high profile boss of the $1.99 chain of shops which went bust during the SARS crisis. It tells about her experience on how she built her business from scratch, the difficulties she faced, how to overcome problem and of course picking herself up from the heartbreak of her business closure. She looks at things in a very refreshing and optimistic way, and stresses the point that failure is not the end, and that we can always glean valuable lessons from it and build on it to gain future success.  I particularly like the section where she talk about the right way to fire a person in a as painless as possible way. I also enjoyed reading about how she manages and being a friend to her employees. I think her book will make a great read for any budding or those who are already an entreprenuer. Excellent insights!

Another particularly useful book is

Why am i always losing in the stock market

As you can tell from the title, this is a book on the stock market and is written by a local trading representative with more than 11 years of market experience. Its written in a very simple and easy to understand language which every layman can comprehend, unlike some investment books out there which can be really tiresome to read (some is akin to reading a textbook!). The book is about the pyschological impact of the market, and how market behavior defies popular sentiment and logic time after time.It details the common emotional mistakes average investors always make, and real life scenarios every market participant can identify with. The author leans more towards technical analysis, but acknowledges that technical is not foolproof. Basically, if you wanna win against the market, you must think like the big boys (insitutional investor), act like the market sharks, and dont get caught out by following the herd. I think this book is worth checking out.