Having overcome the challenges posed by the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 1990s, the 21^st century presented a new dawn for SMOU.   

Taking the Union into this exciting era was the creation of Wavelink Cooperative, jointly founded by SMOU and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) on June 29, 2000.

This was after SMOU General Secretary Thomas Tay floated this idea in his Master’s of Business Administration thesis written in 1991, which advocated setting up cooperatives for the Union to secure its financial future.

With advice from the then Secretary General of NTUC, Lim Boon Heng, Wavelink was set up. It was similar to how the NTUC launched NTUC FairPrice and other cooperatives in insurance and transport—not just as a means of moderating the cost of living for members, but to also build up the organisation’s reserves.

Wavelink’s primary purpose was thus to keep SMOU viable so it could continue to serve members by providing them with services at competitive prices while providing additional streams of revenue for SMOU’s long-term future.

There were six Wavelink units with different functions. Wavelink Cooperative held ownership of the Lavender building; Wavelink Holdings oversaw the Union’s professional services internally, such as accounting and human resources; Wavelink Education was a training arm that preceded the Wavelink Maritime Institute; and Lighthouse Bistro was the restaurant business. Wavelink Travel aimed to provide affordable travel services to members but was later closed in light of uncertainties in the industry.  

Certain prescient moves, such as acquiring the Wavelink Building, have proven to be highly strategic decisions as part of the Wavelink initiative.