Born and raised in a public housing estate in a poor part of Singapore, Lim was the son of a fishmonger. After completing his secondary education in Singapore, as well as his national service, he went to Australia to study at the University of Western Australia. As well as learning from his degree in accountancy and finance, it was his time spent in the odd jobs he took to fund his living where he learnt the skills that would change his life, specifically how businesses grew and were able to scale up their operations.

He became incredibly successful at trading stocks and became what he called a “one man merchant bank” in Indonesia, becoming the first port of call for many high net worth investors.

In 1996 he invested around US$10 million into Wilmar, an Indonesian start-up palm oil company. Initially, due to the Indonesian Rupiah’s massive devaluation against the US$, and the subsequent instability in the region that occurred as a result, the investment, and the company performed poorly. However, midway through the first decade of the 21st century, a combination of renewed stability and a global move away from trans fats and into products such as palm oil, Wilmar received huge investment, notably from Robert Kuok. In 2010, when he cashed out his shares in the company, they were worth US$1.5 billion.

Lim is most well known in recent years for his philanthropy – particularly to projects in Singapore, for being the owner of Valencia FC in the top tier of Spanish football, and for his 40% stake in Salford City who play in the fourth tier in England.