Goh was born in 1854 to
Goh Siew Swee, who owned the firm
chop Ban Ann, which engaged in the sawmill and
tin mining industry, and imported and exported local products between Singapore, the
Dutch East Indies, and the
Malay Peninsula. Following his father's death in 1892, Goh overtook the business, renaming it as chop Ann Ho, and traded largely with
Java. In 1898, Goh was appointed as a committee member of the
Singapore Po Leung Kuk. In 1906, he and several fellow prominent members of the Chinese community in Singapore founded the General Chinese Trade Affairs Association (later known as
Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce), becoming the Association's first president, the vice-president in 1907, and the president again in 1908. In 1906, he founded
Tao Nan School, and first chairman of the founding school board. He once dispatched headmaster Ma Zhengxiang to lead a group of students in
Nanjing Jinan School in
China. Goh was also known as the founder of
Batu Pahat,
Johor. ==Personal life==