1. Loh Boon Siew (Boon Siew Honda)
The entrepreneurship spirit showed by the Chinese immigrant was so classic that it granted him entry in the school’s curriculum. The late Boon Siew was the man responsible to start the dealership of Honda motorcycles in Penang, hence it does not come as a surprise when he was often referred as ‘Mr Honda’.
At age 18, Boon Siew purchased 11 buses using his $2,000 in savings. He reconditioned the buses and sold them for $12,000. Next, he used the money he earned to buy another 39 buses. In 1942, during WWII, his money was confiscated by the invading Japanese army. After WWII ended in 1945 and the Japanese were defeated, he started selling bicycles, tires and motorcycle accessories, and soon he expanded his business to used cars, transports and buses.
In the 1950s, Boon Siew went into property development with his friends Say Bee and Poh Heng by building residential villas in Taman Saw Kit in Penang. His work is continued by his Boon Siew Group.
In 1958, Boon Siew noticed the popularity of the Honda Super Cub motorbike which had been just introduced in Japan. He believed that this low-cost, high-efficiency machine would find a similarly receptive market in the rapidly urbanizing areas of Malaysia. Boon Siew arranged to meet with Mr. Soichiro Honda, the bike's creator, and quickly convinced him to set up a Honda subsidiary in Malaysia.
The first Malaysian Honda showroom was set up on Pitt Street in Penang, very near the home of Boon Siew. As a sign of their deepening bond of trust and respect, the Japanese Honda Motor Co Ltd soon appointed Boon Siew the sole distributor for Honda motorbikes in the country just as the historic first 50 units of Honda 4-stroke cub were being imported into Malaysia.
A factory was built in Penang to assemble the Honda Cub and the Honda motorcycle assembled in Malaysia was renamed the Boon Siew Honda. The Honda Cub became the best selling motorcycle in Malaysia and Boon Siew was recognised as the first person to bring the Honda Cub motorcycles into Southeast Asia. The popular Cantonese word Cub 仔 (transcribed as "kapchai" in informal Malay), which means "small (Honda) Cub" and is now a generic for small underbone motorcycles in Malaysia, originates from the Honda Cub.
Boon Siew also played a role in the brief merger between Kwong Wah Yit Poh and The Star (Malaysia) in 1974, and among his many charitable causes was the establishment of the Lam Wah Ee Hospital and the Penang Old Folks Home.
Boon Siew had two wives, Poh Heng and Say Bee. He died in his sleep at the age of 79 on 16 February 1995.
More information on Boon Siew can be found from the book "The Life and Times of a Fire Dragon" by Raymond Flower and Winston Lim with Dato’ Loh Cheng Yean.
2. Robert Kuok (Kuok Group)
When you combine good education and family’s wealth, then no hell will break loose. Banking on those two key strengths, Robert Kuok took over his father’s trading business, together with two brothers, and created a business larger than anyone can think of. The impact is so great that Kuok has been sitting on the top of Malaysia’s rich list for more than 5 years. Residing in Hong Kong, Kuok is mostly linked to a sugar business but also has his hands on other wide range of industries including hospitality, energy, logistic and manufacturing.
Kuok has been the richest man in South East Asia since 2002.
Kuok's father arrived in [[British Malaya|Malaya]] from [[Fujian]], China, at the beginning of the 20th century, and Robert was the youngest of three brothers, born on 6 October 1923, in Johor Bahru. He grew up speaking his parents' Chinese Fuzhou dialect, English and Japanese during Japan's wartime occupation of Malaya.
He claims he began in business as an office boy, and later started a business with relatives' support. Upon graduation, he worked as a clerk in the rice-trading department of Japanese industrial conglomerate [[Mitsubishi]] Shoji Kaisha between 1942 and 1945, in Singapore, a conglomerate which with the help of Japanese military unit monopolized the rice trade in Malaya during the occupation period. He was soon promoted to head the rice-trading department. After the war, he took the skills he learned from the Japanese back to the family's business in Johor.
Kuok senior died in 1948, and Kuok and his two brothers and a cousin [[Kuok Hock Chin]] founded [Kuok Brothers Sdn Bhd] in 1949, trading agricultural commodities. Kuok relationship with the Japanese continued after Malaya gained independence. In 1959, Kuok formed Malayan Sugar Manufacturing Co. Bhd. together with two prominent Japanese partners. He also brought many influential Malay elite into his company as directors and shareholders which include UMNO politician and Malay royalty. Kuok was granted a monopoly of sugar production in Malaysia. In 1961, he made a coup by buying cheap sugar from India before the prices shot up. He continued to invest heavily in [[sugar refineries]], controlled 80% of the Malaysian sugar market with production of 1.5 million tonnes, equivalent to 10% of world production, and so earned his nickname "Sugar King of Asia".
In 1971, he built the first [[Shangri-La Hotel Singapore|Shangri-La Hotel]], in Singapore. His first foray into Hong Kong property was in 1977, when he acquired a plot of land on the newly reclaimed [[Tsim Sha Tsui East]] waterfront, where he built the second hotel, the [[Kowloon Shangri-La]]. In 1993, his Kerry Group acquired a 34.9% stake in the [[SCMP Group|South China Morning Post]] from [[Rupert Murdoch|Murdoch]]'s [[News Corporation]].
His companies have investments in many countries, including Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, [[Mainland China]], Indonesia, Fiji and Australia. Businesses in China include 10 bottling companies for [[Coca Cola]], and ownership of the [[Beijing World Trade Centre]]. Freight interests include [[Malaysian Bulk Carriers|Malaysian Bulk Carriers Berhad]] and [[Transmile Air Services|Transmile Group]].
His political influence is attested by his having been selected as one of the [[Hong Kong Affairs Advisors]] in the run-up to the [[transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong|transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong]], and his minority stake in [[CITIC Pacific]]. He was also instrumental in conveying information and setting up the meetings between Malaysia and China governments leading to full diplomatic cross recognition of the two countries.
On 31 October 2009, PPB Group under the flagship of Robert Kuok issued a statement to the Bursa Malaysia that it had decided to dispose of its sugar units along with land used to cultivate sugar cane for RM 1.29 billion to [[FELDA]]. The sales resulted in a one-off gain for the company. The sugar unit and sugar cane plantation were the second largest business segment upon its grain and feed which were topping the sales.
In February 2014, Kuok's Singapore-based oil services company PACC Offshore Services Holdings (POSH) started pre-IPO talks with investors to list on the Singapore Stock Exchange to raise $400 million. Kuok-owned offshore firm in talks for $400m Singapore
3. Tony Fernandes (Air Asia)
Tony Fernandes is the man behind AirAsia’s journey to world domination. With RM1, Tony bought a defunct carrier, along with over RM40 million in debts, and created Asia’s most successful budget airline company. From an ailing company deep in financial trouble, AirAsia went through a remarkable turnaround and made its first profit merely after 7 months of operation. From thereon, they never looked back and created records after records.
It was through Datuk Pahamin A. Rejab, the former secretary-general of the Malaysian Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry that Fernandes came to meet with then Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in October 2001.
Instead of starting from scratch, Mahathir advised Fernandes to buy an existing airline. AirAsia, the heavily indebted subsidiary of the Malaysian government-ownedconglomerate, DRB-Hicom, was losing money. Fernandes mortgaged his home and used his personal savings to acquire the company, comprising two Boeing 737-300 jet aircraft and debts of US$11 million (RM40 million), for one ringgit (about 26 US cents), and transformed it into an industry player. One year after his takeover, AirAsia had broken even and cleared all its debts. Its initial public offering (IPO) in November 2004 was oversubscribed by 130 per cent.
Fernandes says his timing was in fact perfect: after 11 September 2001, aircraft leasing costs fell 40%. Also, airline lay-offs meant experienced staff were readily available. He believed Malaysian travellers would embrace a cut-rate air service that would save them time and money, especially in a tight economy. Fernandes estimates about 50 per cent of the travellers on Asia’s budget airlines are first-time flyers.Before the advent of AirAsia, he estimated that only six per cent of Malaysians had ever travelled by air.]
Fernandes' biggest achievement was to open up countries within the region to new budget carriers, which previously did not have open-skies agreements. As a result of Fernandes' lobbying in mid-2003, Dr Mahathir brought up the idea with leaders from neighbouring countries. Those nations subsequently granted landing rights to AirAsia and other discount carriers.
In Thailand and Indonesia, AirAsia holds a minority stake in the respective local companies. Thai AirAsia, a joint venture with Shin Corporation, Thailand’s largest telecommunication conglomerate, took to the skies in Feb 2004 and has to date carried over 1 million passengers in its first year of operations. PT Awair, re-launched as a low fare airline on 8 December 2004 and subsequently renamed Indonesia AirAsia, presently serves 5 domestic destinations in Indonesia.
4. Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary (MMC)
A humble entrepreneur, often shying away from publicity and media. Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary is the richest Malay and bumiputra in Malaysia, and has continued to hold the status for a long time. In his childhood, he found difficulties to do school revision because of the inadequate house facilities and small space. But that did not stop him from achieving his current status. Syed Mokhtar is a great giver; his very first salary received during his youth was divided by 2 halves – one for him, and another for charity.
Syed Mokhtar and Zainal started his business in Kedah in the 1990s dealing in rice. More success followed and he moved to rice trading business. He worked even harder after he was awarded the rice trading license from Lembaga Padi Negara, and was later awarded successions of supplier contract government-linked corporations as partner with Zainal Hatim Hj Ambia Bukhary.
As his determination starting to skyrocket, he quickly moved to expand into diversification of other businesses. His next big move was in the logistics business, with initial goal to transport their trading materials. Today, his business empire has grown into areas such as plantation, property development, construction, engineering, power generation, infrastructure and ports.
He owns 51.8% share in Malaysian Mining Corporation via his wholly owned company, Syarikat seaport terminal (johore) sdn bhd,a subsidiary company Syarikat Indra Cita Sdn. Bhd. Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar and Zainal Hatim personally owns SKS Ventures, which was awarded the task of building the site for 2100MW coal-fired power station at Tanjung Bin, Johor. Tan Sri Syed Mohktar has a 32% share in PERNAS through his own company, Syarikat Ratu Jernih. Syarikat Perdana Padu Sdn. Bhd. and Corak Kukuh Sdn. Bhd. Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar and Zainal are board members of Syarikat Bina Puri Holdings Berhad, whereby, on his own, he has 7.34% share. Apart from these, Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar and Zainal has varied interest in a number of companies, both in Malaysia as well as abroad.
5. Ananda Krishnan (Astro)
Ananda Krishnan was born in 1938 in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur's to Tamil parents, who were Sri Lankan origin. He studied at Vivekananda Tamil School in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur and furthered his studies at Victoria Institution, Kuala Lumpur. Later, as a Colombo Plan scholar, he attended the University of Melbourne, Australia for his B.A. (Honours) degree majoring in political science. During that time he boarded in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn. Following that, Krishnan obtained Masters in Business Administrationfrom Harvard Business School, graduating in 1964.
Krishnan's first entrepreneurial venture was a Malaysian consultancy MAI Holdings Sdn Bhd. He set up Exoil Trading, which went on to purchase oil drilling concessions in various countries. Later, he moved into gambling (in Malaysia). In the early part of the 1990s, he started diversifying into the multimedia arena.
Currently, he has business interests in media (Astro, Johnston Press Plc), satellite (MEASAT, SES), oil and gas (Bumi Armada, Pexco), telecommunications (Maxis, Aircel, Axis,Sri Lanka Telecom). He owns stakes in Tanjong Public Limited Company, an investment holding company with subsidiaries involved in power generation (Powertek), gaming (Pan Malaysian Pools), leisure (Tropical Islands, TGV Cinemas) and property (67% Maxis Tower etc.
With an MBA qualification from Harvard University in America and a Degree from Melbourne University in Australia, it’s safe to say that Ananda Krishnan is the ‘smartest’ entrepreneur in the list. With more than $7 billion of networth, only Robert Kuok is richer than him in this country. Ananda has a long list of business involvement, that includes Astro, Measat, Maxis, Aircel, TGV Cinemas and many others.
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