What Is Joint Venture?

A joint venture, or abbreviated as JV and sometimes called joint adventure, is a tactical union flanked by two or more parties to embark on a financial activity together. This alliance agrees to create a new entity together by both contributing equity and they then share in the revenues, expenses, and control of the enterprise. 

The venture can be for one specific project only, or a continuing business relationship such as the Sony Ericsson joint venture.

Organizations can also form joint ventures, for example, a child welfare organization in the Midwest initiated a joint venture whose mission is to develop and service client tracking software for human service organizations. The five partners all sit on the joint venture corporation's board, and together have been able to provide the community with a much-needed resource.

Joint ventures are more common in the oil and gas industry, and often are dealt within corporations on the national and local levels. A joint venture I always seen as something good in this kind of business industry and a very good alternative in this sector as local companies can complement their skills and technology sets while it offers the foreign company a geographical presence.

As there are good business and accounting reasons to create a joint venture (JV) with a company that has complementary capabilities and resources, such as distribution channels, technology, or finance, joint ventures are becoming an increasingly common way for companies to form strategic alliances.

There are so many reasons why companies form joint venture, listed below are some of them.

One of the most common internal reasons why most companies join joint ventures is the spreading of cost and risks, sometimes companies who are into new projects looks for another company who is willing to undertake the same project with them. This way, companies are able to spread out the cost and the risk of failing.

Joint venture is also a good way to improve financial access or resources, like for example your company can make a deal with non-profit organizations who can be exempted from taxes, so that your project will have lesser cost and much more financial gaining. 

You can also be partners with bank or other companies that has a much higher earning than your company.

Economic scale is also one good advantage of having a joint venture, when you have a small company but have a very broad idea or have something new that will surely attract large mass of sales, and your company cannot afford to stabilize such project you can go for some company who are larger when it comes to economic scale.

Being partners with other company and joining in a joint venture also give you access to new technologies and customers. It also gives you the much coveted access to innovative managerial practices.

Joining joint ventures can also influence structural evolution of the industry. It is also a good way or pre-empting competition, like if you have a competitor and you on the same financial field and he has good strategies that work as well as your, forming a good joint venture with this company can boom into a much bigger company, meaning bigger sales and more money.

Joint venture is also a good response to blurring industry boundaries. Joining two companies can also lead to a creation of stronger competitive units. Joint venture can speed up market and improve agility of the company when it comes to business terms.

When a creation company like what other companies are doing an would like to adopt it on a much more legal way, joint venture is good thing to do. Joint ventures help transfer technology of one company to the other.

If your company would also like to transfer skills from other companies you can also look into joint ventures.

Diversification is also a great reason why some company goes into joint ventures, this helps them stabilize their company growth and also make them available to different forms and types of business industry.

Other countries may require foreign companies to form a joint venture with their local firms in order to enter a certain market. This requirement often forces technology transfer and managerial control to the domestic partner of the joint venture.

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Einstein's Riddle

Variations of this riddle appear on the net from time to time. It is sometimes attributed to Albert Einstein and it is claimed that 98% of the people are incapable of solving it. Some commentators suggest that Einstein created such puzzles not to test out intelligence but to get rid of all the students who wanted him as an advisor. It is not likely that there is any truth to these stories. Where ever this comes from, it is a nice riddle.

Let us assume that there are five houses of different colors next to each other on the same road. In each house lives a man of a different nationality. Every man has his favorite drink, his favorite brand of cigarettes, and keeps pets of a particular kind.

The Englishman lives in the red house.
The Swede keeps dogs.
The Dane drinks tea.
The green house is just to the left of the white one.
The owner of the green house drinks coffee.
The Pall Mall smoker keeps birds.
The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhills.
The man in the center house drinks milk.
The Norwegian lives in the first house.
The Blend smoker has a neighbor who keeps cats.
The man who smokes Blue Masters drinks bier.
The man who keeps horses lives next to the Dunhill smoker.
The German smokes Prince.
The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
The Blend smoker has a neighbor who drinks water.

The question to be answered is: Who keeps fish?

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Initiative

I wanted to share with you something that I discovered while I was watching an excellent video online.  I learned about the concept of initiative and taking action and how simple it can be to catapult yourself past immobility.  Having said this, keep in mind that initiative is as essential to success as a hub is essential to a wheel.  And initiative is precisely taking action when we know it ought to be done but no one is asking for it to be done.  Most of the time, when we elect to put aside some action that needs to be taken, we are anticipating that our effort may not give us exactly what we desire from it.  Whether our desire is instant gratification or simply a journey of smooth sailing we often anticipate one or both of these things will evade us and we are caught up in immobility due to fear.  When we accept that our efforts will at some point deliver to us that which we are working toward, we can more easily surpass any fear that stumps us.  

Taking action that results in achievement truly does require us to gradually overcome the bumps and tough spots along the way, but by continually putting forth effort in this manner, we can achieve numerous things that are very much worth the work.  

I'd like to share with you a powerful example of how initiative can propel a person into high achievement.  Two men who initially came to know one another while in high school, were each doing their own thing in their adult lives, but they did manage to keep in contact.  One day the two men decided that since they recognized a need in the computer industry they would take it upon themselves to write a simplified version of the programming language called BASIC.  For two months they worked on the rewriting of BASIC, and then contacted contacted the computer engineer who designed the computer that used the language.  The simplified version worked, and the engineer was so impressed with the work that the two men were given a contract with the production company.  Soon they were adapting other programming languages for the computer and by that summer they formed a company they called Microsoft.  

Without initiative, a person will remain caught up in a life of less than average quality.  With initiative, comes great reward.

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Ambitions

I aim to become the president of my country. I have the object of becoming the greatest scientist. I will one day be the richest person in the world. I aim to and so goes the list of ambitions of people. Nobody remembers that the final goal for each one of us is going back to earth. Let us talk more about ambitions.

Are ambitions good or bad? This is difficult to answer, isn't it? To be an ambitious person must be very good. With ambitions a person strives to achieve a great feat. Few of us have very big ambitions and few very small. It all depends on our contentment. What will make us feel happy? What will make us feel worthy, and what will make us feel powerful? It's all about what we want from life. If you want money at any cost, you will compromise with all other values and try to make more money. But if your ambition is to become an honest person and live a God fearing life, no amount of money can attract you to do any wrongs.

Ambitions therefore depend upon our character, culture, mental makeup, outlook, values and so on. Till our ambitions don't trouble others it is ok. If by achieving our goals, we make others happy, that is still better. But if our ambitions hurt others, we must revisit our thinking and redefine our ambitions.

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Creative Thinking 101

Can creative thinking and even spontaneity come from a highly organized approach? Yes! For example, if you watch great comedians closely, you'll see that they have certain habits of mind. Even the most spontaneous ones get better with practice, because they're training their brains to find the humor in situations. 

In the same way, you can train yourself for more creative thinking. Just start cultivating the right habits in your mind. Why not start training your brain today, with some simple techniques?

Creative Thinking Techniques

Want the mind of a creative inventor? Start redesigning everything you see. Imagine better cars, faster ways to serve food, or better light bulbs. If you do this every day for three weeks, it will become a habit.

Want to be the person who always has something interesting to say? Train yourself to look at things from other perpectives. What would the Buddha say about this? How would a Martian view it? What's the opposite perspective? The point isn't to ask others silly questions, but to ask yourself, to see what interesting ideas result. Do this until it is a habit, and you'll always have something interesting to add to a conversation.

Want systematic creativity in poetry? Put a word on each of 40 cards; 10 nouns, 10 verbs, 10 adjectives, and 10 random words. Shuffle, deal out four cards, and write a 4-line poem using one of the words in each line. Your mind will find a poetic use for any word if you use this method often.

Solve Problems Creatively

Maybe you've heard of problem solving techniques such as "attributes listing," and "concept combination." More creative thinking doesn't come from just knowing these techniques, though. You have to use them until they become a part of your habitual thinking process.

Imagine you want to invent a new bicycle. If you've trained your mind in "assumption challenging," you'll automatically begin to ask things like, "Are wheels necessary?" "Does it have to go outside?" What if the "bike" was indoors, and pedaling it ran a video screen? You could "steer" through endless different scenes.

You won't always have great ideas, but you'll have enough ideas to make it more likely that you'll find a useful one. This "spontaneous" creativity will be because of your brain training exercise. Why not start developing those habits of creative thinking?

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The Pygmalion Effect

A team does as well as you and the team think they can.

This idea is known as “the self-fulfilling prophecy”. When you believe the team will perform well, in some strange, magical way they do. And similarly, when you believe they won’t perform well, they don’t.

There is enough experimental data to suggest that the self-fulfilling prophecy is true. One unusual experiment in 1911 concerned a very clever horse called Hans. This horse had the reputation for being able to add, multiply, subtract, and divide by tapping out the answer with its hooves. The extraordinary thing was that it could do this without its trainer being present. It only needed someone to put the questions.

On investigation, it was found that when the questioner knew the answer, he or she transmitted various very subtle body language clues to Hans such as the raising of an eyebrow or the dilation of the nostrils. Hans simply picked up on these clues and continued tapping until he arrived at the required answer. The questioner expected a response and Hans obliged.

In similar vein, an experiment was carried out at a British school into the performance of a new intake of pupils. At the start of the year, the pupils were each given a rating, ranging from “excellent prospect” to “unlikely to do well”. These were totally arbitrary ratings and did not reflect how well the pupils had previously performed. Nevertheless, these ratings were given to the teachers. At the end of the year, the experimenters compared the pupils’ performance with the ratings. Despite their real abilities, there was an astonishingly high correlation between performance and ratings. It seems that people perform as well as we expect them to.

The self-fulfilling prophecy is also known as the Pygmalion Effect. This comes from a story by Ovid about Pygmalion, a sculptor and prince of Cyprus, who created an ivory statue of his ideal woman. The result which he called Galatea was so beautiful that he immediately fell in love with it. He begged the goddess Aphrodite to breath life into the statue and make her his own. Aphrodite granted Pygmalion his wish, the statue came to life and the couple married and lived happily ever after.

The story was also the basis of George Bernard Shaw’s play “Pygmalion”, later turned into the musical “My Fair Lady”. In Shaw’s play, Professor Henry Higgins claims he can take a Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, and turn her into a duchess. But, as Eliza herself points out to Higgins’ friend Pickering, it isn’t what she learns or does that determines whether she will become a duchess, but how she’s treated.

“You see, really and truly, apart from the things anyone can pick up (the dressing and the proper way of speaking and so on), the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves but how she’s treated. I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me as a flower girl, and always will, but I know I can be a lady to you because you always treat me as a lady, and always will.”

The implication of the Pygmalion effect for leaders and managers is massive. It means that the performance of your team depends less on them than it does on you. The performance you get from people is no more or less than what you expect: which means you must always expect the best. As Goethe said, “Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be and he will become as he can and should be.”

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If I Were A Bird

What if I were a bird? I would need no tickets to fly. Just fly whenever I want. I would save a lot on air tickets! Jokes apart, what does a bird see from the sky? What does it feel? What opinions does it form and how does it look at human beings? 

Let us first talk about birds. Have we ever thought that a small bird that comes out of the egg, flies without any help from any aircraft companies? It needs no design and no development of latest alloys or other light-weight materials to fly. It flies itself without any help from mankind. It can swoop down or rise fast, sit or simply glide in the air. It does all this effortlessly without any chance of failure!

Now, let me become a bird and start my daily journey. I will not reveal about the part of the world I live in. What is the first thing I see? I watch the sun rising in the east. What a glorious sight is this! Sun, the great star, because of whom, we are all alive. As the day begins, I watch people moving around in the streets. I fly higher in the sky. Figures start looking very small on the ground. These people who look so small from the height, think that they own the world. When I watch their expressions of worry and anxiety, I wonder. I want them to come with me and watch themselves from the height. As they will rise higher, they will realize that they are small, very small. And they will stop worrying. 

How can you think of yourself as insignificant in the universe and still worry so much? This is the only cure for the worried people. Don't think that the world will come down if you don't worry about your problems. Carry on and let the problems not bother you so much that you stop living.

What beautiful thought of a bird!

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Aim High

Change is difficult for many people. Often times our whole identity is wrapped up in what we've learned as children will work for us when dealing with people, allowing us to survive, thrive and fit in. While some people have had to learn to thrive in the midst of change and learned to be adaptable by being open to new ideas and embracing change, many others have had to fight for survival and every table-scrap that came their way. Behavior is learned and it takes work to unlearn and dismantle these old beliefs.

The truth of the matter is that win-win is always possible. When you are able to see beyond the ego and recognize the abundance that is available, people, minds, and ideas come together and can create amazing changes that improve the current scenarios for many, many people. When you work with people who have this abundant and generous attitude, you are uplifted, the team soars, and amazing energy and creativity is unleashed. This is much harder to do, to sustain, and to elevate within others when you encounter individuals driven by the thought of scarcity and competition.

People like Steve Jobs are visionaries that have sought to bring about such shifts in society and in business. One thing I've learned along the way is that it is often better to take the high road. This isn't about judging others as wrong or seeing yourself as better than others. This is about recognizing your truth as to how you wish to BE in the world. Don't compromise your integrity. Don't get caught up in the competition. See the vision, see the outcome, feel the purpose and passion you're driven to offer the world, and give it freely. We all die. You can’t take anything from this life with you. So give what you have to offer the world. What is not given is lost forever.

If your goal is to truly bring about a positive change and serve others, how it is accomplished becomes less important and seeing it accomplished becomes more important. While it may be a blow to your ego when others criticize your inspiration, or someone takes the credit for something you've introduced, holding fast to the benefits for everyone will often soften the sting. You do need to pick and choose those places where you'll offer yourself, the key is to evaluate whether it is serving a common good. When you’re getting compensated for your contributions, gratitude would serve you spirit of peace. If you continually feel abused and stomped on, maybe it is time to move on to a more collaborative team, as well as a more receptive and appreciative audience.

Knowing that you are accomplishing your purpose and living your passion will be reward. In time, it will be recognized. Imposters will eventually be seen and heart & soul will always outlast the mind & ego. Along the way, through the journey that is your life and career, you will need to hold fast to the true inner qualities and nature of the brilliance that is you. Don’t allow these negative experiences to become something that undermines your value. You are not the negative experience. Often times, the negativity we experience from others, is more a reflection of them and less about who you are.

We all have different lenses, different gifts, different wiring, and different experiences. Difference is not something to be judged, it is a gift of diversity that brings the pieces of the puzzle of life together and creates a society, a solution, a technology, etc., together for the benefit of us all. Don’t doubt yourself when others cannot see the vision you see. Keep true, keep your intentions, and you will attract the right support, the right people, and the right opportunities. Lower the ego and aim high the vision.

Make a Difference!

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Catching The Spirit Of Entrepreneurs

Grabbing opportunities with open arms is often easier to talk about than to actually do. Most people find themselves dreaming about being rich but never actually doing anything about it. A combination of procrastination and 'what if' syndrome can cripple your creative spirit and might mean your idea will never become a reality. 

Socrates said "Action equals knowledge'. He was one of the greatest philosophers of our time. What he meant was that it is through action that we achieve results. 

For example, you could think about learning Spanish for months, imagining the holidays you will take and the people you will communicate with. You can dream forever but accomplish nothing unless you actually make the effort to start taking lessons. 

Much like the martial arts approach - the idea is to take action immediately and avoid over analyzing the situation. 

Do you want to start your own business but are afraid of what kinds of things can go wrong? What if your initial investment doesn't pay off? There are millions of things that could go wrong but likewise there are many things that can go right! Fear can be paralyzing. When thinking about starting a business particularly if you keep waiting for the right time. There will never be a perfect time. It's now or never when it comes to starting your own business. 

Overcoming your fear is a step by step process. 

- Do you have a clear idea of what kind of business you want to start? A clear plan will help keep your worries at bay.  

- Do you have access to the resources you will need? This includes the necessary start up cash as well as anything else you will need.

- Do you have access to clients or do you know enough about marketing basics to ensure you will have enough interest in what you are offering? 

Just like anything - taking action is the most important part. Make an itemized list of what you feel needs to be done in order for you to start that business you always dreamed of. 

Prioritizing your list will help too. Don't wait for all your ducks to be in a proverbial row before you begin but make sure you have all the basics covered.  Don't wait for that 'perfect someday'. Make an imperfect start. 

Don't over think everything. Sometimes the best approach is to just jump into the deep end.

Don't wait to start discovering your own entrepreneurial spirit. Take action today!

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Success - As Easy As ABC

A - Achieve your dreams. Avoid negative people, things and places. 
B - Believe in your self, and in what you can do.
C - Consider things on every angle and aspect. To be able to understand life, you should feel the sun from both sides.
D - Don't give up and don't give in. 
E - Enjoy. Motivation takes place when people are happy.
F - Family and Friends -- Don't loose sight of them.
G - Give more than what is enough. 
H - Hang on to your dreams. They may sway for a second, but these will be your driving force. 
I - Ignore those who try to destroy you. Don't let other people get the best of you. 
J - Just be you. The key to failure is to try to please everyone.
K - Keep trying no matter how hard life may seem. 
L - Learn to love your self. 
M - Make things happen. Motivation is when your dreams are put into work clothes.
N - Never lie, cheat or steal. Always play a fair game.
O - Open your eyes. 
P - Practice makes perfect. 
Q - Quitters never win. And winners never quit. So, choose your fate - are you going to be a quitter or a winner?
R - Ready yourself. Motivation is also about preparation. 
S - Stop procrastinating.
T - Take control of your life. Discipline and self-control are synonymous with drive. 
U - Understand others. Yearn to understand first, and to be understood the second.
V - Visualize it. 
W - Want it more than anything. Dreaming means believing. 
X - X Factor is what will make you different from the others. When you are motivated, you tend to put on "extras" on your life like extra time for family, extra help at work, extra care for friends, and so on.
Y - You are unique. Value your life and existence. 
Z - Zero in on your dreams and go for it!!!

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Jaguh Kampung :: A Personal Perspective on Business Outside Malaysian Shores.

a speech by Tun Daim Zainuddin during L4T Leadership Lecture.

Since my second retirement in 2001, I have accepted only one invitation to speak in Malaysia and that was in 2004.

So to accept this invitation, it took some serious thinking on my part.  I have spoken many times overseas but at home I think people may be tired of hearing me talk all the time so as a retiree I should just keep quiet!

“I accepted this invitation because I have great faith in our young people.  For us as a nation to grow and succeed in the future we need good leaders and you here are our leaders of tomorrow.

So, thank you Tengku Zafrul Aziz for inviting me.  The topic you chose is interesting – Jaguh Kampung, A Personal Perspective on Business Outside Malaysian Shores. 

Nowadays, the term Jaguh Kampung seems to suggest our failures.  It dismisses our achievements and local successes. It portrays us as a failure overseas. It looks down upon us.  It used to refer to sports, now it encompasses business.

I do not see anything derogatory about being a Jaguh Kampung, for how can you succeed globally if you have not achieved success even at home. It is here that you hone your skills, know of your strengths and weakness, make your mistakes and learn from them; it is here that you plant the seed of your success overseas.  It is only negative when you are successful at home yet not able to translate the same success abroad. Why?

It has been argued that Malaysians are far too comfortable at home and therefore cannot stand the competition outside.  For the Malays particularly it is said that we do not have the history of migrants who came in junks and sampans to make a new life in a new land; that we have no history of doing business and that there is no NEP overseas.

I don’t subscribe to such an argument.  Many non-Malays fail too.  Many non-Malays who have succeeded here with Government help have failed overseas. It has nothing to do with race and everything to do with ourselves.  We have to see our own strengths and weakness to know why we succeed and why we fail.  I have no sociological or anthropological thesis on this but I can tell you of my personal experience to illustrate, if that is of any help.

So, I guess I shall start from the beginning.  I come from a small place called Lorong Kampong Padang in Kota Tanah, Seberang Perak, Kedah.  Growing up I was confused, we had no padang, no kota (fort), no perak (silver)! It was a small kampong where everyone knew everyone.  Yet this village produced 3 doctors, 2 veterinary surgeons, a dentist and may top civil servants.  As far as I knew, they were no lawyers, yet my father kept urging me “Grow up to be a lawyer”.

Two of the three doctors were Dr Mahathir who married another doctor, and Dr Bakar who married Tan Sri Dr Salmah, the first female Malay doctor in the country. Amongst my schoolmates and seniors were Tan Sri Hanafiah Ahmad of Tabung Haji, Tan Sri Hanafiah Hussein, the first Malay Chartered Accountant, and Tan Sri  Bakar Hamid, Head of Income tax. The list goes on.

The late Tun Zahir (Speaker of Parliament) helped me with my admission to Lincoln’s Inn. In London I was friends with other students some of whom went on to become Judges, Chief Justices, President of the Ct. of Appeal, Lord Presidents, top Civil Servants etc. I learnt politics from the likes of Syed Albar and even when back in Kuala Lumpur he would come to my house weekends and drive me around Kuala Lumpur introducing me to the whos who of Malay politics. Hussein Onn would tell me Malayan political history.

When I moved to Kelantan I got to know the various political leaders in PAS like Asri, Zulkifli and Wan Mustapha.  In fact PAS was the first to offer me to stand for election.  When I joined the Legal Service, I served in Johor and Perak and built up further my network of friends.

When I was in private practice I represented the Governor of Sarawak in the case of Stephen Kalong Ningkan.  I was in Allen & Gledhill then and a very junior lawyer too but the senior partner asked me to do it as he thought that I was able to handle it as he considered me well read and thorough in my work plus he knew that I was well versed in the politics of the day.  It was during this case that I got to know Tun Razak, Tun Rahman Yakob and Tan Sri Taib Mahmmud.  At 28, I attended my first Cabinet meeting to brief the Cabinet on the case.  I never thought that 18 years later I would be attending it weekly.

Tengku Razaleigh and Manan Othman for reasons known to themselves, recommended to Hussein Onn that I be appointed a Senator.  Suddenly people wanted to find out who this Daim was.  Manan when he was Minister of Public Enterprise, put me on Board of UDA as I was recognized as a successful property developer then and later made me chairman of Peremba.  When Tun Mahathir became PM, he appointed me as Chairman of Fleet Group.  Tan Sri Sanusi made me Chairman of Rakyat First Merchant Bank.  In 1984, Tun Mahathir made me Minister of Finance.

It is from all these people that I learnt so much and who had in some way or the other helped me in my professional, business and political life.

I was also a busy body and had an opinion on everything.  I was there when Tan Chee Koon, Lim Chong Eu and Syed Hussein formed Parti Gerakan.  I took part in the debate on the issue of Bahasa Kebangsaan and had friends who alerted me that I was to be arrested under the ISA on the issue.  I wrote letters to the Prime Ministers in office, offering them my 2 cents worth, the advice unasked and often ignored but that did not deter me.

I started my private practice with some savings and a RM60k loan from MARA.  I furnished my office frugally and spent the rest on the stock market.  When May 13 came I almost lost the shirt on my back.  I learnt there and then that the stock market is not a casino for me to gamble in but that investment has to be made through informed choices.  Later when I decided to go back to the market I only invested in quality and strategic stocks.

Before I could invest in these quality stocks I had to make money to pay off my debts.  Luckily I had my practice; but the need to succeed was too strong for me to remain purely a lawyer.  Not one to give up, I decided to go into business.  I invested in a salt making business – everyone needs salt right?  well, an unseasonal storm washed that away! I went into many businesses that didn’t do too well, until I decided to go into property development.  I approached Dato Harun Idris then MB of Selangor for a piece of an abandoned, disused mining land.  I paid the premium for it and finally was on the road to success.  It was not easy going. It would have been easier if it was a piece of flat estate land, instead I had manylakes to be filled before I can build.

But if it had been easy then I’m not sure I would have learnt the lessons that failure teaches you. Failure is a great teacher if you are willing to learn.  My tenacity was my strength.  I never gave up.  As Churchill said “Success is not final and failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts”.  I stumbled, picked myself up and continued.

By the time I was in my mid thirties I was a millionaire.  With the money I made I went looking for my strategic stakes not only in the stock market but also in properties.  By the time I join the Cabinet I was the shareholder of Raleigh Bhd (a name famous worldwide for its bicycle, made since 1887) Raleigh had shares in Prudential and had landed properties and another listed company.  I bought into UEP which had a 1,400 acre land bank which I later reversed into SIME for shares, making me the single largest shareholder of SIME then.  I also had a Joint Venture with the State Government of Kedah to develop 2,000 acres of converted land.  Maluri also JV’ed with PNB to develop 600 acres of land in Kajang.  I had a housing estate in Malacca.  My land bank was massive.  I was also a founding shareholder and chairman of TV3. I was also the largest individual shareholder in Nestle, and in Jaya Jusco.  I had 4 factories in Malacca producing cast iron, plastic, packaging and preserved foods.  I also invested in a haulage company.  I also had a stake in UMBC Bank.  I’m telling you all this not to show off and impress you but to share with you my journey. 

When I was asked by Dr Mahathir to join the Government I had to think very carefully. I knew it will be a sacrifice on my part to take the offer but then this would not be the first time I have been asked to sacrifice in the name of national interest. When I had the opportunity to increase my share in SIME to 30% Dr. Mahathir heard about it and asked me not to take it up as it would be better to be given to PNB.  When UMNO youth objected to MCA buying shares in UMBC, MCA approached me to exchange my controlling shares in Malaysian French Bank for a non controlling stake in UMBC. I was not keen to give up control in one for non-controlling in another, further I had to borrow as I was buying into a bigger bank, but the government insisted on the exchange for economic and political stability. By the time the deal was completed I was made MoF and later had to sell my stake.  The government insisted that I can only sell to a Bumi or Bumi company and at cost too! I had much higher offers from non Bumis and could have made money on this sale but I have no choice. On top of it all, I had to pay tax on the sale too!

As I said earlier, it was a sacrifice on my part.  Joining the Government also meant that I would have to give up my business. I was rich and answered to no one. I was carefree and wanted to enjoy the fruits of my labour. I had my privacy which I value highly. It was a difficult decision to make.  I took more than a month to think it over. Whilst I would sacrifice a life of greater wealth, there is more to life than making money and more money.  At some point you have to look beyond material wealth and personal interest. In the end the call to serve was made, partially because growing up my father had always drummed it into my head that there was no better calling than to be serving the government.  That to be of service is an honour.  And he also thought that I should be Prime Minister. In fact when I was appointed MoF and I told him, he replied “bukan PM?”!! Obviously he thought very highly of me.

There has been bouquets and brickbats, but I did not take the job to win a popularity contest.  National interest comes first and in the end, you have to do what you think is best for the nation.  Joining the government has brought me immense satisfaction to see the economy succeed from an agrarian economy to an industrialised economy. If I had not joined the government I would have been far richer in wealth but so much poorer in experience.  If there is any regret, it is regret for the loss of my privacy.

I couldn’t have done all this on my own.  The friends I knew, the network I built was very useful.  You cannot be successful if you are a hermit staying in your house watching TV after work.  Whether its through school, work or sports, there is always an opportunity to meet people. Networking, building relationships, what the Chinese called “quan xi”, is important in business – you never know who you meet may be your guardian angel in disguise.  Of course I’m not suggesting that you make friends for an ulterior motive – if you are not sincere, people can see through you. If you use people, it can only work once or twice before you lose your reputation and that, if once lost cannot be recovered.

Whenever I travel and meet people I would always write to them, to thank them, to keep in touch, to invite them over etc.  So wherever I went I always knew someone or the other.  But mix with like minded people.  Your so called friends can lead you astray. As I have said earlier,networking is very important but is of no use when all you do with your network of friends is to “omong-omong kosong”.

Saudara, Saudari / Ladies and Gentlemen

After retirement I had no ministry and no company to run.  All my life I have been active and staying home doing gardening and playing golf did not appeal to me.  So I went to the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.  I spent my time reading, meeting people, attending lectures.  After a few months I was restless.  I reassessed my situation – do I restart in Malaysia? If I did, and succeeded, my success would be questioned as I still had friends and contacts both in and out of Government.  I had nothing to prove but I thought if I could succeed in Malaysia, maybe I could do so overseas.  As I’ve said earlier Malays have been criticised that they can only succeed because of the NEP, I thought that I owe it to the Malays to prove otherwise.

In the course of my work as MoF I travelled and engaged with various people, government and non-government everywhere.  I had visited Eastern Europe and was convinced that Russia could not hold on to them for very long.

In 1994 I started my banks in Republic of Czech and then Hungary, Albania, Bosnia. Whatever we may say of Russia, it left behind a very good education system and excellent infrastructure. Still, it was tough to do business there.  There is the question of language and there was no experience of market economy. It was not easy to get Malaysians to work there and the locals were used to working for the government.  We had to motivate them to work for profit, to understand that we go into business to make profit, profit to pay salaries, bonuses and to expand.

If Eastern Europe was tough, Africa was tougher. Why Africa? Its too long to go into but if you are interested I’ve given my reasons in a separate paper.  Its with Tengku Zafrul. It was not easy for us to start in Africa.  We were not Citibank or HSBC or Standard Chartered.  Whilst most of the Governments in Africa knew me when I was MoF and I was involved in both the Smart Partnership and South-South Cooperation, nobody knew the Bank.  Tun Dr. Mahathir’s name carries a lot of weight and Malaysia under him was held in high esteem. All these helped but we still had to prove ourselves and further we had to carry the burden of maintaining Malaysia’s good name.  Failure was not an option.

Africa was tough.  There was little discipline, most do not have the expertise nor the experience.  The better ones had left and were in Europe or America.  The pool to draw staff was small.  If it was difficult to entice Malaysians to Eastern Europe, you can imagine what it was like to ask them to go to Africa!

We started from scratch.  Fortunately for me, I had an excellent team who understood and shared my vision. The team you build is critical. You cannot do it alone.

My team were as determined as me to succeed.  We had put our money there and our reputation and the country’s reputation were at stake.  My team were motivated and prepared to sacrifice the comforts of home to blaze a trail there.  It was pure team work and dedication that made it. Without a good team, no way would we be where we are today.  Our banks have won many awards, particularly Euromoney’s Bank of the Year awards, some of them repeatedly.  I am very proud of them.  And I must add that we have a good reputation in Africa.  Wherever I go and I meet Presidents, Prime Ministers, MoF, Governors of Central Bank of countries where we operate and where we don’t, they now know us and of us and are happy with us.  They see that we have been fair and honest. We treat them as partners and equals.  We train the locals and it is a measure of our success that our local staff are always in demand and poached by other financial institutions.  We get a lot of requests to open up in their countries but we are limited by our resources.  We cannot over-stretch ourselves and end up with quantity but not quality.  Quality is of the utmost importance.

Today we have a presence in 10 countries in Africa and have also expanded our reach into Asia; Indonesia, Bangladesh, Laos, and are looking at other neighbouring countries.  People must think that you have to be immensely rich to be in Europe, Africa and Asia, but that is not true.  When we first started, the paid up for each bank was only US$2 million. Today a European bank’s paid up must be at least Euro 5 million, in Yemen for example,  US$20 million, and in Nigeria US$100 million. With that kind of requirement, we had to reassess our business plans.  We sold off Europe and with the proceeds decided to go to Asia.

In every business you start with a plan but the plan has to re evaluated, reassessed, and reconsidered at every turn.  What works today may not necessarily work tomorrow.  Facts change, operating conditions change and we must change with them.  Business is not static and we cannot run on the spot.

I know I have gone on too much, boring you with my personal history.  I should have just quoted my son’s one paragraph biography he wrote of me when he was in primary school: “My father was born in Kedah. He studied law and became a lawyer, then a businessman, then MoF twice.  He is now retired and runs banks and does charitable work.  He is a good father because he plays football with me.”

Seriously, though, what distinguish one who succeeds from one who fails?  Everyone I’m sure starts out wanting success, but it has been said that success usually comes to those who were too busy to look for it. It is a sacrifice.  You will have to defer immediate gratification and forgo leisure. You have to be the first to arrive and the last to leave. It really is hard work and nothing else. There is just no substitute for hard work.  But you cannot work hard stupidly.  You have to plan, execute the plan, change the plan when necessary to suit changing situations. As was said by Darwin – “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one that is most adaptable to change”. How do you know that the situation changes? You have to read, read and read. Read all the time. Be curious about the world around you.  Try to keep up with the latest in technology and business, the latest trends and the geo political changes too.  As an example, when I read that the French Government was nationalising its banks I realised that it would have to sell its bank in Malaysia as Malaysia then did not allow government owned banks to operate in Malaysia.  I saw an opportunity here and decided to contact the French Government to take over the Indo-Suez Bank which I later renamed the Malaysian French Bank. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

It is also important that you take the opportunity to work in and learn from businesses that have been successful. It is no embarrassment to say you don’t know and to be aware of your own limitations.  Never be too proud to learn from others.  But on the other hand, do not follow blindly. If someone is successful at one thing it does not mean that you can too. You have to know yourself.  It helps if you can do something that you love. As Confucius said “Choose a job that you love and you will never have to work a day in your life”. You have to be hands-on.  No one is interested in your success except you.  Its your money, and in most cases, borrowed money. You have to ensure your own success.  You are your own best asset and the master of your own destiny, to make your own future.  You have a choice to either work hard, remain committed, diligent, determined and disciplined or just buy a lottery ticket and hope to get rich overnight!

For the Malays particularly I say this to you – do not be afraid of competition.  We are used to competing – we have other races to measure against, so there is no reason why we can’t succeed.  Don’t believe in handouts, there is no such thing as a free lunch.  Handouts do not test you and when faced with adversity, the price of that handout is failure. 

For the Non-Malays, I say this to you – Do not accept any discrimination or perceived discrimination as an excuse for failure.  See it as an obstacle to overcome and an opportunity to strengthen your resolve.

Do not fear the fear of failure.  Do not fear to take chances.  Do not fear of making mistakes that will shatter your confidence and fill you with doubts. You have to take a chance on life. When one door closes another opens but you have to look for that open door and not remain fixated on the closed door. Move on, you have done what you can.  Learn from it and that will give you confidence in the next venture.

In your quest for success, be wary of making compromises; your values and beliefs will be tested.  Have a clear conscience in what you do as you have to face the mirror everyday.  Do not let praise go to you head nor criticism weigh you down. Have faith in yourself and faith in God. He will not let you down.

When you have achieved material successes, live simply and shun extravagance and arrogance.  Do not lose all that you have achieved because you were resting on your laurels.  What happens when that laurel wilts?  Be humble and reach out to those less fortunate than you.  Your success is an obligation and a responsibility to your society and it is only when you give back to society that you are truly successful.

Ladies and Gentlemen/ Saudara, Saudari

Be brave to leave your ‘kampung’ and go anywhere in the world to claim your future.  I wish you well.

Thank you.”

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